Working with the components of a Digital article in Studio

When looking at the way an article is set up, you can see that it consists of different parts: it will have a header, maybe a sub header, multiple paragraphs, perhaps one or more images with or without captions, and so on.

In a Digital article, each of these parts is represented by a 'component'. You will construct your story by adding all those components that your story needs using the Digital editor.

In this article here, we describe how to work with the components when they have been added to a Digital article.

Notes:  The information below describes the default set of components in Studio. Depending on how the system is configured, the components in your installation of Studio may be different than what is shown here. For detailed information about each component, see The components of a Digital article in Studio.

When working with components, you can:

• Add or remove components
• Select multiple components
• Delete components
• Rearrange components
• Change components
• Control how a component should look and behave
• Copy and paste components

Adding components

To add a component, hover your mouse over an area between two existing components where you want to add the new component. Click the orange plus sign that appears. A Component window is shown containing various components, grouped by type. Find the component that you want to use and click it to add it to the article.

Figure: Adding a Slideshow component to the story.

Selecting components

Components in an article can be selected so that they can be worked on in a particular way. The method of selecting and the actions that can be performed depends on the type of component that is selected and if a single component or multiple components are selected.

Single components

Selecting a single component is done by doing the following:

• Clicking the component.
• Placing the text cursor in a component that can hold text.
• Pressing Up Arrow or Down Arrow when another component is already selected to move the selection to the component above or below the currently selected component.¹
• Pressing Up Arrow when the cursor is placed at the beginning of a text component to move the selection to the previous component.¹
• Pressing Down Arrow when the cursor is placed at the end of a text component to move the selection to the next component¹.
• Pressing Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (macOS) plus one of the following:¹
• Left Arrow to move to the beginning of the component.
• Right Arrow to move to the end of the component.
• Up Arrow to move to the top component.
• Down Arrow to move to the bottom component.

¹ Requires Studio 11.81 or higher.

You can tell that a component is selected by the following:

For Studio 11.82 or higher:

• A blue border around the component.

• The Properties panel, showing the properties that can be applied to the selected component and the actions that can be performed on it.

Notes:  No blue border is shown for components that can hold text (such as a Body component). For components that contain multiple fields (such as a Hero, Standfirst, or Image), the blue border is only shown for the component itself, not for each individual field within the component. For Containers, a blue border is shown when the Container itself or one of its nested components is selected.

For Studio 11.81:

• A blue border around the component.

• The Properties panel, showing the properties that can be applied to the selected component and the actions that can be performed on it.

Notes:  No blue border is shown for components that can hold text (such as a Body component). For components that contain multiple fields (such as a Hero, Container, Standfirst, or Image), the blue border is only shown for the component itself, not for each individual field within the component.

Tip: See how to check the version of Studio that is installed.

Multiple components

Info: This feature requires Studio 11.81 or higher (see how to check the version of Studio that is installed).

Multiple components can be selected to quickly perform the same action on these components:

• Delete
• Move

Note: Other actions such as changing the properties or applying styling are not yet possible.

Selecting multiple components can be done by doing one of the following:

• To select individual components: select one component and click another component while holding down Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (macOS).
• To select a range of components: select one component and click another component while holding down Shift.
• With at least one component selected, press Shift+Up Arrow or Shift+Down Arrow.
• Use a combination of the above mentioned methods.

Tip: Deselecting components can be done by using the same methods as for selecting components.

You can tell that multiple components are selected by the following:

• The components have a blue fill except Container components and components that contain video, social media, or embedded content; these will have a blue border.
• The Properties panel shows the properties that can be applied to the selected components and the actions that can be performed on them.

Figure: The selection of multiple components is indicated by a blue fill or border, and the state of the Properties panel.

Hover states

When hovering the mouse pointer over a component, actions become available and outlines become visible:

• A toolbar appears containing the following icons:

• A Move icon for moving the currently selected components (requires Studio 11.81 or higher (see how to check the version of Studio that is installed).

• A Trash Can icon for deleting the selected components.

• A gray border appears around the component. (Requires Studio 11.81 or higher (see how to check the version of Studio that is installed). Does not apply to components that contain a single field that can hold text such as a Body component.)

• A label with the component name appears for Container components and components that contain video, social media, or embedded content.

Figure: When hovering the mouse pointer over a component, a gray border and a toolbar appears.

Deleting components

To delete one or more components, do one of the following:

• Hover the mouse pointer over the component and click the Trash Can icon. When multiple components are selected, clicking the Trash Can icon for one of the selected components will delete all selected components.

• In the Properties panel, click Delete.

Moving components

To move one or more components to a different position, do one of the following:

To move a single component:

• Click and hold the component and drag it to the position where you want to place it.
• Hover the mouse pointer over the component, click and hold the Move icon, and drag it to the position where you want to place it.

To move multiple components:

• Select the components, hover the mouse pointer over one of the components, click and hold the Move icon, and drag it to the position where you want to place it. All selected components are now moved.

Notes: A Container component cannot be moved into a nested Container component. Whenever a component cannot be placed on the current area over which the mouse pointer is hovered, the label that is shown is colored red.

Changing the component type

Sometimes a component of a certain type needs to be changed to a different type.

Examples: When working on an article and pressing Enter, a new component is created — in most cases a body component. However, you want the new component to be of a different type such as a subtitle or a quote. The Digital article that you are working on was converted from a print article. To make it ready for publishing it digitally, some components need to be changed to a different type.

Step 1. Select the component or (when possible) place the cursor inside the component.

Step 2. Do one of the following:

• Access the Properties panel and from the Change Component list, choose a different component.
• Use a keyboard shortcut. The available keyboard shortcuts are shown in the Change Component list in the Properties panel.

Note: The Change Component list in the Properties panel shows different components to choose from depending on the component type that you want to change. Keyboard shortcuts are defined as part of configuring Component Sets.

Figure: The Change Component option in the Properties panel.

Controlling how a component should look and behave

Using the properties of a component, you can control how a component should look and how it should behave.

Properties that can be controlled include the order in which images in a slideshow appear, the alignment of an image, the style to apply, line spacing , and so on.

Setting the properties

To set the properties for a component, select it and click the Properties icon in the toolbar on the right.

Figure: A slideshow and its properties.

Applying a Style variant to a component

When a particular component for a particular output always needs to be styled in a particular way, a Style variant can be created for it.

A Style variant is a collection of style settings that are stored for repeated use. This makes it possible to apply these settings in one single action instead of having to set these manually.

To apply a Style variant to a component, simply choose it from the Style variant list in the Properties panel for that component.

Editing Interactive components

An Interactive component displays content that is hosted on the Internet somewhere, such as a Google Map, a video, a poll, a quiz, and so on, and also allows this content to be customized in the Digital editor.

Example: A basic Google Map could be made available to which one or more locations can be added, the map settings changed, and so on.

To edit an Interactive component, access the Properties for the component and under 'Configuration', click 'Edit'.

A window will appear in which you can change the settings for that component.

Copying and pasting components

When working on an article, it is very possible that the content that needs to be added already exists in a different Digital article — either an article available in Studio or an article archived in Assets.

Think of a slide show, an image with a caption, a quote, a particular paragraph of text, and so on.

This content can be added by copying the component from the source article and pasting it into the article that is being edited.

Using Digital articles in Studio

In this scenario, components are copied from a Digital article in Studio and pasted in a Digital article that is open in the Digital editor.

Part 1. Copying

The tools for copying components are part of the Digital article preview screen:

• The fullscreen preview, accessed by pressing the Spacebar for a selected article, or by right-clicking an article and choosing Preview.
• The Device preview, accessed by clicking Preview in the Digital editor.

Tip: Open the preview of the source article in another tab of the Web browser to easily switch between the preview and the article that is edited.

Step 1. Hover the mouse pointer over the component that you want to copy and click the plus-sign that appears.

Note: The icon to the left of the plus-sign indicates the type of component that is being copied: text, image, quote, and so on.

The component is added to the selection, as indicated by the orange border and the check-mark.

Note: For a component that contains other components (such as a Slideshow component or a Product component), only the main component itself can be selected; it is not possible to select individual components within that main component.

Example: For a Slideshow component, only the whole slideshow itself can be selected, not an individual image within it.

Step 2. (Optional) Add additional components to the selection or remove components from the selection by clicking or Shift+clicking other components.

Step 3. Copy the selected components to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (MacOS).

Part 2. Pasting

To paste copied components, press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (MacOS).

Note: The location in which the components are pasted depends on the position of the text cursor: When the text cursor is placed in a component, the pasted components are added below that component. When the text cursor is not placed anywhere in the article, the pasted components are added below the last component of the article.

Troubleshooting

• The Paste icon is not visible, even though components have been copied. This happens when:
• Trying to paste inside a Container component and the selection also contains a Container component. Adding a Container inside a Container is not supported.

• The selection contains a component that is not part of the Component Set of the article in which the components are pasted.

Example: When a slide show is copied and the Component Set of the article in which you want to paste the component does not allow slide show components, the Paste icon is not available.

Using Digital articles in Assets

In this scenario, the Digital article that the components are copied from is archived in Assets Server and accessed using Assets.

Part 1. Copying

The tools for copying components are part of the Digital article preview screen:

• The fullscreen preview, accessed by pressing the Spacebar for a selected article, or by right-clicking an article and choosing Full Preview.
• The preview of the article when viewing files in Filmstrip view.

Step 1. Hover the mouse pointer over the component that you want to copy and click the plus-sign that appears.

Note: The icon to the left of the plus-sign indicates the type of component that is being copied: text, image, quote, and so on.

The component is added to the selection, as indicated by the check-mark.

A toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen showing the number of selected components.

Note: For a component that contains other components (such as a Slideshow component or a Product component), only the main component itself can be selected; it is not possible to select individual components within that main component.

Example: For a Slideshow component, only the whole slideshow itself can be selected, not an individual image within it.

Step 2. (Optional) Add additional components to the selection or remove components from the selection by clicking or Shift+clicking other components.

Step 3. Copy the selected components to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (MacOS).

Part 2. Pasting

In the Digital editor of Studio, press Ctrl+V (Windows) or Cmd+V (MacOS) to paste the copied components.

The location in which the components are pasted depends on the position of the text cursor:

• When the text cursor is placed in a component, the pasted components are added below that component.
• When the text cursor is not placed anywhere in the article, the pasted components are added below the last component of the article.

Troubleshooting

• When trying to paste components, nothing happens even though components have been copied. This happens when:
• Trying to paste inside a Container component and the selection also contains a Container component. Adding a Container inside a Container is not supported.

• The selection contains a component that is not part of the Component Set of the article in which the components are pasted.

Example: When a slide show is copied and the Component Set of the article in which you want to paste the component does not allow slide show components, the Paste icon is not available.

Revisions

• 6 January 2021: Updated section 'Single components' with information about Studio 11.82 and higher.
• 23 December 2020: Added section 'Selecting components'.
• 23 December 2020: Added section 'Hover states'.
• 23 December 2020: Renamed 'Removing components' to 'Deleting components'.
• 23 December 2020: Updated section 'Deleting components' with information about multiple components.
• 23 December 2020: Renamed 'Rearranging components' to 'Moving components'.
• 23 December 2020: Updated section 'Moving components' with information about multiple components.
• 23 December 2020: Updated section 'Moving components' with a list of conditions when a component cannot be placed.