The easiest and most efficient method to add content to an idea is to copy this content from another source, and then to paste it in the current idea.

Content source can be :

• a text document,
• any word processor document (for instance : Microsoft Word, Open Office, WordPerfect, etc...),
• a spread sheet (for instance : Microsoft Excel, Open Office),
• a Web page, local or distant (in the case of a distant page, WIT also adds a link to this page in the current idea properties : external URLs).

In all cases, WIT tries to keep the text formatting (styles, tables, images...), according to the Windows Clipboard contents (this depends on the chosen content source).

It is possible that you are not satisfied with the resulting formatting : either "too much" or "not enough" formatted.

There are two possible paste methods:

• by default, you perform "standard" paste (Ctrl + V), where WIT first chooses HTML format, then Unicode and Text, depending on their presence in the Windows Clipboard,
• you can also perform the "native" paste made by the WYSIWYG editor (Internet Explorer), which first tries to paste RTF (Rich Text Format) when found in the Windows Clipboard, then HTML. When pasting RTF, eventual images are ignored by WIT.
  • For instance, for a selection that is pasted from Excel :
    • the standard paste produces all the cell contents in a single textual character flow (Excel does not write HTML code in the Clipboard),
    • the "native" RTF paste produces the original cells (in a table), with their contents and formatting.

This information capture process can also be automated, including idea creation, with the auto import function.

Specific case of images included in Web pages.

When HTML content is involved, WIT also imports the embedded images in the text that is pasted into the idea :

1. WIT analyzes all links to images included in the HTML code,
2. Then, for each image, it tries to resolve its URL :
   • either by copying the image file from the browser cache (Microsoft Internet Explorer),
   • either by downloading the image (if domain name and link are analyzable),
   • either by copying the image from your hard disk (in the case of a local Web page).
3. In the current WIT document directory, WIT creates a "wit-imported-images" folder, then subfolders corresponding to domains in which it stores the imported images,
4. The paths to these images are added in the current idea properties (so that WIT can access the physical image files while it builds that Web site),
5. The HTML links to images are changed into <img src="../wit-icons/domaine-image.gif">.  (At web site build time, WIT copies the images files from their physical paths (known in the idea properties) into the "wit-icons" subfolder of target directory where the generated web pages are stored). 

If you do not use Microsoft Internet Explorer, this process may require a longer time (image are then dowloaded instead of being retrieved from the cache).

Note : some images may not be imported when their URLs are too complex (dynamically evaluated URL, request or JavaScript).

Version 5.71:

• The image source is not always a file, but uuencoded text (syntax : src="data:[<media type>][;charset=<character set>][;base64],<data>"). In this case, WIT decodes the data and creates a standard image file, managed like other images.

Specific case of images or images fragments, copied from an image editing software (Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop...)

WIT converts the image or image fragment from the Windows Clipboard into a PNG image file that is placed in the "wit-imported-images" subfolder, and establishes the link to this image.

Specific case of JavaScript code included in the pasted fragment.

In the WYSIWYG editor, WIT cleans any JavaScript code that may be included in the pasted HTML fragments in order to prevent JavaScript errors.

If you wish to keep JavaScript code and have WIT automatically gather JavaScript dependencies (typically page local variables and functions declarations), you have to paste the fragment in the "Page Preview" view (see Intelligent information paste into ideas ).