Table of Contents
Document Templates Overview
The Document Templates plugin is a replacement for the Letter Generator Plugin for most use cases (see Limitations section). The Document Templates plugin allows users to create a standardized document while leveraging information within Zengine. This includes generating letters, lists, and agreements.
Plugin Features
Here are some of the features of Document Templating:
- You can edit, copy, and delete templates.
- You can easily add data from Zengine records to a template using field references
- You can preview templates with dynamic data for specific records
- You can add and resize images
- You can add headers and footers with simple formatting options, including using header images
- Once a document is generated, you can download and print or send generated documents from the record's upload field while in form view
Common Uses
Use Case 1: Award Letters
A part of an administrator's process is to generate award letters for grantees. Administrators in Zengine can set up an award letter template that will populate with the grantee information and then save it to the grantees' award form. The Grantee can then access the award letter through their submission portal.
Use Case 2: Disbursement Tracking
Administrators track disbursement information through Zengine and are required to send a disbursement schedule to grantees. Administrators in Zengine can create a Disbursement Template that will populate with Grantee and Disbursement data. Administrators can generate the form through Zengine and save the Disbursement Schedule to the grantee's Disbursement form. Grantees can access the schedule through their portal.
Use Case 3: Board Member Reports
Administrators need to generate a board member report that pulls relevant information from a constituent's application. Administrators can set up a Board Member Report template and create the report for applications for board review. Once generated, Board Members can access their Review Portal and access the Board Member Report.
How to Install
Contact our Zengine Support Team to discuss installing this plugin into your workspace.
How To Use Document Templates
Basic Setup
Document Templating allows you to generate a templated document that can pull data from Zengine. This is a two-part process. In the first part, you will add the needed fields to the form you want to generate your template. In the second part, you will learn how to configure your template. Follow these instructions to use the plugin.
Part 1: Adding an Upload Field to the Target Form
1. Select the form you want to generate the document from in the form tabs.
2. Open the form editor.
3. In the form editor, add an upload field and give the field a relevant title to the document you will generate. Then select the save button at the bottom of the page.
Part 2: Configuring a Document Template
1. Select the Document Template icon in the blue toolbar at the top of your screen.
2. Choose the form you want to generate the template from the Create a Template dropdown menu.
3. On the right side of the text editor, type in the name of your template in the Template Name field.
4. Open the Upload Field Section and select the upload field you created in part 1
5. Next, click into the text editor and start creating your Document template.
6. To add data from Zengine, select the place in the text editor where you want the date to appear, then select the Fields drop-down menu to add a field reference. This will add data entered into the field drawn from the record (or linked records) related to the actual document that is generated.
7. Find and select the field you wish to draw data from.
- If the field is located on an associated linked form, select the form name and a new list containing field references from that form will appear. You can then select the appropriate field.
8. Once you have finished drafting your template, select the black Save button at the button right of the screen. (The document template should also be saved anytime changes are made.)
Generating a Document
1. In the Data View, select the form the document will generate from.
2. Open a record in the form to open the form view for that record.
3. At the top of the record, open the Generate drop-down menu and select the template you created.
4. Wait a couple of seconds, then refresh the browser page.
5. Scroll to the upload field you created in Part 1 of the setup in the record. You will see a saved copy of the document in the upload field. You can select the Eye icon to view the template.
You can also download the generated document from the upload field for printing or sending.
Advanced Options
Adding a Header or Footer
1. In the Include Header dropdown, select Yes
2. A menu of options will appear where you can manually set up a header or use a header image.
- To manually enter a header, start by entering the Header text. You can then choose the text alignment, font, and size.
- To upload a header image, select the Image Choose File button. Once you upload an image, you can choose the image alignment and header height.
Limitations
You are unable to directly edit a document once it has been generated. If multiple versions of a document are needed for different circumstances or grant types, multiple templates should be created. More than one template can be associated with the same form and upload field, and you can choose which template to generate from the form view of the record (see the section Generating a Document above, Step 3).
In addition, documents will only be generated in PDF format.
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