HotDocs Composer is the editor you use for answer intakes and plain text templates, just as Microsoft Word is the editor for DOCX templates.
You can open Composer from Workspace Explorer by opening an answer intake or plain text template to edit.
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Among others, HotDocs Composer enables you to perform the following common tasks:
| Button | What it Does |
| Save | Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template. |
| Undo/Redo | Enables you to undo and redo the changes you make in Composer. |
You can change the position of the Quick Access toolbar by right-clicking on the toolbar itself and clicking Show Access Toolbar Below/Above the Ribbon
Composer's basic interface consists of the File and Home tabs.
The File tab contains the following options:
| Button | What it Does |
| Open | Enables you to open another existing answer intake or plain text template. The selected template opens in a new Composer window. |
| Save | Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template. |
| Close | Closes the current HotDocs Composer window. |
The Home tab contains the following groups with the following buttons:
| Button | What it Does |
| Paste | Pastes any content currently on the clipboard via Copy (Ctrl+C or Copy button). |
| Cut | Removes any selected content from its original position and places it on the clipboard. |
| Copy | Creates a duplicate of any selected content and places it on the clipboard. |
| Button | What it Does |
| Test | Displays an interview for the answer intake or plain text template; for plain text templates, clicking Finish at the end of the interview also assembles a document. |
| Template Properties | Opens the Template Properties dialog where you can edit general, interview behavior, and assembly behavior options for the current answer intake or plain text template. |
| Button | What it Does |
| Component Studio | Opens Component Studio where you can create, edit, delete, rename, and copy components. |
| Field Editor | Opens or closes the HotDocs Field Editor pane. |
| Button | What it Does |
| Go To Workspace | Opens Workspace Explorer (or if it is already open, brings it to the front). |
| Help | Opens a menu of options:
|
The rest of the Composer window provides an editing environment for:
When you open an Answer Intake for editing, Composer's user interface changes to account for the different commands and functions you need to edit answer intakes.
| Button | What it Does |
| Save | Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template. |
Composer's basic interface consists of the File and Home tabs.
The File tab contains the following options:
| Button | What it Does |
| Open | Enables you to open another existing answer intake or plain text template. The selected template opens in a new Composer window. |
| Save | Saves any changes you made to the answer intake or plain text template. |
| Close | Closes the current HotDocs Composer window. |
The Home tab contains the following groups with the following buttons:
| Button | What it Does |
| Test | Displays an interview for the answer intake. |
| Template Properties | Opens the Template Properties dialog where you can edit general, interview behavior, and assembly behavior options for the current answer intake. |
| Button | What it Does |
| Component Studio | Opens Component Studio and the interview computation (or if Component Studio is already open, brings it to focus). |
| Arrange | Returns Composer (and Component Studio) to the original, full screen docked configuration. |
| Button | What it Does |
| Go To Workspace | Opens Workspace Explorer (or if it is already open, brings it to the front). |
| Help | Opens a menu of options:
|
The Answer intake defined by section contains the following actions:
| Element | What it Does |
| .cmp link | Displays the component file the answer intake "points to" (where the components of the answer intake are stored). |
| (Reassign) .cmp | Opens the Template Properties Dialog Box General tab so you can change the component file the answer intake "points to" (where the components of the answer intake are stored). |
| Interview computation link | Opens Component Studio (if not already open) to enable you to edit the interview computation. |
| (Reassign) interview | Opens the Template Properties Interview Behavior tab so you can change the interview computation the answer intake uses. |
When editing an answer intake, Composer displays a "docked" version of Component Studio with the interview computation opened so you can edit the interview computation that the answer intake is based on. You can move, resize, or close this window as you wish. If you want to return Component Studio to its original, full-screen, docked configuration, click the Arrange button in the Composer ribbon View group.
The "docked" version of Component Studio functions the same as Component Studio in any other context.