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
- Move the insertion point to the location in your topic where you want to reference reuse content.
- On the Insert tab on the ribbon toolbar, click the Reuse Content command.
The library pane opens in the left side of the window.
- Navigate through the repository (library) folders to find the topic containing the reuse content you want to reference.
Note: You can navigate the repository by clicking on the folder icons to expand the tree structure, and clicking on the Back or Parent Folders icons.
- 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).
Figure 1. Select & Insert content for reuse from the preview pane
- Select the content to reference by clicking on the grey label.
Note: Reuse content elements must be valid in the context where they are referenced. For example, if the reuse content is a p element, you can reference that content only from a location where a p element is valid according to the XML schema.
The content you have selected is outlined in orange and the Insert command becomes activated.
- 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.
Note: To de-select the reuse content, click the X in the orange outline. You can exit the Reuse Content pane by clicking the X at the top.
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.)