Introduction

The Annotate / Sticky notes feature allows you to add detailed documentation to a view and also to specific objects or nodes. This is in addition to tags or comments that you can add to your views:

Adding Annotations / Sticky notes using the UI

In ≥ 2.19.1

To add an Annotation to an object or a view, first select the object, then use the left hand menu item, Sticky notes > Annotate View/Object.

When the you select an object, the sticky notes (annotations) and tags associated with the selected object are displayed under Characteristics (properties panel). And advanced properties are called "Additional Details".

When an object is selected, tags and sticky notes associated to that object are displayed under characteristics.

"Advanced properties" are moved under “Additional Details.”

"Relationships" are renamed as "Links".

In ≤ 2.18

To add an Annotation on an object/node or group of nodes, first select the items you want to Annotate in the view, then use the left hand menu item, Annotations > Annotate Object:

If you want to add an Annotation at view/application level, click the Annotate View option in the Investigate panel:

In both cases, the Annotate popup will be displayed - fill in the title, description (i.e. the text you want to add) and optionally a tag:

You can also choose a colour for your Annotate:

Click Save when complete:

The annotate/document is then minimized:

Bulk importing documentation via .CSV file

It is possible (in CAST Imaging ≥ 2.13) to bulk import documentation using a pre-prepared .CSV file for individual objects. See Admin Center - Bulk importing documents or tags via .CSV file.

Adding clickable links to Annotations

It is possible to add a clickable link (or links) in a annotation:

To add a link, use standard HTML markup as follows:

<a href="https://www.mylink.com">My Link</a>

For example - enter the URL in HTML markup, manually:

The markup is then transformed when the annotation is saved:

Viewing existing Annotations

You can view existing Annotations (either View annotations or Object annotations) by selecting the Annotations option in the right hand Legends panel (the view the annotation was added to must be the current view, or the object/node the annotation was associated to must be present in the current view):

When an annotation in the Legends panel is clicked, it will open the annotation in the view and if it is an object level annotation, the associated nodes will ALSO be highlighted:

When an object or node with an associated annotation is clicked, it will also be highlighted in the Legends panel if the Annotation tab is open:

To view annotations associated with a node even when the Legends panel is closed, right click on the context menu of the node and select Annotations. This opens the Legends panel and annotation/s associated with the selected node are highlighted:

Updating or deleting an existing annotation

Open the existing annotation, make your changes and then click Save:

Add new nodes/objects/groups of objects to an existing annotation

You can add new nodes/objects/groups of objects to an existing annotation as follows:

• Open the existing annotation
• Hold the CTRL key down and select the additional nodes/objects/groups of objects
• Make any changes to the annotation itself (this is not required)
• Click the Save button in the Annotation window to save the changes

Searching for existing annotations

It is possible to use the global search function to search for annotations that have already been added. See User Guide - Search for items.