Documents
Callout box in a document
A callout is the sentence a reader cannot afford to skim past, lifted out of the paragraph and marked. It works because it is rare, which is why the interesting question is when not to use one.
Four kinds, and they are not interchangeable
Info is a clarification, the thing people commonly misread. Warning is a consequence: do this late and something happens. Success is a confirmation, most useful in a procedure where somebody needs to know they have finished a stage correctly. Danger is for safety and legal exposure, and if you are using it for a deadline you have devalued it for the day you need it.
One per page, at most
The whole mechanism is contrast. A page with one callout has a sentence that stands out. A page with four has a decorated page and a reader who skims all of them. If four things on a page all matter that much, the section is badly written and the fix is in the prose, not in the boxes.
Write it as a standalone sentence
A callout gets read out of order, often by someone scanning for it, so it cannot depend on the paragraph above. Give it a short title that says what it is about and a body that makes sense cold. "Two working days" plus the rule underneath works. "Note" plus a pronoun referring to the last paragraph does not.
Where they earn their place
Policies, where one clause is the one everybody gets wrong. Procedures, where a step has a deadline attached. Agreements, where a defined term means something narrower than its everyday meaning. In a proposal or a report, a callout is usually decoration and a strong sentence would do the same work.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Find the sentence people get wrong
That is the callout. If nothing qualifies, the page does not need one.
Step 2
Pick the kind by consequence
Info clarifies, warning has a cost, success confirms, danger is for safety and legal exposure.
Step 3
Make it readable cold
A title that names the subject and a body that stands without the paragraph above it.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide Every document component and when to use it.
Limits worth knowing
- Four kinds: info, warning, success and danger.
- A callout is a block in the flow, so it moves with the content around it.
- It has a title and a body, not a list or a table inside it.
See it on a finished piece
Questions people ask
How many callouts should a document have?
As few as possible. One per page is a sensible ceiling, because the box only works while it is unusual.
What is the difference between warning and danger?
Warning is a consequence, such as a deadline you will miss. Danger is safety or legal exposure. Using danger for deadlines wastes it.
Can I put a list inside a callout?
It takes a title and a body. If you need a list, the content is probably a section rather than an aside.
Make your own document
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
Create a document with OneCraftRelated pages
Document components
There are 45 block types. You will use about twelve of them regularly, and knowing which twelve is most of the difference between a document that reads as designed and one that reads as typed.
Code blocks and equations
Some content has to be reproduced exactly: a configuration snippet, a decision rule, a formula. Prose paraphrases it and gets it wrong. These two blocks print it as written.
Formal vs plain document tone
Register is not a style setting applied at the end. It is decided before a word is written, and it changes the structure, the blocks and the colours as much as the sentences.
More finished work of this kind is on the document examples hub.