Layout Editor Tools & Functionality

• Published on Sep 16, 2024

In the Layout Editor for both Structured and Semi-structured layouts, there are several functions available to assist in creating and editing layouts.

The sections below list the Layout Editor functions that can be accessed via the toolbar above the layout page image, as well as keyboard shortcuts you can use.

For layout drafts that were created using the “Copy to new layout variation” feature, you can see the name of the source layout or layout variation by clicking on the information icon . Note that the layout source information only appears for draft layouts or uncommitted layout variations, not for locked layouts or committed layout variations.

Toolbar functions

Semi-structured layout editor

From left to right on the toolbar:

• Filter– search for a field or field group within the layout.

• Undo and Redo – allows recent changes to fields (resizing or moving bounding boxes, or defining metadata) to be undone or redone. Note that clicking the Save button or changing pages will clear the action history.

• Duplicate– allows a field’s bounding box and metadata to be duplicated into a new field with the same size, shape, and definition as the original. To use this feature, select the desired bounding box from the layout image, or select the corresponding row in the field metadata table. Clicking the Duplicate button will then generate another copy of the box.

• Delete – removes the focus fields from the layout.

• Shortcuts – see keyboard shortcuts.

Structured layout editor

From left to right on the toolbar:

• Show/ hide pages – toggles page thumbnails.

• Page toggle – moves between pages.

• Field type dropdown – select between Fields and Layout IDs

• Zoom – zoom in/out on the page image.

• Undo/ Redo – allows recent changes to fields (resizing or moving bounding boxes, or defining metadata) to be undone or redone. Note that clicking the Commit Changes button or changing pages will clear the action history.

• Duplicate– allows a field’s bounding box and metadata to be duplicated into a new field with the same size, shape, and definition as the original. To use this feature, select the desired bounding box from the layout image, or select the corresponding row in the field metadata table. Clicking the Duplicate button will then create another copy of the box.

• Auto-Clone – draw a bounding box and have the system automatically detect and draw bounding boxes around fields with similar geometry, such as a series of checkboxes. Move the slider left or right to detect fewer or more similar fields. Click Create [#] Fields to finalize the addition of these bounding boxes.

  To enable Auto-Cloning, go to the "Beta Features" section of Administration > Settings, and enable Automatic field cloning.

• Delete – removes the selected fields from the layout.

• Activate / Deactivate Fields – allows you to deactivate an active field or activate an inactive field.

  Deactivating the selected field removes it from the layout variation. After deactivating a field, it will appear in the Inactive items list on the right-hand sidebar.

  Activating the selected field adds it to the layout variation, allowing you to draw a bounding box for it. After activating a field, it will appear in the Active items list in the right-hand sidebar.

• Shortcuts – see “Keyboard shortcuts” below.

Keyboard shortcuts

Many of the above functionalities can also be applied to multiple fields at once, including delete, moving bounding boxes, and duplicate.

To select multiple fields, or to quickly trigger many of the above actions, use the keyboard shortcuts described below: