Ever wonder why the “Text” button in the Portraits & Prints catalog document toolbar is dimmed? This button lets you modify text that appears in a template. However, a template must be created with "user-editable" text fields in order for the button to become active. To find out how to create user-editable text fields, just follow these easy steps:

Step 1. Open a new template document or edit an existing one.

Step 2. Draw a text field by clicking the

icon in the tool palette. Drag and position the outline of the text field where you want it to appear on the template.

Step 3. If the Inspector Panel is not already visible, you may open it by choosing “Object Inspector” from the Window menu. The Object Inspector panel allows you to modify properties for a selected object within the Object section.

Step 4. Select the “User Editable” entry in the "Field Variant" popup menu in the Text Object Inspector panel. You then should type a descriptive name into the “Name” field. This name is used to describe the field to the user when they edit text in a catalog document.

By specifying a unique identifier, Portraits & Prints will store user-edited messages in a dictionary that is retained between launches. The identifier is used to lookup the message in the dictionary.

This is also useful if you wish to create a group of related templates, all with the same text fields. By using the same identifier in different templates, the user won't have to re-type the message every time they switch between templates.

Note: If you want your text to be different in each text field, make sure the Identifier is different (or blank). If you want your text to be the same in each text field, make sure the Identifier is the same. When you add the same “Name” and “Identifier” to multiple text fields they all appear as a single text field when you edit them.

Step 6. Add the template to a catalog document. Once you select the template, you will notice the “Text” button is not dimmed anymore on the toolbar. Click it... you can now edit your text!