Content Station 10 quick start

This article describes the main features of Content Station 10 and is aimed at users who are new to Content Station or are upgrading from a previous version.

Note: It is assumed here that you are using the latest version of Content Station 10. When using an older version, minor changes may exist.

Accessing Content Station

Content Station is installed on a central server and therefore requires no installation steps on your system.

You access Content Station through a Web browser by using a link that your system administrator will have made available to you.

Example: http://localhost/Enterprise/contentstation

Logging in

When using Content Station, you work on files that are stored in a database on a server. To access these files you have to log in to that server first. It is not possible to open Content Station without accessing a server.

Depending on your credentials, you can log in to the following Editions of Content Station:

A Basic Edition with limited access to options ¹
A Pro Edition with access to all features ¹

¹ The Basic and Pro Editions currently both provide access to all features of Content Station.

To log in, enter your user name and password, choose the Edition you want to log in to and click Sign In.

The Sign In page of Content Station

Figure: The Sign In page.

After logging in to the Basic Edition or the Pro Edition, the main screen appears.

The main screen

Logging in to a different server

The link that you use to access Content Station with is directly linked to that instance of Enterprise Server. Accessing a different instance requires a different link.

Searching for files

One of the actions that you will perform most often in Content Station is searching for files.

Searching is mainly done by using the Search box, the Filter, and tags.

Searching for files

Figure: Searching for files is mainly done by using the Search box (A), tags (B) and the Filter (C).

Search box

Use the Search box to quickly find a file by typing a search term and pressing Enter. To find all files, clear the Search box first.

To quickly find files of a particular type, simply type 'image', 'dossier', 'layout', and so on.

Filter

Use the Filter to narrow down your search by only searching in a particular Brand, Category or Issue or by filtering on file type, Status and so on.

Note: In order to filter on Category, Issue or Status, select a Brand first.

Linked files

To see which files in Enterprise are related to a selected file, use the Linked Files panel.

The Linked files panel

Figure: The Linked Files panel shows to which files in Enterprise a file is linked.

For each file, the relation to the selected file is shown: 'Part of' for files that are part of a Dossier, 'Placed on' for files that are placed on a layout, and so on.

For more information, see Viewing to which Enterprise files a file is linked using Content Station 10.

About Dossier thumbnails

When viewing the search results in thumbnail view, Dossiers can be recognized by their grid design.

Figure: A Dossier in thumbnail view. It contains a layout, an article, plus 4 additional files.

When a Dossier contains files, the large preview on the left and the smaller preview in the top right of the grid show a preview of the most important files of the Dossier, such as a layout and an article.

The additional number of files that the Dossier contains is shown in the bottom right corner of the grid.

Creating Dossiers and articles

The first step of creating a story is to create a Dossier: a virtual folder in which all files that are related to that story are kept.

Writing the text for the story is done by creating an article.

To create a new Dossier or article, click 'Create new...' in the toolbar. In the window that appears choose to create a Dossier or an article. When creating an article, also choose a template to base the article on. Click Next to continue. You will then see a screen in which you can give the Dossier or article a name and you will also be able to define where to save it.

Creating a new article

For more information see Working with Dossiers in Content Station 10 and Working with articles in Content Station 10.

Editing an article

The Print editor of Content Station 10 — used for working on articles that are published to print — is straight forward and self explanatory. Some points to be aware of are listed below.

For more information, see Working with articles in Content Station 10.

The components of the text editor

Figure: The Print editor of Content Station 10 with the Edit window (A), the Preview window (B), article components (C) and the Status bar (D) with the name of the active article component shown.

Saving your work

Saving your work manually is not necessary; in fact, there is not even a Save button.

Instead, all your changes are automatically saved for you and when not working on the article for a short period of time, the article is automatically checked in.

Note: This means that another user can open that same article for editing, thereby preventing you from making changes to the article even though you still have it open on screen. You will see a message appear when this situation occurs. You will also see a message when the article is available for editing again.

Layout previews

For articles that are placed on a layout, a preview is automatically shown. When making changes to the text, the preview is automatically updated.

Text icons

For objects that cannot be displayed in the text, the following icons are shown instead:

	Table
	Link
	Note
	Graphic
	Anchored object
	XML tag
	Unknown object

Article components

In Enterprise, articles consist of one or more components, each containing specific content. A typical article for a newspaper for example consists of a "head" component containing the header, an "intro" component containing a short introduction, and a "body" component containing the main text.

When working on an article in Content Station 10 each component is indicated by a vertical bar on the right side of the article (see figure above).

When placing your cursor in a component, the name of the component is shown in the Status bar at the bottom of the screen.

Uploading files

Uploading files to Enterprise Server can be done from within in an existing Dossier.

Step 1. In an opened Dossier, do one of the following:

Locate the files on your local drive, network, or in the Elvis Pro client¹, and drop them anywhere in the Dossier
Click the Upload button and select your files

¹ Requires Content Station 10.5 or higher.

After adding the files, the Uploading Files window appears. Each file is automatically uploaded to Enterprise and the upload progress is shown for each file while at the bottom of the window the overall progress can be followed.

The Uploading Files window

Figure: The Uploading Files window allows you to make final changes to the settings of each file.

When uploading files of different formats, files of the same format are grouped together.

Step 2. (Optional) Change the settings for each file by:

Assigning a different Workflow Status (done per group of files)
Assigning a user (done per group of files)
Selecting a single file and changing its settings in the right side of the window
Removing a file from the upload process by selecting it and clicking the X-icon

Step 3. Click Finish.

For more information, see Uploading files to Enterprise in Content Station 10.

Previewing files

To preview a file in fullscreen mode, do one of the following:

Select a file and press the Spacebar
Right-click a file and choose Preview
Double-click a layout in the Publication Overview application

Many of the tools that are found on the Preview page are self explanatory. Note that the zoom tools in the bottom right corner appear when moving the mouse and automatically disappear when keeping the mouse stationary.

Closing the preview mode

To close the preview, press the Spacebar, press Escape or click the X-icon in the top right corner.

Showing or hiding the Workflow Status of placed objects

Any article, image, and spreadsheet that is placed on a layout (and stored in Enterprise) can be highlighted when viewing the layout in fullscreen mode. The color used is the color of the Workflow status that is assigned to the object.

This gives a good overview of how far the layout and the publication as a whole is progressing.

Enabling or disabling this feature is done by doing the following:

Control which objects should be highlighted by making a selection in the Layout Settings menu at the top of the page.
(Content Station 10.33 or higher) Make sure that the switch at the top of the screen is set to Show Status.

Figure: Controlling the display of the Workflow Status is done by setting the switch (A) to 'Show status' and defining the objects to highlight in the menu (B).

Figure: Articles and images highlighted when viewing a layout in fullscreen mode.

Previewing multiple files

Note that you can simultaneously preview up to 3 different files.

Previewing 3 files

Figure: Previewing 3 files. From left to right: a layout, an image, and an article.

Working with objects placed on layouts

When previewing a layout that contains placed objects such as articles or images, you can click such an object to make the toolbar appear.

From the toolbar you can:

Open an article for editing
Send the placed object to another user or user group
Download a preview or the original file
Access the properties of the file

Changing file settings

Changing the settings of a file, such as its name, can be done in the Properties pane.

Select a single file, make sure that the Properties pane is open by clicking its icon on the right side of the screen, and change any of the available settings. Your changes are automatically saved.

Changing settings

Figure: Change the settings of a selected file by opening the Properties pane (A) and changing any of the settings (B).

For more information, see Changing the properties of an object or file in Content Station 10.

Working on routed files

Working on a publication is team work. In a typical workflow therefore, your team members will regularly send you files that you need to edit or review.

Files that have been routed to you can be viewed in the Inbox.

The Inbox icon at the top of the page shows how many files are currently in your Inbox.

You access the Inbox by clicking the Inbox icon at the top of the page.

Files routed to you are shown in the Inbox

Figure: The Inbox shows all files that have been routed to you. It is accessed by clicking the Inbox icon at the top of the page (A).

For more information, see Processing routed files using the Inbox in Content Station 10.

Using Applications

Content Station 10 is designed in such a way that the most important tools to work with are readily available.

Tools that are used less frequently are located in the Apps menu of the toolbar at the top of the screen.

Figure: The Apps menu.

Note: You may see many different Applications in the menu than shown here, or you may not even see the Apps menu at all. This all depends on how the menu has been configured by your system administrator.

One Application that is added by default is the Publication Overview: an application that gives you a general overview of how far the production process of a publication has progressed. For more information, see Using the Publication Overview Application in Content Station 10.

Keyboard shortcuts

For an overview of the keyboard shortcuts that you can use with Content Station 10, see:

Document history

18 October 2017: Updated section 'Showing or hiding the Workflow Status of placed objects' with information about setting the switch to 'Show status'.
10 August 2017: Updated the text icons in section 'Editing an article'.
18 May 2017: Updated screenshot of Create New dialog with new design.
21 March 2017: Added information about the Linked Files panel.
18 January 2017: Changed references of 'text editor' to 'Print editor'.
31 October 2016: Removed references to the Content Station Free Edition.
20 September 2016: Added section Working on routed files.

Accessing Content Station