Specify How Documents Should Be Marked Up

This feature is available to Word users only.

Moving between Markup View and Developer View is supported in Microsoft Word RTF templates only. In Microsoft Word DOCX templates you can click the Create Markup button to open a Markup document in a new Word window.

As you automate a Microsoft Word template and create within it variable and instruction fields, the template can be complicated to read and understand, especially to someone unfamiliar with automation. At times, however, you may need for a subject matter expert to review the text of the template for accuracy or to make changes or edits. To make the template easier for non-HotDocs users to review, you can provide them a marked up copy of the template.

How the template is marked up depends on your preferences. You can choose which fields HotDocs marks as well as define how much information is included in the field. For example, say you have a template with a series of IF expressions. You can assign comments to each IF Field describing, in layman's terms, the conditions surrounding the inclusion of the text in the document. Then, when you view the template in Markup View, the comments can be used to mark the expressions. The instructions themselves can then be viewed in an annotation.

In addition to viewing markup in the template, you can also view markup at the Preview tab of the template library and at the Document Preview tab of the assembly window. To view markup in either of these places, choose Markup View from the respective window's View menu.

To specify how documents should be marked

  1. At the HotDocs library, click the Options button. The HotDocs Options dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Markup View (Word) folder. The window changes to show several markup options.
  3. Complete any of the tasks, described in the following table:
To Do This
Choose the character or characters that should be used to mark fields in the template Enter the opening and closing characters in the fields next to the field type:
  • Answers field = variable fields
  • Insertion field = INSERT instructions
  • Editable text = SPAN / END SPAN instructions
  • Conditional text = IF/ END IF instructions
  • Alternative text = ELSE IF / ELSE instructions
  • Repeated text = REPEAT / END REPEAT instructions
Mark variable answer fields with any comments entered for the variable Select Use developer comments to label answer fields. If comments have been entered for a variable field, they will be merged in the markup field.
Use a Multiple Choice variable's merge text options as the label for its field

If you've named your merge text, the name will be used instead.

 Select Use option text to label multiple choice answer fields.
Mark text blocks (such as IF, REPEAT, and SPAN instructions) using developer comments entered for the instruction Select Use developer comments to label beginning of text blocks.

To merge the same comment in the closing markup field, select and end of text blocks.
Include both opening and closing markers when merging a field label (which includes developer comments)

By default, when HotDocs marks text blocks, an opening field marker is merged before the opening instruction and the closing marker is merged after the closing instruction.

 Select Enclose text block labels in markers.

Selecting this option causes HotDocs to use the closing marker after the opening label. The closing marker will also be used at the end of the text block.

In the following example, [* is the opening marker for conditional text while *] is the closing marker. The following is what will be merged in the marked up document:

*Insert paragraph if employee must complete a trial period*]

The length of [Employee Name]'s employment will be an initial term of six months.*]
Include text block instructions in either a footnote or endnote Select Add Footnote/Endnote at beginning of text blocks. Then select whether the annotation will be marked using Letters or Numbers.

To annotate the closing field label, select and end of text blocks.
Apply font attributes, such as bold and italics, to a markup field Select Bold or Italic.

Merge fields in the document are italicized by default. If you've used international characters in your answers, the italicized version of the font used in the document may not display the foreign characters correctly. If this is the case, clear the Italic attribute.
Define the color scheme used for marking the different fields in the template Select Color and click the Color drop-down button. Then choose the color scheme.
Include editable text markers when showing a template in Markup View Select Mark editable text blocks.

Editable text blocks are not visible when viewing the markup of an assembled document.  

By default, HotDocs does not show SPAN instructions when you switch to Markup View.
Show only basic markup when previewing the template at the HotDocs library Select Use minimal markup at the HotDocs library Preview tab.

When this option is selected, HotDocs will simply mark fields using field markers. If comments have been assigned to variable fields, those comments will be merged. (They will not be merged for instruction fields, however.)

To assign font formatting and color to markup fields at the Preview tab, select Apply attributes to answer fields when minimal markup is used.