Help > Authoring > Fundamental Tasks > Understanding the Edit Window > The Edit Window Components > The Edit Window
  
The Edit Window
The Edit window is the main working area for creating and editing documents. At the top of this window is the title bar. Below it is the menu bar listing available menus. Below the menu bar is the optional toolbar. The scroll bar moves you through the document. At the bottom of the Edit window is the status bar.
Title bar — The title bar displays the name of the product you are using and the name of the document currently in the Edit window. If you have modified any document styles, the name of the active stylesheet with an (application), (local), (document), or (new) suffix also appears.
Menu bar — The menu bar displays the names of menus, each of which lists available menu items and editing functions. Click on a menu to open it. Menus and toolbar button functions can be modified and customized.
Toolbar — The toolbar displays a set of command buttons referred to as toolbar buttons or icon buttons. These buttons offer a fast way to choose some menu operations without using the menus or keyboard shortcuts. To choose a toolbar button, put the pointer on the button and press the LEFT mouse button. To choose a toolbar pulldown list item, click on the list down arrow, then choose the list item.
Toolbar button functions can be remapped and customized (although they cannot be renamed). If customized, the toolbar buttons illustrated in this online help system may differ from those available to you.
Scroll bar — The vertical scroll bar is the long bar on the right side of the Edit window or Document Map. The horizontal scroll bar is below. Moving the small box in the scroll bar or clicking on the up or down/left or right arrows moves you up and down or left and right through a document. Clicking on the scroll bar outside of the small box will move you down or over one screen.
Split bar — The split bar is the divider that separates the two panes of the Edit window when you are using a split view. In default mode, the window is split into two side-by-side panes separated by the vertical split bar. You can also split the Edit window in a top-bottom configuration with the horizontal split bar separating the panes. The split bar can be moved by dragging it with the mouse to increase or decrease the size of the panes.
Edit window — The large, open part of the Edit window is where you enter text and insert markup tags. The cursor must be inside this area to enter text. You can change the way tags are displayed in the Edit window by selecting full, partial, or hide tags from the View menu. The edit window isn't a true “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) window, but rather provides an interpreted display of your document including elements.
Status bar — The status bar is located below the Edit window. It shows status messages on the left side of the window and format status updates in the boxes on the right side of the window. Clicking the mouse button in the Edit window clears the status bar of status messages.
Table 2. Document Status Bar
Document Status Bar
TRK
Change tracking is on. Choose Tools > Change Tracking > Track Changes to turn this mode on and off.
EXT
Document is in extend selection mode. Use F8 repeatedly to extend your selection to progressively larger structures in your document.
OVR
Overwrite mode is enabled. Use Insert to turn this mode on and off.
READ
Document is read-only.
MOD
Document has been modified since it was last saved.
INC
Document is incomplete. Select Check completeness to display document structures that may be missing.
CAP
Use Caps Lock to turn this mode on and off.
NUM
Use Num Lock to turn this mode on and off.
Cursor — The cursor indicates your position in the Edit window. It marks the location where text and markup will be inserted in the Edit window. To move the cursor, use the arrow keys or point and click the LEFT mouse button.
Pointer — The pointer positions the cursor and points to specific locations on the screen. The mouse moves the pointer.
Path component separator — The path component separator, or file separator, is a symbol that separates directory names in a file or directory path name. The symbol used to separate directory names in the path name is a backslash (\). Pathnames entered on the command line can use either a forward slash or backslash as a path name component separator.
Path list separator — The path list separator symbol used on Windows platform is a semicolon (;).