A variable provides a placeholder for standard terms and for names that may change. By defining variables in your source documents, you have global control over the values contained within those variables. For example, you can create a variable for the copyright date of your documentation. You can then use that variable as needed in your content. Each year when you need to update the copyright, you can change the variable value in a single location instead of using the search and replace method through your documents.

In your project, you can specify the value of any variable. When you change the value of a variable in your project, it changes the value only in your generated output. The variable value is not changed in your source documents. You can also use the value of the variable defined in your source documents. To use the value defined in a source document for a variable, select Use Document Value for that variable.