How to interact with and navigate document entities

When you enter the full view of a document entity, it will be displayed as a pdf document by default. This is due to the fact that our Database functions primarily off of information sources in pdf format. However, for those who find pdf uncomfortable to work with, you also have the option of viewing the document in what is called “plain-text”.

To switch views, at the top of the document you will see a button labeled “Plain text”. Click on this to switch out of the pdf viewer into plain-text. This can be an advantageous view if you need to copy and paste text from a document as you can be sure the formatting will remain as displayed.

To switch back, click on the button at the top of the document labeled “normal view”. Pdf view if advantageous when you want to read and explore the content of the document, with minimal interaction with the text.

Note that full-text search functions in both views equally.

Documents in “full view” present you with a variety of functions to interact with the document. Such functions and features include:

Pdf or plain-text view (explained in previous section)
Full-text search
Info
Relationships (explained in a following section)

As some of these features and functions are explained in separate sections on this page, let’s focus on those which are yet to be explored – Full-text search and info.

Full text search

You can access this feature by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top right-hand corner of the side-bar. In doing so, you will now see that the side-bar includes a search bar which functions exactly as that found on the main database. However, this search bar will apply to the search to the pdf document in view, and will yield a list of relevant results. Each result listed can be clicked on, at which point the document will present you with the location of that exact result in the text. Like the search bar present on the homepage of the database, search tips can be accessed just under the search bar.

Info

To access the info of a document, simply click on the small lowercase “i” icon found at the top of the right-hand side-bar when viewing a document in “full view”. This will present you with all of the properties of the document, including document title, producing body, year, legal status, etc. It will also give you links to “primary documents” for download.e, search tips can be accessed just under the search bar.