5. Application Settings

In adoc Studio, you can customize many areas to suit your preferences.

5.1. General

Open the settings window from the main menu adoc Studio  Settings… or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘+,.

Here you will find the most important settings for adoc Studio under the General tab:

settingsgeneral
Line Numbers

Decide whether to display all line numbers or only the current line number.

Section Folding Buttons

Enable the triangles to collapse and expand sections in the text.

Show File Extensions

Choose whether to display all file extensions in the project navigator sidebar. If this option is disabled, only the file extension for the currently selected file is displayed.

Line Width

Define the maximum number of characters per line in the editor before it wraps the text. If the displayed area is too small, the editor will still wrap the line.

Section Indentation

Choose the amount of space to leave to the left of the equals signs in headings. Set a value between 0 and 6 to adjust the left margin. This aligns the text to the left, while the = signs extend further left.

Tab Width

Specify the width of a tab in the text. You can choose a value between 1 and 100 for the character width of a tab. Values between 3 and 5 have proven to be practical.

Indent With

Choose whether to use tabs or spaces for indentation.

5.2. File Access

settingsfileaccess

Security is a central theme in modern operating systems like macOS and iOS. To prevent malicious programs from accessing sensitive areas of the operating system, Apple introduced the concept of sandboxes.

Each app operates in its own sandbox and is only allowed to function within that environment. This means that while many apps run simultaneously on the computer, each is isolated in its own sandbox. If an app wants to operate outside its sandbox, it requires explicit permission from the user.

This security principle also applies to adoc Studio on macOS and iOS. Since adoc Studio needs to access all text and media files contained in projects for editing, it requires your explicit permission.

All approved file accesses are listed in this tab in the settings and can be managed using the + and - buttons. When you open a new project not listed here, the app will ask for permission and automatically register it.

To reduce the frequency of permission requests, you can register folders higher up in the directory structure.

5.3. Editor Styles

settingseditorstyles

In this section, you can set the appearance of the editor. Browse the list of named styles on the left with your mouse. Most styles are available for both light mode (indicated by a ○ at the end) and dark mode (indicated by a ● at the end). Choose a style you like or that suits your taste.

The middle list displays all elements, attributes, and function names used in the text. A simple rule is to start with the "General" entry and set the font, size, and many other desired attributes there.

If your system is set to automatically switch between light and dark mode, adoc Studio remembers the last chosen style so that the app can follow the system’s automatic switch.

5.4. Product Styles

In the adoc Studio  Settings… ⌘+, under the fourth tab, you will find the product styles.

As previously described, text and design are separated in adoc Studio. Each design comes from a style file, the product styles. Several product styles are already included, but you can also create your own. These product styles are based on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), allowing you to design not only texts but also HTML or PDF files.

This means you can format all documents, including PDF files, with a CSS style.

In this tab, you can manage your product styles.

settingsproductstyles

On the left, your own product styles are listed first, followed by the included styles. On the right, examples in the selected product style are displayed. Below the preview, you can choose different examples (left) and the output format (right).

Installing Custom Product Styles

Product styles are files with the extension .adocstyle. New product styles can be installed by double-clicking the file in Finder. Alternatively, you can drag and drop them into the list on the left side of the settings. You will also find a +-button below the list of existing product styles to add new ones.

Defining a Product Style as Standard

After right-clicking in the list of all product styles, you can define your favorite as the default. This is then automatically preset for new projects. The default style is also used for export and the definition of new products.

Removing Product Styles

To remove custom product styles, right-click on the desired product style and select Delete from the context menu.

Creating Custom Product Styles

To create or modify a custom product style, CSS knowledge is required. Here’s how to easily create a product style based on an existing one:

  • Select the desired product style to use as a base.

  • Click on and select Duplicate from the context menu. Alternatively, you can open the context menu with a secondary click on the product style name and select Duplicate.

  • The duplicated style will now appear as a new entry at the top of the list.

  • Double-click the name of the new style to edit it.

Editing a Style

To edit the product style, you need a text editor. A suitable tool is BBEdit. You can also use any other editor as long as it can save CSS files in UTF-8 format.

  • Select the newly created product style.

  • Click on the menu or open the context menu with a secondary click and select Edit in.

  • Choose your preferred editor from the list.

  • The selected app will start, and the product style will open in the app.

  • Now you can make all desired changes to the product style.

Ensure that adoc Studio is running in the background and the currently edited style is set for preview. This way, your changes in the external editor will be immediately updated and saved in adoc Studio.