The Word Specification
The Word specification is an automatically generated Microsoft Word document that serves as the functional specification component of your Axure RP file if needed. This output type is one option available to you when your project requires a formal print deliverable.
To generate a Word specification document for your prototype, go to Publish → Generate Word Specification.
File Format
The specification file generated from RP is in Microsoft Word's .docx format. You don't need Word installed on your computer in order to generate the Word documentation, but you will need Word or Word for Mac — or another tool that can open .docx files, such as LibreOffice — to view the generated Word file and to edit the Word template file (more on that later).
If you have Word 2000, Word XP, or Word 2003 installed, the Axure RP installer will install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack, which enables these versions of Word to open, edit, and save .docx files.
The Generate Word Specification Dialog
You can customize the generated Word specification document with the options in the Publish → Generate Word Specification dialog.
General
On the General tab, enter the destination where the file will be saved. The default location is as follows:
- Mac:
~/Documents/Axure/Specifications - Windows:
C:\Users\%username%\Documents\Axure\Specifications
Pages
On the Pages tab, you can choose which pages will be included in the document and how they will be organized.
Pages Section
Include pages section: Determines whether page summaries will be included in the document. Unchecking this option will disable all other options on the tab.
Include pages section header: Labels the pages section of the document with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Sitemap List
Include sitemap list: Includes a hierarchical list of all the pages in the project.
Include sitemap list header: Labels the sitemap list with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Pages to Generate
Choose which pages to include in the document. You can choose on a page-by-page basis or check Generate all pages to include them all.
Note
If you have your pages organized into parent-child relationships, you must include a parent page in order to include any of its children. Unchecking a parent page will automatically uncheck its children as well.
Components
On the Components tab, you can choose which components will be included in the document and how they will be organized.
Components Section
Include components section: Determines whether the document will include a dedicated section for summaries of components. Unchecking this option will disable most other options on the tab.
Include components section header: Labels the components section of the document with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Component List
Include component list: Includes a hierarchical list of all the components in the project.
Include component list header: Labels the component list with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Only list generated components: Lists only components that are included on pages in the prototype.
Components to Generate
Choose which components to include in the document. You can choose on a component-by-component basis or check Generate all components to include them all.
Note
If you have your components organized into parent-child relationships, you must include a parent component in order to include any of its children. Unchecking a parent component will automatically uncheck its children as well.
You can apply some additional filtering to the components you select in the list:
Only generate components used on generated pages: Generates documentation only for components included on pages set to be generated on the Pages tab.
Do not generate components set to break away: Does not generate documentation for components with the "break away" drop behavior.
Document Components in Pages Section
Whether or not you choose to include a components section in the document, you can choose to include information about your project's components in the pages section. Each page's documentation will include a summary of the components on the page.
You can customize this documentation as follows:
Only document first use of component: Each component will only be documented once, under the first page on which it appears.
Exclude component notes: Notes you've entered on the component itself will not be included in the documentation about the component in the pages section. The documentation will, however, include notes on the component's contained widgets.
Properties
On the Properties tab, you can choose which information about a page or component to include in the document.
Page Notes
Include page notes: Determines whether your page notes will be included in the document.
Show page notes names as header: Uses the field names of your page notes as headers in the page notes sections of the document.
Use heading basic style: Applies the "Heading Basic" style to the page note name headers.
Page Interactions
Include page interactions: Determines whether page-level interactions will be summarized in the document.
Page interactions header: Labels the page interactions sections of the document with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Use heading basic style: Applies the "Heading Basic" style to the page interactions header.
Components List
Include list of components used on page/component: The documentation for each page and component will include a list of the components it uses.
Section header: Labels the components list with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Component Usage Report
Include component usage report (components only): The documentation for each component will include a list of the pages and components it is used on.
Section header: Header for the usage report.
Pages header: Header for the list of pages in the usage report.
Components header: Header for the list of components in the usage report.
Panels and Repeaters
- Include panels and repeaters: The documentation for each page and component will include screenshots of each dynamic panel and repeater used on the page or component.
Screenshot
On the Screenshot tab, you can configure the layout of page and component screenshots that appear in the document.
Include screenshot: Determines whether screenshots will be included in the document. Unchecking this option will disable all other options on the tab.
Screenshot header: Labels the screenshot of each page and component with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Show footnotes on screenshot: Shows the yellow, numbered footnote icons on widgets with notes. You can optionally choose to exclude footnotes for widgets that don't meet your widget table filters.
Put border on screenshot: Places a border around page and component screenshots.
Do not scale footnotes with screenshot: Keeps footnote icons the same size on every screenshot, regardless of content scaling. Check this if the footnote icons in your screenshots are too small to read.
Apply default Page Loaded and widget Loaded cases: Applies interactions that occur when the page first loads in the web browser before capturing the screenshot.
Include submenus: Includes separate screenshots showing fully expanded submenus for all classic menu widgets.
Include expanded trees: Includes separate screenshots showing fully expanded items for all tree widgets.
Show default pages in inline frames: If the target of an inline frame widget is a page in the RP file, that page will be loaded into the frame before the screenshot is captured. Otherwise, if the frame's target is an external page or file, the frame's preview image will show.
Do not apply background styles: Background styles for pages and components are not included in their screenshots.
Max width/height as %: Defines how much space screenshots are allowed to take up on a page in the document.
Allow screenshots to split across pages (single column only): Allows screenshots to span multiple pages if needed. This option only applies to the single column layout option.
Widgets
On the Widget Tables tab, you can configure the layout of the widget tables that appear with the screenshot of each page and component. The document includes one widget table by default, but you can create as many as you need, each with its own label and settings.
Include Widget Tables: Determines whether widget tables will be included in the document. Unchecking this option will disable all other options on the tab.
Table header: Labels the currently selected widget table with a header. Use the text field to customize the header.
Tip
If you've created additional widget tables, label each with a distinct header to make them easier to consume in the final document.
Widget Table Columns
- Footnote: The footnote number for widgets with notes
- Name: The widget's name, as shown in the Outline pane
- Interactions: A text summary of the widget's interactions
- Note: All notes assigned to the widget
- Widget Text: The text entered on the widget
- Widget ToolTip: The widget's tooltip, as defined in the More Settings menu of the Interactions pane
- List Options: All the options in a droplist or list box widget
- Location and Size: The widget's numeric canvas coordinates and dimensions
Row Filters
Include widgets without notes: Both widgets with and without notes are eligible to be included in the widget table. Uncheck this box if you only want to include widgets with notes.
Remove rows with only footnote and name data: If only a widget's footnote number and name would be included in the widget table, the widget is not included at all.
You can also filter by specific column values using the the options under the third checkbox. For example, you can include only widgets with a specific date in their notes.
Column Filters
- Remove empty columns: If a column in the widget table would be completely empty, it is instead removed.
Layout
On the Layout tab, you can configure the order and layout of each page's information in the document.
You can choose between a single column or two column layout. If you choose a two column layout, use the number field to indicate the percentage of the page that will be taken by the left column. This is usually adjusted based on the size desired for the screenshot, which you can configure on the Screenshot tab.
In the box below the radio buttons, you can drag the items to change the order of the sections of the page specifications in the final document. If you've selected a two column layout, you can choose the column in which each section will appear by dragging them above or below the Column Break item.
Template
On the Template tab, you can change the template Word document that the specification is modeled on and customize which styles from the Word document are used.
A template file is a standard Word .docx file. (Word .dot files cannot be used.) You can add additional contents to the generated document like headers, footers, title, project information, or any other content that surrounds the documentation. You can also modify the Word styles specified in the Word Template section.
The text string [[AXURE CONTENT]] (including the double square brackets) must appear once in the template file. The generated specification content will be inserted at the location of that text.
To edit the RP file's existing template file, click Edit. The file will open in Microsoft Word (or your preferred application for editing Word files). When you finish editing the template, save it and close Microsoft Word. Then, save your RP file.
To import an existing template file into the RP file, click Import. Click New Template to create a new template file based on a selected paper size, orientation, whether the headings should be numbered, and the number of columns.
The Word specification generator requires certain styles, listed under Applied Word Styles. You can use the default "Axure" styles or Word's built-in styles. You can also specify the names of any custom styles you've created in your template file.
More Word Specification Generators
You can create additional Word specification generators at Publish → More Generators and Configurations. This is useful if you regularly export Word specifications with different constraints for different audiences.
Use the Add dropdown and choose Word Specification. Name the new configuration and click Generate to configure and use the new generator.