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Inserting Reuse Content (Conrefs)

Once you have defined content that can be reused (typically, by defining the ID attribute for particular elements in a topic), you can reference that content from other topics.

Before you begin

You must understand the DITA concept of a conref and know how to identify elements (insert IDs) to mark them for reuse.

Procedure

  1. Move the insertion point to the location in your topic where you want to reference reuse content.
  2. On the Insert tab on the ribbon toolbar, click the Reuse Content command.

    The library pane opens in the left side of the window.

  3. Navigate through the repository (library) folders to find the topic containing the reuse content you want to reference.
  4. Click the topic to preview the reuse elements in that topic.

    The topic displays in a preview pane with elements you can reference. The content that is available for reuse is indicated with the element type in a grey label (for example, a "p" for a paragraph element).

    Select, Preview and Insert Reuse Content

    Figure 1. Select & Insert content for reuse from the preview pane

  5. Select the content to reference by clicking on the grey label.

    The content you have selected is outlined in orange and the Insert command becomes activated.

  6. If this is the content you wish to reference, click the Insert command to insert the reference to the content at the insertion point in the topic.

    If you insert the content, it appears in the WYSIWYG view highlighted in yellow in the topic. (In the XML view, the content appears as an element with a conref attribute specified.)