Ch. 041c Field Designer: Navigating the Field Designer Interface

Navigating the Field Designer Interface

The Field Designer page has four sections:

  • Far left: Menus to copy/paste/undo/redo, menus to adjust the ruler and guides for the center section, and a list of all fields currently in your template. Note: the Fields and Form tabs show you different configuration options.
  • Far right: Buttons to save and view your work, as well as a pane that displays specific configuration options for the current selected field.
  • Center: Graphical template view. Use this to position, drag and drop elements, rotate elements, and resize elements.
  • Bottom: Pagination, and gallery of image assets you can drag and drop onto your template.

 
 
 

The next sections will explain how to use these areas to complete common tasks.

Edit Options for Fields

Field Designer has settings you under Edit that allow you take advantage of shortcuts while creating and working on your field settings.

Undo / Redo: You can undo and redo your last typing or design actions. To undo an action, use the arrows in this menu or in the top navigation bar. You can also press Ctrl + Z (or Mac Cmd + Z) or to redo an undone action, press Ctrl + Y (Cmd +Y). All actions must be undone or redone in the order you did or undid them; you cannot skip actions.

Most undo/redo actions are easy to see as changes are made on the canvas, but when the undo or redo action involves settings within the various panels, you may not realize that settings you've made are changing. To help you understand where the changes are happening, Field Designer highlights the panel the changes are happening in with a yellow glow that appears for 3.5 seconds and then fades away. eDocBuilder also includes a tooltip that displays alongside the panel name that indicates what prompt was changed.

Cut: Use this option to remove a field from the template page when your intention is to paste it onto another page. You can use shortcut Ctrl + X or Cmd + X.

Copy: Use this option to copy a field on the template and paste another field with all the same settings on the same page from which you are copying. When you use this option you will be prompted to give the new field a name. You can also set the prompt text and tooltip at this time. Shortcuts here are Ctrl + C or Cmd + C.

Copy Settings: Use this option if you would like to copy certain field settings from one field to the other. To do this, select a field and then from the "Edit" menu, select "Copy Settings." After making this selection you will be presented with a window that has a list of settings that apply to the field you are copying from. Here you can pick and choose which of the settings you want to copy to your new field.

Paste: Use along with Cut or Copy. Paste what you have copied or cut to the pasteboard.

Duplicate: Use this option to Duplicate an exact copy of one field and have that exact copy applied to the same page.

Delete: Use this option to delete a field you have selected on the canvas to remove it from the template.

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