To emphasize your text, use the bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, subscript, or superscript buttons.

Shortcut for removing the space between sentences: hold down shift, hit return

Hyperlinks

      

To attach a URL hyperlink, select your text and click Link. Then, type or paste the URL and click Save. 

      

You can also interlink to other documents, sections, or subsections in your text. To interlink to another section, type the plus symbol ("+") and select the desired section.

Lists

      

To create a list, click the Bulleted or Numbered tool. You have 9 style options available across symbol, alpha, and numeric ordering:

1. Bullets: Disc, Circle, Square
   
2. Numbers: Decimal, Decimal with leading zero, Lowercase Roman Numeral, Uppercase Roman Numeral, Lowercase Alpha, Uppercase Alpha
   

You can apply 1 style to all your text, or have multiple styles within 1 list.

1. To apply 1 style to all your text: select all text > select the 1 style option from the list toolbar
   
2. To apply multiple styles within a list: select all text > select the 1 style option from the list toolbar > select sub-text or text you want to change style > select new style option from the list toolbar > repeat until all the list items have the formatting you want
   

Quotes, Horizontal Lines, and Alignment

      

1. To emphasize a quotation, select the text and click Block quote. 
2. To insert a visual divider in the page, click Horizontal line. 
3. To align text, select a line of text, click Text alignment, and choose to align left, right, centered, or justified. 
   

Remove Text Formatting

     

To remove all formatting, select the text and click Remove Format. This tool can be helpful for removing HTML formatting that may have been carried over if text was pasted from an outside source. This will clean up text if the user did not use the paste without formatting function when they initially pasted text into the text editor.

Page Break

      

To insert a page break, click Page break. 

Font Size and Color

      

To modify your font, use the Font Size, Font Color, and Font Background Color buttons. 

Insert Images and Tables

      

1. To insert an image: click Insert image and choose the desired image from the file browser window. 
   
   

   Tip: if you plan to export to PDF, we recommend sizing images to a maximum width 400px. 
2. To insert a table, click Insert table and select the desired amount of height and width of the table measured in cells. 
   

   

   Tip: See a detailed guide to table formatting in this article.

Increase and Decrease Indent

      

To modify your text indentation, click on the body text that you want to change and click Decrease indent or Increase indent. This feature will change the indentation for that entire paragraph or list item, so it isn't necessary to select specific text before hand. 

Highlight

      

To highlight your text, select the text and click Highlight. Use the dropdown menu to choose from various highlighter colors or to remove the highlight from your selected text. 

Comments and Track Changes

      

To add a comment:

1. Select the text you want to comment on.
   
2. Click Comment.
   
3. Type your comment in the provided window.
   
4. Click the green checkmark to save.
   

For more information about notifications for comments, see Article: Communication and Notifications.

Track changes can be used in two ways:

1. Admins/Solicitation Owner/Editors  can turn on/off for all users. To do this:
   
1. Your Solicitation Page > Action Center > Track Changes for Everyone On/Off
   
2. Admins/Owners/Editors can turn on/off independently while writing or reviewing. To do this:
   
1. Your Solicitation Page > Document > Section > Track Changes for Individual On/Off
   
2. If given permission, this also applies to Guest Contributors.
   

When track changes are On, all changes to the text are notated using the following visual indicators:

1. Green plain text for additions
   
2. Red strikethrough for deletions
3. Blue lines above and below text for formatting changes

For more information about Track changes for addendums, see Article: Addendums.

Proofread (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation)

The proofreader tool will underline and highlight text if there is a spelling, grammar or punctuation suggestion. Click the text to review, and accept or ignore a suggestion.

 

Formatting Tables

Please be advised that Document Builder adheres to default style settings which have been informed by the preferences of our government partners and best practices for creating ADA-compliant documents. 

Create a table

Create a table from scratch

1. Open a section template
   
2. Click  and move your cursor over the grid until you highlight the number of columns and rows you want
   
3. When the columns and rows you want are highlighted, left-click to insert the table
   

Copy/paste a table from an external file

1. Copy/paste table into the section
   
2. Click Return to Document
   
3. Click Download Draft PDF
   
4. Review table formatting in PDF and update as needed*
   

It is important to remember that when users copy and paste tables from Microsoft Word into DB, they are attaching incompatible characters into the text editor. This can create inconsistencies.

Delete a table

1. Put your cursor over the table contents
   
2. In the top left-hand corner, select the yellow box
   
3. When the box and table outline change to blue, click the 'Delete' button on your keyboard

Customize a table

When Track Changes are turned on, users will not be able to edit the table and cell properties of a table within their project. To make changes to the table/cell properties, turn off track changes, make the necessary changes, and then turn them back on if needed.

1. Column: add header column, insert column right, insert column left, delete column
   
2. Row: add header row, insert row right, insert row left, delete row
   
3. Merge Cells: Merge cell up, right, down, left; Split cell vertically, horizontally
   
4. Table properties: Border style, color, width; Background color; Dimensions width, height; Alignment left, center, right
   
5. Cell Properties: Border style, color, width; Background color; Dimensions width, height; Padding; Table cell text alignment left, center, right, justified; Position top, center, bottom

Default table settings

1. Default cell width: auto-fit to page width (6.5", based on page 8.5" with 1" left/right page borders)
   
2. Default cell height: auto-fit to font size + default cell padding (about 0.4" if using 12pt font size)
3. Default cell padding: 0.2"
   
4. Default cell alignment: Left and centered

For questions regarding table formatting, refer to our FAQs.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Default Styles (font, line spacing, lists)

Many style settings for document content can be customized and configured on the front end by Administrators and Procurement Officials. Other settings are set by default on the backend, and only changeable at the global level for your organization. This is to keep your documents consistent and ADA compliant.

Changes to Document Builder defaults may be made on the backend if required according to State of California policies or guidelines and provide documented evidence of requirement. This is to separate preferences from requirements, to ensure that documents are consistent, compliant, and accessible to the authors and readers.

The table below outlines the default style settings for PDF documents that are exported from Document Builder:

Default Style Settings for PDF Files exported from Document Builder

File type export: PDF Font family: Arial Regular Font sizes: Document titles: 14pt Section headings: 14pt Body: 12pt Font colors: Black (#000000) Colors also customizable Line spacing: 1.5pt Lists of documents and sections within documents: Numbered lists with sub numbers enumerated as 1, 1.1, 1.2, etc. Letter case for titles: Document category (e.g. Attachment, Exhibit): Uppercase Document title, section title, subsection title: customizable by Admins Tables: Simple content (plain text, no paragraph or line breaks, no objects) Padding: 0 Line spacing: 1.15 Complex content (line or paragraph breaks, lists, images: Padding: 14 Line spacing: 1.5

Please be advised that Document Builder adheres to default style settings which have been informed by the preferences of our government partners and best practices for creating ADA-compliant documents. For additional assistance, contact your Document Builder Administrators.