Clauses: Adding and Editing

Creating and Storing Clauses

   A 'clause' is the smallest component of a document assembly system. A clause is the building block of future documents. Properly constructed, they will allow you the infinite document assembly possibilities.

   Pathagoras stores clauses in a way quite unique from its competitors:

•Pathagoras saves clauses in standard Word folders

•Pathagoras saves clauses as standard Word text.

•You can edit your clauses using ordinary Word editing techniques.

•If Pathagoras were to 'disappear,' you could still find your clauses using ordinary Word navigation techniques.

•The tools and shortcuts that Pathagoras provides are intended to augment, not replace, Word's features.

   There are numerous (seven, to be exact) ways for you to add clauses to your document assembly books. A fuller discussion is found in the sub-parts that follow:

1.Manually: Simply save a new document to the folder. It is no more complex than that!

   Explanation: Pathagoras performs most of its essential tasks by dynamically reading the content of existing document folders, and reporting what it finds. If you add (let's say) a 21st document to a folder used for document assembly, and then activate the Clause Selection Screen, all 21 documents will display. We don't think anything could be easier.

   All of the more automated techniques 2 thru 7 below are variations of this theme. All that is happening when you invoke any of these processes is that Pathagoras will add a new document to the folder to which the book points. (The reason why you may wish to use one of the below techniques is to avoid having to remember the location of a specific book.)

2.Via Libraries & Books Screen: With the text you want to save on display, click the Document Assembly icon (which will display the Libraries & Books screen), select the appropriate Book and click the "Save to" button. Pathagoras displays the Term Works! screen where you can name the term and assign a subject. Click Next>> and you are done. It couldn't be easier.

3.Via Highlight & Add. Highlight text from any source. Press <Alt-G>. The Term Works! screen will appear. Provide a Name and a Subject for the new term. Point to the book (folder or glossary) into which you want the term saved. Nothing more.

4.Via a DropDown List: If a folder is displayed in a DropDown List, this method will be the easiest. Quickly add a term by highlighting the text and clicking the "Save Doc to Folder" element that appears at the bottom of the list.

5.Via SaveSmart: While SaveSmart is a document management tool, it works quite well in supporting the document assembly module. You will want to assign a folder into which you wish to save new documents as one of your SmartPaths. Once you have done that, you can easily save any text (whether a complete document or just a portion of a document, into the assigned SmartPath.

6.Via Instant Book. Take a complete document and place simple characters -- we like to use '(*)' -- to mark each place a new clause begins. Then let Pathagoras automatically dis-assemble the marked up document it into its component pieces. Optional: After the dis-assembly is complete, create different versions of some or all of the new clauses to reflect different circumstances. You will soon end up with a substantial system from which an author can select among a wide variety of choices. This technique is more fully discussed and illustrated in the separate pamphlet Document Disassembly.

7.Via Bulk Add: A variation of Instant Book. The initial mark-up is a bit more elaborate than Instant Book requires, but the results can provide a more functional book from the outset. This technique is more fully discussed and illustrated in the separate pamphlet Document Disassembly.

   Hopefully, as you read through this manual, you will see and understand that, with Pathagoras, adding a new clause to any book is as simple as composing text and saving that text into a Word folder. And editing the clause is nothing more than opening the document you saved and making the changes you want.

    Click on the Clauses: Adding and Editing button at the left (Table of Contents) for more information.