Previewing articles in Content Station 9

Previewing articles in Content Station can be done by:

• Previewing the article itself
• Previewing the article as it is placed on a layout

Previewing the article itself

Previewing an article itself can be done in the same way as previewing an image, spreadsheet, PDF or any other file for which a preview is available.

In short, this is done by selecting the file while working in a Dossier or in the Search tab so that it is shown in the Preview pane, or by selecting the file anywhere in Content Station and pressing the spacebar to show it in Quick View mode.

Figure: Previewing an article in the Preview pane (A) of the Dossier Content mode of a Dossier.

Previewing an article using the Quick Preview method.

For more information about using the Quick View, see Previewing files in Content Station 9.

Previewing the article as it is placed on a layout

When the article is placed on a layout, you can view the way the article looks within the design of the layout.

To make this work, the following is required:

1. The article needs to be opened in the Multi-Channel Text Editor (this is the default text editor)
2. The article needs to have been placed on an InDesign layout (this is done in InDesign using Smart Connection)
3. InDesign Server instances need to have been added to the Enterprise Server setup

Figure: Previewing an article that is placed on a layout.

Using the Layout Preview

When hovering the mouse pointer anywhere over the layout preview, a toolbar appears at the bottom. Use it to do any of the following:

• Choose the layout on which the article is placed (possible when the article has been placed on more than one layout)

Note: After choosing a layout from the list, click the Create Preview button to generate a new layout preview.

• Choose the Edition to which the article belongs (possible when more than one Edition has been set up for the layout and the article has been assigned to more than one of these Editions).

Note: After choosing an Edition from the list, click the Create Preview button to generate a new layout preview.

• Refresh the preview to get the latest version of the layout and its placed components.
• Get Copyfit information. An article component can have a maximum number of characters or lines defined, known as 'copyfit'. Clicking the Copyfit button will show you if you are below that maximum (known as 'underset') or above that maximum (known as 'overset').
• Download the layout preview in PDF format.
• Zoom in or out of the layout preview. The zoom range is between 20% and 200%.
• Navigate to another page (when available) by using the Next button or Previous button, or by choosing a page from the Page Preview button .
• Choose between single page view or spread view (only available when the article is placed on both pages of the spread).
• Highlight the article components by choosing a color from the color picker.

Focusing the article in the preview pane

You can quickly focus on an article component in the preview pane by doing one of the following:

• In the Editing pane, click the Focus Preview button in the toolbar of the article component. The article component is positioned to the left of the preview pane. In Content Station 9.8.10 and lower, the zoom setting of the preview is changed so that the width of the component fully matches the width of the Preview pane. In Content Station 9.8.11 and higher, the zoom setting does not change.

Figure: The Focus Preview button.

• Double-click a visible article component. The article component is positioned to the top left corner of the preview pane and its width is matched to the current width of the Preview pane. In the Editing pane, the cursor is placed at the beginning of the text in the article component.

Figure: An article focused in the Layout Preview pane after double-clicking it.

Note: This feature only works for article components which are part of the opened article; double-clicking any other articles on the layout will not automatically zoom in on them.

Tip: Double-clicking the article component once more zooms the page out to make it fit within the current size of the Layout Preview pane.

Troubleshooting

Why don't all article components appear in the Layout Preview?

When you open an article in Content Station and a new article component is added, it will initially not appear in the Layout Preview.

This is because no information is available of where and how large in size the article component is to appear on the layout. (This is known as 'geometry information'.)

Only when the added article component has been placed on the layout (using InDesign) and the layout has been saved to Enterprise will it appear in the Layout Preview in Content Station.

Document history

• 11 September 2017: Updated section 'Focusing the article in the preview pane' with changed behavior of the Focus Preview.