DITAToo Features

Want to see whether and how DITAToo can solve your needs? Send us an email at info@idtp.eu and we’ll be happy to arrange an online demo for you, answer your questions, and provide you with a free trial.

As a DITA CMS, DITAToo provides a straightforward, easy-to-use still powerful solution for sharing, reusing, managing, and publishing DITA content.

DITA Support

Use any DITA version, from DITA 1.1, 1.2 to 1.3.

  • Store specialized topics and maps in the repository – DITAToo correctly recognizes them.
  • Author content in any DITA-aware editor.
  • Convert MS Word documents to DITA using the built-in Word-to-DITA converter.
  • Upload subjectScheme maps to the repository.

Repository

  • Store content, including text, images, and multimedia, in a central database-driven repository.
  • Access the repository from remote computers.
  • Organize content in a folder structure.
  • Manage who can access the repository and what actions each user can perform.
  • Find topics you need using a metadata-based or full-text search.

Virtual Drive

  • Access the DITAToo content repository through Windows Explorer
  • Check-in/check-out files, view version history, and change the workflow state in Windows Explorer
  • Open files stored in the DITAToo content repository directly from any application

Tagging

  • Create a list of tags that content authors can use to tag files and projects.
  • Tag projects and filter them by tags.
  • Tag any files stored in the repository and search by tags.

Map Builder

  • Create and edit DITA maps from within DITAToo – no DITA editor is required.
  • Pick up topics you need and add them into any of the existing DITA maps or create a new one.
  • Create and edit relationship tables.
  • Upload DITA maps from your computer – the map structure and relationship tables are preserved.
  • If required, download a DITA map from DITAToo to your computer for local editing and publishing.

Link Management

  • Move files around the repository, rename files, and change the folder structure of the repository without worrying about broken links – DITAToo updates links automatically.
  • Get automatic warnings when deleting files which are currently used in projects or in other files.
  • Don’t worry about dependencies – when uploading or downloading files, DITAToo automatically detects linked files and uploads or downloads them all together.
  • See where each topic is reused.

Editing and Creating Topics

  • Specify an XML editor to be used for editing topics – DITAToo automatically checks out a topic and opens it in your editor.
  • Add links from a topic you are editing in a desktop XML editor to any file stored in the repository.
  • Create new topics from within DITAToo.

Publishing

  • Publish through the DITA Open Toolkit (DITA OT).
  • Publish to a wide variety of output formats, including PDF, HTML, Word, CHM, and Eclipse Help, from a single source.
  • Use your DITA OT customizations for publishing, as required.
  • Integrate a custom DITA OT plugin within a few minutes.
  • Specify conditional content to be included into each deliverable – DITAToo automatically generates .ditaval files.

Publishing Profiles

  • Store combinations of conditional attributes and their values as publishing profiles. A publishing profile defines the conditional content to be exposed in a deliverable.
  • When publishing a project, specify the content to be exposed by manually specifying values of conditional attributes or selecting a ready publishing profile.
  • Generate a DITAVAL file from a publishing profile for publishing outside DITAToo.
  • Download all files, including the map, topics, graphics, and DITAVAL files, to a local drive in a few clicks for publishing outside DITAToo.

Conversion from MS Word to DITA

  • Convert legacy content from MS Word 2003, 2007, and 2010 to DITA.
  • Convert even unstyled Word documents to valid DITA – no pre-cleanup is required.
  • Get MS Word content automaticaly converted to DITA concepts or tasks – DITAToo automatically identifies information types in your MS Word documents.

Conversion from Text Files to DITA

  • Convert Plain Text to DITA.
  • Specify the target DITA information type for each file.
  • Get numbered lists converted to either steps or ol depending on the information type you elected.

Versioning

  • Lock a file to prevent anyone else making changes when you are working on it.
  • Keep track of versions for each file.
  • Store comments on changes made in each version.
  • Branch a current version or older versions of a topic or an entire project.
  • Compare versions.

Translation Management

  • View to which languages each DITA topic is already translated
  • View translations to which languages are still missing
  • Receive a notification every time a DITA topic in the source language is updated and viewing translations in which languages need to be updated
  • View the list of topics included into a DITA map with the indication of the translation status of each of them
  • Preview the contents of a DITA topic in a selected language
  • Select a language in which you want to publish a DITA map
  • Receive a notification when a project that you want to publish includes non-translated topics
  • Search for translated, non-translated content, and content whose translations should be updated

Tight Integration with Adobe FrameMaker 11, 12, and 2015

  • Access the DITAToo content repository from within the FrameMaker user interface
  • Check-in/check-out files without leaving the FrameMaker environment
  • Create new folders in the DITAToo content repository directly from FrameMaker
  • Move and rename files in the DITAToo content repository from within FrameMaker while DITAToo updates all links automatically
  • Add links to files and insert images stored in the DITAToo content repository
  • See where each topic is used directly in FrameMaker

Release Management (available as a separate module)

  • Create a snapshot (known as baseline) of any project to freeze its state
  • Upload a translation to the latest version or to a baseline
  • Publish or download the latest version of the project or any baseline

Workflow Management (available as a separate module)

  • Create as many workflow states as you need
  • Define actions to be triggered (for example, sending a notification email) when a file
    enters this state
  • Define actions that cannot be done (for example, deleting a file) on the file while it is
    in this state
  • Move files to workflow states
  • Assign a file to a user
  • Search by workflow states and assignments

Watch demo videos to see DITAToo in action.