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      Document Templates

      n order to provide the functionality of a corporate document management system, users with the EDMS module have the ability to create documents based upon templates. The Document Templates functionality is split into four areas:

       

      • Templates - which is where you add anystandardised content you want to have in the template that will be generated as a PDF
      • Headers - which is where you can add many different headers to cater for different department's headers / different use cases. I.e. adding your address/contact info/logo etc.
      • Footers - which is where you can add many different footers to cater for different department's footers/ different use cases. I.e. adding your address/contact info/logo etc. if this is better than in the header
      • Stylesheets - this adds a huge amount of power to the template builder. Essentially the templates are created in HTML. Therefore using the stylesheets function it is possible to make the look and feel of the resulting documents exactly how you like, as the content can be styled in the same way a web can be.

       

      These four areas are shown in the screenshot below:

       

      blobid0.png

       

      If you are going to have the same header/footer/stylesheet in many of your templates, it makes sense to do these first. 

      Because when you create your template, in the Templates area you are given the choice of selecting a Header/Footer/Stylesheet. This is shown below: 

       blobid1.png

       

      I.e. if you haven’t already created Headers or Footers (or stylesheets) you won’t be able to select them. We will start by showing how simple it is to add a header. 

       

      Adding Headers 

      Within the headers tab it is possible to have as many headers as you like. This means that each department can have its own header, with its own content, branding, logos etc. The following shows a simple header created within the header: 

        blobid2.png

      Using the rich text editor one can add text however it is required but a useful tip for headers is to use the table function. In the header above we have created a three column table. 

      We have then used the Insert menu to add an image; in this case the IEG4 logo. Then we’ve added the address in the 3rd column with the text left aligned which you can do from the rich text editor menu too. 

      The additional thing we have done is added a stylesheet so that: 

      • the table borders are transparent 
      • the font used is Arial. 

       

      This is shown here: 

       blobid3.png

       

      I was able to access the stylesheet in line with the template by clicking on the faint gray pencil icon to the right of the ‘Stylesheet’ label. 

      In order that you can add styling to your header, footer, template body, you need to create the stylesheets in the stylesheet tab but as you can see you can edit these whilst in the middle of testing what your header looks like. 

       

      Adding Stylesheets 

      As touched upon in the header section, stylesheets enable you to format the content of your headers, footers and templates. 

      Stylesheets are built using a standard language called CSS. CSS and HTML are the fundamental elements of the internet and so in many ways the content of a template can actually mirror what one could do when building a web page. 

      You will be glad to know you don’t have to be an experienced developer to learn this language in depth but understanding HTML and CSS are very useful skills to have. To add a new stylesheet simply click on the add button on the stylesheets tab: 

       blobid4.png

       

      If you want specific style for the header/footer/body then it is best to name them in a way that will make this obvious when creating a header/footer/body etc. 

      The best way to understand HTML is that it represents the words, structure and the content of a template. The CSS is simply formatting that you wish to apply to that content. 

      If we click on one of the above options we see this: 

       blobid5.png

       

      CSS is massively powerful and is the thing that styles all web page content. I.e. anything you've seen on a website in terms of style can be added to your letter templates. This effectively removes the need for any software that was previously being paid for to pretty document templates.  

      Using a little CSS our header with the IEG4 logo from before can be updated to look like this: 

       

       blobid6.png

      The CSS added was: 

      body, span, p, a { 
      font-family: Arial !Important; 
      color: white !important; 
      } 

      table { 
      border: transparent; 
      background: linear-gradient(270deg, #3F51B5 0%, #123733 38%) !important; 
      } 

      img { 

      padding-left: 30px; 
      width: 90px !Important; 

      } 

        

      There is a huge wealth of information - because the internet is written in HTML and CSS and the best place, as it allows you to test it here: 

      HTML https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp 

      CSS https://www.w3schools.com/css/ 

        

      Adding Footers 

      Adding footers works exactly the same way headers do. You simply add the content and set the stylesheet you wish to use. 

        

      Adding Templates 

      Like headers/footers you can have as many templates as you like. You can choose the header and footer you wish to use for the template - both can be blank if relevant. 

      The content of the template body can be whatever you like but with the body of the template, you also have access to some placeholders that can be added into the content. 

      Placeholders (are template / mail merge fields) that will auto-populate based upon the data associated with the process the template is being generated for. 

      To access the placeholders click on the faint grey pencil icon next to the word - just above the rich text editor. The placeholders available will slide out from the right: 

       blobid7.png

        

      The purpose of each is outlined below: 

      ProcessName  

      The name of the process as set in the Setup menu for the process 

      ProcessDueDate  

      The current process due date as at the time of the templates creation 

      ProcessStartDate  

      The date the process was started 

      Forenames  

      The first name of the person that started the process 

      Surname  

      The surname of the person that started the process 

      AddressLine1  

      The first line of their address for which the process related 

      AddressLine2  

      The second line of their address for which the process related 

      AddressLine3  

      The third line of their address for which the process related 

      AddressLine4  

      The fourth line of their address for which the process related 

      AddressCode  

      The postcode of their address for which the process related 

       

      If some of these are added they appear as follows with curly brackets around them in situ: 

       blobid8.png

       

      You can see that the only thing a user would need to do in the above is add the information they require which means this is an adhoc write out for information letter. 

       

      However, you could of course build multiple templates with the information required within the body of the template already. But when this template is created on a process it will automatically populate all of the content. You can see you can also format these like any other text. I.e. bullet points by the address and the process name set as a header.