NEWSLETTER

Product Q&A

All Products

Q. How do I customize my toolbar?
A. BSD applications enable you to configure the appearance of the toolbar using the Customize dialog box.
To customize the toolbar:
1. Choose View > Toolbars and choose Customize from the resulting menu. The Customize dialog box opens.
2. Click the Tools tab.  This tab shows all of the available tool commands in each category. The categories are derived from the application menus.
3. Select the Category of tools you want to work with. This changes the tools listed in the Tools area. To find out what a tool does, click on the name of the tool and then click the Description button.
4. To add a tool to a toolbar, drag the tool from the Tools area and drop it on any toolbar at the top of the BSD application window. Before you drop the tool, you will see a vertical line between the two existing buttons where your new tool will be placed.  To remove a tool from a toolbar, drag it from the toolbar and drop it on the Tools tab.
5. If you want to change other display options for the toolbars (for example, displaying larger icons), click the Options tab and make your selections.
6. Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

NOTE: These directions are for customizing existing toolbars. Reinstalling the current version or installing a new version of the application will remove your customization. You will need to customize your toolbars again after installing. You can also create a new toolbar for additional commands, by clicking the New button on the Toolbars tab. You can also add these tools to the menus.
Instead of dragging the tool to a toolbar, drag the tool to the menu you would like to place it in, hold your mouse over the menu and the menu will open. Then move the command to where you would like it listed.

Q. Is there a way I can have the software always open the last project I worked on?
A. Yes. Click Start, Programs, BSD SoftLink Products and then right-click the application. (Alternatively, right click on your shortcut.) Choose Properties and then click the Shortcut tab. Add a space and /OLP to the end of the Target line. Click Apply and then OK. Now your last project will be opened automatically when you open the application. This saves time when you are working on only one project for an extended period.

BSD SpecLink+

Q. How can I globally change the font in my specification?
A. Go to the Tools menu and select Customize Styles. Click the Fonts tab and click the Fonts button to the right of each level. You can change the Font, Style, and Size in this box. This will change the font for the text within each section. To change the font in the headers and footers, choose View | Show Header/Footer, highlight the header and footer text one line at a time and choose the font from the toolbar in the Customize Header/Footer dialog box.

Q. I want to email my project to someone who does not have the software. How can I do that?
A. You can email an individual section, a division, or the entire project. To do that, click the File menu and then select Print. From the Report Setup dialog box, select Document as your Report to Print, and select Section, Branch or Project as the Scope of Report. Then click the Export button on the right side of the dialog box. Select the folder where the files should be created. You will have an RTF (rich text format) file for each section. These can be emailed and/or opened in most word processors. If you have Adobe Acrobat Writer or Distiller installed, you can also create pdf files. From the Report Setup dialog box, change your default printer to Acrobat PDFWriter or Acrobat Distiller and print as normal. Select the folder where the files should be created.

Q. I’m thinking about making a checklist document that the project manager will go through to select what is included in a particular job. I will create links from those selections that will activate the appropriate sections in the job. The only problem I have is that the checklist will print when I print the whole project, and it will be listed in my automatic table of contents report. Is there any way to get around this?
A. You can avoid this problem by using Non-Printing Text. To add Non-Printing text to your project, just add new paragraphs and apply the NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable) tag to the paragraphs that should not print. You can apply the tags to individual paragraphs within sections to keep them from printing. Or, to keep an entire section from printing or being listed in SpecLink’s automatic table of contents, apply the NP tag to the title of the section in the Document panel. The NP tags will then be applied
automatically to the whole section.

Q. I want to add a new choice to a list of choices in a paragraph so that whenever a new project is made based on this project, the new choice will be available. How do I do it?
A. You can add choices to user-added or copied paragraphs. To edit an existing choice list in a master paragraph, copy the paragraph, by clicking in it and using the Copy and Paste commands. In the copied paragraph, place your cursor in the choice field and then from the Document menu, choose Choices,/Edit Choice. To avoid confusion about which paragraph to use, you can mark the master paragraph as excluded and add a project note to it explaining which paragraph to use instead. Alternatively, you can create links that will automatically exclude the master paragraph and include your modified version of the paragraph.

More questions? Contact BSD Technical Support:

• Toll Free: 800-266-7732
• In Atlanta: 404-365-9226
• Email: support@bsdsoftlink.com