Tag: formal documents

Formal documents are simply an alternative means of using a document structure to generate a document. The principal effect is that a formal document has special significance to the project. Identified by its name, issue, reference, and similar details, a particular formal document can only be generated once. This document generation effectively produces a master which is preserved in the PDB and from which copies can be obtained, for example to be printed, at any time thereafter.

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How to Delete Source/Formal Documents

Deleting Source Document Versions

Source document versions can be deleted from the Project sidebar, the same way as regular items. When you delete a source document version, all cross references (source statements) to the captured items are also deleted. Previous versions of the source document and their cross references (source statements) are NOT removed.

Dialog shown when deleting source document versions
Delete Items Dialog

WorkBench only shows the most recent version of a source document. So for example, if you were to delete version 4 of a source document, then version 3 will now be the latest version and will be shown in the Project sidebar.

If you delete version 1 of a source document, then the source document is unregistered and deleted from the PDB altogether.

For further information on how to delete source document versions please click here.

Deleting Formal Documents

Deleting formal documents is similar to deleting standard Cradle items.

When a version of a formal document is deleted, Cradle will:

  • Delete the Word document stored inside the formal document
  • Remove the formal document
  • Delete the records that associate specific item instances with that version of that formal document

For further information on how to delete formal documents read the Cradle help.

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How to publish formal project documents

Publish a Formal Document

A formal document is a document with special significance to you. When you publish a formal document, it appears in the ‘formal documents’ list in the UI. You can open the formal document in Word, compare it to other formal documents and other versions of the same formal document, and see the items that were published inside it. You can select items and see in which formal documents they have been published, so if the items change, you know which formal documents to re-issue.

When you publish a document from Document Publisher, you choose to publish it, or to publish it as a ‘formal document’. You use the same template in both cases. When you publish your template as a formal document, you can:

  • Specify a name to identify the formal document
  • Specify an issue (eg Draft A), issue date (eg 20160102) and a reference (eg ABC/DEF001-01) unique across all formal documents.

You can use these values inside the template, for example so they appear on the cover page. When Document Publisher publishes a formal document, uses the template in the same way as when it is published as a normal document, but also:

  • Updates the ‘document register’ that records all versions of all formal and source documents
  • Saves the formal document in the database
  • Records the instances (versions etc) of all items published in that version of the formal document

A new formal document is version 1. Later, you can publish a new version of that same document, which will be version 2, and so on.

There is a summary of this in the white paper here:
https://www.threesl.com/downloads/download.php?version=v7.1&section=whitepapers&filename=ra00102-Document_Management.pdf

Publish a Formal Document
Publish a Formal Document
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Avoid Problems Comparing Versions of Formal Documents

Most Cradle users publish documents. Many users publish formal documents. When a formal document is published, Cradle:

– Increments a version number for that document, each formal document can exist in many versions
– Keeps a permanent copy of the document in the database
– Updates a register of formal documents with the title, issue, issue date and reference of the new version of the formal document
– Keeps a record of which item instances have been published in that version of that document, so if an item is to be changed, you can see the documents where it has been published so you know which formal documents need to be reissued

You can compare versions of formal documents. This uses Word’s document compare feature that shows the changes between the formal document versions with change bars, underlined and strikethrough text.

But, Word has a problem comparing large and/or complex tables in such documents. This problem affects Word 2007, 2010, 2013 and, we suspect, 2016. You will see the problem as a small dialog with the message ‘Word was unable to compare the documents’.

There is a solution to this problem that works for Word 2007, 2010, 2013 and, we expect, 2016. The solution is to create a new key in your definitions in the Windows registry. You may be able to edit the registry, or it may be limited to your IT. Be careful if you edit the registry as you can seriously damage Windows.

The solution is:

– Start regedit, for example, press Windows+R, enter: regedit and click OK
– Find the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<office version>\Word\Options
Where <office version> is 12.0 for 2007, 14.0 for 2010, or 15.0 for 2013
– Select: Edit -> New, and choose: DWORD (32-bit) value
– Enter the name for the new key: DocCompareLargeTables
– In the regedit UI, select the new key, right click, choose Modify, enter the value: 1 and click OK
– Close regedit

We hope that this is helpful!

Cradle Document Publisher