Tips & Tricks
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Turn Revu into a Typewriter!
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Turn Revu into a Typewriter!
Have a “non-fillable” PDF form to fill out? While it is possible to create form fields, or to add text boxes, these take time and most likely aren’t worth the effort for one off uses. A simple solution is to use the “Typewriter” Tool. Once the tool is active you simply click where you want your text and type away!
You can find the Typewriter tool is a couple of spots:
1. On the Tools -> Markup dropdown
2. Look for the Typewriter tool icon (circle with the letter “A” in it) on your toolbar
3. Use the shortcut key “W”
@Doug McLean put it well this morning on MCR when he said “Why draw a rectangle to add text when you don’t have to?”
As a bonus trick if you have an original form that you need to fill out (fancy paper, certificate or such) scan the original, type the data in where you need it, copy your markups and “paste-in-place” them in a blank PDF. Load your original form into the printer and then print your markups onto the original form. Note that you may want to copy the form and run it through as a test to ensure everything lines up the way that you expect it to. 😎
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14 Replies
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Points: 13,512Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt III
@David Cutler I’ve just started looking at using the typewriter for adding details to take-offs instead of using text boxes. I’m hoping this will be easier for the end user and a bit more friendly for getting the information into Excel.
Still early days at the moment though.
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Points: 26,364Rank: UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt
Interested to see how you are using this @Vince – specifically how you tie the typewritten (or text box) information to a specific piece of work.
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Points: 13,512Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt III
@David Cutler – I’m looking to just use the typewriter to enter some details within a Space. I can then use that info within Power Query to allocate everything within that space to the overall project.
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Points: 26,364Rank: UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt
Using the Typewriter today I identified another Bonus Tip @Vince !
Similar to most tools in review the Typewriter is customizable – you can change font size, color, font (as noted by @troy-degroot ) background color, outline box color, etc. Once you use the tool it shows in your “recent tools” with your adjusted attributes. You can then re-use the tool with all of those settings over and over again without changing your default settings.
For a double extra bonus tip you can save the customized Typewriter as a custom tool in your toolbox.
For a triple extra bonus tip drag the customized typewriter up into your “My Tools” toolbox and establish a keyboard shortcut to activate the tool!
This could get interesting… 😎
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Points: 13,512Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt III
I’m discovering the same things @David Cutler !
I have saved “Plot ” to one of my toolboxes. That way when I add it to a Space, I can then just add the actually plot details. I will also create others for “Garages “, “Flats “, etc..
I’ve made the text quite large, background colour black and the font is white and bold – this will stand out from everything else on the page.
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Points: 26,364Rank: UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt
Love it when we find new uses for tools @Vince !
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Points: 23,485Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III
Great tips @David Cutler I use mine for this purpose every day. I used the font Tempus Sans ITC because it looks more like handwriting. It is so nice to click and type in each field rather than drawing a box and having the justification look goofy, only to have to move every markup. Thanks for sharing! 👍
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Points: 26,364Rank: UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt
Like most tools @troy-degroot the Typewriter isn’t perfect. If you need to stay in a certain area you need to press enter at the end of the line (just like a typewriter without the “ding”) where if you were using a text box it would auto return at the limits of the box. At the same time the Typewriter doesn’t have an outline as a default so you don’t need to reformat the text box to hide the line to keep things clean…
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Points: 4,855Rank: UC2 Brainery Orange Belt IIII
I have literally never used the typewriter. I guess I don’t have an issue with doing two clicks? Maybe I should give it a try and discover the wonder that is the typewriter tool?
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Points: 23,485Rank: UC2 Brainery Brown Belt III
it’s one of those tools that doesn’t seem worth using, easy to skip over. But that one extra click for a text box adds up. My biggest thing is the text lands in a predictable place which the text box is not great with.
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Points: 14,863Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt IIII
I always have new people add this to their toolbars when I give them their initial tutorial.
I have to say it’s a bit confusing to me that this isn’t a default tool.
If you go looking for it, its on the Text toolbar. Just check the box to add-
Points: 26,364Rank: UC2 Brainery Advanced Brown Belt
That’s a great idea to have on the “intro to Revu” list @Doug McLean ! We have someone who just started in our accounts payable team that I’ll have to show the tool to…
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Points: 14,863Rank: UC2 Brainery Blue Belt IIII
I use it to show how to add a tool to a toolbar.
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