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Status Submitted
Workspace IBM Engineering - Lifecycle Optimization Publishing
Categories Document Studio
Created by Guest
Created on Oct 1, 2026

RELATED IDEAS

Unnecessary functionality

The customer would like to share feedback regarding the four workflow buttons located at the top of the template working area: Add a Data Source, Add Elements and Data, Apply Formatting, and Save and Run.

The customer understands that these buttons are intended to guide users through the template creation process. However, after becoming familiar with IBM Publishing, the customer found that the buttons were no longer useful and became a distraction in the working area. The customer also tested the buttons but did not find the guidance detailed enough to assist with building a template.

To improve the user experience, the customer suggests moving this guidance to a dedicated Help topic containing more detailed instructions about the recommended template creation process. The customer also recommends removing the buttons or allowing users to hide them once they are familiar with the workflow.

Could the Development team review this feedback and determine whether an option to hide or disable the workflow buttons could be considered for a future release?

ELO_top_bar.png
ELO_top_bar.png
Open full size
Idea priority Low
Needed By Not sure -- Just thought it was cool
  • Post comment
  • Guest
    Oct 1, 2026

    Users can already hide the buttons. I'm suggesting that they have no real function and do not enhance the ability to create a template.

    For example "Apply Formatting" is a suggestion; but the button functionality suggests that if I click on the button, something will happen, when the reality is that applying formatting is much more complex than merely clicking a button. It doesn't work that way.

    Similarly, "Add elements and Data" is a suggestion, not a function. 

    The button functionality gives the wrong impression. 

    Whoever created these buttons had a good idea, to suggest a workflow to make a template, but IMO, that would be better served in a help topic with exact steps.

    May I also suggest that a help topic should not try to be a Jack of all answers, but provider of none? This is the method of IBM and Microsoft and probably many other big companies. Instead of providing a path to create a simple template that will export the Standard View in DOORS (the best example with three attributes: Object ID, Object Heading, and Object Text), the "Microsoft way" is to try to answer every question and provide every possible path, when all that way does is confuse and frustrate the great majority of users.

    Try creating help topic that will provide a guided path to create a Standard view export from a DOORS module into Word. This example will help WAY more users than you can imagine.

    IBM does provide a template to process DOORS tables; but just handing a template alone is not enough, if you want a user to understand how to use the ELO tool.

    Reply

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