Add text and basic blocks

You can add text, buttons, separators, and code to your stories.

Add text

Narrative text is the foundation of a story and provides important context for briefings, frames, and collections. You can add the following types of text blocks to ArcGIS StoryMaps content:

• Paragraphs

• Headings

• Lists

• Quotes

To add text to your ArcGIS StoryMaps content items, click the Add content button and select Text or click inside a text placeholder area.

Refine your writing

You can use the ArcGIS StoryMaps assistant (preview) to regenerate selections—or entire sections—of text to adjust aspects such as tone, length, and grammar.

Complete the following steps to refine a selection of your writing:

1. Edit an ArcGIS StoryMaps story item by opening it in its builder.

2. Select some text, and click the Refine button.

   Note:

   The Refine button is not available for shorter text elements such as headings, captions, quotes, and credit entries.

3. Optionally, click the Update text selection button to expand the current text to include the current paragraph or section.

   Expanding the selection to the current section will include all text above and below your current selection up to a heading or piece of media.

4. Select one of the actions—Enhance, Summarize, Change tone, or Fix grammar—to update your writing.

   After using one of the tools, you can run others as needed. The text provided by the assistant is shown after each step. Use the buttons above each section to rerun a previous action, copy the text to the clipboard, or remove it.

5. When you're finished, click Replace to replace the original text with the result, or click Insert to add the updated text before or after the original text.

For more information, see AI in ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Format text

Formatting text can add emphasis or provide depth to your narrative. In ArcGIS StoryMaps, you can format text in paragraphs, headings, lists, and quotes. Hyperlinking text can provide context and quick access to other information sources or reference materials. You can adjust the text size, align text blocks, and convert text blocks from one style to another. Bulleted and numbered lists can include two levels of indentation.

Tip:

There are keyboard shortcuts to quickly format text blocks and text selections.

Format a text block

Use the following steps to format a text block:

1. Click or press the Tab key to place focus on a text block.

   A toolbar appears above the focused text block. The tools on this toolbar affect the entire text block.

2. From the toolbar, click a tool to perform one of the following actions on the focused text block:

   • Convert the text block to another type

   • Change the text size

   • Align the text

   • Delete the text block

Format a text selection

Use the following steps to format a selection of text within a block:

1. Click and drag or use Shift+arrow keys to highlight the text you want to format.

   The text formatting toolbar appears.

2. From the toolbar, click to apply one or more of the following formats to the text selection:

   • Color (see Choose a color)

   • Bold

   • Italic

   • Link (see Create links)

   • Action (see Action links)

   • Inline code, strikethrough, subscript, or superscript (on the More options menu)

   The selected text updates with the applied formats.

Note:

Some text block types do not support all formatting options; for example, you cannot add a link in a heading. Additionally, some formats cannot be combined, such as superscript and subscript.

Create links and actions

The following table describes the types of interactive text elements you can create in ArcGIS StoryMaps:

Type	Description	Available in
Web page	Open an external web page by entering its URL. You can also create links to web pages using buttons.	Stories, briefings, frames, and collections
Heading	Jump to a section heading, including the credits section heading	Stories
Slide	Jump to another slide, including the cover slide	Briefings
Attachment	An attachment is content—such as a video, image, PDF, map, or ArcGIS app—that you include as an additional resource. Clicking an attachment link opens its content in a full-screen viewer mode. Attachment content can be uploaded or selected from your ArcGIS content items.	Briefings
Action	An action is a clickable, interactive element you can configure to enable readers to trigger updates to content. For more information, see Action links.	Stories (sidecar), briefings, and frames

Create links

Follow the steps below to create a link:

1. Click and drag or press Shift+arrow keys to highlight the text you want to format.

   The text formatting toolbar appears.

2. From the toolbar, click Link.

3. From the link menu, choose the type of link to create:

   • Choose Web page to create a link to an external web page. Type or paste in the URL. Optionally, choose whether the link opens in a new tab, then click Apply to create the web page link.

   • In a story, choose Heading to create a link to a heading. Choose the heading you want to link to from the list.

   • In a briefing, choose Slide to create a link to a slide. Choose the slide to link to from the list.

   • In a briefing, choose ArcGIS content or Upload to create an attachment link. You can choose an ArcGIS app, web map, web scene, or file from ArcGIS, or you can upload an image or video file that meets these requirements.

The link is created on the selected text.

Create action links

Actions are a useful storytelling tool. They are simple interactive elements that allow readers to trigger content updates. For example, you can configure a button that navigates a map from one location to another, or you can create a link that changes a "before" image to an "after" image of the same location.

There are two types of actions:

• Map action—Updates a map by changing its location, zoom level, visible layers, feature pop-up, or any combination of these things. Map actions can be added to a briefing, frame, or story sidecar.

• Media action—Replaces content in a sidecar media panel with a different piece of content.

Note:

In addition to action links, described here, you can also create action buttons in a sidecar narrative panel. For more information, see Action buttons.

Follow the steps below to create an action link in a story sidecar, briefing slide, or frame slide:

1. Click and drag, or press Shift and the arrow keys to highlight the text you want to use for an action.

   The text formatting toolbar appears.

2. From the toolbar, click Action.

   The actions menu appears.

3. Choose from the available options to create a map action (to update the map view), or a media action (to show a different piece of content).

   • For a map action, configure the map view. In a briefing slide with more than one map, you must first select a map from the provided menu.

   • For a media action (sidecar only), select the type of media and add the media.

Tip:

You can add more than one action to a slide. Update the action labels so readers understand the action each button performs.

If you create a map action and do not configure its map view, it will act as a reset action. When clicked, the reset action returns the map to its initial view after another action has been activated.

Manage action links

Use the following steps to view, edit, unlink, and delete an action link:

• To view an action, hover over the action and click View.

  The media panel updates to show the configured action state. When a map action is being viewed, click Edit action on the toolbar over the map to configure the action map view.

• To reset an action, hover over the action and click Reset.

  The media panel updates to show its initial state. When the media panel contains a map, click Edit map on the toolbar over the map to configure the map's initial view.

• To remove the action configuration, hover over the action and click Unlink.

  The configuration is removed, but the action remains.

• To delete an action link, delete its text.

Add buttons

Buttons are visual representations for hyperlinks. Use the following steps to add a button to a story or frame:

1. Click the Add content button to open the block palette.

2. Select Button.

   A button is inserted.

3. Click inside the button and enter text for the button label.

4. Click Edit to configure the button link.

   1. Type or paste a URL.

   2. Press Enter to save the link.

   The button link is configured.

5. Optionally, click Position and choose Left, Center, or Right to update the position of the button.

6. Optionally, click Open in a new tab to test the button link.

   The link opens in a new browser tab.

Note:

Button labels have a limit of 33 characters.

Add side-by-side buttons

Up to four buttons can be added in a row. To add multiple buttons in the same row, use the following steps:

1. Insert a button as described above.

2. Hover over the button and click the Add another block button next to the current button.

3. Configure the new button as described above.

   Another button is inserted.

4. Optionally, repeat the steps above to add up to four buttons.

Add separators

Separators can be used to delineate a story's sections using a stylistic element.

Use the following steps to add a separator to a story:

1. Click the Add content button to open the block palette.

2. Select Separator.

   A separator is inserted.

To use a different separator, change the theme. To use a custom separator, create a theme. For more information, see Create a theme.

Add code

Adding a code block can help you share code snippets and scripts. A block of code can be copied using the Copy code snippet button on the side of the code block.

Use the following steps to add a code block to a story or briefing:

1. Click the Add content button to open the block palette.

2. Select Code.

   A code block is inserted.

3. Type or paste code into the code block.

You can enable syntax highlighting to more clearly indicate the structure and content of your code. To change the language of the code, hover over the code block, click the Options button on the toolbar, and choose a language. You can also display line numbers by checking the Show line numbers check box.

Delete text and basic blocks

To delete a text block or basic block, hover over it and click the Delete button.