Book Builder Help

Welcome to Book Builder. This guide covers all features available to content managers and administrators.

User Guide
Administration Guide

User Guide

Briefing Books

Access the briefing books listing by selecting Briefing Books in the navigation bar. From this screen you can create, edit, download, share, duplicate, and delete books.

Creating a Book

Click the New Briefing Book button to create a book. Enter a Book Name and select at least one group to grant access.

Book Controls

Each book in the listing has the following controls:

Control Description
Edit Open the book editor to modify contents and layout.
Download Generate a combined PDF with table of contents. Options include PDF or DOCX format, TOC-only export, and draft mode with timestamps.
Email/Share Generate a shareable URL. Select which documents to include in the resulting combined PDF.
Preview View the book PDF directly in your browser without downloading.
Duplicate Create a copy of the book including all contents.
Delete Permanently delete the book and all contents.
Pin/Unpin Pin important books to keep them at the top of your list. Pinned books appear first regardless of sort order.
Reorder Drag and drop books to change their order.

Download Options

When downloading a book, you can choose from several options:

  • PDF Format: Standard PDF with all documents combined and a generated table of contents.
  • DOCX Format: Microsoft Word format for easy editing.
  • TOC Only: Export just the table of contents without document content.
  • Draft Mode: Includes timestamps and "DRAFT" watermarks for review purposes.

Reordering Books

Books can be reordered using drag and drop. Click and hold the drag handle (three dots) next to a book title, then drag to the desired position. A green highlight shows the target location.

Back to top

Book Editor

The book editor provides a visual interface for organizing your book's structure, showing how sections, headings, and documents are arranged.

Real-Time Collaboration

Multiple users can edit the same book simultaneously. The editor shows:

  • Active Users: See who else is currently viewing or editing the book.
  • Field-Level Presence: See which specific field each user is editing to avoid conflicts.
  • Autosave: Changes are automatically saved as you work.
  • Unsaved Changes Warning: You'll be warned before leaving if you have unsaved changes.

Sections

Sections are the top-level organizational units in a book. They organize content into logical groupings displayed as tabs in the editor and table of contents.

  • Click Add New Section to create a section.
  • Hover over a section to reveal edit and delete controls.
  • Drag sections to reorder them.
  • The active section is highlighted in orange.

Headings

Headings are sub-sections that organize documents into groups. The first heading is created automatically with the same name as its parent section.

  • Click Add Heading to create a new heading within the current section.
  • Drag headings (and their documents) to reorder within a section.

List Formatting

Sections and headings support different list formats for their items:

  • None: No numbering or bullets.
  • Numbered: Items are numbered (1, 2, 3...).
  • Bulleted: Items have bullet points.
  • Lettered: Items use letters (A, B, C...).
  • Roman: Items use Roman numerals (I, II, III...).

Documents

Documents are listed under headings. Supported file types include PDF and Microsoft Word (DOCX).

Uploading Documents
  1. Click Add Documents below the target heading.
  2. Select one or more files to upload.
  3. Watch the progress bars (blue = in progress, green = complete).
  4. Click Next when all uploads complete.
  5. Edit document titles as needed (defaults to filename).
  6. Click Update to finish.
Upload Placeholders

Use Upload Placeholder to create a blank document slot that can be filled later. This is useful for planning book structure before all content is ready.

Managing Documents
  • Click the pencil icon to edit a document's title.
  • Click the trash icon to remove a document.
  • Drag documents to reorder within the current heading or move to a different heading in the same section.
Back to top

Activity Changelog

The Activity Changelog provides a complete history of all changes made to a book. This helps you track who made changes, what was changed, and when.

Accessing the Activity Changelog

  1. Open a book in the Book Editor.
  2. Click the Activity button in the toolbar.
  3. View the chronological list of all changes, with the most recent at the top.

What's Tracked

The Activity Changelog records the following types of changes:

Icon Event Description
Book Created A new book was created or duplicated from another book.
Book/Section/Heading Renamed The name of a book, section, or heading was changed.
Section Created A new section was added to the book.
Section Deleted A section was removed from the book.
Heading Created A new heading was added to a section.
Heading Deleted A heading was removed from a section.
Document Uploaded A new document was uploaded to the book.
Document Replaced A placeholder was filled with an uploaded document.
Document Deleted A document was removed from the book.
Documents Reordered Documents within a heading were rearranged.
Export Created A PDF or DOCX export was generated.

Activity Details

Each activity entry shows:

  • Description: What was changed (e.g., "Created section 'Introduction'").
  • Event Type: The category of change (e.g., "Section Created").
  • Timestamp: When the change was made.
  • User: Who made the change.
Back to top

The search feature allows you to find documents across all books you have access to.

Search Capabilities

  • Document Titles: Search by document name.
  • Book Table of Contents: Search section and heading names.
  • Full-Text PDF Search: Search within PDF document content. Results show text snippets with your search terms highlighted.

Using Search

  1. Enter your search term in the search box (navigation bar or Search page).
  2. Results are grouped by book and show matching documents.
  3. Click a result to open that document or book.
  4. Use filters to narrow results by book, date range, or document type.
Back to top

My Notifications

Set up email notifications when selected users make annotations to documents.

Managing Notifications

  • View: See all users you're monitoring and when the last notification was sent.
  • Add: Click Add Notification and select a user from the dropdown.
  • Remove: Click the remove button next to a user to stop receiving notifications.
Back to top

User Preferences

User preferences allow you to customize your Book Builder experience. Settings are saved to your account and persist across sessions.

Available Preferences

  • Pinned Books: Pin frequently used books to keep them at the top of your list.
  • Default View: Choose your preferred view mode for the book listing.
  • Notification Settings: Configure how and when you receive notifications.
Back to top

Administration Guide

The administration section is available to users with System Admin or Owner roles. It provides tools for managing users, devices, exports, and system settings.

Roles & Permissions

Book Builder has four distinct user roles with different levels of access:

Role Description Capabilities
Owner Infrastructure and security administrator with full system access.
  • All System Admin capabilities
  • Manage CAIA OAuth credentials
  • Access security-sensitive configurations
System Admin Administrative user who manages users, groups, and system settings.
  • Manage managers and manager groups
  • View system logs and activity feed
  • Manage book exports
Manager Content manager who creates and manages briefing books.
  • Create, edit, and delete books
  • Upload and manage documents
  • Share and export books
  • View delivery receipts
  • Set up notification monitors
Mobile User End user accessing content through a mobile application. (Mobile app not currently available)
  • View books assigned to their groups
  • Make annotations on documents
  • Upload documents (if CanUpload is enabled)
Back to top

Manager Management

Managers

Manager accounts can create and manage briefing books.

Creating a Manager
  1. Navigate to Administration > Managers.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Enter required information:
    • First and last name
    • Active Directory name
    • Email address
    • Role assignment (Owner or System Admin, if applicable)
  4. Manager Group assignments can be made here or in Manager Groups.
  5. Click Save.

Manager Groups

Manager Groups establish the relationship between managers and the user groups they can administer.

Creating a Manager Group
  1. Navigate to Administration > Manager Groups.
  2. Click Add.
  3. Enter a group name.
  4. Select managers to include.
  5. Select user groups this manager group can administer.
  6. Click Save.

Manager Notifications

Configure system-wide notification settings for managers, including email delivery preferences and notification triggers.

Back to top

Book Exports

The Book Exports page allows administrators to manage and monitor book export jobs.

Export Features

  • Export History: View all export jobs with status, timestamps, and download links.
  • Format Options: PDF (default), DOCX, or TOC-only exports.
  • Draft Mode: Generate drafts with timestamps and watermarks for review.
  • Concurrent Editing: Multiple administrators can work on export settings simultaneously with real-time conflict detection.
Back to top

System Monitoring

Activity Feed

Real-time feed showing user activity across the system, including document annotations, book edits, and administrative actions. New activities appear with smooth animations.

Logs

Application logs for troubleshooting and debugging. Includes error messages, warnings, and informational logs.

Permissions

Manage fine-grained permissions and role assignments. Configure which roles have access to specific features.

Back to top

CAIA Credentials

The CAIA Credentials page manages OAuth credentials used for integration with the CAIA authentication system.

Managing Credentials

  • View: See current credential configuration (client ID, endpoints).
  • Update: Modify OAuth client credentials when they need to be rotated.
  • Test: Validate credential configuration against the CAIA system.
Back to top

Frequently Asked Questions

Book Builder accepts PDF and Microsoft Word (DOCX) documents. Word documents are automatically converted to PDF for viewing and export.

There are three active user roles:

  1. Owner: Full system access including security credentials management.
  2. System Admin: User and group management, system monitoring.
  3. Manager: Content creation and book management.

A fourth role (Mobile User) exists in the database schema for future mobile app support. See the Roles & Permissions section for details.

The Book Builder mobile application is not currently available. The database schema for mobile users and devices is preserved for potential future use. Contact your system administrator for updates on mobile app availability.

Yes! Book Builder supports full-text PDF search. Your search terms will be matched against the text content of PDF documents, and results will show snippets with highlighted matches.

Managers can control group access through the Edit button on the Briefing Books page. To add individual users to groups, contact a System Admin who can modify group memberships.

Annotations are visible only to you and managers with access to that book. Annotations are automatically saved and synced across your devices. To share annotations with others, ask a manager to download the annotated document and upload it as a new document.

Book Builder supports real-time collaboration. You'll see other users' presence indicators and which fields they're editing. Changes are automatically saved and synchronized. If a conflict occurs, you'll be notified and can choose how to resolve it.

Newly uploaded PDF documents are automatically prefixed with [NEW] to help identify recent additions. You can edit the document title to remove or modify this prefix.

Click the pin icon on any book to pin it. Pinned books always appear at the top of your book list, regardless of sort order. Click the pin again to unpin.

For technical issues or access requests, contact your system administrator. For questions about specific books or content, contact the manager responsible for that book.

Back to top