Cover Page in SpecsIntact, and Automatic Blank Pages

My top two favorite features in the new SpecsIntact 5.0.0.98:

Cover Page: Right-click a Job in Available Projects, click options, and click the Cover Page tab. Very nice, now SpecsIntact can automatically add a cover page to project manuals. Ideally would like it to handle multiple volumes.

Blank Pages: You can add blank pages automatically for double-sided printing. If you are like me you have been adding these manually so each page of a spec section begins on a right-facing page because it is just weird to open one up and see it start on the left page, like if a chapter in a book started that way. If you're really like me you have even developed methods to help automate this, but nothing is quite 100% automatic. Well, now in SpecsIntact it has a checkbox in Print/Publish, Options, Insert blank pages for double-sided printing... HOORAY! Some testing is still warranted, as I am not sure if it works perfectly either, but they are headed in the right direction. For example, there should be a blank page right after the cover page, but there was none. Maybe time to test it out some more when not on a deadline or 3, and report any anomalies to their very responsive tech support group. Feel free to comment if you have found it to work well or not well. Also, does anyone else ever get repeated errors when trying to PDF the spec sections?

SpecsIntact 5.0.0

Many new features in this new version of SI!

First of all, it sounds like a very good idea to uninstall the previous version before installing this version.

It is good to always look over the new features list. From a previous update, one of my clients pointed out to me new features I did not know about for exporting the submittal register, so now I'm going to make sure I do not miss out on any new developments, by taking a closer look at the Readme.txt file. Here are a few of my favorites this time:

• New printer driver for SpecsIntact PDF printer. I'm hoping this solves some recurring error messages I have struggled with. (Will note in the comments under this post.)

• Drag and Drop from SpecsIntact Explorer to Desktop, Windows Explorer or Other Applications, including an Outlook E-mail message.

• Optionally Redline when Tailoring in the SI Explorer. (I'm super excited about this one, because some agencies require all the edits to be redlined.) Select the option to 'Use Revisions' when tailoring to enable this feature.

• SpecsIntact now sorts Reference Identifiers (RIDs) in natural, alphanumeric order, e.g. NFPA 70 appears before NFPA 101 because 70 is a lower number than 101.

• Blank pages for double-sided printing!

Many more.

https://specsintact.ksc.nasa.gov/PDF/Newsletters/2019-03SpecsIntactNewsletter.pdf

https://specsintact.ksc.nasa.gov/PDF/Release%20Notes/Readme.pdf

Don't manually delete unused references

It is not necessary to manually delete unused References. SpecsIntact will do this automatically when you Print/Process the Sections, as long as you have the References checkbox turned on (it is by default) in the Reconcile box. The changes are saved in the processed and printed files, not the .SEC files (that specs themselves). This is not a new feature, but I have noticed some people were unaware of it and doing all this tedious work!

New "Navigate" pane, and other exciting enhancements - SI BETA 4.5.3

(as always, click heading or 'read more' link for the full post, this is just a summary.) If you use SpecsIntact very much and are interested in trying a very cool new release before it get pushed out in 2015, this one is really worth taking a look at. SEE ALL NOTES BEFORE USING, AND EMAIL SUPPORT TO SIGN UP FOR INTERIM UPDATES.

My favorite new feature is the "Navigate" pane.

Notes from the developers:

SI Tip of the Day: Repeatedly double-clicking expands selection true to XML

SpecsIntact users, you've got to try this out, if you haven't stumbled onto it already.

After you double-click once to select a word, try double-clicking again. And again. And again. What you will see is that your selection expands, to each higher level in the XML structure of the document. This is an easy way to then delete things that don't apply to your project, without breaking the XML structure.

One double-click, for example with title (TTL) tags.


And another, selects the whole title.


Again, selects the whole subpart.


Hit the delete key.


Test: Alt, t, v, file is valid.



Or you could keep double-clicking to select the next higher nesting subpart, etc., etc.



(Be aware if your project's governing district has rules like using the word OMITTED / Omitted for deleted items that affect subsequent numbering, that you can't just delete, so this feature cannot always be used for a District with such a rule, e.g. Savannah. But for everyone else, and for any paragraphs whose deletions do not affect subsequent numbering....WOOHOOO!!!, this is a great feature I did not know about until reading the fine print in 09 06 90.)

SI Tip of the Day: Easy way to undelete

If you want to undelete something, often the easiest way is to just delete the tag.

You have to have tags turned on. You have to have Revisions tracking turned off.


Then you can delete any beginning or ending DEL tag with the backspace or the delete key, to undelete the struck text.

SI Tip of the Day: Shift+Delete Keystroke to Delete Blocks of Text

TIP: A little-known keystroke Shift+Delete can be used when your cursor is at beginning of an XML tag such as SPT, TXT, LST, ITM, to instantly and correctly delete everything enclosed by the start tag and its associated end tag.

Screenshots - Before:

After:

Still a good idea to use Alt, T, V to check validity. 

AND BE AWARE that any nested subparts will also be deleted if you delete a parent SPT tag and all that is within it using Shift+Delete.

(This information is found in the built-in help system, under SpecsIntact Editor > Using the SI Editor > Tips & Techniques. Along with a lot of other good tips & techniques ;)