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Author Callouts

Oxygen XML Author uses callouts to present comments and tracked change modifications that you or other members of your team have added to the document.

Displaying Callouts in Author Mode

The callouts are displayed in the right side of the editing area in Author mode. They are decorated with a colored border and also have a colored background. The background color is assigned automatically by the application depending on the user who is editing the document and the type of change, but it can also be customized from the Review preferences page. This preferences page allows you to configure the colors for tracked change insertions or deletions, and for comments.

You can also choose to use the same color for all changes of that particular type of change, regardless of who makes the change. To do this, select the Fixed option for the particular type of change and choose a color from the color box. If the Automatic option is selected, Oxygen XML Author automatically assigns a color based upon the Colors for automatic assignment list.

The horizontal line that connects the callouts to their corresponding text fragments has the same color as the border. If this horizontal line is not visible, select the Show all connecting lines option in the Callouts preferences page. If you hover over a callout, it is highlighted and a tooltip is displayed that contains additional information.

Figure 1. Multiple Author Callouts
Note: Oxygen XML Author displays callouts only if View All Changes/Comments or View Only Changes/Comments by is selected in the Track Changes Visualization Modes drop-down menu. Oxygen XML Author does not display callouts in View Final and View Original modes.

In some cases, the text you are editing can span into the callouts area. For example, this situation can appear for callouts associated with wide images or space-preserved elements that contain long fragments (such as a DITA <codeblock> element or <programlisting> in DocBook). To help you view the text under the covered area, Oxygen XML Author applies transparency to these callouts. When the cursor is located under a callout, the transparency is enhanced, allowing you to both edit the covered content and access the contextual menu of the editing area.

Figure 2. Transparent Callout

Adjusting Callout Width

To display more of the content in all the callouts in the current document, you can adjust the width by dragging the left side of any of the callouts. This will adjust the width for all comments in the current document. When you end the current editing session, the width of all callouts will revert back to the default value, which is the value of the Initial Width option in the Callouts preferences page.

You can also adjust the maximum number of lines to be shown in the callouts using the Text Lines Count Limit option. Note that this does not limit the number of lines in the actual comment. It only limits the number of lines shown without opening or editing it.

Type of Callouts in Oxygen XML Author

Oxygen XML Author uses callouts to display comments and Tracked Changes that you associate with fragments of the document you are editing. You can choose which types of edits will be shown in callouts by configuring the options in the Callouts preferences page. You can choose to enable the following types of review callouts:

  • Comment Callouts - As long as the Comments option is selected in the Callouts preferences page, comments are displayed in callouts. A comment callout contains the name of the author who inserts the callout and the comment itself. You can also select the Show review time option to include timestamp information in the comment callouts.

    Figure 3. Comment Callouts
    There are several types of comments that can be added in Author mode:
    • Author Review Comments - Comments that you associate with specific content. To insert this type of comment, select the content and use the Add Comment action that is available on the toolbar (or in the Review submenu of the contextual menu).
    • Comments Added to Tracked Changes - Comments that you add to an already existing tracked change insertion or deletion. To insert this type of comment, right-click the change in the main editor or its callout and select Comment Change.

    • Replies to Comments - You can use this type of comment to create discussion threads. To insert this type of comment, right-click the change in its callout and select Reply. A single callout is presented for a root comment or change and its replies. The replies are displayed with an indentation in the callouts and those that are on the same level are sorted depending on the timestamp.

      Figure 4. Callout for a Comment with Replies
      Tip: When adding, editing, or replying to a comment, you can use Enter to insert line breaks and Oxygen XML Author will take the line breaks into account when presenting the callout. You can also use Ctrl + Enter to accept your changes and close the dialog box.

  • Tracked Change Deletion Callouts - As long as the Track Changes Deletions option is selected in the Callouts preferences page, deletions that are made while the Track Changes feature is enabled are displayed in callouts. A deletion callout contains the type of callout (Deleted) and the name of the author that made the deletion. You can also select the Show deleted content in callout option to display the actual deleted content in the callout. Additionally, you can select the Show review time option to include timestamp information in the deletion callouts.

    Figure 5. Deletion Callouts

  • Tracked Change Insertion Callouts - As long as the Track Changes Insertions option is selected in the Callouts preferences page, insertions that are done while the Track Changes feature is enabled are displayed in callouts. An insertion callout contains the type of callout (Inserted) and the name of the author that inserted the content. You can also select the Show inserted content in callout option to display the actual deleted content in the callout. Additionally, you can select the Show review time option to include timestamp information in the deletion callouts.

    Figure 6. Insertion Callouts

Callout Contextual Menu Actions

Some useful actions are available when the contextual menu is invoked on a callout. The actions depend on the type of callout.
Insertion or Deletion Callout Actions

The following actions are available in the contextual menu of an insertion or deletion callout:

Reply
Opens a dialog box that allows you to add a reply to a comment or Tracked Changes. When replying to a comment, the dialog box shows the entire conversation in the comment thread, starting with the first comment added in the particular thread, followed by all the replies. After replies are added to a comment thread, they are displayed with an indentation in the callouts and Review view.
Mark as Done
A toggle action that marks or unmarks a comment or comment thread as being done. It is also available for Tracked Changes that are displayed in a callout. When a comment or change is marked as done, the callout is grayed out and cannot be edited unless the action is toggled to the unmarked state. The action applies to the particular comment and all of its descendents. This is useful for marking comments or changes that have been addressed, leaving only those that still need some attention.
Accept Change
Accepts the tracked change, removes the callout, and moves to the next change. For an insertion change, it keeps the inserted text and for a deletion change, it removes the content from the document.
Reject Change
Rejects the tracked change, removes the callout, and moves to the next change. For an insertion change, it removes the inserted text and for a deletion change, it preserves the original content.
Comment Change
Opens a dialog box that allows you to add a comment to an existing Tracked Change. The comment will appear in a callout and a tooltip when hovering over the change. If the action is selected on an existing commented change, the dialog box will allow you to edit the comment.
Edit Reference
If the fragment that contains a callout is a reference, use this option to go to the reference and edit the callout.
Callouts Options
Select this option to open the Callouts preference page where you can configure various callout options.
Comment Callout Actions

The following options are available in the contextual menu of a comment callout:

Reply
Opens a dialog box that allows you to add a reply to a comment or Tracked Changes. When replying to a comment, the dialog box shows the entire conversation in the comment thread, starting with the first comment added in the particular thread, followed by all the replies. After replies are added to a comment thread, they are displayed with an indentation in the callouts and Review view.
Mark as Done
A toggle action that marks or unmarks a comment or comment thread as being done. It is also available for Tracked Changes that are displayed in a callout. When a comment or change is marked as done, the callout is grayed out and cannot be edited unless the action is toggled to the unmarked state. The action applies to the particular comment and all of its descendents. This is useful for marking comments or changes that have been addressed, leaving only those that still need some attention.
Show/Edit Comment
Opens a dialog box that displays the discussion thread and allows the current user to edit comments that do not have replies. If you are not the author who inserted the original comment, the dialog box just displays the comment without the possibility of editing it.
Remove Comment
Removes a selected comment. If you remove a comment that contains replies, all of the replies will also be removed.
Edit Reference
If the fragment that contains a callout is a reference, use this option to go to the reference and edit the callout.
Callouts Options
Select this option to open the Callouts preference page where you can configure various callout options.

Printing Callouts

When you print a document from Author mode, all callouts that you or other authors have added to the document are printed. For a preview of the document and its callouts, go to File > Print Preview.

Review View

The Review view is also useful for managing the information in callouts. In this view, changes and comments are presented in a compact form, in the order they appear in the document, and they are synchronized with the changes in the callouts. You can also search for specific changes or comments and it includes some filtering options (for example, you can filter it to only show certain types of edits or to only show edits for a particular author).

For more information, see Review View.

Resources

For more information about the Callouts support in Oxygen XML Author, see our video demonstration: