Frequently Asked Questions

In most cases, you will be unable to access an agenda item because you do not have access to the department in which the item is categorized.

An administrator is able to edit user access to allow users to view items from additional departments, if necessary. The item might also be categorized by the incorrect department.

For instructions on how to change permissions, please visit our Edit User Permissions article.

Most likely, you cannot edit or delete an item or agenda because the item or agenda is locked.

To prevent this from happening, you will want to:

• Ensure the agenda/packet is unlocked. For more information, please visit our Lock and Unlock an Agenda article.

• Ensure the item is unlocked. Please visit our Lock and Unlock an Item article for instructions.

Note:

When an item completes its approval route, it will automatically lock.

If your event, agenda, or packet is not visible on the Public Portal, check the following:

1. Verify the Publication settings for agendas and packets. When publishing an agenda or packet, you can choose to publish it immediately or on a future date. If a future date is entered in the Publish on Date field, the agenda or packet will not appear on the Public Portal until midnight on that date. To publish it immediately, leave the Publish on Date field empty, select the Publish option, and click Publish.

   

2. Verify that the event is published. An agenda or packet will not appear on the Public Portal unless its associated event is also published. Even if the agenda or packet shows Published in the Meetings module, it remains hidden until the event is published.

   

If the agenda or packet is still not visible, see the Publish Files to the Public Portal and Publish an Event to the Public Portal articles for step-by-step publishing instructions.

In many cases, wide tables that have been pasted in with set widths will cause text run-off due to them stretching off the screen.

To avoid table text run-off, we suggest that you make sure the table width is set to 100%. You can do this by switching to Code View in your Table Wizard and ensuring that Table Style is set to 100%

If it doesn't, edit the code to show a table width of 100% (or desired width).

If this does not work, contact Support for additional assistance.

In many cases, text will appear in the wrong font because you have pasted in existing formatting from a different source.

To prevent this from happening, we recommend that you always use the Convert to Plain Text option in your Text Formatting tools.

For more information, please view our Cut and Paste Text article.

Note:

If you need to paste a table, we suggest that you paste text separately as plain text, and then paste formatted information independently.

Yes. You can see a preview or draft of an agenda using the Agenda Preview View. The Agenda Preview PDF Viewer includes “Print” and “Save” functions that you can use to create local copies.

You can preview Item Reports on the Item Files page. The Item File PDF Viewer also includes “Print” and “Save” functions that you can use to create local copies.

We strongly advise against using justified text in your agendas and other meeting documents. Fully justified text creates uneven spacing that makes content harder to read, especially for people with dyslexia or low vision. While it’s not prohibited under WCAG AA, it fails WCAG AAA Success Criterion 1.4.8, which states that text should not be fully justified. To ensure better readability and accessibility, left-aligned text is the recommended standard. For more information, please see WCAG’s Technique G169: Aligning Text on Only One Side.

Due to the way our system compiles agendas and minutes, item names and discussion fields will not break across a new page. Instead, if the whole field cannot fit into the given area, it is placed on a new page. This occurs most often in minutes sections with large amounts of text in the discussion field.

To remove the space toward the bottom of a page, download the item, make edits, and then upload the updated document.

Yes. After a meeting has concluded, you can remove a section or item from the Minutes by deleting it from the Agenda View. The system generates Minutes from the current agenda structure, so the item will no longer appear in the Minutes. This change does not affect agendas or files that were already generated and published. The change only applies to Minutes documents generated after the removal takes place.

There are four design elements that update existing documents when changed:

• Word Designs

• Word Layouts

• Report Designs

• Minutes Designs

Other design elements require the creation of a new agenda to pull in new information.

Yes, you can make changes to media that has been generated by or uploaded using CivicPlus Media after it is saved in the system. To do so, you will want to download the event media from the system, make the desired changes using the editing software of your choice outside of the system, and then upload your media again.

Note:

Changes to media files may affect Closed Captioning, Transcription, or Translation services that have already been applied to your event media. If media services have to be reordered within the system, additional charges may apply.

No. You cannot change the meeting type once a meeting or agenda has been created. If you need the event to use a different type, you must delete the existing agenda and recreate it under the correct meeting type.

Why you cannot change the type:

• Meeting type defines the agenda’s template, workflows, default options, and automation. Changing it can break those dependencies.

• The system locks the meeting type after creation. Even if a field appears editable on the agenda, the system will not apply a new type to an existing meeting.

Yes. CivicPlus Media supports 608/708 closed captioning standards through its integration with 3Play Media. CivicPlus Media also supports the upload of SCC, which are commonly used for 608/708 closed captioning workflows.

If you use a third-party caption provider, verify that your caption files are in a supported upload format before uploading them to CivicPlus Media.