Promoting and demoting provisions

You can change a provision into another type of provision using promote and demote. If you want to change it into the next logical provision up a level, you promote it, e.g. changing a subsection into a section; if you want to move it down a level, you demote it e.g. changing a paragraph into a sub-paragraph. This is designed to be a quick way of changing a provision into a new type if required - the function is only available for certain provisions.

How to promote a provision

Place your cursor anywhere in the provision you wish to promote (e.g. in the num, heading or text element) and do one of the following:

use keyboard shortcut, press Alt+[ ,
from the right-click context menu in the Editor or Structure view, select Promote element, or
from the upper toolbar, select Tools>Promote element.

The selected provision will be promoted into the next valid provision.

When you promote a provision that has child elements (e.g. a paragraph containing sub-paragraphs), the child elements will also be promoted if it would be logical to do so (definitions and steps will stay the same).

Promoting the last in a list of paragraphs, sub-paragraphs or sub-sub-paragraphs will convert the provision into closing words as the first step, and then into the next provision up in the hierarchy as the second step.

Promoting the only subsection in a section or only paragraph in a Regulation or Article etc. (i.e. a provision with the number format (1)) is a quick way of removing the subsection/paragraph so you have an undivided section/regulation etc.

Provision types that can be promoted are: Bill subsections, SI paragraphs, paragraphs, sub-paragraphs, sub-sub-paragraphs, definitions and steps, and schedule sub-paragraphs.

How to demote a provision

Place your cursor anywhere in the provision you wish to demote and;

using keyboard shortcut, click Alt+] ,
from the right-click context menu, select Demote element,
from upper toolbar, select Tools>Demote element.

The selected provision will be demoted into the next valid provision. Lawmaker uses the context of the provision to work out whether it can be promoted and what to - that means that the feature can’t be used at the moment on the first provision in a quoted structure because there is no context.

When you demote a provision that has child elements (e.g. a paragraph containing sub-paragraphs), the child elements will also be demoted if it would be logical to do so (definitions and steps will stay the same).

Demote works for subsections, schedule sub-paragraphs, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs as long as there is another element of the same kind before it to ‘adopt’ the demoted provision as its child.

You can demote section/regulation text (into subsection/paragraph (1)), paragraphs, sub-paragraphs, definitions and steps, schedule paragraph text and schedule sub-paragraphs

The right-click context menu will show spelling suggestions as a priority if you right-click on a word which isn’t recognised (with red wavy underscore). In this instance, select Other actions in the menu to continue navigating to promote or demote element

Only valid provisions/elements can be demoted or promoted. If you select a provision/element that isn’t valid, the Editor will present an error message

See Promotion rules and Demotion rules for promotion and demotion rules which are dependent on the context/ancestry of the provision