Editing Wiki Pages Using Microsoft Word

This new feature allows you to edit your wikis in Microsoft Word. Simply click on Edit in Word and the wiki is automatically locked and the wiki is opened in an MS Word session. After editing, saving and closing MS Word, the wiki is automatically uploaded and unlocked for the next user. Headings, tables, links, bullet lists, and many symbols are automatically converted between Word and Wiki formats, so that you can either create them in Word, and have them upload into codeBeamer wikis, or edit them in MS Word.

The Edit in Word link is visible to all users, but it will only work for those users who have purchased a license. For more information on licensing, please see codeBeamer Licensing.

This feature is useful for document text updates using simple Wiki markup formatting. The conversion process takes a wiki, converts its format to RTF for Editing in Word, and then reconverts to wiki upon upload. Wiki offers a subset of all the features offered in Word, so many Word documents will not properly up-convert (when pasted into the Wiki's Edit in Word session, for example).

Edit in Word Usage Examples

To really see what's going on in the following examples, try selecting more... (above) and Wiki Markup View on this wiki, to see the actual contents of the wikis used for these examples. The regular wiki view comment (gray) boxes are also helpful, but if you are confused, the Wiki Markup View may help.

Forced Line Break

Hello
World!

To reproduce this in MS Word:

Use the Enter key to start new paragraphs.

Wiki Markup:

__Hello\\World!
__

Links

This is a link to the Codebeamer home page.

To reproduce this in MS Word:

1. Select some text.
2. Make right click on selection.
3. Click the Hyperlink option in the pop-up menu.

__This is a link to the [Codebeamer home page|http://codebeamer.com] home page.
__

Headings

1. Select some text.
2. Select Heading1, Heading2 or Heading3 style in the Styles section.

!!!Heading 1
!!Heading 2
!Heading 3

Text effects

Here is some bold, italic, and monospaced text.

To reproduce this in MS Word:

• For bold and italic: select some text and click Bold or Italic in the Font section.
• For monospaced: select some text and change the font to Courier.

Wiki Markup:

Here is some __bold__, ''italic'', and {{monospaced}} text

Bulleted list

• Item 1
  • Item 2
  • Item 3

To reproduce this in MS Word:
Select some text and click the Bulleted List icon in the Paragraph section.

Wiki Markup:

*Item 1
**Item 2
**Item 3

Numbered list

1. Item 1
   1. Item 2
   2. Item 3

To reproduce this in MS Word:
Select some text and click the Numbered List icon in the Paragraph section.

Wiki Markup:

#Item 1
##Item 2
##Item 3

Preformatted text

This is the first line.
 This is the second line with a space char in the first position.
  This is the last line with 2 space chars in the start positions.

To reproduce this in MS Word:
Create dotted border around some text paragraphs using Borders and Shading option in Paragraph section.

Wiki Markup: It uses three consecutive curly braces ({) to open a block, and three consecutive curly braces (}) to close a block.

Info boxes

To Reproduce this in MS Word:

1. Select some text
2. In the Paragraph section select Borders and Shading, and set solid border of the appropriate color: red for error box, yellow for warning box, blue for information box and gray for comment.

%%information
information box
%%

%%warning
warning box
%%

%%error
error box
%%

%%commentbox
comment box
%%

Tables

To reproduce this in MS Word: To create a new table switch to the Insert tab and select Table. After the table has been created, you can merge its cells by selecting them and clicking Merge Cells in the pop-up menu. To add a heading, simply fill the heading cells with any color.

Wiki Markup:

[{Table

||Table heading|<
|cell 1|cell 2
|cell 3|^

}]

Colored text

To Reproduce this in MS Word:
Select some text and use Font Color and Text Highlighting options in Font section to set text foreground and background color.

Wiki Markup:

%%(color:red)This is red text%% and %%(background-color:lime)this is text with lime background%%

Pictures

To Reproduce this in MS Word:
Choose Insert... Picture .... From File. When the picture is inserted, do not resize it. Any resizing should occur in the properties of the picture itself, as performed by an image editor. The upload/convert will attach the picture in the Properties .... Comments and Attachments.

For a step-by-step example of using Edit in Word to insert and upload pictures into your wiki, see Pictures in EiW.

Limitations of Editing in MS Word

Limitations inherent in this wiki-RTF-wiki double conversion include:

• MS Word pictures are automatically uploaded and inserted into the wikis, and vice versa. However, vector graphics (eg, graphics created in MS Word) are not supported. Pictures can also be separately uploaded to the CodeBeamer server and linked inline.  Pictures that are inserted in MS Word and then resized will not reflect the resizing when displayed in the wiki.  That is, the pictures may be too large or too small.
• Table of Contents: Use the Wiki markup plugin definition

   [{TableOfContents}] 

  , not the MS Word Table of Contents, as the MS Word Table of Contents will not import into the wiki.
• Similarly, complex Tables and other more complex MS Word constructions, that have wiki equivalents, should be defined in the MS Word document using wiki markup-type commands, or the simpler table commands as shown above.
• Symbols or uncommon fonts or formats: Testing has been limited to English and German with common symbols only. Problems may occur with uncommon fonts or symbols.
• Although the wiki converts to RTF, use copy and paste from other RTF files (into the Wiki in Edit in Word) with great caution. Very large RTF files (for example, RTF files that contain pictures) will not convert properly.
• Colors: a limited number of colors convert from RTF to wiki
• Font Sizes: relative font sizes are not converted, unless they are part of formatted markup-style headings.