Understanding Non-Printing (NP) and Non-Selectable (NS) Text Tags in SpecLink Cloud

Overview

Listed in the Report Tags, NP (non-printing) and NS (non-selectable) tags allow for the exclusion of text from being printed or selected.  It's a good idea to have a basic understanding of Report Tags before diving into non-printing and non-selectable text.

Paragraphs tagged with the NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable) tags are paragraphs that do not print whether active or not in documents. (The only exception is the All Text Draft where paragraphs tagged NP or NS will print.) If these paragraphs are the sources of links, when the source paragraph is activated the links will still activate even though the source paragraph will not print. At a quick glance, these paragraphs are denoted by a dot pattern background.

This article details the following topics:

• Common uses for NP/NS tags
• Steps for applying NP/NS tags
• Common results when using NP/NS tags

Common uses for the NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable) tags:

Often, the NP and NS tags are used for creating inline notes and/or checklists.

Inline Notes

A paragraph(s) may be tagged as NP or NS for the purpose of entering "inline" notes within the body of the specification section. The NP / NS tags abide by the rules of the levels, so it's important to understand how levels work within SpecLink Cloud.

Checklists

A paragraph may be tagged as NP or NS for the purpose of creating checklists. There are two type of checklists:

1. Section Checklists - automate the activation of paragraphs within a section based on user selections.
2. Project Checklists - automate the activation of sections within a project based on user selections.

Steps to applying NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable) tags:

Follow the steps below to tag a paragraph as NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable):

1. From within a specification section, locate the paragraph that will be tagged NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable).
   
   
2. Click the Sequence Manager located on the left side of the editing window.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Tags link to access the Tags menu.
   
   
   
   The Tags menu will appear on the left side of the editing window...
   
   
   
   ...and the Tags column will appear in the specification section editing window:
   
   
   
   
4. Place the cursor where the NP/NS tag will be added.
   
   
   
   
5. Right-click to access the tags.
   
   
   
   
6. Scroll to find NP / NS or enter NP or NS into the search field and select it.
   
   
   
   
7. The paragraph has now been set to NS (non-selectable).
   
   

Common results when using the NP (non-printing) or NS (non-selectable) tags:

When the NP (non-printing) tag is applied to a paragraph, the following results are expected:

• The paragraph tagged NP will not print.
• A paragraph tagged NP that has "children" paragraphs, those paragraphs will not attain the tag, but will not print because their parent paragraph is tagged NP.
• When sequence 0000 - the section title is tagged NP, not only will the section not print, but neither will it be listed in the Table of Contents report.

When the NS (non-selectable) tag is applied to a paragraph, the following results are expected:

• The paragraph tagged NS can not be selected and will not print.
• A paragraph tagged NS that has "children" paragraphs, those paragraphs will not attain the tag, but will not be selectable or print because their parent paragraph is tagged NS. The attempt to select these children paragraphs will result in the blue dot.

In many scenarios, the paragraph set to NS may be linked to activate. Remember that paragraphs tagged NS will not print in documents.

Watch the video below to see NP and NS tags in action:

Learn More:

Tagging Basics
Create User Report Tags
Utilizing Master RIB Report Tags
Utilizing View Tags
Normal/Active View Toggle
Generating Individual Tag Reports