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Content Editor

How to edit your Guideline content with the Content Editor

Updated over a week ago

1. What is the Content Editor, and how does it help me?

The Content Editor is, by default, available on all instances and plans. The Content Editor is visible when in Edit mode across all Guideline pages.

The Content Editor is our state-of-the-art web content editor. This feature makes it possible to edit your Guidelines in a fully accessible way and to perform copy, reference, move, and open settings with shortcuts. The renewed fast UI and usability improvements enable power users to save time while editing content.

The Content Editor also offers an enhanced feature set and more possibilities to create, edit and update your Brand Guideline content easily and quickly.

2. What is possible with the Content Editor?

In this section, we introduce you to the Content Editor capabilities and the functionalities available with the feature.

2.0 Add and edit a block

The Content Editor lets you open the list of Content Blocks in your Brand Guidelines and add them to populate your pages with content.

To do so, click on the + sign of the add block line. You can choose a specific place in between your blocks for adding the block; later on, you can also move your content around easily.

You can perform all block actions (open settings, copy, move, reference, delete) with one click on a block. A block is in focus if the border around it is purple. With a double click on a block, you can directly edit the block content inline.

2.1 Content Block settings

Once you have added a Content Block, you can easily access the settings from the Content Editor when you focus on the block and click on the cogwheel.

You can also directly open the settings with the shortcut "⌘ + I" on Mac and "Ctrl + I" on Windows.

2.2 Copy

Easily copy populated Content Blocks across guideline pages, guidelines or brands. The copy functionality works so that you can copy a single block multiple times into different places.

Click on the copy button on the focused block. To see if the block can, in fact, be copied, you will see a dashed border around the block.

We added a toast message to indicate you’ve added a block to your clipboard. In addition, the toast always helps you to navigate back to where you came from. You can exit the copy mode by clicking the "Finish" button or pressing ESC.

Now, easily copy the block where you want to showcase it. It can be on the same page, a different page, Guideline or even in a different brand by using the “Paste here” button.

You can also go back to where you copied the block from and continue editing where you left off.

Deleting a copied Content Block is possible, and it does not affect which block was the original or copied; all blocks are handled individually.

Directly copy the block in focus with the shortcut "⌘ + C" and paste the block with "⌘ + V" on Mac and "Ctrl + C" then "Ctrl + V" on Windows.

2.3 Move

Moving a block has also become a lot easier. When clicking on the move icon, the toast message appears in the bottom left corner of your screen. This shows that you can move the selected block to a different place. You can exit the move mode by clicking the "Finish" button or pressing the ESC button.

You can also use the shortcut "⌘ + X" on a focused block to reach the move action.

Now easily move the block within the page. It can be done by simply clicking on the “Move here” Button where you want the block to be moved or by using the ↑/↓ arrows on your keyboard.

2.4 Reference

The reference functionality works to reference a single block multiple times in different places.

The difference between copy and reference actions is that when a block is referenced somewhere else, you can reuse the exact same block at a different place (child), by keeping the link to the original block (parent). All changes in the parent will be reflected in the child as well. As a result, the original block can't be deleted unless the referenced blocks are also deleted. This can easily be done by following the links in the error message.

Click on the reference button on the focused block. The dashed purple boarder is visible after you click on reference, copy, or move to see if the block can be referenced.

We added a toast message indicating you can now add a reference to the block. In addition, the toast always helps you to navigate back to where you came from. You can exit the reference mode by clicking the "Finish" button or pressing the ESC.

Now easily reference the block by clicking on the “Reference here” button or pasting it with "⌘ + V" or "Ctrl + V" under a focused block. It can be on the same page, another page, or even in a different Guideline.

2.5 Delete

If you do not wish to have a block anymore, you can easily delete them.

Remember that blocks copied can be deleted individually, while referenced blocks can only be deleted once the child blocks of the referenced block are also deleted.

Please note that deletion can’t be undone now.

To delete a block, click on the bin icon or press "⌘ + [backspace]" on Mac or "Ctrl + del" on Windows.

3. Accessibility and shortcuts

The Content Editor makes the Guideline editing experience fully accessible. This enhances power users' enablement with shortcuts to speed up Guideline editing and provides users with an improved and inclusive UI.

Shortcuts for Mac

  • Open settings of a block: ⌘ + I

  • Copy a block: ⌘ + C

  • Paste a copied, referenced or a block in move mode: ⌘ + V

  • Move a block: ⌘ + X or use ↑/↓ arrows

  • Reference a block: ⌘ + K

  • Delete a block: ⌘ + [backspace]

  • Getting out of focus or action mode: ESC

  • Enter focus mode while navigating via keyboard: ENT

Shortcuts for Windows

  • Open settings of a block: Ctrl + I

  • Copy a block: Ctrl + C

  • Paste a copied, referenced or a block in move mode: Ctrl + V

  • Move a block: Ctrl + X or use ↑/↓ arrows

  • Reference a block: Ctrl + K

  • Delete a block: Ctrl + [del]

  • Getting out of focus or action mode: ESC

  • Enter focus mode while navigating via keyboard: ENT

We hope you found this article helpful; please feel free to reach out if you have questions.

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