Editing a Structured Layout Variation

You can edit a Structured layout variation using the same tools that were available to you when you created the Structured layout. To learn more about these tools, see Layout Editor Tools & Functionality.

While the process of editing a layout variation looks very similar to creating a Structured layout, some options and considerations are unique to editing layout variations:

• All of your layout’s variations share the same field list, but you do not need to draw bounding boxes for all of the layout’s fields in all of your layout variations.

• When editing the fields in a layout variation, your changes may or may not impact fields in other variations. 

We’ll review all of these scenarios in the sections below. 

Edit a Structured layout variation

To access the Layout Editor:

1. Go to Library > Layouts.

2. Find the layout whose variation you would like to edit, and click on its name.

3. On the layout details page, find the layout variation you would like to edit, and click on its name. 

You can make changes to your variation by following the steps in the sections below.

Activate an inactive field

Your layout may have fields that are part of your shared field list that you have not yet added to your layout variation. These fields that you have not yet added are inactive fields and appear under the Inactive items tab in the right-hand sidebar. You can add these fields to your variation by activating them:

1. Click Inactive items, and click on the field you would like to activate.

2. Click Activate fields ( ) in the toolbar.
   The field moves to the Active items list.

3. Draw a bounding box for the field.

4. If necessary, edit the field’s settings by following the steps in Edit a field’s settings below.

Activating an inactive field has no effect on other variations.

Deactivate an active field

Just as you can add a layout field to your variation by activating it, you can remove a field from your variation by deactivating it.

1. Click Active items, and click on the field you would like to deactivate.

2. Click Deactivate fields ( ) in the toolbar.

The field moves to the Inactive items list.

Deactivating an active field has no effect on other variations.

Add a new field 

If you would like to add a field to your variation that isn’t in the layout’s shared field list, you can add it just as you did when creating the Structured layout:

1. Draw a bounding box for the field.
   An Untitled Field box is added to the Active Items list.

2. In the Name text box, enter a name for your field.

3. Under Data Type, click on the data type that best describes your field’s data.

4. Change any of the field’s settings. 

   • To learn more about these settings, see the "Defining fields" section in Creating Structured Layouts.

When you add a new field to a variation that isn’t in the layout’s shared field list, the system adds the field to the shared field list and makes it available for use in other variations. If you open the Layout Editor for other variations in the layout, you will find the new field in the Inactive items list for those variations. 

Edit a field’s settings

You can edit any of the following settings without affecting other variations because they are variation-specific:

• The field’s bounding box

• Multiline

• Dropout

• Duplicate

If you change any of the settings below for a field, all variations will be affected, as the changes affect the shared field list:

• Name 

• Data Type

• Output Name

• Transcription Supervision

• Required

• Routing

Delete a field

If you want to completely remove a field from your layout’s shared field list, you can delete it.

1. Find the field you want to delete in the Active items or Inactive items list, and click on its name.

2. Click Delete ( ) in the toolbar.

If you click Undo (), the bounding box will reappear on the variation you just deleted it from, but it will not reappear on the other variations it was originally a part of.

Save your changes

• To commit your changes to the working version of the layout variation, click Apply Changes at the top of the page.

• To leave the Layout Editor without committing your changes, click the X in the upper-right corner of the page. 

  • You will still be able to commit your changes later by clicking Commit Changes on the layout’s details page. 

To match submitted pages to your layout variation, its layout must have at least one committed version, and the layout variation must be included in a live release. For more information about layout versions and creating releases, see What is a Layout Version?, Editing and Finalizing a Layout Version, and What is a Release?.