BrailleBlaster User Manual Version 2.1¶

February, 2023¶

• Table of contents
• BrailleBlaster User Manual Version 2.1
  • • February, 2023
  • Getting Started
    • Modifying the View
      • Changing Font Size
      • Modifying Toolbar Icons
      • Toggle Views
      • Rearrange Views
      • Changing Simulated Braille to ASCII
      • Previewing Your File as an Embossed Braille Document
    • Basic File Operations
      • Creating Files
      • Opening Files
      • Saving Files
      • Navigating Files
    • Setting up Your Document
      • Setting Braille Translation
      • Setting Page Numbering
      • Adjusting Page Properties, Margins, and Interpoint
      • Setting a Running Head
    • Printing and Embossing
      • Setting up a Printer
      • Printing a Document
      • Setting up an Embosser
      • Embossing a Document
  • Automated Features and Tools
    • Working with Tables
      • Inserting/Creating an Unformatted Table
      • Creating Formatted Tables
      • Editing Tables
      • Reformatting Tables
    • Line Numbering
      • Inserting Line Numbers
      • Editing Line Numbers
    • Making Math
      • Editing Math
      • Making Linear Math
      • Making Spatial Math
      • Set up Spatial Math
      • Editing Math Number Lines
      • Editing Matrices
      • Using Math Templates
      • Making Grids with Regular Text
    • Working with Tactile Graphics
      • Creating Blank Space for a Tactile Graphic
      • Attaching Images to Image Placeholders
  • Other Editing Tools and Features
    • Formatting Styles
      • Viewing Applied Styles
      • Applying Styles
      • Using Style Options
    • Working with Page Numbers
      • Adding Page Numbers
      • Editing Page Numbers
      • Deleting Page Numbers
      • Viewing Page Number Changes
    • Working with Emphasis
      • Adding Emphasis
      • Removing Emphasis
    • Modifying the Braille Translation
      • Entering Braille Directly into a Document
      • Changing the Text Translation
      • Correcting the Braille Translation
    • Finding and Replacing Text and Styles
      • Finding Text
      • Replacing Text
      • Finding Formatted Text
      • Replacing Formatted Text
      • Resetting Find and Replace
      • Repeating the Last Search
    • Operations Specific To NIMAS Files
      • Using Publisher’s Production Notes
      • Navigating A NIMAS File
  • Glossary
  • Help
    • Using the Help Menu
    • Reporting BrailleBlaster Issues
  • Appendix A: Formatting Styles
    • Basic Styles
      • Basic Styles Specification Table
    • Numeric Styles
      • Numeric Styles Specification Table
    • Heading Styles
      • Heading Styles Specification Table
    • List Styles
      • List Styles Specification Table
    • Exercise Material Styles
      • Exercise Material Styles Specification Table
    • Poetry Styles
      • Poetry Styles Specification Table
    • Caption Styles
      • Caption Styles Specification Table
    • Glossary Styles
      • Glossary Styles Specification Table
    • Index Styles
      • Index Styles Specification Table
    • Note Styles
      • Note Styles Specification Table
    • Play Styles
      • Play Styles Specification Table
    • Miscellaneous Styles
      • Miscellaneous Styles Specification Table
      • Boxes Options Specification Table
  • Appendix B: Shortcut Key Combinations
  • Appendix C: Troubleshooting Embosser Issues
    • Confirm Correct Embosser Configuration
    • Try Using Generic Text Embosser Support
    • Tweak Advanced Embosser Options
      • Advanced embosser options
      • Embosser specific recommended values

Getting Started¶

Please watch our videos: Introduction to BrailleBlaster and Getting Started with BrailleBlaster!

Modifying the View¶

BrailleBlaster’s customizable interface allows you to adjust the size and placement of tools to suit your preferences.

Changing Font Size¶

Font Size can be increased or decreased to your preferred text size. Be aware that increasing or decreasing the font size may change how much text is shown on the screen in the Print and Braille Views.

To change Font Size either go to View > Increase Font Size or Decrease Font Size. You can also use the shortcuts (Ctrl + “+”) to Increase Font Size OR (Ctrl + “-”) to Decrease Font Size.

Modifying Toolbar Icons¶

The button icons on the toolbar can be displayed or hidden from view. The size of the icons can also be changed by going to View > Icon Size. This gives you the option of having Small, Medium, or Large icons. How much text is shown in the Print and Braille Views of your document is also dependent on Icon Size.

To change how the toolbar buttons are displayed:

1. Go to View > Toolbar. The buttons that are currently shown on the toolbar have checkmarks beside them.
2. Check or uncheck which grouping of buttons you would like to have shown or hidden in the toolbar.
   Note: The default for the toolbar buttons is all groupings are shown in the toolbar, except for the View and Math tools.

Toggle Views¶

You can choose to hide or display text views on your screen allowing you to focus on one view or multiple views.

1. Go to View > Toggle Views. This shows which views you have open in the main window with check marks beside the following views:

Print (Alt + P): Shows the Print text

Note: You can only make changes to the text from within the Print View.

Braille: Shows the Braille text
Style: Shows which style is applied to the text.
Breadcrumbs: Shows what styles are applied to sections of the text in the bottom section of the toolbar. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, it shows every style used leading up to that specific piece of text.

2. Unchecking an item hides the view from the window.
3. Whenever a view is hidden and then displayed it moves to the right-hand side of the screen.

Note: At least one view must always be displayed.

Rearrange Views¶

BrailleBlaster allows you to arrange the print, braille, and style views in the order that works best for you.

To arrange the views:

1. Go to View > Toggle Views > Rearrange Views
2. From here, you can select Move Up or Move Down to switch where each view is displayed on the screen.

Note: The views display from left to right starting with the first item in the list.

Changing Simulated Braille to ASCII¶

By checking or unchecking View Braille in the main View menu, you can choose whether you want the text in the Braille View and Braille Preview to appear as simulated braille or ASCII.

View Braille Checked

View Braille Unchecked

Previewing Your File as an Embossed Braille Document¶

The Braille Preview displays how the file appears as an embossed BRF. The braille pages are displayed in 2 Page View mode. This side-by-side view is like looking at an open-bound book, with the even numbered braille pages on the left and the odd numbered braille pages on the right. This allows you to ensure the content is presented correctly in interpoint documents, such as when certain things need to be on facing pages or space needs to be allotted for graphics. When viewing Single-sided materials, 2 Page View can be turned off in Braille Preview by going to View > 2 Page View and unchecking it.

To preview a BRF go to File > Braille Preview OR use the keyboard shortcut (Alt + Home). This opens the Braille Preview window.

Note: When you open a BRF in BrailleBlaster it appears in this Braille Preview window. You cannot edit the BRF, but it can be embossed by going to File > Emboss within the Braille Preview menu or using the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + E).

Within the Braille Preview, you can navigate through the document by:

• Print Page Number: The page number normally displayed in the top-right corner of a braille page.

• Braille Page Number: The page number normally displayed in the bottom-right corner of a braille page (including T-Pages and P-Pages).

• Ordinal Page Number: The page number out of the total number of pages in your document, regardless of how the print and braille page numbers appear.

You can also navigate using the Find textbox if you need to find a specific section in the text. Narrow down your search further with these two checkboxes:

• Six Key: This checkbox allows a Six Key Input option for searching the text. If unchecked, ASCII should be entered to search.
• Uppercase: The uppercase checkbox only becomes available when a BRF is loaded into BrailleBlaster. When checked, it takes lowercase ASCII that BrailleBlaster produces in the Find textbox and uses it to find uppercase ASCII that is in the document. This is important because some BRFs use uppercase ASCII to simulate braille while others use lowercase ASCII.

Use the Next and Previous buttons to find specific instances of text you are looking for. When a search reaches the end of the document, it restarts at the beginning.

The Braille Preview window also has a status line in the lower left corner that provides navigation help by displaying the page number (based on your navigation selection), line number, and cell number the cursor is currently on. This information is accessible to screen readers.

Basic File Operations¶

BrailleBlaster makes creating, opening, and saving files easy through the use of keyboard shortcuts.

Creating Files¶

When creating a new document, go to File > New or use the shortcut (Ctrl + N) to begin working in a new blank tab/page.

Pasting Text¶

You can copy text from another document and paste it into BrailleBlaster, including special symbols not available on the keyboard. All of the text automatically formats into the Body Text style (3-1 margins). Add additional formatting and print page numbers to your document using Styles the Page tool.

Creating an Original Document¶

If you are creating a document from scratch, you can type your text directly into BrailleBlaster. Formatting and editing can be applied as you create your document.

Opening Files ¶

If you want to open a file in BrailleBlaster or continue working on a file you have already created, go to File > Open or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + O) to open the file.
BrailleBlaster opens many different types of files. When you select Open in the File menu, a list of the recognized file types is displayed.

Note: LaTeX will be converted into ASCII Math when opened in BrailleBlaster except in NIMAS XML, TXT, BRL, and ZIP file types.

• BB XML (*.bbx)
• BB Archive (*.bbz)
• Braille Ready File (*.brf) *Note:* When BrailleBlaster opens a BRF, it opens in the [[#Previewing Your File as an Embossed Braille Document|Braille Preview]] window and no changes can be made to the file.
• Braille text (*.brl)
• Microsoft Word files (*.docx)
• EPUB e-books (*.epub)
• HTML files (*.htm or *.html)
• Markdown files (*.md)
• Open Document files (*.odt)
• LaTeX files (*.tex)
• Text files (*.txt)
• XHTML files (*.xhtml or *.xhtm or *.xht)
• NIMAS XML files (*.xml)
• NIMAS zipped files (*.zip)

Using a NIMAS XML File¶

Within a NIMAS XML file, some of the print may be automatically formatted to the correct style for the braille document, such as print and braille page numbering, designation of headings, identification of tables, lists, and more. These automatic formats may need to be changed manually to ensure the print formatting correctly matches the braille formatting. For example, the headings may appear bold throughout the print file, but this font attribute is not needed in the braille transcription. For more information about working with NIMAS files go to the Operations Specific To NIMAS Files section.

If your file contains MathML, it is converted to ASCII Math and translated into your chosen math braille code.

Saving Files ¶

There are several unique file types that BrailleBlaster uses when saving a file.

BrailleBlaster ZIP File (BBZ): BBZ is the default BrailleBlaster file type. It is a zipped NIMAS file set. When the ZIP file is saved, it saves as a BBZ. This allows images to remain in the file.

BrailleBlaster XML File (BBX): XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. BBX was the previous file standard for BrailleBlaster. Now it saves everything as a BBZ, see below. However, if you have a BBX document, it should be able to be opened in BrailleBlaster V2. Note that support for this feature is limited and a very complex BBX file may not open in V2.

Braille Ready File (BRF): BrailleBlaster allows files to be saved as a BRF. You can also save your file in the Portable Embosser Format (PEF). These are the file formats that are used to Emboss the document.

Note: You cannot edit a BRF or PEF in BrailleBlaster. Make desired changes before saving as BRF or PEF. You can download BrailleZephyr (a free and simple BRF editor) to edit BRFs.

To save a BRF or PEF, go to File > Save BRF/PEF. Selecting this option saves your entire document as a single BRF or PEF. It opens the Save window and allows you to name your file.

For more information about BRFs within BrailleBlaster, see Previewing Your File as an Embossed Braille Document.

Navigating Files¶

BrailleBlaster has many tools to help you successfully navigate through your file. If you are using a NIMAS file, the Book Tree is the most useful tool for navigation, but other tools can be used to navigate any file.

Navigating to the Beginning of Your File¶

Home allows immediate navigation to the beginning of your document.

Go to Navigate > Home or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Home). This places the cursor at the very beginning of the document, before the first word on the first page.

Navigating to the End of Your File¶

End allows immediate navigation to the end of your document.

Go to Navigate > End or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + End). This places the cursor at the end of the file, after the last word on the last page.

Navigating to a Particular Page¶

Go to Page allows you to navigate to a specific page in your document. This is helpful for long documents that are difficult to navigate simply by scrolling. Alternatively, you can also use the Find and Replace feature to search your document if you are looking for a specific word or type of formatting in your document.

To navigate to a particular page:

1. Go to Navigate > Go To Page or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + G).
2. Select the type of page you want to use to navigate:

Print Page: The page number normally displayed in the top-right corner of a braille page.
Braille Page: The page number normally displayed in the bottom-right corner of a braille page.
Ordinal Page: The page number out of the total number of pages in your document, regardless of how the print and braille page numbers appear.

Note: If your document has Volume Breaks, you can search for a specific braille page within a single volume rather than the entire file.

3. Type the desired page number in the textbox and select Go To to complete the action.

Note: If you have made changes to the page numbers in your file, you can also quickly navigate to those pages you have changed through the Page Change List in the Page Number Dialog. See Viewing Page Number Changes for more details.

Setting up Your Document¶

Before getting started on your transcription, there are some basic settings you might need to adjust in your document, such as which braille code to use, how the page numbers should appear, how many braille lines per page, if you need a running head, and so on.

Setting Braille Translation¶

Go to Settings > Translation Settings

The default translation setting for BrailleBlaster is UEB, but other translation options include: UEB Uncontracted, UEB with Nemeth (Contracted and Uncontracted), EBAE (Contracted and Uncontracted), Spanish US, and Cherokee Plus Nemeth.

Setting Page Numbering¶

Go to Settings > Page Numbers

Depending on your agency, they may have different requirements for Page Numbers. You can choose the placement of both Braille and Print Page numbers, how you want continuation indicators for your print pages, and whether you want continuing pages.

Adjusting Page Properties, Margins, and Interpoint¶

Go to Settings > Page Properties

From here you can set your Page Size, Lines Per Page, Cells Per Line, and Margins of your document. You can also change whether you want your margins to be represented in inches or by cells or lines.
The Page Size default is set to 11.5” x 11”; Margins defaults are set to top 0.5”, bottom 0.5”, left margin 1.25”, right margin 0.48”.

The option Interpoint can be set for Yes or No. Setting it for Yes will emboss your file on both sides of the page. Setting it for No will emboss single-sided.

Once you have chosen your desired settings for the Translation Settings, Page Numbers, and Page Properties, you can select OK or Make Default if you want the changes to be applied to future documents. If you do not wish to save your changes, select Cancel.

Setting a Running Head¶

The Running Head tool allows you to add a Running Head to your document on all braille pages except for t1 and braille page 1. The default is for no running head, as it is not needed for all transcriptions.

1. Go to Insert > Running Head. This opens a small window.
2. The option No Running Head is automatically selected. Select the radio button Enter Title and type the Running Head into the textbox.

3. Select OK to save your changes.

Note: Before entering the Running Head, you should confirm that the running head length fits at the top of the page and works for all print page numbers as required by Braille Formats, 2016.

Printing and Embossing¶

Note that when BrailleBlaster prints, it prints the Print View. When it embosses, it embosses the braille view. We are working on a way to allow users to print the braille view for quick review.

Setting up a Printer¶

1. Go to File > Print or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + P) to open the Print window.
2. Under Select Printer any printer connected to your computer should automatically be listed. However, if your printer does not show up, use the Find Printer button.

3. Select the Print button to print the Print View of your document.

Printing a Document ¶

1. Go to File > Print or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + P) to open the Print window.
2. Select a printer.
3. Customize your print job with Page Range and Number of copies.

4. Click the Print button to send your file to the printer.

Setting up an Embosser¶

1. Go to Settings > Embosser Settings to select a default embosser, or to add or remove an embosser.

2. Complete the fields in the Edit embosser window to configure your embosser profile.
3. Click OK to complete your embosser profile set up or click Cancel to close the window without saving any changes.

Edit Embosser Fields¶

Name: The name can be as long as you want to identify the embosser, but BrailleBlaster only displays a limited number of characters.

Embosser Device: Select your embosser of choice from the dropdown list of all available printers and embossers.

Embosser Manufacturer: Select your embosser's manufacturer from the following choices. Listed after each manufacturer are the available models.

• APH:
  • PixBlaster
  • PageBlaster
• ViewPlus Technologies:
  • EmBraille
  • Columbia
  • Delta
  • Premier
  • Elite
  • Emprint
  • SpotDot
  • Max
  • Cub
  • Cub JR
• Generic: Three options are available.
  • Text only: This option is used if your embosser model is not supported by a specific driver. BrailleBlaster assumes that the page size, margins, interpoint, and other settings have been set on the embosser itself.
  • Text with margins: This option is similar to the Text only option, except that extra spaces are added in the braille to create margins.
  • Graphics Embosser: This option is for embosser models that support graphics embossing. This feature is in beta and, therefore, not fully supported across all possible models. It is supported by the ViewPlus family of embossers.
• IRIE:
  • Braille Buddy
  • Braille Sheet 120
  • Braille Trac 120
• Index Braille:
  • Basic-D V5
  • Basic-D V4
  • Everest-D V5
  • Everest-D V4
  • BrailleBox V5
  • BrailleBox V4
  • Fanfold V5
• Enabling Technologies:
  • Phoenix Gold
  • Phoenix Silver
  • Cyclone
  • Trident
  • BookMaker
  • Braille Express
  • Thomas
  • Thomas Pro
  • Juliet Classic
  • Juliet Pro
  • Juliet Pro60
  • ET
  • Romeo Attache
  • Romeo Attache Pro
  • Romeo Pro50
  • Romeo 25
  • Romeo 60
  • Juliet 120
• Braillo:
  • Braillo 200
  • Braillo 400S
  • Braillo 400SR
  • Braillo 600
  • Braillo 600SR
  • Braillo 270

Note: If you do not know your embosser's manufacturer, it is recommended you select Generic.

Embosser Model: Select from the available Embosser models, listed above. This varies depending on which manufacturer you chose.

Advanced embosser options¶

The options available on the advanced tab depend upon the model of embosser selected. These advanced options allow working around various issues with specific embossers and normally should be left at their default values. You may be asked to alter the advanced options if you contact support regarding an embosser issue.

Currently advanced options are only available for the generic "Text only" and "Text with margins" embosser models. Below is a list of the advanced options.

• Add margins (true, false)
• Pad page (true, false)
• Form feed on full page (true, false)
• End of line (open byte string)
• End of page (open byte string)
• Header (open byte string)
• Footer (open byte string)

For the options which accept byte string values, you should enter text representing the bytes to be sent to the embosser for that option. For most ASCII characters you can just type the character itself. However for characters which may not be easy to type there are a few escape sequences which are given in the below list.

• \\ to enter a backslash.
• \r to enter carrage return
• \n to enter new line.
• \t to enter tab.
• \f to enter form feed.
• \x followed by two hexadecimal characters to enter any byte. For example to enter the byte with hexadecimal value 1B (sometimes known as escape) you would enter \x1b into the option.

Embossing a Document ¶

After completing the steps in Setting up an Embosser, you can begin the process of embossing your file.

1. Go to File > Emboss or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + E) to open the Emboss window.

Note: If you have not embossed in BrailleBlaster before, you are prompted to set up a profile for your embosser. See Setting up an Embosser.

2. Select your embosser, the number of copies you wish to emboss, as well as the page range (All or a range between 1 and the final page of the document).

Note: You can change the embosser settings at any time by clicking the Manage Embossers button, which opens Embosser Settings window.

3. Click OK to emboss or click Cancel to close the window.

Automated Features and Tools¶

Working with Tables¶

The Table tool and Table Editor in BrailleBlaster can help you create and reformat braille tables more efficiently than ever before.

Check out our Tables in BrailleBlaster video!

Inserting/Creating an Unformatted Table¶

To create a table manually:

1. Place the cursor where you want the table to begin.
2. Go to Insert > Table, which opens the Table Editor screen.

3. In the lower right corner of the screen there are two textboxes labeled Rows and Columns. The default is 3 rows and 3 columns, but you can add or remove rows and columns by entering the number of Rows and Columns you want your table to have.
4. Begin adding the text for each entry.
5. (Optional step) To add Emphasis or a different Translation, use the dropdown menus from the toolbar.

• Tools: You can Swap Columns and Rows for better table fit; Add Emphasis to All or Add Math Translation to All to change all entries at once; or Remove All Emphasis from the table if emphasis is not necessary.
• Emphasis: You can use any of the forms of Emphasis that are found in the Emphasis toolbar in BrailleBlaster’s main window and apply them to text in the table.
• Translation: You can use Direct Translation, Uncontracted Translation, or Math Translation to change the braille translation to suit your needs.
  • Direct Translation is used when you have or need ASCII, pre-translated braille. An example would be #id for number sign 14. This translation type is used to force the translation type using ASCII braille.
  • Uncontracted Translation is used when you need the braille to appear without any braille contractions. It will still use your currently selected translation table, just without contractions.
  • Math Translation is used when you need to create linear math. For this BrailleBlaster uses ASCII Math.

Note: The keyboard shortcuts for creating Emphasis and making Translation changes are the same in the Table Editor as they are in the Print View of BrailleBlaster.

6. Check that the Table type in the lower left corner of the window is on Auto and select Save. Your table is automatically formatted into the style type of table BrailleBlaster thinks is the best fit for the amount and length of the information in your table.

Creating Formatted Tables¶

BrailleBlaster can automatically create many types of tables, which can be selected from the drop-down menu labeled Table type in the lower left corner. These are arranged to match the formatting of tables outlined in Braille Formats 2016.

Make a Simple Table¶

The Simple table style sets the table to display as a standard braille table with columns and rows and a line separator beneath each column heading.

Make a Listed Table¶

The Listed table style changes the table format so that the Row fields become Cell 5 Headings while information in the Column Heading fields become the first part of each listed item, followed by a colon, which is inserted automatically. Information in the column fields is added after the colon for each appropriate list item.

Make a Stairstep Table¶

The Stairstep table creates a table format where each row is represented as a collection of text with indentions so that each column of the table is set at a different margin.

Make a Linear Table¶

The Linear table format places the Column Headings in a Transcriber’s Note before the text and each row is put into a linear list separated by colons and semicolons.

Editing Tables¶

Any changes to the text within a table must occur within the Table Editor, whether it is simply correcting a typo or adding columns and rows, as the text cannot be edited in the Print View. To use the Table Editor, the cursor must be placed inside text designated as a table. Otherwise, BrailleBlaster generates the error message “Cursor is not on table.” Some of the features can be used for any table, while others are specific to each table type.

Adding or Removing Emphasis¶

Within the Table Editor, any text can be changed to appear with Emphasis. You can add Emphasis by highlighting text in the table then selecting the type form from those listed in the menu.

If all of the text in the table needs emphasis added, you can go to Tools > Add Emphasis To All and choose from those same options. If emphasis needs to be removed from part of the text, select the text and apply the emphasis again. If the entire table is emphasized but should not be, you can remove all the emphasis at once if you go to Tools > Remove All Emphasis.

Changing the Table Translation¶

You can change the translation of the table by highlighting text in the table then selecting the preferred Translation from the menu: Direct, Uncontracted or Math. If the entire table needs to appear as math, go to Tools > Add Math Translation to All.

Edit a Simple Table¶

When the Simple table style is applied, a button appears to the right of the drop-down menu labeled Simple Table Options.

1. Open the Simple Table Options. This opens a window with several tools for customizing your table:
   
   • Cells between columns: Choose either 2 cells between each column or 1 cell between each column. The default is 2.
   • Guide dots: Controls whether guide dots appear after material in columns. Choose either Enabled or Disabled. The default is enabled.
   • Row headings: Controls whether information in column 2 and beyond appears on the same line as any runovers in column 1. When enabled, materials in column 2 and beyond begin on the same line as the runover of the heading in column 1. When disabled, material in column 2 and beyond begin on the same line on which the heading starts. The default is enabled.
   • Columns widths: Allows control over the cell width of individual columns. Choose either default or custom. When custom is selected, a set of editable fields appear below the drop-down menu, showing each column in the table. (More about column widths following step 2.)
2. Click Ok to return to the Table Editor.

About Column Widths: In each field, the number displayed represents the number of braille cells that column takes up. Between each column is a number in parentheses, either a (1) or a (2). This number represents the number of Cells between columns. The fields can be edited to change the width of each column as desired.

The text Total Width: “X” is shown below the fields, where “X” is the total number of cells the columns, and the spaces between them, occupy on the braille page. This number automatically changes as the column widths are changed. This can be useful to ensure custom column widths do not exceed the width of the braille page.

Edit a Listed Table¶

When the Listed table style is applied, a button appears to the right of the drop-down menu labeled Create Transcriber’s Note Heading.

To edit a Listed table:

1. Select the Create Transcriber Note Heading button. This action adds a text field to the top of the Table Editor allowing you to create a Transcriber’s Note explaining the format of your table.
2. The 7-5 text field is set to the default text: “Print format is changed. Row headings are blocked in cell 5; column headings begin in cell 1. All headings are repeated for clarity. A colon separates headings from table entries.” This text can be edited to fit your document needs, and appears with 7-5 margins.

3. Click Ok to return to the Table Editor.

Edit a Stairstep Table¶

When the Stairstep table style is applied, a button appears to the right of the drop-down menu labeled Create Transcriber Note Heading.

To edit a Stairstep table:

1. Select the Create Transcriber Note Heading button.
2. Edit using the text fields in the Table Editor to explain the format of your table.

• 7-5: This first field with 7-5 margins is for the Transcriber's Note that precedes the table, informing the reader of the Stairstep format. The text defaults to "Table changes as follows:" but may be edited as needed.
• 1-1, 3-3, 5-5, etc: These next fields proceed in the standard Stairstep format. Each of these fields can be edited as needed.

3. 3. Click Ok to return to the Table Editor.

Edit a Linear Table¶

When the Linear table style is applied, a button appears to the right of the drop-down menu labeled Create Transcriber Note Heading.

To edit a Linear table:

1. Select the Create Transcriber Note Heading button.
2. Edit using the two text fields in the Table Editor to explain the format of your table.

• 7-5: This field is for the transcriber's note with 7-5 margins informing the reader that the table format is changed.
• 1-3: This field with 1-3 margins is for the explanation of the column heading order. By default, the text of the column headings is automatically placed here in order, from left to right, with a colon following the first column heading and a semicolon following each additional heading.

3. 3. Click Ok to return to the Table Editor.

Reformatting Tables¶

It is possible to reformat your table to another style type. There are two ways to reformat: Reformat Table and Advanced Reformat.

To reformat a table:

1. Go to Actions > Reformat Table.
2. A pop-up window opens that reads “Reformatting a table will convert the table formatting to plain text. Are you sure you want to continue?” Click Yes to continue or No to cancel.
3. When Yes is clicked, a new window opens, displaying a list of styles. Select a style to have all the table text reformatted into that style.
   
4. Click Ok to confirm the style choice and reformat that table into normal text.

Advanced Reformat functions the same way as Reformat Table, but it allows each field of the table to have a different Style applied to it when the table is reformatted. The text from each cell of the table appears and you designate the styles individually.

If you decide you do not want to present information in a table, you can also remove the table completely. Within the Table Editor, go to Actions > Delete Table. The text of the table is completely removed from the Print View.

Line Numbering¶

Line Number Tools adds a set of options to the toolbar for inserting line numbers into your document. This tool is primarily used for line numbered Prose, but it can be used for poetry as well. If you are using a NIMAS file and line numbers are present, BrailleBlaster may have automatically numbered the lines. If it did not, it is because the line numbers are not formatted as such in the original file.

Inserting Line Numbers¶

In order for BrailleBlaster to recognize the line numbers, the text in which they appear must first be wrapped in the Prose tag. This must be done in order for line numbers to show up in the Print and Braille Views. If you are adding line numbers to poetry, use the Poetic Stanza tag instead of the Prose tag when going through the line numbering process.

To insert a line number to Prose:

1. Go to Tools > Line Number Tools. This action adds the Line Number Tools to the toolbar.
2. In the Style View or Breadcrumbs, select the text where you want the line numbers displayed, or you can highlight the text in the Print View.
3. To add the Prose tag, click the Wrap Prose button in the Line Number Tools toolbar OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F2).
   Note: Wrap Prose does not affect the text other than allowing it to display line numbers.

4. Choose how to number the lines using either the Line Number or Increment by fields:

• Line Number: Use this field to set the initial line number for your text. Line numbers cannot have more than 10 digits. The default is 1.
• Increment by: This field allows you to set the increment by which all lines are numbered after adding the first line number. The default is 1.

Example: With the Increment by field set to 5, each time you insert a line number after the first, the number increases by 5. So you have 5 for the second line number, 10 for the third, 15 for the fourth, and so on.

5. Select Insert OR use the keyboard shortcut (F2) to place those line numbers in the text.

Editing Line Numbers¶

If you need to edit or remove a line number, the Edit Line Number tool on the Line Number Tools toolbar can make those changes.

To edit a line number:

1. Click on the text that contains the line number you want to edit.
2. Select Edit Line Number from the Line Number Tools toolbar OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift +F2). This action opens a window for editing the line number.
3. Type the new number in the text field, or delete it to remove the line number completely.
4. Click Apply to save the change.
5. Click Previous or Next to cycle through the other line numbers in the wrapped section of text and edit as needed. Clicking these buttons also applys any changes you have made to the line numbers.

Note: If BrailleBlaster cannot find any more line numbers, the Edit Line Number window automatically closes.

6. Click DONE, which closes the dialog.

Making Math¶

BrailleBlaster uses ASCII Math to create mathematical equations. If you are unfamiliar with ASCII Math, you can visit http://www.asciimath.org for a better understanding of how it works.

Check out our Basic Math with BrailleBlaster video!

BrailleBlaster provides support for both UEB Technical Material and UEB in Nemeth Contexts. You can select your default math translation table from the Settings > Translation menu.

Document types that are supported by Pandoc and include LaTeX are also supported by BrailleBlaster. LaTeX documents opened in BrailleBlaster maintain formatting, math, and so on from the original document and does not require LaTeX software to be installed on the system.

In some cases there may be packages or specific LaTeX notation not supported by BrailleBlaster. If you encounter this, we suggest that you convert the document to HTML using another application, and then open the HTML file in BrailleBlaster. TeX4HT, is an example of a LaTeX-to-HTML conversion tool. It integrates with the standard LaTeX compiler, thus offering very good LaTeX support.

Note: XHTML files produced by TeX4HT have the .xht file extension. You must change the .xht extension to .xhtml so BrailleBlaster recognizes the file.

To install and use TeX4HT, go to the website Producing HTML and MathML from LaTeX by using tex4ht.

Editing Math¶

When transcribing Math material, it is helpful to first turn on the Math toolbar icons.

Go to View > Toolbar > Math. When Math is checked, new icon buttons appear to help speed up your transcription.

Change to Math Translation¶

Whenever you need to designate that text should appear as Math, you can get to the Toggle Math Translation tool in multiple ways and easily make the changes.

To get to the Toggle Math Translation tool:

1. Select the text you want to designate as Math.
2. Go to Math > Toggle Math Translation; or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + M; or right click and select Math from the context menu.

Your Math text appears highlighted bright pink in the Print view.

Add Nemeth Indicators¶

For Nemeth within UEB contexts, you need to insert Nemeth Indicators throughout your document, which you can add either blocked or inline depending on your needs.

1. Select the text you want to appear between the Nemeth Indicators.
2. Go to Math > Nemeth Block or Nemeth Inline

The Nemeth Indicators now appear on the line before and the line after your Nemeth material if you chose Nemeth Block, or they appear before and after the Nemeth material only separated by a space if you chose Nemeth Inline.

Add Numeric Passages¶

For UEB Technical Material you may need to use a Numeric Passage in your document, which you can add either blocked or inline, depending on your needs.

To add numeric passages:

1. Select the text you want to appear within the Numeric Passage.
2. Go to Math > Numeric Passage Block or Numeric Passage Inline.
   • Choosing Numeric Passage Block places the Numeric Passage on the line before and the line after your UEB Technical material.
   • Choosing Numeric Passage Inline places the Numeric Passage before and after the UEB Technical material separated only by a space.

Add Numeric Spaces to a Series of Numbers¶

You can create a numeric series by using the Numeric Series tool as described:

1. Highlight the text you want to be a numeric series.
2. Go to Math > Numeric Series.

This action places dot 5’s where the spaces previously were. If there are two spaces, there are two Dot 5’s.

Get Math Help¶

You can also access the Math Help at any time. Go to Math > Math Help. This action opens a quick list of definitions for the Math tools and the button icons.

Making Linear Math¶

The ASCII Math Hub makes it easier to enter or edit unfamiliar math equations in a linear format.

To make a linear equation:

1. Go to Math > ASCII Math Hub.
2. From here, you can select various types of equations and mathematic symbols, which are organized into tabs. You can show or hide these tabs by using the Show Tabs option in the ASCII Math Hub toolbar and selecting the tabs you want to view. The tabs include:
   • Operation Symbols: A list of mathematical symbols used in an operation (e.g., division sign, multiply, union, etc.).
   • Miscellaneous Symbols: A list of a variety of symbols frequently used in many types of mathematic notation (e.g., absolute value, angle, plus minus, etc.).
   • Relation Symbols: A list of symbols that show the relationship between two parts of an equation (e.g., equals, greater than, proportional to, etc.).
   • Greek Symbols: A list of Greek letters (e.g., alpha, beta, capital delta, etc.).
   • Logical Symbols: A list of symbols commonly used in notations of logical expressions (e.g., true, there exists, if and only if, etc.).
   • Grouping Symbols: A list of symbols used for grouping within mathematical equations (e.g., left and right braces, left and right brackets, left and right curly braces, etc.).
   • Arrows: A list of arrows that can be use in mathematical equations (e.g., double left arrow, down arrow, double right left arrow, etc.).
   • Accents: A list of accents that may appear in mathematical contexts (e.g., combining circumflex, dot x, double dot x, etc.).
   • Functions: A list of function abbreviations used in mathematic equations (e.g., cosine, cotangent, cosecant, etc.).
   • Special: Contains column vectors, complex subscripts, matrices, and script order templates.
   • Examples: A list of common mathematic operations shown in ASCII Math and in an image for user convenience (e.g., complex fraction, exponent, overbar, etc.).
   • Search: Here you can search for an ASCII Math symbol by typing it into the textbox and clicking OK.

3. Select the Insert button to put your text in BrailleBlaster.
4. (Optional step) Choose Replace Current Math to replace a previous entry of math that was made with your current entry. Select Previous Math or Next Math to navigate through the math elements in your document.

Note: You can also make the ASCII Math Hub full screen by choosing Full Screen in the Settings drop-down menu.

Note: Any math that you enter using the ASCII Math Hub is highlighted in bright pink in the Print View.

Note: Font Size can be be increased or decreased by pressing the Plus(+) or Minus(-) buttons next to where it says Font Size.

Making Spatial Math¶

To create or edit spatial math in BrailleBlaster, open the Spatial Math Editor.

Note: You cannot edit spatial math in the Print View. Instead, place your cursor in the spatial math you want to change, open the Spatial Math Editor, and make any changes needed.

Check out our Spatial Math in BrailleBlaster video!

To create spatial math:

1. Go to Math > Spatial Math Editor.
2. Select the Container Type, or type of spatial math, you want to create in the menu. The options are:
   • Number Line Editor
   • Matrix
   • Math Templates
   • Regular Text

Set up Spatial Math¶

Some fields are available no matter what container type you have chosen. Container specific settings appear under the settings menu after you have selected that Container Type. There are general setting options and buttons to review before entering your spatial math.

Settings: These change based on your container type and translation. It allows for Nemeth Passage Indicators, Grade 1 Passage, or Numeric Passage Indicators to be applied inline for the translation it is set on.

Row: Allows you to customize the rows needed for your Spatial Math with three buttons:

• Previous: Allows you move to the previous number in the list
• Next: Allows you to add more rows or move to the next row number in the list.
• Delete: Removes a row from list.

Column: Allows you to customize the columns needed for your Spatial Math with three buttons:

• Previous: Allows you move to the previous number in the list
• Next: Allows you to add more columns or move to the next column number in the list.
• Delete: Removes a column from list.

Insert: Places your new Spatial Math into your file where your cursor is placed or updates your previously created Spatial Math according to your edits.

Cancel: Closes the window without saving any changes.

Editing Math Number Lines¶

Before you enter your Number Line information in the Spatial Editor, review the settings to ensure the best translation.

Settings Specific to Number Lines¶

• Reduce Fraction: Automatically reduces the fractions on your number line. If you want the same denominator to appear across the number line, do not use Reduce Fraction.

Example: If your number line is labeled 0 to 1 with an interval of ¼, the Reduce Fraction option would make your number line read: 0, ¼, ½, ¾, and 1, rather than 0, ¼, 2/4, ¾, and 4/4.

• Beveled Fraction: Sets the fraction lines in your number lines to a Beveled Fraction, which is a diagonal line in print. Beveled Fractions in UEB use the general fraction line; Nemeth uses the diagonal line.

• Add Arrows to Line: Puts arrows on the beginning and end of your number line.

• Stretch Across Page: Stretches the number line across the entire braille page. By default, BrailleBlaster tries to use the minimum number of cells to fit your number line on the page.

• Remove Leading Zeros: When your number line has decimals, Remove Leading Zeros omits the zeros that appear before the decimal. For example, 0.5 appears as .5 in braille.

• Number Line View: Sets whether your number line appears as math or plain text:
  • Math Entry: Allows a sequential number line to be put in according to your needs.
  • User Text: Allows you to enter text instead of math for the labeled tick marks on the number line. This adds the option Line Marker, which allows up to 10 markers along the number line.

• Interval/Points: Creates either Points along the number line or an Interval along a segment of the number line.
  • Points: Creates points along the number line
  • Interval: Creates a line segment on the number line
  • None: Removes any Intervals or Points from the number line

• Start Interval Type: Inserts a symbol at the start of your line segment. Your options are:
  • Empty Circle:
    
  • Full Circle:
    
  • None:
    

• End Interval Type: Creates a symbol at the end of your line segment. Your options are:
  • Empty Circle:
    
  • Full Circle:
    
  • None:
    

Create a Number Line¶

BrailleBlaster calculates your number line automatically as long as the fields are filled in using numbers that make sense mathematically:

• Count By: The amount you want each number on the number line to increase by.
• Line Start: The first number of your number line.
• Line End: The last number of your number line.
• Interval Start: The first number of your line segment.
• Interval End: The last number of your line segment.

Once you have filled out these fields, select Insert and the math is put into your file at the location of the cursor.

Editing Matrices¶

Before you enter your Matrix information in the Spatial Editor, review the settings to ensure the best translation.

Settings Specific to Matrices¶

• Translation: Allows you to choose the type of Translation for your Matrix:
  • Uncontracted
  • Direct
  • ASCII Math
  • Literary

• Add Ellipsis to Blank Cells: Automatically adds ellipses to blank spaces in your Matrix.

• Grouping Device: Allows you to change which grouping indicator encloses your Matrix cells. The options include:
  • Bracket
  • Parentheses
  • Brace
  • Vertical Bar
  • Big Bracket
  • Big Parentheses
  • Big Brace
  • Big Vertical Bar

• Wide Overflow Style: Automatically used when you enter large amounts of text in the Matrix cells or there are many Matrix cells. BrailleBlaster detects when a Matrix is too large to fit on one braille page and formats your text based on your overflow style and how you set up your document in Page Properties. You have two overflow options:
  • Block and Blank Line: Makes each cell of the Matrix into a block with the overflow of text appearing vertically in the block
  • Indent Columns: Formats each of the Matrix columns into a block and indents each column by two braille cells.

Note: If you have the Indent Columns option selected, but only one cell is too long for a braille page, BrailleBlaster overrides this with Block and Blank Line formatting in order to fit the Matrix on the page.

• Row & Column: Customizes the number of rows and columns for each Matrix, up to 9 for each.

Using Math Templates¶

With Math Templates you can add Identifiers, Operators, and Operands to your equations and customize them to fit your needs.

Settings Specific to Math Templates¶

Before you enter your Math Template information in the Spatial Editor, review the settings to ensure the best translation.

• Template Type: Changing your template type changes the layout of the boxes where you enter your text. The three template types are:
  • Simple Template
  • Fraction Template
  • Division Template

• Operator: Allows you change the operation sign you want to use in your equation. You can also change your operator from the drop-down menu of the text area.
  • Plus
  • Minus
  • Multiply

• Operands: Customizes the number of operands in your equation, up to 20.

• Solution: Allows you to enter the solution for the equation to your template.
  • False: No solution is shown
  • True: You can enter the solution, which is shown

Making Grids with Regular Text¶

You can make a grid out of any text and can customize the position of that grid.

Settings for Regular Text¶

Before you enter your grid information in the Spatial Editor, review the settings to ensure the best translation.

Vertical Alignment: Aligns your grid entries vertically with options:

• Top
• Center
• Bottom

Horizontal Alignment: Aligns your grid entries horizontally with options:

• Right
• Center
• Left
• Trim

Working with Tactile Graphics¶

Creating Blank Space for a Tactile Graphic¶

The Image Placeholder allows you to insert blank lines to leave the required amount of space for a graphic within the text.

1. Place your cursor where you want to insert the blank lines.

Note: The blank lines will be inserted into the document before the cursor.

3. Go to Insert > Image Placeholder. This action will bring up a window.
4. In the window, a textbox is shown with the label: Number of lines (<25). Type the number of lines you need for the graphic, but it must be a number less than 25.
5. Once you have typed the number you need, select Submit to add in the lines or Cancel to go back to the document without making any changes.

See also the sections on Creating Facing Pages and Adding Blank Pages, as these are important for adding tactile graphics to interpoint documents.

Attaching Images to Image Placeholders¶

Blank lines can be associated with an image now.

Go to Insert > Image Placeholder and insert the number of blank lines in the dialog box to account for the graphic.

Use the Insert Image Location button to choose a file from your computer to associate with that set of blank lines. When the association is made, the braille and graphics can be embossed together to a supported embosser. Currently, only ViewPlus graphics embossers are supported; however, more are planned for the future.

Other Editing Tools and Features¶

Formatting Styles¶

Styles are an integral part of the transcription process. Giving text elements different styles distinguishes how the print is formatted, providing clarity for the braille reader.

Viewing Applied Styles¶

By using Breadcrumbs and the Style View you can see what kinds of styles are applied to the text and how the text is grouped.

Viewing Style Containers¶

Breadcrumbs is a feature that shows what styles are applied to sections of the text. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, it shows every style used leading up to that specific piece of text.

1. Go to View > Toggle Views > Breadcrumbs. This makes Breadcrumbs visible in the bottom section of the toolbar.
2. Breadcrumbs shows different levels of styles that have been applied to a piece of text. Clicking on one of the section buttons highlights everything within that style level.

Viewing Styles in the Main Window¶

Within the default Settings, the Style View for BrailleBlaster is located at the left-most section of the document view. This view shows what style has been applied to the selection of text in the Print View. This is helpful for viewing types of formatting in the document. You can change where this view is located on the screen, as well as turn it on and off. See Toggle Views for details.

Applying Styles¶

BrailleBlaster's formatting is contextual, and the Styles conform to the rules laid out in Braille Formats 2016. How each style functions in BrailleBlaster is detailed in the Style Appendix.

To apply a style:

1. Place your cursor in an element OR highlight a section of text where you want to apply a style.
2. Go to Styles and select the style you want the element to have OR select the desired style from the toolbar buttons.
3. Once selected, that style is applied to the text.

Repeating the Last Used Style¶

The Repeat Last Style tool is used to continuously apply the last used style to new text elements.

To repeat the last style:

1. Place your cursor in an element OR highlight a section of text where you want to apply a style.
2. Go to Styles > Repeat Last Style or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + R).
3. The style last applied to the previous element is now applied to the current element.

Note: If no style has been applied, and this feature is used, a pop-up opens letting you know there is no style to repeat.

Removing a Style¶

In BrailleBlaster, you can replace any style with another style from the Style toolbar, but there is a tool that allows you to remove certain styles from a text element in one simple step. Unwrap Element allows you to remove certain styles, including List, Poetic Stanza, Box, Full Box, and Prose.

To remove a style:

1. Have Breadcrumbs displayed in the toolbar. See Viewing Applied Styles for instructions on how this done.
2. Place your cursor on the text you want to Unwrap.
3. Select the container button for the element in Breadcrumbs. The text is now highlighted.
4. Go to Tools > Unwrap Element.

Note: In some cases, Unwrap Element may be grayed out or unavailable to select. If this occurs, you must apply another style instead of using this tool.

5. After selecting Unwrap Element, the text is formatted as Body Text, the default style in BrailleBlaster, which presents text as indented paragraphs with margins of 3-1.

Adjusting the Number of Style Levels:¶

You can adjust the number of Style Levels that appear for each style with multiple levels. The default number of levels displayed is five, but you might find you need fewer or more levels. BrailleBlaster can show up to eight.

To adjust the number of styles:

1. Go to Styles > Configure > Style Levels.
2. Select the number of levels that you wish to view in the dropdown menus in the Styles toolbar.

Using Style Options¶

Sometimes it is necessary for a braille document to have additional style rules on certain parts of the text. Style Options allows you to add various style rules to the text.

Setting Your Own Margin¶

There are times when you have text that doesn’t conform to BrailleBlaster’s existing style options. There are many oddities when formatting braille and they can’t all be covered by a predetermined style. For these situations, you can use Set Cell Position, which allows you to set the indentation for the line of text at the cursor’s position.

To set your own margin:

1. Place your cursor before the element you wish to indent.
2. Go to Edit > Set Cell Position, which causes a textbox to open.
3. Type the cell number where you want your text to start into the textbox.
4. Click OK. The text element is pushed over into the cell number you entered.

Note: If you type in a number lower than the cell the text is currently on, it drops down to the next line and begins on that cell. This command does not work if the cursor is at the end of a line. It is only applied to one line at a time.

Keeping Text on the Same Line¶

Hitting Enter moves the text down to the next line, but it treats it is as a new element, like a new paragraph in Body Text or a new item in a List. When you don’t want a new element, but need text to stay together, you can insert a Line Break. This inserts a break at the location of the cursor, dropping all text following the cursor down to the next braille line.

To keep text on the same line:

1. Place your cursor where you want your line break to be.
2. Go to Edit > Line Break OR use the keyboard shortcut (Shift + Enter).
3. The text moves down to the next line and starts at the appropriate runover.

Note: The text starts in the runover cell determined by the current element's style. For instance, if the style is Body Text (which has 3-1 margins), inserting a line break starts the new line on cell 1.

Keeping Text on the Same Page¶

Don’t Split is the only style option that wraps elements of different styles. It is used to keep the selected elements together on the same braille page.

To keep text on the same page:

1. Highlight the elements that need to be kept together.
2. Go to Styles > Options > Don’t Split and apply the style option.

Note: If the selected elements do not fit on a single braille page, any text longer than one braille page continues on to the next braille page.

Keep With Next¶

Selecting Keep With Next causes that element to stay with whichever element follows it.

To keep an element with the next one:

1. Select the desired element by highlighting it.
2. Go to Styles > Options > Keep With Next and apply the style option.

Note: If the second element moves to a new braille page because of changes to formatting, the element that has the Keep With Next style applied also moves to that braille page.

Adding Blank Lines¶

The style options Lines Before and Lines After allow you to set the number of blank lines either before or after. Every style that begins on a new line automatically has a value of 1 for Lines Before and Lines After. If you want that element to have a blank line before or after it, set the value as 2. Some styles already have blank lines by default, such as Centered Headings, which have a value of 2 for Lines Before and a value of 2 for Lines After. To add an extra blank line before a Centered Heading, set the Lines Before value as 3.

To add blank lines:

1. Select the desired element(s) by highlight it.
2. Go to Styles > Options.
3. Click on the Lines Before or Lines After style option.
4. In the window, enter the value (number of lines) in the textbox.

Adding Double Lines¶

The style option Double Spaced allows you to apply double-line spacing to highlighted text.

To apply double-line spacing:

1. Highlight the desired elements to select.
2. Go to Styles > Options > Double Spaced and apply the style option.

Removing Text From Lines with Page Numbers¶

The style option Skip Number Lines determines whether the element should skip lines that contain page numbers.

To remove text from lines with page numbers:

1. Go to Styles > Options > Skip Number Lines.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • Top: Prevents the element from appearing on the top line of the braille page
   • Bottom: Prevents the element from appearing on the bottom line of the braille page
   • Both: Causes the element to skip both the top and bottom lines of the braille page
   • None: Removes other Skip Number Line options if they are no longer needed

Once the style has been selected, it is immediately applied.

Note: Keep in mind that even if None is selected, when you have a Running Head or Guide Words, those lines are automatically skipped because they are applied to those elements.

Creating Facing Pages¶

Page Side is used to set which side of a page certain text needs to be on within interpoint documents. This is useful when you have graphics or material that needs to appear on facing pages, such as tables or question and answer choices. When formatting decisions cause an element to move, the selected material continues to appear on the type of page selected. If the page side isn’t significant, and you just need a blank page added, see Adding Blank Pages.

To create facing pages:

1. Go to Styles > Options > Page Side.
2. There are two options to choose from: left or right.
   • Page Side Left: Applying this to an element causes that element to appear only on the left-hand side, which is an even page.
   • Page Side Right: Applying this causes that element to appear only on the right-hand side, which is an odd page.
3. If the text is on the type of page you have selected, it remains on that page; but if it is not, it moves to the type of page you selected.

Adding Blank Pages¶

The style options New Pages Before and New Pages After are used to insert a blank braille page before or after the selected element. This ensures that formatting decisions made before this point in the document do not remove a blank page that the transcriber deems necessary. If the blank page is needed in order for material to appear on facing pages, see Creating Facing Pages, as that style option ensures your material stays facing.

To add a blank page:

1. Go to Styles > Options.
2. Click on the New Pages Before or New Pages After style option.

If you chose New Pages Before, the highlighted element will move to a new page. You can then press Ctrl+Enter before the element to add a blank page.
If you chose New Pages After, the text after the highlighted element will move to a new page. You can then press Ctrl+Enter after the element to add a blank page.

Working with Page Numbers¶

BrailleBlaster has many tools for numbering braille and print pages efficiently.

Adding Page Numbers¶

Adding Print Page Numbers¶

If Print page numbers have not automatically been added to your document, you can add them manually by using the Page tool.

To add print pages:

1. Type the print page number into your document where a print page break should occur.
2. Highlight that number and go to Styles > Miscellaneous > Page or use the button on the Styles toolbar.

If the number is in the middle of a braille page, a print page change indicator appears across the page with the print page number at the right margin.

Adding a Page Change Indicator with No Print Page Number¶

You may encounter material or sections with no print page numbers. If the print page breaks are still relevant, you can manually add a blank page change indicator that has no print page number.

To add a page change indicator:

1. Place your cursor before the location where you want the page change indicator to appear.
2. Select Insert > Blank Print Page Indicator.

Adding Braille Page Numbers¶

Braille page numbers are added automatically with BrailleBlaster. You can also add more braille pages (if needed) by using Page Break.

Note: There must be text present after the cursor to use Page Break.

To add braille page numbers:

1. Place your cursor where you want the Page Break to appear.
2. Go to Edit > Page Break OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Enter).

The break is inserted after the cursor, forcing all text after the cursor to the next braille page. You can continue to use this feature to create more braille pages as needed.

Editing Page Numbers¶

BrailleBlaster makes editing page numbers easy with the Edit Page Number tool. This tool can be used to change print and braille page numbers as needed.

To edit a page number:

1. Put your cursor anywhere on the page that you wish to change.
2. Go to Edit > Edit Page Number or right-click and select Edit Page Number from the context menu. This action opens the Page Number Dialog window.

The Page Number Dialog gives you several options to change both your print and braille pages.

Changing Print Page Indicators¶

Note: This option only appears if a Print Page Number is already present on the page selected.

To change a print page indicator:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Print Page Indicator tab.
2. Find the “Change Previous Print Page Indicator from [X]” section.

3. Change the number in the textbox (which displays the current print page number) to the desired number. The page number can be presented in Direct or Uncontracted braille. You can also have a print page number that is a combination of two print page numbers separated by a hyphen. This changes the first page number and all continuation pages.
4. If you have NOT inserted a hyphen into the Change Previous Print Page Indicator textbox, you can select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving and skip steps 5 and 6.
5. If you HAVE inserted a hyphen into the Change Previous Print Page Indicator textbox, the Runover Page Numbers options become available.

• Combined: This option causes the print page runovers to appear as hyphenated numbers.
• Implied: This option causes the print page runovers to be displayed containing only the second print page number.

Note: The options for Runover Page Numbers are based on rules for print page numbers found in Braille Formats, 2016 Section 1.11.

6. After you have selected the Runover Page Number option that is appropriate for your document, select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving.

Changing Print Page Numbers¶

To change a print page number:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Print Page Number tab.
2. Find the “Change Print Page Number from [X]” section.

3. Enter the appropriate changes into one or both of the textbox fields. *Note:* All numbers must be entered in ASCII. There are two textbox fields to fill in: ** Continuation Letter: You can use this textbox to change the Continuation Letter from what is shown (i.e., b) to whatever letter is needed (i.e., c). All page numbers runovers that follow automatically update accordingly. This is useful if your agency has special requirements for numbering blank pages. ** Page Number: Only changes that instance of the print page number, without changing the surrounding page numbers.
4. Select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving.

Changing Braille Page Numbers¶

To change braille page numbers:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Braille Page Number tab.
2. Find the “Change Braille Page Number from [X]” section.

3. Enter the appropriate braille page number for the current page.
4. Choose Yes for that page to have a [[#Setting a Running Head|Running Head]], or No if not.

Sometimes you may need to change the type of braille page number you want for your document.

To change the type of braille page number:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Page Number Type tab.

2. Select one of three options from the drop-down menu: ** Normal: The braille page number shows the ordinal number. ** T-page: The braille page number starts with the letter “t” for transcriber-generated pages. ** P-page: The braille page number starts with the letter “p” for preliminary pages.

Note: Once you change the braille page type, the braille page numbers continue to appear as that type until a new braille page number type is selected.

3. Select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving.

Deleting Page Numbers¶

Deleting Print Page Numbers¶

There are two options for deleting print page numbers. You can delete the print page indicator or the print page.

To delete a print page indicator:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Print Page Indicator tab.
2. Select the Delete Indicator button to delete the print page number and all continuation indicators with that print page number. The pages remain in your document following the page change indicator, but without print page numbers. All other print page numbers remain the same.
3. Select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving.

To delete a print page:

1. In the Page Number Dialog window, go to Edit Page Number tab > Print Page Number tab.
2. Select the Delete Page button to delete the specific print page number and continuation letter currently in the textboxes. The print page number is removed from the current braille page and is applied on the next braille page.

Example: If you delete print page c5, the current c5 no longer has a print page number, and the next page, d5, becomes print page c5.

3. Select Ok to save your changes or Cancel to leave without saving.

Note: You can also move or remove Print Page Numbers by going to Settings > Page Numbers. The default location is the top right for both Even Print Page Number and Odd Print Page Number, but you can change each of these depending on what your agency requires. You can move them to the top left, bottom left, or bottom right of the page, or have none.

Deleting Braille Page Numbers¶

To delete a Braille page number, first delete the text or blank space on that page. If you want to move or remove your braille page numbers, go to Settings > Page Numbers to choose how you want your Braille page numbers to appear in your document. The default is the bottom right for both Even Braille Page Number and Odd Braille Page Number, but for each type you can move them to the bottom left, top right, or top left of the page, or have none.

Viewing Page Number Changes¶

Within the Page Number Dialog window, there is a Page Change List tab that lists all the changes you have made to the print and braille page numbers. You can delete your changes by checking the checkbox next to the corresponding change and then clicking the Delete button at the bottom of the window. You can navigate to the changed pages by clicking the Go To button to the right of the list item.

Working with Emphasis¶

There are many forms of Emphasis in braille that allow the text to be prominent. Also known as font attributes or typeforms, these range from common forms of print emphasis to those unique to braille. Each type of emphasis is explained in Section 9 of the Rules of Unified English Braille, and when to use or ignore font attributes is detailed in Braille Formats, 2016, Section 5: Typeforms.

Adding Emphasis¶

In BrailleBlaster, emphasis can only be applied to text that has already been created. Highlight a selection of text and add the desired emphasis using the appropriate keyboard shortcut or toolbar button, or go to the Emphasis menu.

• Bold (Ctrl + B): Adds Bold to a symbol, word, or passage.
• Italics (Ctrl + I): Adds Italics to a symbol, word, or passage.
• Underline (Ctrl + U): Adds an Underline to a symbol, word, or passage.
• Script (Alt + Shift + S): Add Script indicators to a symbol, word, or passage that mimics handwriting in print. The selected text appears light pink in the print view.
• Transcriber Note Symbols: Although Transcriber’s Note (TN) indicators are not a print typeform, they add a special emphasis for the braille reader. TN indicators are added at the beginning and end of the selected text. Adding this emphasis across three elements, for example, puts an opening TN indicator at the beginning of the first element and a closing TN indicator at the end of the last element.
• Transcriber-Defined Typeforms: There are some types of emphasis in print with no braille equivalent such as highlighting, colored font, or double underlining. Transcriber-Defined Typeforms allow this emphasis to be represented with a braille symbol that is defined on the Transcriber’s Notes Page of the document. These indicators and how to use them are described in Section 9.5 of the Rules of Unified English Braille.
  • Transcriber-Defined 1 (Shift + Alt + 1)
  • Transcriber-Defined 2 (Shift + Alt + 2)
  • Transcriber-Defined 3 (Shift + Alt + 3)
  • Transcriber-Defined 4 (Shift + Alt + 4)
  • Transcriber-Defined 5 (Shift + Alt + 5)

Removing Emphasis¶

Emphasis can be removed by highlighting the text that is emphasized and selecting the same emphasis option that is currently applied to it. BrailleBlaster also has tools to make the removal of emphasis easier from larger pieces of text with more than one applied emphasis style.

Removing Emphasis from a Selection¶

This feature removes all emphasis from a highlighted selection. This works for whatever amount of text is selected: a few words, a few paragraphs, or several pages of text.

1. Highlight any amount of text with emphasis you want removed in your file.
2. Go to Emphasis > Remove Emphasis from Section or use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + R)

The highlighted text is no longer emphasized.

Removing All Emphasis from Headings¶

Headings do not usually need to be emphasized in braille. You can manually remove emphasis for each heading, or a use tool to remove emphasis from all headings in one action.

Note: It is advisable to save your work before using this feature.

Go to Emphasis > Remove All Emphasis from Headings.

Note: You have to add emphasis manually to headings where it should be kept after using this tool.

Removing All Emphasis from List Prefixes¶

In print documents, the numbers or letters at the beginning of list items can appear in bold. This Emphasis is usually considered unnecessary in braille and is typically removed. BrailleBlaster can search the file and remove the emphasis from numbers and letters at the beginning of lists.

Note: It is advisable to save your work before using this feature.

Go to Emphasis > Remove All Emphasis from List Prefixes.

Note: You have to add emphasis manually to any list prefixes that require it after using this tool.

Removing All Emphasis from Alphabetic Reference Entry Words¶

Print often adds emphasis to the entries in indexes and glossaries, but Braille Formats, 2016 says to ignore such font attributes unless they are needed for distinction, such as foreign words or book titles. BrailleBlaster allows you to remove the emphasis from all of the entry words in those sections designated as a glossary or index in one action.

Note: It is advisable to save your work before using this feature.

Go to Emphasis > Remove Emphasis from Alphabetic Reference Entry Words.

Note: You have to add emphasis manually to any entry words that require it after using this tool.

Modifying the Braille Translation¶

BrailleBlaster works with a program called LibLouis to give transcribers the most accurate translation possible, but sometimes the translation is inaccurate and needs be changed. BrailleBlaster has several tools for correcting braille text in your current document and applying it to future documents.

Entering Braille Directly into a Document¶

Six Key Mode allows six key transcription within BrailleBlaster. When this tool is activated, you can type braille directly into the Print View by pressing combinations of the keyboard keys FDS and JKL to create the six dots of a braille cell.

Letter	Dot Number
F	1
D	2
S	3
J	4
K	5
L	6

Note: If you find this feature doesn’t work for you, it is most likely your keyboard. Not all keyboards allow more than one letter to be pressed at a time.

To use Six Key Mode:

1. Go to Tools > Six Key Mode or use the keyboard shortcut (Alt + X).
2. Use the keyboard keys FDS and JKL as the six dots of braille to enter text into the Print View. The text that is created from six key entry is not translated by BrailleBlaster so what appears in the Print View will also appear in the Braille View.
3. To exit out of Six Key Mode and return to regular keyboard entry, go back to Tools > Six Key Mode or use the keyboard shortcut (Alt + X) again.

Changing the Text Translation¶

Even after you’ve designated your translation settings, you can change how part of the text is translated, ranging from a word to multiple pages. Change Translation offers two translation options for a selection of text: Uncontracted and Direct.

To change text translation:

1. Highlight the section of text to change.
2. Go to Tools > Change Translation OR use the Change Translation toolbar button OR right-click and Select Change Translation.
3. Select the appropriate translation for your document:

• Uncontracted (Ctrl + Shift + T): Presents the selected text in grade 1 braille, without the use of contractions. The text is highlighted in green in the braille view.
• Direct (Ctrl + D): Presents the literal ASCII translation of the selected text. The text is highlighted in purple in the print view.

Note: Direct translation is sometimes necessary when you need to force the translation to appear a certain way, but BrailleBlaster does not allow it otherwise.

Correcting the Braille Translation¶

Correct Braille Translation allows you to submit translation corrections for the program LibLouis. This ensures quick and easy recognition of undefined print characters. The most common corrections are for Unicode characters (i.e., Unicode: U + 25B6 for a black right-pointing triangle), proper nouns, and non-English words, though you may find a translation mistake on occasion.
When you encounter an undefined Unicode character in the translation, the Unicode image appears in the Print View, while the Unicode name, enclosed in Transcriber’s Notes, appears in the Braille View.

Making a Braille Translation Correction¶

To make a braille translation correction:

1. In the Print View, highlight the character or word that is not translating correctly.
2. Go to Tools > Correct Braille Translation OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + T). In the Correct Translation window the highlighted print word is shown in the Print textbox. There is also a Braille textbox for entering the correct translation of the character or word.

3. Choose one of three options appropriate to the correction of the text:

• Define New Character: Creates a new character.
• Correct Character: Corrects an improperly translated character.
• Correct Word: Corrects a proper noun or foreign word.

4. Select your entry method for typing the correct braille: Six Key or ASCII.
5. Type the corrected braille into the Braille textbox.
6. Select one of two options for saving your translation correction or Cancel to leave without making changes:

• Save Translation Locally: Allows you to save to a locally designated file on your computer. This option is for personal translation options.
• Save Translation Globally: Saves to a local file on your computer and submits the correction to APH. APH reviews the change for future BrailleBlaster releases and to share with others who use LibLouis. This process of continuous improvement to the translation tables helps braille readers around the world receive timely, accurate braille.

Viewing Past Braille Translation Corrections¶

To view past braille translation corrections:

1. Select the View Corrections button at the bottom of the Correct Translation window. This action opens another window where your corrections to translations can be viewed.

2. Select the Edit Translation button to make edits to translations you have previously entered OR select a translation from the list and click the Delete Entry button to delete translations that are no longer needed.
3. Select Cancel to return to the Correct Braille Translation window without making any changes.

Finding and Replacing Text and Styles¶

The Find and Replace tool allows you to find and edit text and formatting easily.

Finding Text¶

To find text in your document:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F).
2. Type the text you want to search for into the Find Text textbox.

3. (Optional step) Select one or both options to narrow down the search:

• Match Case: Only searches for the text as you type it in regard to capitalization.
  Example: If you search for “THE” with Match Case checked, BrailleBlaster only finds instances of the fully capitalized characters “THE” and ignores any others, like “The” or “the.”

• Whole word: Only searches for instances of the text that are preceded and followed by a space, rather than instances of the characters within a longer word.
  Example: If you search for “the” with Whole word checked, BrailleBlaster only finds instances of “the” where it stands alone as a word, and ignores results like “theater,” “them,” “bathe,” and so on.

4. Select the Find button to search for an instance of the text. The text is highlighted in the Print View of your document for further instances of the text.
5. (Optional step) Continue using the Find button to cycle through the document. You can also cycle through the document forwards or backwards by selecting one of those options.
6. Select Close when finished.

Replacing Text¶

To replace text in your document:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F).
2. Type the text you want to replace into the Find textbox.
3. (Optional step) If appropriate, check the Match Case or Whole Word checkboxes.

• Match Case: Only searches for the text as you type it in regard to capitalization.
  (Optional step) Check the Match case checkbox to maintain the capitalization of the original text.
  Example: If you enter “even” in the Find Text box and “odd” in the Replace with box with Match case checked, “even” is replaced with “odd,” “Even” is replaced with “Odd,” and “EVEN” with “ODD.”
  Note: Match case only works with lowercase, all uppercase, and initial case but not with camel-capped words or oddly capped words (e.g., BrailleBlaster or BrAiLLeBlASTer).
• Whole Word: Only searches for instances of the text that are preceded and followed by a space, rather than instances of the characters within a longer word.
  Example: If you search for “the” with Whole Word checked, BrailleBlaster only finds instances of “the” where it stands alone as a word, and ignores results like “theater,” “them,” “bathe,” and so on.

4. Type the replacement text in the Replace With textbox.
5. Select the Find button to search for instances of the text.
6. Select the Replace button to replace that instance of text in the Find box.

7. Pressing Replace again moves you to the next instance of the word in the Find box and pressing it once more replaces the text. You can continue that way, OR you can select Replace All, changing ALL of the instances at once without clicking through each one.
8. Select Close when you are finished.

Finding Formatted Text¶

In addition to changing text through the Find and Replace function, the formatting on text can also be located using the Formatting button in the Find and Replace window.

To find formatted text:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F).
2. Click Formatting to open the types of Formatting for Find and for Replace.

The three types of formatting that can be changed are:

• Styles: Focuses on Styles of text and margins.
• Containers: Focuses on other boxes of text such as a box or full color box.
• Text Attributes: Focuses on Emphasis and Translation of text.

The three options have an Add button and Not radio buttons.

• Add: Only finds the text you typed if it has the selected formatting.
  Example: If you add “Heading 1” to the Find box, your search only finds the word “The” if it appears within a Heading 1 style and ignores all other instances.

• Not Radio Buttons: The behavior of the Not button is a little more complicated. It finds all instances of the text unless it has the selected formatting.
  Example: If you remove “Heading 1” to the Find box, it appears as “Not Heading 1,” and search for all instances of “The” that are not within Heading 1 styles.

3. Styles, Containers, and Text Attributes each have lists of options. Select whatever Formatting is appropriate.
4. Click Add to add Styles, Containers or Text Attributes to the Find box.

   This action adds the selected item to the textbox under Find. If you decide you do not want an item included in your Formatting, select Reset to clear the Find box.

Note: Only one style can be added or removed at a time. Clicking a different style and then the Add button only changes the style selected in the text box.

5. Click Close Formatting to return to the Find and Replace window.

   The Formatting you have selected now appears in a text box under Find Text.

6. When finished, click Close to exit the Find and Replace window.

Replacing Formatted Text¶

To replace formatted text:

1. Go to Edit > Find and Replace OR use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F).
2. Click Formatting to open the Formatting window.
   The two options of formatting that can be changed are:

• Styles: Focuses on Styles of text and margins.
• Text Attributes: Focuses on Emphasis and Translation of text.

Both options have the Add button. Only Text Attributes has the Remove Radio button.

• Add: Adds the selected format to any instances of the specified text in the Find and Replace window.
  Example: If you add “Heading 1” to the Replace box, your search replaces the formatting of every instance of “The” to be within the Heading 1 style.

• Remove: You cannot remove a style, but you can replace it. You indicate the style you are looking in Find and the style you are replacing with in Replace.

3. Styles and Text Attributes have lists of options. Select whatever Formatting is appropriate.
4. Click on the Add button to add the Styles or Text Attributes to the Replace box.

   This action adds the selected item to the textbox under Replace. If you decide you do not want an item included in your Formatting, select Reset to clear the Replace box.

   Note: Only one style can be added or removed at a time. Clicking a different style and then the Add button simply replaces the style selected in the bottom text box.

5. Select Done to return to the Find and Replace window.

   The Formatting you have selected now appears in a text box under Replace with.

6. When finished, click Close to exit the Find/Replace window.

Resetting Find and Replace¶

Click Reset to clear all selected formatting options and checkboxes. The most recently searched text remains in the Find Text and Replace with fields.

Repeating the Last Search¶

Repeat Last Search lets you repeat what you have searched for even after closing Find and Replace.

To repeat the last search, Go to Edit > Repeat Last Search OR use the keyboard shortcut (F3).

This action searches the document for the last searched item from Find and Replace and highlights it in the Print View. It does not open the Find and Replace window or make any changes.

Note: Continuing to use Repeat Last Search cycles you through the document. If your last search also included Replace information, your text is replaced when you move to the next item.

Operations Specific To NIMAS Files¶

Since BrailleBlaster is intended to work hand in hand with XML and NIMAS files, there are some tools in BrailleBlaster that are designed to work with this file type only.

Using Publisher’s Production Notes¶

The Production Note Manager is a tool that was designed to manage production notes. Production notes are added by the publisher and are meant to assist with the physical production of the textbook. There are many different kinds of production notes and some are useful in the braille transcription process, while others are not. The Production Note Manager lets you view these notes and decide which notes you would like to Keep, Hide, or Remove.

To keep, hide, or remove production notes:

1. Go to Tools > Production Note Manager.
2. A window opens listing the publisher’s notes. Choose one of three options:

• Keep: While production notes are not usually found in the actual print book, there is a chance that the text has been improperly labeled or is a useful picture description. Select the Keep option to keep the production note in the braille.
• Hide: Selected as the default for all production notes, Hide removes them from the braille translation but keeps them in the file so they can be referenced in future versions that might not be meant for braille.
• Remove: Removes production notes entirely by deleting them from the file. This is not recommended as they are not recoverable after this action is taken.

Note: You can also choose options that affect all production notes, depending on what you need in your file: Keep All, Hide All, or Remove All.

3. Click Apply to save your choice OR Cancel to leave the window.

Navigating A NIMAS File¶

The Book Tree allows navigation through NIMAS files via a list of nested headings. It shows the defined section levels listed in the NIMAS file.

To navigate using the Book Tree:

1. Go to Navigate > Book Tree.
2. To display and navigate through ALL of the levels in ALL of the sections, select the right-facing arrow to the left of the file name.
3. Select the section you want to navigate to and choose the Navigate button at the bottom of the window.
4. Select Close to cancel the navigation action.

Glossary¶

ASCII: Stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange but it is simplest to think of it as the print symbols that can be created by a keyboard.

Book Tree: The Book Tree is similar to a table of contents, showing the hierarchy of the book’s material. Although it does not show you the page numbers, selecting a section takes you to that page in the file. NIMAS files can be navigated using the Book Tree, which shows the Section tags and headings applied by the publisher.

Breadcrumb: The breadcrumbs feature shows different levels of styles applied to a piece of text. They are visible in the bottom section of the toolbar and show any containers and section tags. Clicking on one of the levels shown within the breadcrumbs highlights the section of text it applies to in the print view.
Note: When using a screen reader while breadcrumbs is active, any change to the breadcrumbs is read. You can turn breadcrumbs off by going to View > Toggle Views > Breadcrumbs.

Close (Ctrl + W): Closes the current document, but BrailleBlaster (and any other documents) remains open. Clicking the X in the tab above the print view where the file name appears (or New Document if you haven’t saved it with a new name yet) has the same result—closing only that document.

Container: BrailleBlaster automatically views some styles as being kept in a container, including List, Poetry, and Boxes. The word CONTAINER appears before the style name in the breadcrumbs, and when clicked, selects all of the elements with that particular style contained in the container. Once selected, you can select Unwrap Element from the tools menu to remove that style from the highlighted text, returning it to body text (3-1 margins). You can also search for particular containers in Find and Replace.

Element: Each section of text with a style applied to it is considered an element in BrailleBlaster. For example, every individual paragraph of Body Text or every individual line of a Poem is considered an element. You can navigate through each element, as described in Navigating Through Text Elements to review the formatting.

Exit (Alt + F4): Closes the BrailleBlaster application, including any open documents but giving an opportunity to save if changes have been made.

Loadouts: Loadouts allow you to create shortcut keys for styles. There are not enough shortcut key combinations available for every style in BrailleBlaster. As an alternative, you can configure the loadout to a particular style type and designate the style levels (as appropriate) to quickly change the formatting of your text, using shortcut keys rather than clicking with the mouse. See Configuring Style Loadouts for more information.

Set Cell Position: Sets the indentation position of the text at your chosen curser position. A dialog box opens in which you can type the cell number where the text at the cursor should start. If you type in a number lower than the cell the text is currently on, it moves to the next line and begins in that cell. It does not work if the cursor is at the end of a line.

Spell Check (F7): Reviews the print document for spelling errors. There are many options within Spell Check to make changes to the errors found:

• Add to Dictionary: Adds the word to the dictionary so that it is no longer considered a spelling error in the current document and future documents.
• Ignore Word: Ignores the misspelled word and any other time it appears in the current document.
• Replace: Replaces the selected instance of the word with a suggested word from the list or with a word you type into the textbox.
• Replace All: Replaces all instances of the word within the document with a suggested word from the list or with a word you type into the textbox.
• Skip: Makes no change to the word and moves on to the next misspelled word. BrailleBlaster continues to recognize the word a spelling error, should you use Spell Check again.

Styles: Styles impact the margins of the braille and the use of blank lines in your document. BrailleBlaster uses many different “styles” to convey to the braille reader how the print is formatted. The default layout of BrailleBlaster shows the style view on the left, so that the name of the style is in line with the corresponding print to the right. The complete detailed list of styles are found in the Appendix A: Formatting Styles.
Note: An asterisk next to a style name in the Style view represents an image in that element. More details are in the Describing Images with the Image Describer section.

TOC Builder: The tool used to build the Table of Contents (TOC). Complete instructions on using this feature are available in Building the Table of Contents.
Toggle: Turns something on or off. For example, clicking View > Toggle Views > Breadcrumbs turns off the Breadcrumbs, removing them from the toolbar. Clicking View > Toggle Views > Breadcrumbs a second time turns them on, putting them back on the toolbar.

Help¶

Like any new software program, it is possible to run across some problems in BrailleBlaster from time to time. There are many tools in the program for reporting these errors as well as instructions on how to use the program more effectively.

Using the Help Menu¶

The Help menu in BrailleBlaster covers several areas. Some things you can use Help for include:

• Access a local copy of the BrailleBlaster User Guide OR use the keyboard shortcut (F1).
• Check for Updates, for the most up-to-date version of the program.
• Find which version of BrailleBlaster you are using, which is helpful for reporting errors to APH staff.
• Open the BrailleBlaster website to find additional information.
• Report errors with View Log or Reset BB.

Reporting BrailleBlaster Issues¶

Sometimes, BrailleBlaster has exceptions that appear when specific strings of actions are performed that the program cannot render, resulting in an error. If an exception occurs, the most effective way to solve it is to revert to your most recent save and try making the changes again.

One of the most important things to do if an exception happens is to report it with the Exception Reporting Service. Please help improve BrailleBlaster for other users by taking advantage of this feature. When an exception pop-up appears, send the exception to APH with the Tell APH About This Error So They Can Fix It button, or click OK to close the exception. We encourage you to report these exceptions rather than dismiss them so BrailleBlaster continues to improve.

View Log and Reset BB are both tools that can be found in the Help menu to report other potential BrailleBlaster errors. View Log provides the ability to view or save a software error log in the event that BrailleBlaster encounters an unexpected problem. This log can be provided to the technical support staff at APH to assist them in troubleshooting.
Reset BB is included with early releases because of potential conflicts that can occur when updating the program. If documents do not open after updating, but the previous version of BrailleBlaster worked fine, it is likely the cause of one of these conflicts.

CAUTION: The Reset BB feature deletes all user data, which includes changes to the translation, page settings, and font size. It is not recommended to use this feature unless first instructed to do so by an APH employee.

Appendix A: Formatting Styles¶

Style menu items are found both in the Styles menu and as buttons on the toolbar.

There are many Style options BrailleBlaster supports that are accessed from the buttons on the toolbar or from the Styles menu. Refer to Braille Formats, 2016 for further instruction on when to use each style.

Margins are presented as a hyphenated number with the indent listed first and the runover second. For example, a list item (which is in 1-3) has an indent of 1 and a runover of 3. In other words, the first symbol of the element with this style appears in cell 1, and if a second line is needed, that line and all subsequent lines begin in cell 3.

Basic Styles¶

These styles include some of the simple styles common to transcription.

Basic Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Blocked Text	Left justified paragraph	1-1	Before
Body Text	Indented paragraph (default)	3-1	None
Centered Text	Text centered on the page	Variable	None
Displayed 3-5	Multiple displayed sentences following blocked text (1-1) or body text (3-1)	3-5	Before and After
Displayed Blocked Text	Displayed blocked paragraph following blocked text (1-1)	3-3	Before and After
Displayed Body Text	Displayed indented paragraph following body text (3-1)	5-3	Before and After

Numeric Styles¶

Numeric styles apply the margins selected based the indentation of the first cell of text and the runover position used with no additional formatting. They are arranged in submenus based on the indentation, ranging from 1 to 11.

Numeric Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
1-1	Text begins in cell 1 with runovers in cell 1	1-1	None
1-3	Text begins in cell 1 with runovers in cell 3	1-3	None
…	…	…	…
11-9	Text begins in cell 11 with runovers in cell 9	11-9	None
11-11	Text begins in cell 11 with runovers in cell 11	11-11	None

Heading Styles¶

These styles follow the hierarchy of headings according to Braille Formats, 2016. For details on inserting a Running Head, see Setting a Running Head.

Heading Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Heading 1	Main heading (Centered Heading - First Level)	Variable	Before & After
Heading 2	Subheading (Cell 5 Heading - Second Level)	5-5	Before
Heading 3	Subheading (Cell 7 Heading - Third Level)	7-7	Before unless immediately following a Heading 2

List Styles¶

List styles are arranged in submenus based on the number of levels within the list, ranging from 1 to 5. Each style begins with the word List followed by the number for each level within the list. After the number there is a letter indicating the separate margins in each level. BrailleBlaster automatically moves entries within a list to immediately follow one another, and includes a blank before the first list entry and after the last entry.

List Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
List 1	List with 1 level	1-3	Before & After all 1 level list entries
List 2a	First level in a list with 2 levels	1-5	Before & After all 2 level list entries
List 2b	Second level in a list with 2 levels	3-5	Before & After all 2 level list entries
…	…	…	…
List 5d	Fourth level in a list with 5 levels	7-11	Before & After all 5 level list entries
List 5e	Fifth level in a list with 5 levels	9-11	Before & After all 5 level list entries

Exercise Material Styles¶

Exercise styles are arranged in submenus based on the number of levels within the exercise, ranging from 1 to 5. Each style begins with the word Exercise followed by the number for each level within the exercise. After the number there is a letter indicating the separate margins in each level. For example, an exercise that is only an open-ended question has one level, while a question with answer choices has two levels. See Braille Formats, 2016 Section 10 for more information.

Exercise Material Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Directions	First paragraph of unnumbered directions	5-5	None
Directions 7-5	Second paragraph of unnumbered directions	7-5	None
Exercise 1	Exercise with 1 level	1-3	None
Exercise 2a	First level in an exercise with 2 levels	1-5	None
Exercise 2b	Second level in an exercise with 2 levels	3-5	None
…	…	…	…
Exercise 5d	Fourth level in an exercise with 5 levels	7-11	None
Exercise 5e	Fifth level in an exercise with 5 levels	9-11	None

Poetry Styles¶

Poetry styles are arranged in submenus based on the number of levels within the poem, ranging from 1 to 5. Each style begins with the word Poetry followed by the number for each level within the poem. After the number there is a letter indicating the separate margins in each level. For information about line numbered poetry, see Line Numbering.

Poetry Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Poetry 1	Poem with 1 level	1-3	None
Poetry 2a	First level in a poem with 2 levels	1-5	None
Poetry 2b	Second level in a poem with 2 levels	3-5	None
…	…	…	…
Poetry 5d	Fourth level in a poem with 5 levels	7-11	None
Poetry 5e	Fifth level in a poem with 5 levels	9-11	None

Caption Styles¶

The style caption does not include transcriber’s notes indicators. These need to be added to captions, when appropriate.

Transcriber's Notes are automatically applied to all descriptions. For this reason, the entire item must be highlighted before applying style so that TN symbols are applied in the correct location.

Caption Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Caption	Print provided caption for illustrative materials	7-5	None
Description	Transcriber generated description for illustrative materials	7-5	None

Glossary Styles¶

Glossary styles are arranged in submenus based on the number of levels within the glossary, ranging from 1 to 5. Each style begins with the word Glossary followed by the number for each level within the glossary. After the number there is a letter indicating the separate margins in each level. Typically, the publisher has identified the term and the definition within the file, allowing the term to be used as a Guide Word automatically. See Working with Alphabetic References for more information.

Glossary Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Glossary 1	Glossary with 1 level	1-3	None
Glossary 2a	First level in a glossary with 2 levels	1-5	None
Glossary 2b	Second level in a glossary with 2 levels	3-5	None
…	…	…	…
Glossary 5d	Fourth level in a glossary with 5 levels	7-11	None
Glossary 5e	Fifth level in a glossary with 5 levels	9-11	None

Index Styles¶

Index styles are arranged in submenus based on the number of levels within the index, ranging from 1 to 5. Each style begins with the word Index followed by the number for each level within the index. After the number there is a letter indicating the separate margins in each level. See Working with Alphabetic References for more information.

Index Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Index 1	Index with 1 level	1-3	None
Index 2a	First level in an index with 2 levels	1-5	None
Index 2b	Second level in an index with 2 levels	3-5	None
…	…	…	…
Index 5d	Fourth level in an index with 5 levels	7-11	None
Index 5e	Fifth level in an index with 5 levels	9-11	None

Note Styles¶

The styles for notes include those for footnotes (BF 2016 Section 16), but this style can also be used for endnotes and notes to a simple table, as they have the same margins. If a footnote has multiple paragraphs, the second paragraph needs to be formatted separately in 5-3. If the note is for a table which is presented in a listed, linear, or stairstep format, do not use the Footnote style (1-3) as these should have 7-5 margins. Designating text as a footnote only adjusts the margins; it does not insert the note separation line or move the text to the bottom of the print page.

To insert the Note Separation line:

1. The Note Separation Line appears after the text element where your cursor is placed, meaning you must place your cursor at the end of the text previous to the footnote. If your cursor is at the beginning of the footnote, the Note Separation Line appears after the footnote.
2. Go to Insert > Note Separation Line.
3. The Note Separation Line appears as the ASCII in the print view.

Incidental notes, with and without a heading, can also be used for cross references as they have the same margins (BF 2016 Section 9.6).

Incidental Note without a Heading can also be used for footnotes to a listed, linear, or stairstep table, and for speaker’s notes in a slide presentation. If the Incidental note has a heading, it needs to be designated separately as a cell-7 heading.

Note Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Incidental Note with Heading	Incidental note or cross-reference with a heading	5-5	Before & After
Incidental Note without a Heading	Incidental note or cross-reference without a heading	7-5	Before & After
Footnote	Footnote that appears at the bottom of the print page, footnote to a table, or endnote	1-3	None

Play Styles¶

Plays are formatted according to their type. There are two types of plays: Prose and Verse. A prose play is written in paragraph format, while Verse appears like poetry in print (BF 2016 Section 13).

Play Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line
Prose Play 1-3	The first paragraph by a speaker in a prose play	1-3	None
Prose Play 5-3	Additional paragraphs immediately following the first by the same speaker in a prose play	5-3	None
Stage Directions 7-7	The first paragraph of stage directions in a prose or verse play	7-7	None
Stage Directions 9-7	Additional paragraphs immediately following the first paragraph of stage directions in a prose or verse play	7-9	None
Verse Play 1-5	The first line by a speaker in a verse play	1-5	None
Verse Play 3-5	Additional lines immediately following the first by the same speaker in a verse play	3-5	None

Miscellaneous Styles¶

This selection of style elements include those that do not fit into other categories.

It includes the Transcriber's Notes styles and Box styles. Note that these styles are special and require the user to select the entire set of text to which they will be applied first. Since the transcriber's note style adds the transcriber's note symbols and the box styles add box lines, the program must know where the user wants those to appear and it learns this through the selection made by the user.

Miscellaneous Styles Specification Table¶

Style Name	Description	Margins	Blank Line

Transcriber’s Note

Each paragraph of selected text is enclosed in transcriber’s note indicators

7-5

None

Boxes Options Specification Table¶

Within the Miscellaneous Styles are several options for Boxes.

Style Name	Description	Blank Line
Box	Selected text appears within a top and bottom box line	Before the top box line & After the bottom box line
Color Box	Selected text appears within a top and bottom box line, and the color you type in the pop-up appears within transcriber’s notes on the top box line	Before the top box line & After the bottom box line
Full Box	Selected text appears within a top and bottom full box line (the exterior borders for a set of nested boxes)	Before the top box line & After the bottom box line
Full Color Box	Selected text appears within a top and bottom full box line (the exterior borders for a set of nested boxes), and the color you type in the pop up window appears within transcriber’s notes on the top full box line	Before the top box line & After the bottom box line

Appendix B: Shortcut Key Combinations¶

Key Combination	Description
FILE OPERATIONS
CTRL + N	Create a new document
CTRL + O	Open a document
CTRL + W	Close a document
ALT + F4	Quit BrailleBlaster
CTRL + S	Save the document
CTRL+SHIFT+S	Save the document in a custom location
CTRL + P	Print a document
CTRL + E	Emboss a document
ALT + HOME	Open the Braille Preview
SHIFT + F10	Open the context menu (same action as when you right click)
CTRL + +	Increase font size 1 point
CTRL + -	Decrease font size 1 point
EDITING
CTRL + Z	Undo the last action
CTRL + Y	Redo the last action
CTRL + X	Cut the selected text
CTRL + C	Copy the selected text
CTRL + V	Paste copied text
CTRL + F	Open the find/replace pane
F3	Repeat the last search
SHIFT + ENTER	Insert Line Break
CTRL + ENTER	Insert Page Break
CTRL + 5	Convert text to Print Page Number
F7	Spell check
CTRL + SPACE	Insert non-breaking space (represented as a white rectangle with a black outline in the print view)
CTRL + R	Repeat last style applied
CTRL + T	Correct Braille translation
ALT + X	Six-Key Mode
CTRL + M	Math Translation Toggle
CTRL + D	Direct Translation
CTRL + SHIFT + T	Uncontracted Translation
CTRL + F2	Wrap Prose
CTRL + SHIFT + F2	Edit Line Number
NAVIGATION
ALT + P	Toggle Print View
CTRL + G	Open the page selection options
CTRL + HOME	Go to the first page of the current document
CTRL + END	Go to the last page of the current document
ALT + END	Open the Book Tree
CTRL + Down	Go to the Next Element
CTRL + Up	Go to the Previous Element
Page Up	Next Page
Page Down	Previous Page
TYPEFORMS
CTRL + B	Bold
CTRL + I	Italic
CTRL + U	Underline
ALT + SHIFT + S	Script
SHIFT + ALT + 1	Transcriber-Defined Typeform 1
SHIFT + ALT + 2	Transcriber-Defined Typeform 2
SHIFT + ALT + 3	Transcriber-Defined Typeform 3
SHIFT + ALT + 4	Transcriber-Defined Typeform 4
SHIFT + ALT + 5	Transcriber-Defined Typeform 5
LOADOUTS
CTRL + SHIFT + M	Set Miscellaneous style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + B	Set Basic style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + C	Set Caption style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + H	Set Heading style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + L	Set Lists style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + P	Set Poetry style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + A	Set Plays style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + G	Set Glossary style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + E	Set Exercise Material style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + I	Set Index style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + U	Set Numeric style loadout
CTRL + SHIFT + N	Set Notes style loadout
ALT + NUMBER 1-8	Apply the style level corresponding to that number for the current loadout
MISCELLANEOUS
F1	Open Braille Blaster User Guide

Appendix C: Troubleshooting Embosser Issues¶

If you encounter issues with the embossed output when embossing a document, please follow the below steps.

Confirm Correct Embosser Configuration¶

In your embosser configuration in BrailleBlaster check that the manufacturer and model settings exactly match the embosser you are using. Embossers with similar model names may interact with BrailleBlaster in very different ways, so it is important that you select the exact model.

Try Using Generic Text Embosser Support¶

If your embosser model is not listed in BrailleBlaster, or embossing does not work correctly when you select your specific embosser model, then try the generic text embossing support. Go to Settings > Embosser settings, select your embosser configuration and press the edit button. In your embosser configuration in BrailleBlaster select "Generic" for the manufacturer and "Text only" for model.

When changing to generic text embosser support, it is important you correctly configure your embosser's internal settings for the paper size and margins for the document you want to emboss. This will be done by using software provided by your embosser's manufacturer or by using the buttons on the embosser itself. For details on how to alter your embosser's internal settings, please refer to the user guide for your embosser.

Tweak Advanced Embosser Options¶

If generic text embosser support has not resolved your embossing issue, then it is possible to adjust how generic text embossing support works
by altering the advanced embosser options. The values to be used depends upon the embosser being used, below is some information about the different options and some recommended values for some embosser models.

Advanced embosser options¶

• Add margins: Whether BrailleBlaster should insert spaces and new lines in the embossed output to emulate the margins. If you set this to true, then your embosser should expect the lines to be longer than the Braille and the number of lines per page to be greater to account for the margins. It is recommended to set this to false and configure margins in your embosser's internal settings.
• Pad page: When set to true, for pages which do not have all lines used by Braille, BrailleBlaster will insert new line characters for each empty line at the end of the page. This option is most useful for embossers which do not use form feed characters to identify new pages and instead rely on counting number of lines. For most embossers you should set this to false.
• Form feed on full page: Whether BrailleBlaster should insert the form feed sequence at the end of a full page. For most embossers this should be set to false.
• End of line: The byte sequence for the end of the line. For most embossers set this to \r\n but for some embossers \n may be required. See the below list of embossers for embosser specific recommendations.
• End of page: The byte sequence for the end of a page. For many embossers this should be set to \f however some models may need a different value, see the below embosser specific recommendations.
• Header: A byte sequence which will be sent to the embosser before the Braille. This may be useful if your embosser needs a sequence of bytes to configure a mode/setting or simply state the start of an emboss job. In most cases it is recommended to keep this empty.
• Footer: A byte sequence to be sent at the end of a emboss job. For most embossers this should be left blank, however some embossers do require a value, see the below embosser specific list for details.

Embosser specific recommended values¶

Enabling Technologies¶

Model	End of line	End of page	Footer
Phoenix Gold	\r\n	\r\n\f	\x1a
Phoenix silver	\r\n	\\r\n\f	\x1a
Cyclone	\r\n	\r\n\f	\x1a
Trident	\r\n	\r\n\f	\x1a
Book Maker	\r\n	\r\n\f
Braille Express	\r\n	\r\n\f
Thomas	\r\n	\r\n\f
Thomas Pro	\r\n	\r\n\f
ET	\r\n	\r\n\f
Juliet Pro60	\r\n	\r\n\f
Juliet Pro	\r\n	\r\n\f
Juliet Classic	\r\n	\r\n\f
Romeo 25	\r\n	\r\n\f
Romeo Pro50	\r\n	\r\n\f
Romeo Attache	\n	\n\f
Romeo Attache Pro	\n	\n\f
Romeo 60	\r\n	\f	\x1a
Juliet 120	\r\n	\f	\x1a

Index Braille¶

Model	End of line	End of page	Footer
Basic-D V5	\r\n	\f	\x1a
Basic-D V4	\r\n	\f	\x1a
Everest-D V5	\r\n	\f	\x1a
Everest-D V4	\r\n	\f	\x1a
BrailleBox V5	\r\n	\f	\x1a
BrailleBox V4	\r\n	\f	\x1a
Fanfold V5	\r\n	\f	\x1a