You can mark steps and substeps in task topics as optional using the importance attribute.
Procedure
In the publication, check out the topic in Oxygen XML Author.
Double-click or select the step or substep that you want to mark as optional.
In the Attributes window, click optional in the importance field.
The word Optional appears in bold and parenthesis at the start of the step in the output.
Note:
Do not apply the required value from the importance field to any steps. All steps are assumed to be required unless they’re marked optional. Also, no formatting is used when you apply required to a step, so the selection has no effect.
