Getting to Know the Builder Ribbon and Word Designer

Modified on Tue, 10 Dec at 11:01 AM

ABOUT BUILDER: At this time, Builder is available to selected pilot customers only. However, all customers will be able to access Builder soon. To learn more about this new product, contact your customer success manager or submit a Customer Support Ticket. Information in this article may still be in development.

When working in Microsoft Word to build your template, there are a few different areas where you interact with Builder: the Builder ribbon and the Word Designer. (which appears differently depending on which step of the template development process you're on). : the view when you first launch the Builder Word add-in and the view when you're automating a specific template.

When you first sign in to the Actionstep Builder add-in for Microsoft Word, you have a few options for how you want to proceed:

A. Choose an existing template to edit: Click this option to review a list of existing templates and select one for editing. When you view the list, individual templates are grouped under their respective catalogs/matter types. Use the Search box at the top of the list to quickly find a specific template.

B. Create a new template: Click this option to create a new DOCX template and start automating it. When doing this, you can choose which catalog (or Base model) you want to associate the template with. If the document you are in already contains your basic template text, you can use Initial content from current document as the basis for the template you are building. Finally, if you’ve already created an app for templates like this, you can select it from the User access via app drop-down list. If you need to create a new app, leave (new) selected.

C. Go to the online Designer: This option launches the Online Workspace for Builder, which provides a holistic view into your component and template development system.

NOTE: Once a template has been added to Builder, all interaction you have with the template is managed through the Word Designer and Builder ribbon. This includes using the Builder ribbon to 1) open the Builder copy of the template to edit it, 2) save your changes, and 3) close it. Even though you're working in a Microsoft Word window, any changes you make—including to the template file itself—are saved to and stored in Builder (as long as you use the Save option in the Builder ribbon). You can also save the file you're working on to your hard drive (by using Word's Save option), but you're simply creating a back-up of the file.

Once you have opened your template for editing, the right-side pane lists variables, templates, and formulas, depending on which options you’ve selected above the list.

B. Shows the name of the template you are currently editing. To save changes to this template to Builder,

C. Search box and checkboxes: Use the Search box to search for a specific variable, template, or formula. Use the checkboxes to filter the list to show just those specific components you want to search in.

D. Component List: Use this to review the list of variables, templates, and formulas available for use in this template:

If the component is an object model, click the right arrow to expand the model and view its variables.
To insert components into the template, click the three dots next to the component name and choose from the following options. Which options appear depends on the type of item you are inserting:
- Insert content to document inserts the selected item at the template’s current cursor position.
  TIP: You can also double-click the variable to insert just the variable at the cursor position in your document. If you are inserting a variable used in an Actionstep object model, drag the variable from this list to the template.
- Insert content with formatting inserts the variable using the formatting you select.
- Insert list to Document inserts the component so that users can provide multiple answers to create a list. When using this option, you can choose how the list will be punctuated.
- Insert [item] with if statements to Document inserts the variable or list conditionally.

On the Builder ribbon, you have the following additional options:

E. Use the Sign In / Sign Out options to sign in or out of Builder.

F. Variables section:

Click New Variable to create and add a basic new variable to the template. (To further customize the variable beyond what’s available in the initial New Variable window, edit it in the Online Workspace.)
Click Format All to colorize all the Builder variable and instruction fields in the template.
Click Refresh to update the Word Designer with any changes you've made separately in the Online Workspace. This is a good way to sync your changes if you're working in both places.
Click Go To Field to navigate to a specific variable field in the template. This is useful when you receive template errors and need help finding which field has the error. You can type the field number referenced in the error message and Builder will take you to that field in the template.

G. Template section:

Click Save to save your Builder-related changes. Changes you save are updated in Builder.
Click New to create a new Builder template.
Click Open to edit an existing Builder template.

H. Click Help, which launches the Help Center in a new internet browser window.