7.1 Creating a Simple Document Template
This lesson will show you how to create a simple document template using non-selectable mergefields.
Open Microsoft word and write your stock email
Write your stock letter as a word document, leaving blank the spaces that you wish to fill using AgileCase. For the purpose of this example we have shown the content we intend to populate the spaces with in brackets.
Fill in the gaps using Mergefields.
Now you can fill in the blanks using mergefields. Mergefields are a sort of reference for the template so it knows where to pull data from your AgileCase system. Once you have filled in all of your mergefields the document template is complete and can be saved and uploaded to AgileCase.
The rest of this lesson will look at the mergefields in this sample document in more detail and explain how to pull your own mergefields out of AgileCase.
Viewing mergefields/ XML feed
in order to simplify the creation of templates, AgileCase includes the functionality to view the mergefields present in each case so they may be picked out.
Clicking the arrow under the "Edit" button gives you the ability to view the merge fields present in the selected case.
This will take you to the Merge fields helper. The merge fields for the case will be listed along with their value, custom field ID and a copy option so they can be pasted in to your templates. When you paste mergefields from AgileCase in this manner, you do not need to paste them in mail merge, they can be inserted directly in to your word document.
It is also possible to view the original XML feed for the page, this can be done by selecting the "XML View" tab beside "Merge Fields". This can be of use to power users and has applications in case scripting.
Formatting mergefields
You can apply specific formats to your mergefields. In order to edit a mergefield you must enable mail merge by pressing Alt+ F9
Numbers do not always display with the correct formatting option so a numeric picture switch in word format is used. The switch shown here will correctly display currency with a decimal point. for example, a billing rate of £25 will be displayed as £25.00.
Users familiar with mail merge can create their own formatting options, but we suggest that inexperienced users make use the formatting shown in our guide here, from which you can simply copy/paste a variety of standard formats in to your mergefields.
As always, if you have any difficulties creating mergefields, do not hesitate to contact us on support@agilecase.com.