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Document templates: quotes, contracts and invoices as PDF

Design the template once on a Cortex Unit and link it to its fields. Then print a ready PDF for any record, and download it or save it to the record, by hand or from an automation.

6 min
Before you start · for everyone
The document template permissions (read, create, edit and delete)
  • You need: The document template permissions (read, create, edit and delete)

How it works

A document template is a page you design like a Word file, with fields from the record placed in it. When you print, Corteksa fills each field with its value from the record you chose, and produces a PDF.

How it works in 4 steps

Step
What you do
Guide
1. Create the template
A name, the unit it prints from, the language and paper, and how to start
2. Design the content
Text, tables, fields, images, line items and charts
3. Set up the page
The size, margins, header and footer, and background
4. Print
From the record, from an automation, or by asking the assistant

The document editor and the classic designer

There are two editors. The current document editor, under Settings → Document Generator, works like a word processor: text flows from page to page, and tables continue on the next page. The classic designer, under Settings → Document Templates, is an older editor where you place elements in fixed positions on the page, and its templates still print. Most of this guide covers the document editor. For the classic designer, see The classic designer: templates with fixed elements.

What goes in a template

Element
What it adds
Guide
Record fields
The value of any field in the record
Fields from linked records
The client’s name on a contract, for example
System fields
Today’s date, your name, the record link and the page number
Field format
Hijri or Gregorian, yes/no, and a bulleted list
Line items table
Smart catalog items with the subtotal, tax and total
Conditional sections
A section that shows or hides based on a field’s value
Images
A logo, or a photo from a field in the record
Pinned elements and signature
A stamp, a signature and shapes in a fixed position
Barcodes and QR
A code built from each record’s data
Charts
Bar, line and donut charts from line items or linked records

How the page looks

Printing and saving

Task
Guide
Preview with a real record, and a proof without a record
Generate a PDF from a record and download it
Save the document to a file field in the record
Move the status automatically on save
Generate and send the document from an automation
Design the template with AI
Turn a Word or PDF file into a template
Saving, edit conflicts and deleting
Who can do what

Every number is in Every document limit in one place, and fixes are in Fix document problems: why didn’t it print or save as expected?.

A real example

Shield Security Co.
The situation

Each client’s contract was typed in Word and took an hour, and the wording changed from one employee to the next.

What they did
  1. A “Maintenance contract” template on the “Contracts” unit, with the client’s name from the relation {{customer.name}}.
  2. A line items table from the smart catalog, with the subtotal, tax and total.
  3. An automation: when the status changes to “Approved”, the contract is generated, saved in the “Contract file” field and sent to the client.
The result

The contract is ready seconds after approval, with the same design every time.

A made-up company, to show the idea. The numbers are rounded.

Good to know

A template prints the records of one unit only.
Fields reach linked records up to 2 levels deep, and take the first linked record.
A document prints only what the person printing it is allowed to see.
The other numbers are in Every document limit in one place.
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