Abstract

A method of editing compound documents containing both text and non-text components, such as image, graphics or digital-audio objects. The method transforms a compound document in modified revisable form architecture to an internal editing format. In the transformation process, non-text components are recognized and catalogued in a component index generated for the compound document in the internal editing format. The component index contains information on the characteristics of the non-text components and describes the size, location and type of each non-text component. A reference or referencing control to the non-text component is placed in the text at the location the user wishes to print or display the non-text component in the final document. Through the invention, it is possible to represent and display a single non-text component multiple times within the compound document while storing only a single physical representation of the non-text component within the document. The method also provides a improved means of displaying the characteristics of the non-text component to the user, particularly where an alphanumeric display is used.