I have a need to create documents in modules, then insert or remove modules that aren't needed.

For example, if I were doing a proposal for a client on digital marketing services, my proposal may include:

-Content creation
-Copywriting
-SEO, etc

But not all modules would work for all clients. So I want to be able to switch off modules that aren't needed.

Google Docs or Word could work, but I would end up having to remove large chunks of text each time.

Years ago, while using Evernote, they used to let us publish our notes as books. I was just getting some books in the Evernote ready, when they pulled the feature from free users.

I have tried sharing notebooks on OneNote, but my clients seem to struggle with this.

But I would be open to one of the note-taking programs being an option if I can export it in a good format for clients.

Any thoughts?

Hi Garland.

Two suggestions:

1. Scrivener comes to mind: Add your blocks as notes, select the relevant note and then use the Compile feature to create a single document

2. Or use DocxManager (see https://docxmanager.com/features/combine-documents.html
Split your blocks into Docx files, create a new project, add the relevant files and merge them.

Hi Garland,

There a probably a bunch of ways that depend on how comfortable you are with different technologies. For instance, I have a modular setup for my CV, where I include different information and differently-focused versions of the same information depending on what job I am applying for. That is in latex, though, so it requires you to be au fait with that.

Ta,

Andrew

The google phrase would be 'document automation software' but you came here because you don't want to pay 500 bucks, right?

Provided that the ORDER will be fix and that's it just a question of "checked - not checked", you just need a list with the elements (as implied, in a fixed order), and then this list must allow for multi-select (i.e. with shift-mouseclick, you select several entries; ideally, this should also work for a (simple) tree, instead of only working for a flat list).

You can also do this with Autohotkey e.g. (with, e.g., another list in which you would store "typical" selections, which then you manually refine, i.e. you STORE selections = selection combos under a name there, and you trigger those from your second list, but before export, you check visually and select another element here, de-select another element there...), or then, without any scripting, but clicking 1-by-1 then, in one of the numerous (free or paid, around 10 to 25 bucks) "clip" managers (i.e. I don't know of any such clipboard manager which allows for preset combos). Some formatting is possible for both solutions.

And just another solution (free now), download 'Jot+ Notes' (well, we're on outlinersoftware.com, right?), make a (rather flat) tree, then "mark" the entries to be included (= in such, it's similar to the clip manager solution, scripting being ALWAYS better), then export the "marked" items ("unmarking" being possible in bulk but then, advantage over the clip manager solution: Instead of bulk "unmarking", you could leave alone the "standard" elements, just manually "unmark" (= 1-click if set to 1-key) the elements NOT needed in the current proposal. Even more formatting being possible with the Jot+ Notes solution.

Similar and probably even more for Excel where you could have a (formatted) text column, and then even several, different "typical case" trigger columns, with preset "x" or "1" or whatever (instead of null) content, and then even another, additional trigger columns, for additional "x" or "1" or whatever Y/N codes, or even better, that column being empty in that row for "as the code in the respective standard column", but with a "0" for "standard column but without the "plus sign" in this row, and a "1" for "additional to the standard row (which is empty then), "do it".

Then, you will need to create some formula:

"Export as said in column trigger1/1/2...9 (row: 0 (or empty) or "1" or "x") (since you will have SEVERAL standard situations to choose from), plus take into account the column "special": consider the row entry in the trigger column as 0 if there's a 0 here, and consider the row entry in the trigger column as 1 even if it's empty".

Then, you'd have some macro triggering the export, from use case 1...9, and taking into account your "specifics" entered into the "special/individual/specific/whatever" column.

When I speak of formatting, I just mean "stable" formatting; it's only by scripting (AHK or similar) that you would be able to do conditional formatting.

"Easiest" solution, rent some "business proposal" software (I just recently came across some of these in an IT consumer magazine), for about 15 bucks a months.

Realistically, you should look into Jot, and if you don't like it, review the different clip managers for your purpose.

(I do NOT know the details of the above-mentioned document automation softwares but I'm quite sure that my recent remark re TimelineMaker Pro here will apply, too: You do NOT pay for additional functionality, but for "ease of use"; some hours - less than half a day - with scripting (AHK in my case, for your current requirement; or then Excel, a much superior timeline production software than the paid and "specialized" one mentioned) will produce better results, incl. conditional order - which would be not so evident in Excel e.g.)

Some Excel detail: To do this better, column 1 would be the formatted text, column 2 would be the "current choice" one, then an empty column, then columns 4...n for pre-sets.

You would have 2 macros, the first one to retrieve the preset, e.g. control-5 would empty column 2 and fill it with preset 5, i.e. would replicate column 5's contents into column 2. From then on, you would manually change the contents in column 2. Macro 2 would then do the export of the formatted contents of column 1, according to the current setting of column 2.

(Excel cell formatting allows for formatting sub-strings, i.e. just some words within the cell's text.)

Even better: Conditional formatting, i.e. not an additional column 2, but control-n would just "update" the cell background coloring of the text column 1, i.e. setting all cells to default = white, then set the "active" cells (according to preset n) to background yellow or something. From then on, you would click onto a cell, in order to "invert" the selection (white to yellow and vice versa). Macro 2 would then do the export of all "yellow" cells.

Column 1 = short titles, column 2 = formatted texts, NO word wrap - since you wouldn't want to do more scrolling than absolutely necessary.

And Excel has got an outliner function, i.e. you could normally hide normally-unwanted sub-trees within that "list".

Garland Coulson wrote:

I have a need to create documents in modules, then insert or remove modules that aren't needed.

(...)

But not all modules would work for all clients. So I want to be able to switch off modules that aren't needed.

(...)

But I would be open to one of the note-taking programs being an option if I can export it in a good format for clients.

Hi,

InfoQube can easily do this. You can re-use / show / hide blocks of items and easily export with formatting to Word or any app supporting HTML. Content can be in the outline and / or in the rich-text doc pane. Export combines these using a set of export options.

To select what blocks are included in a given document, IQ has 2 features to help you, both work well: (1) column/field filtering or (2) multiple parents.

Details here: https://infoqubeim.com/drupal5/?q=node/4335

Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer

22111 wrote:

The google phrase would be 'document automation software' but you came
here because you don't want to pay 500 bucks, right?

I currently pay hundreds of dollars a month in software subscriptions for my business, so not just looking for freebies. But I am thinking small-business level rather than enterprise level. :)

I did look at Jot+ but it doesn't handle images according to the site. I am not a programmer so I don't do a lot of scripting, but I am ok at excel. I think I am also looking for a simple solution for my students as well. The proposal software idea is a good one and I did purchase one to try, but looking for something simpler for my students.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Hi Garland.

Two suggestions:

1. Scrivener comes to mind: Add your blocks as notes, select the
relevant note and then use the Compile feature to create a single
document

2. Or use DocxManager (see
https://docxmanager.com/features/combine-documents.html
Split your blocks into Docx files, create a new project, add the
relevant files and merge them.

I did try Scrivener in the past, but that was more for book writing. Hadn't thought of it for this use. I can take another look at it. Thanks for suggesting DocxManager. I will look at that one as well.

I think Frank’s suggestion is a good one: Scrivener (or another writing tool, such as Ulysses for macOS/iOS) can effectively add as a “copy block” editor.

But you could also use Microsoft Word for this, by setting up templates with appropriate fields in them. I hasten to add that I’m not a Word expert (I cordially loathe it, actually, after years of wrestling with its vagaries), but there’s no question that:

a) it’s in very, very widespread use (which is why I still use it) and
b) it’s a very powerful program (and platform, effectively).

By combining it with Excel, you could create compound documents fed by a back-end database (in Excel).

I have a suspicion you could probably do the same thing in the Apple-sphere, using what used to be called iWorks (in this case Pages, Numbers, or possibly just Numbers alone, using its “form” function). But again, I’m not a specialist in this kind of application.

Our own admin database puts together a wide variety of compound documents from multiple FileMaker tables, but FileMaker is now so expensive I don’t generally recommend it to anybody. There’s no denying it’s powerful, however.

Cheers,
Bill

Ah, I see 22111 is also suggesting Excel as a back-end, albeit feeding through Jot+ – personally, I think Word would probably be more practical (not that I’ve got anything against Jot).

But it would be worth checking out InfoQube, too. Despite the rather mind-boggling array of features, it’s perfectly possible to set up InfoQube in a very simple, user-friendly layout, and it does support copious formatting options.

Heh, I see there are loads of enterprise-level “content composers”, most of which are way outside the price brackets appropriate for SME users. Interesting, but also frustrating, because surely this is a potentially huge market niche.

Having said that, you might want to take a closer look at Ninox, a business-oriented database platform that has become, IMHO, the best alternative to FileMaker Pro for SMEs. More info on https://ninox.com/en (they offer hosted, in-house server, or individual desktop applications, as well as mobile versions).

Cheers,
Bill

Good food for thought here. I had a fling with Mellel, but couldn't set Nisus aside because I need mail merge. Every once in a while I'd cast around for a stand-alone mail merge utility but nothing ever jumped out.

There is a docx project for Python. Hmmm... Possibilities...

Yes, I like Mellel, but never find myself using it. Nisus I’ve looked at, but it’s big and complex and again, would I use it enough?

I did use SoftMaker quite a lot (German MS-Office alternative), and it’s much cheaper than MS-Office. But I had issues with the last-but-one version and stopped using it. I really ought to take another look.

And then, of course, there’s the massively powerful Papyrus (Author) (https://www.papyrusauthor.com I’ve been watching this heavyweight Scrivener/Word-whacker for a while, and after taking my eye off the ball for a while, am now delighted to find that it’s now available in English (it was only available in German before). I’ve no idea how appropriate it would be for the use case described here, but I intend to find out!

Cheers!
Bill

iA writer (markdown) has transclusion. Write the blocks you need, then assemble file(s) with reference to whatever blocks you like. When viewed the resulting markdown file will have the referenced files within it. Marked is a markdown processor and has tranclusion as well, but it is Mac only. Scrivener as other have mentioned is another excellent choice for selectively including/excluding text.

Wow - I just got that to work. I tried it and got nothing, as I had in the past, then I tried to export it to PDF and got a warning transcluded files have to be in the library.

Fortunately, since I avoid cloud storage for creative work, you can drag a local folder to the locations area in the library and transclusion works from that.

Cool deal!

nirans@gmail.com wrote:

iA writer (markdown) has transclusion. Write the blocks you need, then
assemble file(s) with reference to whatever blocks you like.

That's great. Thanks. I didn't realize that transclusion is supported.

The transclusion feature has a quirk or two, but I don't think they are too bad.

It doesn't seem to like folders and sub-folders in the Locations or Favorites areas.

In any case, you have to use the iA Writer library path, which you can get by right clicking on an item and using Copy->Copy Library Path, for transclusion.

Franz Grieser wrote:

nirans@gmail.com wrote:
>iA writer (markdown) has transclusion. Write the blocks you need, then
>assemble file(s) with reference to whatever blocks you like.

That's great. Thanks. I didn't realize that transclusion is supported.

Amontillado wrote:

The transclusion feature has a quirk or two, but I don't think they are
too bad.

It doesn't seem to like folders and sub-folders in the Locations or
Favorites areas.

In any case, you have to use the iA Writer library path, which you can
get by right clicking on an item and using Copy->Copy Library Path, for
transclusion.

In the Windows version, I cannot find the Copy->Copy Library Path command. :-(
Right now, having all the files in the same folder does the trick for me (I use it only once in a while so it's not a big thing for me).

I use a Mac. If I right-click on an entry in the Library I get a context menu that includes "Copy >".

Hover on Copy and I get another menu with different forms of copy, including copy library path.

Not sure how it looks in Windows - good luck!

In the Windows version, I cannot find the Copy->Copy Library Path
command. :-(
Right now, having all the files in the same folder does the trick for me
(I use it only once in a while so it's not a big thing for me).

I hadn't been aware pics also should be included, don't know how that could done with Excel - my Excel and Jot+ hints were independent from each other (also, Jot+ does work with ANSI, so no Russian, Arabian, Chinese, etc. chars). I think that some suggestions here leave out an aspect which would be important for me (hence my Excel, Jot+ or even a clipboard manager suggestions, again: didn't of pics though): the FAST gathering of the elements to be combined for every individual proposal, i.e. "simili-bulk processing readiness".

Some clipboard manager may be able to work even with a mixture of text and pics, so would probably also be UltraRecall or some other more elaborate outliner (IQ probably, mentioned above); it would be important that the tool allows for multiple selection of non-contiguous items, and then for grouped export of that compound (which Jot+ would do, didn't try its competitors for this task).

My extensive Excel suggestion was borne out of the same idea to get each proposal / whatever such combining task FAST, since I suppose (without knowing the situation) that there will be a group of more-or-less standard proposals, to be then "fine-tuned" somewhat, and the "outliner" suggestions (incl. Jot+) all start from a slightly other situation: That there would only be ONE "base" proposal which then would be fine-tuned for each proposal, or to say it the other way round: First choosing the relevant base proposal, out of several, then fine-tuning that, would be much less work (i.e. "clicking it all together"), and be much less error-prone, too, than having to do heavy clicking, each time, within just ONE tree (i.e. one base containing ALL elements, incl. the irrelevant ones for a certain base situation), in an outliner. There, you would then need several sub-trees, partly with clones, then "click together" the elements in the different subtrees.

Since cloning would be very helpful then, in order to avoid de-sync later on (of identical elements copied to several subtrees), UR/IQ would be preferable indeed then - UR at least does NOT allow to also see the begin of the text/content of every element at the same time together with the respective item titles, all at once, in order to better check if the selection is ok in its whole, whilst in Excel (or an Excel clone), that is possible indeed (explained above), so if you can resolve the pic problem (which should be solvable in Excel though), all you need are two macros, and then some tool to print out / export from file or from clipboard (i.e. the Excel output), and for "clicking together" and for "checking if ok", your Excel table (as explained above) should be the most neat solution.

And, in real life, the complete output of this would NOT be then printed / used "as is", but be inserted into a Word or other document, with the addressee's name/address and all, so clipboard output would be the actual choice here, the target document creation possibly half-automated (prospect's data would come from a db).

Of course, and even before the "clicking together" of the elements, it should be assured that the right prospect gets the right proposal. Thus, you would have that data, to be included into the target document, and also and especially the prospect data from which you infer WHAT proposal they will get, in a second window on your screen, while, in Excel (or wherever), you compose the "body" of the proposal, from the relevant elements. Which will then be 3 tools in all - since in the Word (or other) target element, the "other prospect data" will not be included -, albeit that target tool being able to work in the background, i.e. no visual checking should be necessary there anymore, once it's all set up: On-screen, two windows would thus be sufficient: prospect data source and proposal elements "list".

Your students will probably have got Excel anyway, in their majority (since it's the most widely available "all"-in-one solution for students et al.), and if you have them do the necessary macros, I'd be interested in those. Since the Excel solution for your task would also be the solution of choice for many other use cases implying "clicking together" elements for common output; up to 12 or 15 different "base cases" (here: base proposals), it should be quite neat indeed, again: because it's fast AND gives a complete overview (title PLUS start of text/content of each paragraph or similar) of the result, WITHOUT having to check the full-text output, and that, as said, seems to be an important criterion to me.

Amontillado wrote:

I use a Mac. If I right-click on an entry in the Library I get a context
menu that includes "Copy >".

Hover on Copy and I get another menu with different forms of copy,
including copy library path.

Strange, there is no Copy command in the context menu neither in NotebooksApp 1.4 nor in the current 2.2 version on my Macbook.
But there is a command called "PDF erstellen" (Create PDF) that combines the notes I selected before and writes them into one PDF file. In the Windows version, there is no such command :-(

In Excel, it should also be possible to export from 2 adjacent columns, which would be of interest in order to better intercalate "personalized" text bits into the "standard" ones.

column 1 = title, column 2 = text begin of the snippet from column 5, 6, 7..., column 3 = free for additional texts right after the snippet in column 2 of the same row.

This way, those "additions" would be VISIBLE (with their first words at least) when creating the "thing" (commercial offering or whatever), which would not be the case if you added them (which would be technically possible of course) after the respective text in column 2.

From a technical POV, it should be possible to just "activate" the cell in column 2, and then, whenever in column 2 the cell is activated AND there is text in the same row in column 3, too, that text would be inserted, in export, right after the column 2 text, and then "back to column 2", etc.

Generally speaking, it's a little unfortunate that in Excel, you only (?) can switch between "no wordwrap" which means "just 1 line of text being visible in the cell" and "wordwrap" which means ALL lines of text being visible in the cell", and which is certainly not wanted since it would ask for tremendous vertical scrolling; an ideal solution would be "cell height: 2 lines", so that more of the (often much longer) text is visible, but without too much scrolling.

Independently of this observation, it's always recommended to visually distinguish standard (column 2) and personalized text bits (by putting them into column 3), AND to also insert the latter in-between the former, and not only before and after the standardized text body, for obvious customer relationship reasons, and even when that's not strictly necessary from a purely technical POV.