Use Rich Text in Business Object Fields

In a rich text-enabled field in a Business Object (example: Incident Description), you can provide and format text and insert images using rich text options.

Good to know:

To accommodate rich text and save space, consider combining some fields in your Form design (example: Combine the Description and Solution/Workaround fields in a Knowledge Article).
If you copy/paste fully formatted rich text into a Business Object field in the Desktop Client, it might render differently in the Browser Client. For best results, remove the formatting from the copied text and paste it into the field as plain text. Then, you can apply formatting using the Rich Text Editor in CSM.
Images inserted into rich text fields in the Desktop Client will show up in the Browser Client and CSM Portal, and vice versa.

Note: When running a Report, if a plain text field does not show multi-lined text as expected, use the Report Designer to set the field label property Multiline to Yes. See: Adding Fields to a Report . If you change a plain text field to rich text, existing content in the plain text field is cleared. Consequently, you must update or recreate all affected reports to ensure that the rich text fields display correctly.

To access and use rich text:

(Desktop Client) Click inside a rich text field, and then press F8.
Tip: You can also access the rich text zoom window by right-clicking and selecting Zoom, or by selecting the Zoom button.
(Browser Client and CSM Portal) Click inside a rich text field, and then select the Toggle Toolbar button.
Format text using either the formatting options in the rich text zoom window (Desktop Client), or in the Rich Text Editor (Browser Client and CSM Portal).
Insert hyperlinks:
1. (Desktop Client) Right-click the rich text field or rich text zoom window, and then select Insert Hyperlink.
  Tip: You can also select Insert > Hyperlink from the rich text zoom window menu bar.
2. (Browser Client and CSM Portal) Select the Insert Hyperlink button in the Rich Text Editor.
3. Provide the hyperlink in the popup window.
  Tip: In the Browser Client and CSM Portal, you can provide text and a tooltip for the hyperlink. The text is a name for the hyperlink that shows as linked text instead of the URL, and the tooltip is a word or phrase that shows when the mouse pointer hovers over the hyperlink. To open the link in a separate window, right-click the link and select Open Link in New Window.
4. Select OK or Insert.
  The hyperlink is inserted into the rich text field.
  Tip: You can also copy/paste hyperlinks directly into rich text fields.
Insert images:
1. (Desktop Client) Right-click the rich text field or rich text zoom window, and then select Images > Open Image.
  Tip: You can also select Insert > Picture from the rich text zoom window menu bar.
2. (Browser Client and CSM Portal) Select the Insert Image button on the rich text toolbar.
3. Browse to the location of the image you want to insert, select the file, and then select Open.
  The image is inserted into the field at the current cursor position, in the default image format (JPEG or PNG) configured in the Global Rich Text settings in CSM Administrator.
  Tip: In the Desktop Client, you can copy images onto the clipboard (Right-click > Copy or CTRL+C) and paste them into rich text fields (Right-click > Paste or CTRL+V). (Copy/paste does not work in the Browser Client or CSM Portal.)
Resize images:
- (Desktop Client) To resize a single image, right-click the image in a rich text field, and then select one of the following options from the Images category in the context menu:
  - Full-size Image: Select this option to resize the image to its full size.
  - Thumbnail Image: Select this option to resize the image to the default thumbnail size configured in CSM Administrator (the default size is displayed in parentheses next to the menu selection).
- (Desktop Client) To resize all images in a rich text-enabled field, select one of the following options from the Images category in the context menu:
  - Resize All Images: Select this option to open a sub-menu, and then resize images to either Thumbnail Images (default thumbnail size) or Full-Size Images.
  - Default Image Size: Select this option to open a sub-menu, and then select to size images as small thumbnails, medium thumbnails, large thumbnails, or full-size images.
    Note: You can only set the default image size if the option was enabled in CSM Administrator (Allow User to Override Image Display Mode is selected in Field Properties). Selecting a default image size sets the default way that images are displayed in all fields of the same type for a particular Business Object (example: if you select small thumbnails as the default image size for an image in an Incident Description field, all images in all Incident Description fields will be sized as small thumbnails).
- (Browser Client and CSM Portal) In the Rich Text Editor for a Business Object field, select an image. Select an image size from the size menu in the editor toolbar.
  Note: In the Browser Client and CSM Portal, there is no option to resize all images in a rich text-enabled field. You can only resize one image at a time.
View images in a separate window:
- (Desktop Client) Double-click an image to open it in the software associated with the file extension (example: If the image is a JPEG file, it will open in the image viewer that is associated with JPEG files on the User's computer).
  Tip: You can also select Open Image in External Viewer from the Images category in the context menu.
- (Browser Client and CSM Portal) In the Rich Text Editor for a Business Object field, select an image, and then select View Image. You can then select View in New Tab to open the image in a new tab in your browser. Alternatively, right-click the image and select Open Image in New Tab.
Select OK in the rich text zoom window (Desktop Client) or Submit in the Rich Text Editor (Browser Client or CSM Portal) to save your formatting changes.