The Launcher panel is available for each step and topic in a Walkthrough or a Tooltip. You can use it to add small icons to your application such as Hotspots and Tooltips.



In Inline Manual, there are in fact 2 Launchers panels - one for a step, and another for a topic. As the functionalities are mostly the same, we’ll describe both panels in this article.


Opening the Launcher panel


To open the Launcher panel for a step:

  1. If you have multiple steps, select the specific step you want to work on.


  2. Scroll down and expand the Launcher panel for your chosen step.



To open the Launcher panel for topics:

  1. Click Launcher at the top menu of the authoring tool when you're editing a walkthrough or a tooltip.



  1. Now you see the Launcher panel for a topic.



Functionalities of the Launcher panel


Now you can configure your launcher.


  1. Start with choosing Visibility. By default, the launcher isn't visible. Choose the visibility option that suits you best.



Available options:


Never - launcher is always hidden. It’s the default option.
Always - launcher is always displayed on the site.
Active - launcher is displayed once a topic is activated.
Inactive - launcher is displayed while the topic is currently inactive or deactivated.


  1. Now, choose Style to decide how you want your launcher to appear.



Available options:


Tooltip - a small circle suitable for one character. The default display is a small circle with a question mark.
Hotspot - a pulsing icon.
Text - fixed width suitable for one or two short words.
Long text - rectangular text area that resizes to fit more words.


Note that you can also customize the appareance using CSS.


  1. Choose Position and change the launcher placement in relation to the element it’s assigned to. By default, the launcher will appear to the Top Right, though depending on your UI it might be best to change this placement.



  1. If you need to change the assign element, use the Assign button. By default, the launcher will use the element assigned to that step in the Step Options panel.



The authoring tool will choose the most specific selector. However, you can also manually edit the CSS selector. Editing the selector could be helpful if you want the launcher to appear on all elements with a specific class.


  1. Set up Point at. Choose where the popover should be pointing to.



Available options:


Step - at the element associated with the step. This is the default.
Launcher - at the element associated with the launcher.
Self - at the launcher user clicked on.


  1. In the Content section, you can change the content of the icon, eg. instead of a question mark, you can use a small “i”. It is not available for Hostposts.



  1. In the Content section, you can also translate your launcher in topic languages.


Launcher translation is currently in BETA. You need to first enable the BETA player. Read more about the BETA player here.



  1. Click translate to enable the launcher translation. You'll see the option to provide different content for the different topic language.



When testing different languages in the player preview, you need to switch the language in the Step Options Panel. You must have some content in the step content to make the switch.



  1. With Offset, you can change the position of the Launcher by adding values to the Horizontal and Vertical boxes in pixels. Offsets that are beyond -30 or +30 pixels can interfere when your users are resizing the screen. The Vertical offset will not work if the Launcher position is set to Left or Right. Likewise, the Horizontal offset will not work when the Launcher position is set to Top or Bottom. Both the Vertical and Horizontal offsets work with the Top Right, Bottom Right, Bottom Left and Top Left Launcher position.


  2. The Launcher Context panel allows you to display the Launcher only on specific paths or when specific elements are visible. You can also choose to show the launcher only when Topic wasn't seen. 


Note that to display the Launcher only on specific paths or elements visible, you will have to enable People Tracking and that it will apply to the whole topic.



It's important to optimize your launchers and make sure they only appear where they are needed. If you don't, it will continue checking on every page if it will appear there, and if you had many it could have an impact on your application's performance.


  1. Set up the Launcher's activation method in the Activate trigger section. It allows you to choose an event to Activate and Deactivate the trigger.



  1. You can also adjust some advanced options.


Available options:


Custom Class - add a custom class to the Launcher. Read how to customize the look of launchers with CSS.
Title - add a text that will be displayed when the user hovers over the Launcher. This appears as browser title text.
Z-index - web pages with fixed, unmovable objects can use this option to adjust the position of the launcher from back to front and reverse.
Parent - if the launcher is behaving in a way that it is jumping when you scroll, you can tweak it by setting the launcher Parent to "Closest Parent".
Monitor - you can choose whether you want the element to be followed when you scroll.



  1. If you want to remove the launcher, click the x Remove Launcher button.



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