This screencast includes:
Creating a new SI/SSI
Inserting provisions (including definitions and combined numbering)
Deleting provisions
Copy/cut & paste
Promote/demote
Wrap/Unwrap
Drag & drop
Creating a new SI/SSI
To create a new SI/SSI project, click on the +New button at the top of your dashboard
Select the Type of document you want to produce and the Sub-type
Supply a title for your SI and the type of procedure it will be subject to.
Both of these can be updated later if anything changes
Click on ‘Create’ when ready
The Editor will open in a separate browser tab, containing the document template for the SI/SSI you have chose to create
This document will be available in read/write format to all other users in the same organisation as you
In my example, I selected a draft SI Regulations so I have the draft procedural rubric in the header of the document and ‘DRAFT’ appears in the banner.
The Editor is made up of
A Structure view on the left hand side which shows you the structure of your document as you build it up, which you can expand or collapse
The Editor view which is where you type and insert provisions
The right-hand panel which contains various tools which we will come to later
The upper tool bar which displays various menus containing editing functions which we will look at later, and finally
The breadcrumb which tells you the full context of an element where your cursor is placed.
Editing the preface will be handled in a separate screencast. This screencast will focus on drafting the provisions in your SI/SSI
Inserting provisions
To insert provisions into your document, place your cursor in the ‘body’ element and click ‘Enter’ to bring up the insert menu.
The insert menu will display all the elements you can insert into your document at this location.
I’m going to insert a regulation.
The cursor is ready for me to start typing into the heading element of the regulation
If you look at the Structure View, you will see the inserted regulation
If you look at the breadcrumb, you will see the full context of the element my cursor is in
To continue adding content to the regulation I can tab or click with my mouse button to move the cursor into the ‘text’ element ready for me to start typing.
I can continue to add further provisions into my SI/SSI, by clicking ‘Enter’ and selecting the next appropriate element.
Here I will insert a paragraph.
I can continue by adding sub-paragraphs.
To insert a paragraph with combined numbering, I must insert another paragraph into my empty paragraph which will automatically combine the numbering for me.
I can insert definitions which contain an inline element placeholder for the defined term. To add text before or after the defined term, I will use the arrow keys to move my cursor into the correct location before typing.
Deleting provisions
The key to successfully deleting provisions is to use the breadcrumb or the structure view to select the provision before deleting.
To delete this regulation, I can either click on ‘regulation’ in the breadcrumb
Or click on the regulation in the structure view
The provision will be highlighted in the Editor so that you can make sure you have selected the correct provision
Use the ‘delete’ key or backspace to delete the selected provision.
Copy/cut & paste
The breadcrumb and structure view also comes in handy when you need to copy or cut a provision and paste it into the same document or another one.
First select the provision you want to copy or cut using the breadcrumb or structure view
Then use right-click and select ‘copy element’ or ‘cut provision’ or use the universal keyboard short cut Ctrl + C or Ctrl + X.
Finally, place your cursor at the location you want to paste the provision and use the keyboard shortcut ctrl + v.
Sometimes it might be necessary to convert a sub-paragraph into a paragraph or vice versa and we call this promote and demote.
First I will demonstrate ‘promote’
Place your cursor in the provision you want to promote, and right-click and select ‘promote element’
In this example the provision is promoted first to being closing words for the list of paragraphs, and when I promoted it again, it became a paragraph higher up
Now I will demonstrate a ‘demote’ using the same provision
As my cursor is already in the provision I want to promote, I will right-click and this time select ‘demote element’
Wrap/unwrap
As the SI/SSI begins to build up, you might decide some grouping elements are required.
Grouping elements are things like parts, chapters, sections and sub-sections.
We use the term ‘wrap’ when inserting them as in XML terms they are wrapping around the provisions that they contain.
With that in mind, the first step will be to highlight the provisions you want to wrap in a grouping element.
The best way to select multiple sibling provisions is to use Ctrl + left click on the mouse in the Structure View to select more than one provision at a time.
Here I have selected 3 regulations that I want to wrap inside a Part.
In the Editor, right-click on the selected provisions and select “wrap element”.
Here are the grouping levels that you can use. I will select “Part”
The part is inserted and displayed in the Editor here.
I can see that it has been successfully inserted as the structure view shows the regulations are now inside the part
And the breadcrumb shows part in the hierarchy.
You can continue adding grouping levels inside Parts using the same method, for example to further wrap the provisions inside Chapters or Sections or Sub-sections.
Conversely, if you have a grouping element that you no longer need, you need to remove them by ‘unwrapping’ them.
To unwrap a grouping element, place your cursor in the selected grouping element in the Editor and right-click and select “Unwrap element”.
This will remove the grouping element the correct way from your document. A common mistake when users first use Lawmaker is to delete the grouping element. This will not correctly remove the element and will be highlighted as a validation error in the right-hand panel. More on that in another screencast.
You can insert and remove grouping elements inside schedules in exactly the same way.
Moving provisions around using the Structure view
It’s possible to move provisions around the document using the Structure View
You can move whole grouping levels, individual regulations or individual lower-level paragraphs.
First select the provision you wish to move. If it has child elements you need to make sure the provision is collapsed in the structure view before you use drag & drop.
Next press and hold the left mouse button and then move it to the desired location.
The green provisions indicate where you are allowed to move the provision to.
