Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

Notes

Notes are the main documentation feature you use to describe an element, diagram, feature or connector; in the documentation that Enterprise Architect generates, notes feature prominently. You can record and view notes on a modeling object using the Notes window.

Access    View | Notes   (Ctrl + Shift + 1)

Topics

Topic

Detail

See also

Usage

You use the Notes window to view and edit the documentation (notes) associated with elements, diagrams, attributes, operations and connectors, either from a diagram or from the Project Browser.

When you select an element, the note displayed changes to reflect the current selection; if you make changes to notes in this window, they are saved.

If you want to display the Notes information in a more readable layout, you can resize the window.

You can also format the notes text using the Notes toolbar at the top of the Notes window.

You can cut, copy, paste and delete text in the Notes window, or in any Notes or Description field that shows the Notes toolbar, using a right-click context menu; from the context menu, you can also select an option to spell-check a highlighted word.

You can also edit notes by double-clicking on an element or connector in a diagram or in the Project Browser, to open the Properties dialog; any formatting changes made in one display are reflected in the other.

On the Testing, Maintenance and Project Management windows, any descriptive, history, input or results text for a selected item is also displayed in the Notes window; you cannot edit this text in the Notes window.

 

Notes Toolbar

Glossary Entries

The Notes window or field also enables you to create a Project Glossary entry from text you have highlighted in the window or field.

To create the Glossary entry

•Highlight the notes text to use as the Glossary definition (if suitable text is available), and press ( Ctrl+C ) to copy it
•Highlight the text to use as the Glossary term, and right-click on it to display the context menu
•Select the Create | Glossary Definition menu option; the Glossary Detail dialog displays, with the selected term in the Term field
•If you have copied some definition text, paste it into the Meaning field;  otherwise type a suitable definition of the term in this field
•In the Type field, select the appropriate term type
•Click on the Apply button to save the new Glossary definition

 

The term displays in the Notes text as a roll-over hyperlink which, when you move the cursor over it, displays the Glossary definition of the term.

Having created a glossary definition anywhere else in the model, you can insert the glossary term in the text of the Notes window (or Notes panel of a dialog) as a rollover hyperlink to the definition.

 

Project Glossary

Glossary Detail

Inserting a Glossary term in a Notes Window
•In the Notes window, move the cursor to the point in the text at which to insert the glossary term
•Press ( Ctrl+Space ); the glossary term selection list displays
•Double-click on the term to insert in the Notes text; the term is inserted as a rollover hyperlink to the definition
 

 

Additional keyboard shortcuts
•Insert Date and Time (F5)
•Select line of text (F8)
•Spell check Notes text only (F7)
•Undo changes ( Ctrl+Z )
•Redo changes ( Ctrl+Y ) or ( Ctrl+Shift+Z )
•Copy ( Ctrl+C )
•Paste ( Ctrl+V )
•Cut ( Ctrl+X )

 

Any Note text appearing in the element Note compartments in diagrams is not formatted.