Documents Live, a web authoring and publishing system
Documents Live, a web authoring and publishing system
If you see this, something is wrong
First published on Wednesday, Mar 26, 2025 and last modified on Sunday, Feb 22, 2026
What makes Documents Live unique is the way it treats document organization.
Sections are not only a header content; they are made of two parts :
the section title
the section content
The section's content can include many things, including sub-sections.
The title size depends on the section level. At the left of the section title is a triangular caret. When the triangle points to the bottom, the content of the section is displayed. When the triangle is black and points to the right, the section content is hidden. Clicking on the section title toggles the section state: hidden or displayed. This way, you can focus on the content that matters to you.
In the "View" menu, there are two general items that modify globally the sections' state. You can
hide all of the sections' content
or you can reveal all of the content
If you are looking at a complex document for the first time, try the "Collapse all sections" option in the "View" menu. All sections will be collapsed, and you will see the general layout of the document. After that, you can expand/collapse the sections you want to read.
For instance, you can read the introduction and then keep its content collapsed.
If you are a registered user, you can save into your account the current state of the sections layout. To do so, use the "Save layout" item of the "View" menu. Once this is done, whenever you re-open the document (on any device), the sections layout will be restored. You can also restore it manually by selecting the "Restore layout" item of the "View" menu.
The table of contents is not a static element of the document. To access it, select the "Table of contents" item from the "View" menu. The table of contents will slide from the right of the browser window.
Links in the table of contents currently scroll the browser to the chosen section instead of being static links. For long documents, this may not take you directly to the section because some hidden equations need to be displayed first. If you do not see your selected section in the content panel, select the section a second time, and all should be good.
You can scroll through and preview all sections without leaving the table of contents, which isn’t possible in a static document.
Note: selecting a hidden section wil expand it and all the sections above it!
As long as you use the same browser, your reading position is saved so you can pick up right where you left off.