Studio editor basics

The Studio editor is where you customize a visual. Changes save automatically. Use Page settings for the whole-page look, languages, and presets. Use the tile toolbar for one cell, or many, at a time.

Overview

• Autosave. Status shows Saving your changes… then All changes saved.

• Undo / Redo. Step backward or forward through edits.

• Page settings. Languages, symbols, text style, tile display, and board behavior for this visual. Save those choices as a preset for the next visual. See Studio Presets Guide.

• Tile toolbar. Background, border, text (size, alignment, font, weight, and colors), image controls, copy/paste, clear, link to page.

• Images. Choose Symbols, Photos, or My Uploads (including Google Drive where available).

Saving and undo

1. Edit any tile or setting.

2. Watch the header until you see All changes saved.

3. Use Undo / Redo if you need to reverse a change.

4. Use Save & leave only when the editor asks you to confirm leaving with pending work.

You do not need to click a separate Save button for normal editing.

Page settings

1. Open the visual in the Studio editor.

2. Click the Page settings gear.

3. Expand a section and change a setting. Most changes apply as you go. Some (languages, symbol source, language complexity, presets) ask you to confirm first.

The info icon next to the title says: Edit this visual’s settings, or save a preset for next time.

Presets

At the top of Page settings you can apply a saved preset, or leave No preset selected. If you change settings after applying a preset, the name shows modified. Full steps: Studio Presets Guide.

Page

On templates that use it:

• Orientation. Portrait or Landscape.

• Items per page or Pairs per page (Minimal Pairs and Matching). Landscape may fit fewer items than your saved number.

On many templates this same control also lives in the floating page-layout toolbar.

Language(s)

You can set up to two languages on a visual (primary plus a secondary caption).

1. Open Page settings → Language(s).

2. Choose the primary language.

3. Click Add language if you want a second language on each tile.

4. If the visual has more than one page, confirm This page only or apply to all pages.

Changing a language can translate existing tile text. In Play, speech follows the language and voice settings for that language.

Language complexity

Rewrites existing tile text to Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced, then refreshes translations.

Count & Choose and Build the Equation do not use this control. Those templates set math difficulty in Quick Add.

Symbols

Sets the image source for Quick Add and empty-tile search:

• Default

• SymbolStix

• SymbolStix (Sign Language)

• Google Images

On SymbolStix you can also set skin tone. If some images do not match, use Update all.

Changing the source can ask to rewrite existing tile images on this page, or on all pages.

Text style

• Text size. Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large (hidden on GoTalk overlays). Shown as S / M / L / XL.

• Alignment. Left, center, or right. Lists and flash cards start left. Grids start centered. You can change this per page or per tile.

• Font. Default (Inter), Lexend, Atkinson Hyperlegible, OpenDyslexic, Andika, Comic Neue, Nunito.

• Weight. Regular or Bold. Some scripts stay Regular when Bold is not available.

• Primary text color and Secondary text color (secondary appears when you have two languages).

A tile with no override uses the page setting. If some tiles do not match, a banner appears. Click Update all to apply the page value, or Dismiss to leave those tiles as they are.

You can also set Alignment, Font, and Weight on a single tile from the tile toolbar Text panel. Reset styling on that tile returns it to the template default.

Some scripts stay on the default font when the chosen face cannot draw those characters.

Tile display

• Show images / Show text

• Text on top. Off keeps text under the image.

• Color scheme. Default, Modified Fitzgerald, or Cortical Visual Impairment (see Tile Color Schemes Guide). On a multi-page Communication Grid this applies to every page.

• Border width. No border, Thin, Medium, Thick, or a custom slider.

Tiles with a custom fill can ignore the page color scheme. Choose Use page colors to apply the scheme, or leave them as-is.

Step numbers

Task Analysis, Visual Schedule, Sequence & Order, and Life Cycle can show a number on each step. These settings apply in the editor, Play, and PDF.

1. Open the visual.

2. Turn Step numbers on or off in the page toolbar.

3. Set Size (including Match text) and Number color. Choose No badge (plain number) if you want digits only.

4. On Visual Schedule and Task Analysis, set Position (left or right). When checkboxes are on the same side, set Order to Inside or Outside.

Task Analysis starts with numbers on. Visual Schedule starts with numbers off. Sequence & Order and Life Cycle keep their usual look until you change them.

Checkbox size is a separate control on list rows. It does not have to match the step-number size.

Board behavior

Turn on Swap tiles when reordering to swap two tiles when you drag. Turn it off to insert and shift the others.

Clear the board

At the bottom of Page settings, Clear all tiles on this board empties captions and images. You can undo.

Editing tiles

Edit one tile

1. Click a tile.

2. Type the display text.

3. Open the image picker to set a symbol or photo.

4. Use the floating toolbar for Background, Border, Text (size, alignment, font, weight, and colors), Hide/Show image, Expand/Shrink image, Copy tile, Clear content, or Reset styling.

Edit many tiles

1. Choose Select multiple or Select all.

2. Apply toolbar actions to the selection.

3. Use copy/paste to duplicate content and styling across tiles.

Rearrange

On templates that support it, drag tiles to reorder them on the board.

Sidebar: Templates and Quick Add

• Templates. Switch the layout (Studio may warn if content will not fit).

• Quick Add. Generate words and symbols onto the board (see Quick Add in Studio). On First-Then, Quick Add is not available.

Tips

• Leave the board title blank if you do not want a title on the PDF.

• Custom tile colors can override the page color scheme until you choose to use page colors.

• For folder-style navigation across pages, see Multi-page boards in Studio.

• To reuse Page settings on the next visual, save a preset.