SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3: The New Edit/Format Panel
In Web Intelligence 4.3 the method for apply formatting and properties changes to tables/charts and other objects has been revamped. Right-click menus are still available in most cases, but the workflow to make a change can be much quicker if you use the new properties panel that has been added.
It’s available from the ‘spanner’ icon in the top right of the screen:
Clicking this icon expands the set of menus and panels on the right of the WebI environment:
This new panel serves many purposes and has multiple sub-sections to it.
When in its ‘tools’ mode is works as a structural editor, with options for turning tables to charts and data assignment, as well as filtering, ranking and sorting menus.
In its ‘paintbrush’ mode it handles all the formatting options you need:
It is context sensitive and responds to your report selection, so will change automatically to show you options for whatever report object is highlighted.
On smaller screens it will take up a reasonable amount of overall space so it can be hidden again with another click of the spanner. You’ll spend some time trying to locate your favourite WebI options when you make the change to SAP BusinessObjects 4.3 so my advice is to look in this properties panel early on – many of your requirements will be served by it.