Setting up New Template Fields

• 01/09/2023
• 16 minutes to read

If some of the default template fields don't meet your needs, you can easily create new fields or customize existing ones. You can create and customize fields either for a master template or for each individual vendor template, but we generally recommend that you create new fields in a master template and then copy them from there to the vendor templates.

As indicated above, this article uses vendors and purchase documents as an illustrative basis, but the functionality works equally well with other sources and types of documents.

To create a new master template field using the assisted setup guide

The assisted setup guide allows you to create new template fields without the risk of deleting mandatory existing fields or otherwise breaking the template. Only field settings that are configured frequently will be availabe in the guide.

To create a new field for a master template using the assisted setup guide, follow these steps:

1. Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
2. To open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself), and then select Edit in the action bar.
3. On the Templates FastTab, in the list of templates, select the master template for PDF files (PURCHASE-GB), and then select Manage > Edit to open the template card.
4. On the Fields FastTab, select Manage > Create new Template Field to open the Assisted Template Field Setup Guide.
5. Select Next to start the guide, and then follow the on-screen instructions to set up the field you need. Select Finish when you're done.

The new field will be added to the template card, more specifically to the list on the Fields FastTab.

To manually create a new master template field

If you prefer, you can also create a new field for a master template manually. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.

2. To open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself), and then select Edit in the action bar.

3. On the Templates FastTab, in the list of templates, select the master template for PDF files (PURCHASE-GB), and then select Manage > Edit to open the template card.

4. On the Fields FastTab, select Manage > New to open the new field's Template Field Card.

5. On the General FastTab, enter a code for the new template field (mandatory), and fill in the remaining configuration fields as needed.

   Warning

   Spaces and the following special characters aren't allowed in template field codes: /*-+()|<>%^&=.?$#@'". The reason for this is that if you set up a formula that includes one or more fields whose codes have spaces or special characters (for example, "AMOUNT 1 + AMOUNT 2"), the formula will fail. If you happen to use spaces and/or any of the mentioned characters in your code, these will be automatically removed when the template field is created.

   Note

   On the Template Field Card, the visibility of some of the configuration fields depends on what you select under Data Type. For more information, see The template field card.

6. Optional: If you want the new field to be automatically included in all new vendor templates that are created on the basis of the master template, enable Insert on new Templates by toggling the switch. If you don't enable this, the field can be added manually to individual templates later instead, as described below.

7. On the Field Translations FastTab, enter any text that should be translated for this field in order for Document Capture to be able to recognize the field. Select the checkbox in the Case-sensitive column if the entered text should be case-sensitive.

   Tip

   If you enter nothing in the Translate To column, the text you've entered in the Translate From column will be removed from any relevant value identified by Document Capture, which is useful for honorific titles and similar. For example, if you enter Dr. under Translate From and nothing under Translate To, Document Capture will know that whenever it captures a value containing this honorific in a document – for example, "Dr. John Doe" – it should remove the honorific and leave only the actual name for further processing, in this case "John Doe". This will enable Document Capture to identify the correct user in the system.

The new field will be added to the template card, more specifically to the list on the Fields FastTab. It will be inserted right below the list entry that was selected when you opened the template field card in step 4 above.

The template field card

The template field card is where you can edit the properties of a given template field, including its data type, what captions Document Capture should search for, which rules should be used to validate the captured data, and whether to add the field to all new templates. You configure these properties using a number of different configuration fields and toggles, which are all accompanied by explanatory tooltips in the Business Central user interface.

Note that on the Template Field Card page, the visibility of some of the configuration fields and toggles depends on what you select under Data Type. Most of the fields and toggles are the same for all data types though, so the following table simply outlines the differences between the types:

For the data type Date, you can enter the keywords TODAY (T) or WORKDATE (W) in the Formula field. This will automatically insert today's date or the specified work date into the applicable template field during field recognition for all documents using that template. So if, for example, you set this up for the template field Due Date and the work date is September 30, 2023, the Due Date field under Document Header in the document journal of all incoming documents with this template will read 09/30/23.

To create a new vendor template field

In order to create a new vendor template field using the assisted setup guide, follow the guide for master template fields above, but select a vendor template in step 3.

Likewise, the process of creating new vendor template fields manually is exactly the same as the one for master template fields described above, except that:

• You must select a vendor template in step 3.
• Step 6 is not applicable to vendor templates and should therefore be skipped.

We generally recommend that you create all new fields in master templates, but it may occasionally be relevant to create new fields that only apply to one specific vendor.

To add a new field to a vendor template

Once you've created a new field in the master template as described above, it's available to be added to any vendor template you prefer. If you enabled Insert on new Templates when creating the new master template field (step 6 in the above guide), the field is automatically added to all new vendor templates created as copies of the master template. If you didn't enable Insert on new Templates when creating the field, you can manually add the field to a vendor template in one of the following ways:

• Using the document journal, as described under Adding and removing template fields
• Using the template card, as described below

To add a field to a vendor template using the template card, follow these steps:

1. Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
2. To open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself), and then select Edit in the action bar.
3. On the Templates FastTab, in the list of templates, select the template to which you want to add the field, and then select Manage > Edit to open the template card.
4. On the Fields FastTab, select Manage > Add Template Field to open the Template Field List.
5. In the list of fields, find and select the relevant field.

The field will then be added to the list of template fields and displayed in the template card, on the Fields FastTab.

To customize master template fields

To customize master template fields, follow these steps:

1. Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
2. To open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself), and then select Edit in the action bar.
3. On the Templates FastTab, in the list of templates, select the master template for PDF files (PURCHASE-GB), and then select Manage > Edit to open the template card.
4. On the Fields FastTab, customize the individual template fields and their availability as needed:
   • To specify that a field value must be present in an imported document in order for the document to be registered: Select the field's checkbox in the Required column.
   • To move or delete a field: Select the relevant field line, and then select Manage followed by the action you want to perform.
   • To edit the properties of each individual field, including its data type, what captions to search for, which rules to use, and whether to add the field to all new templates: In the Field Name column, select the name of the field to open its Template Field Card, and then make any necessary changes there.

   Note

   On the Template Field Card, the visibility of some of the configuration fields depends on what you select under Data Type. For more information, see The template field card.

5. Optional: To copy a template field (such as the one you've just customized) to all templates that were created on the basis of the master template: On the Fields FastTab, in the list of fields, select the relevant field, and then select Manage > Copy Field.

   Important

   The field is only copied to templates in which it doesn't yet exist – it doesn't update a previously copied field of the same kind. If you've previously copied the field to all templates but need to update it, you must do this manually.

To customize vendor template fields

The process of customizing fields for vendor templates is very similar to that of customizing master template fields, but there are a few notable differences, as indicated below.

To customize vendor template fields, follow these steps:

1. Choose the icon, enter Document Categories, and then choose the related link.
2. To open the purchase document category, select the PURCHASE line (not the PURCHASE code itself), and then select Edit in the action bar.
3. On the Templates FastTab, in the list of templates, select the template whose fields you want to edit, and then select Manage > Edit to open the template card.
4. On the Fields FastTab, customize the individual template fields and their availability as needed:
   • To specify that a field value must be present in an imported document in order for the document to be registered: Select the field's checkbox in the Required column.
   • To move or delete a field: Select the relevant field line, and then select Manage followed by the action you want to perform.
   • To add a field from the master template: Select Manage > Add Template Field.
   • To edit the properties of each individual field, including its data type, what captions to search for, and which rules to use: In the Field Name column, select the name of the field to open its Template Field Card, and then make any necessary changes there.

   Note

   On the Template Field Card, the visibility of some of the configuration fields depends on what you select under Data Type. For more information, see The template field card.

See also

Working with Templates