Text Overflow


Click this video to see it in action!

As you're typing data into any multi-line text field, only a certain amount of text can fit when the report prints.  Based on the field size and your default font, TOTAL knows the text limits for each field.  When you exceed the limit, you're presented with a screen allowing you to move the excess text into an addendum.

You can take advantage of TOTAL's overflow capabilities in two ways: automatically and manually.

To view the addendum containing your overflow text, click Addenda in the top toolbar or navigate to the Addenda PowerView. Then, click the dropdown on the upper left to view the addenda in your report. The overflow text transfers to the addendum indicated by an asterisk (*).

Addenda Drop-down

Configure Text Overflow

By default, whenever text overflow occurs in your report, TOTAL prompts you about how you want to handle the text.  You can also manually force TOTAL to prompt you about text overflow by clicking Overflow in the addenda toolbar.

To configure text overflow:

  1. In many cases, when you run out of space in a form field, you only need to type a few more words to complete your response.  In those cases, it's often better just to reduce the font size in the field slightly.  If you want to set TOTAL's text overflow tools to automatically take this approach instead of always moving excess words to the addendum, check the Reduce the Size of the Font in the Current Field box.  Then, type the number of times you want TOTAL to reduce the font size before overflowing your text to the addendum into the box provided.
  2. If you want TOTAL to overflow text to the Additional Comments field on your major form, when it's both available on your major form and has room for comments, check the If Available, First Overflow to the Additional Comments Field on the Major Form box.
  3. When TOTAL uses overflow, there are two ways to overflow text to the addendum:
  4. Next, mark an option in the What to Do in the Future section to tell TOTAL how to prompt you about text overflows in the future.  Options include:
  5. Click OK to save your overflow preferences.