Workflows

Building Workflows with dynamic templates (BETA)

Building Workflows with dynamic templates is pretty much the same as building a Workflow with standardized templates or uploaded documents. The key difference being that the output PDFs will flow seamlessly around filled content without any gaps or overflows. In this article, we’ll mainly focus on enabling and disabling clauses, since this is a feature unique to dynamic templates.

Please check out our other articles to learn more about how to set up dynamic templates and how to create a Wofklow.

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Getting started

Before you start leveraging dynamic templates in your Workflows, be sure to fully configure your template first. This means that all fields and clauses have been added and configured, all text is correct and stylized to your liking, etc. Currently Document AI doesn’t work with dynamic templates, so setting proper field names, aliases, and other configurations are particularly important if you’d like to speed up Workflow build time.

Once your dynamic template is added to a Workflow, it cannot be edited within the Workflow editor. You’ll only be able to fill the existing template fields with data and enable or disable clauses. We’ll go into more detail on how to update your template later.

Once your dynamic template is set up, create your Workflow normally or add your template to an existing Workflow.

Fill fields

The process of filling fields in a dynamic template is the same as filling in any other document in a Workflow. It’s important to note however, that the multi-select tool does not yet work with dynamic templates. You’ll need to configure each of your fields individually.

For more information on how to fill PDF fields in Workflows, please see this article instead.

Controlling clauses

Clauses are great for documents like contracts and agreements that contain conditional content. They can be enabled or disabled so that they are only shown when necessary.

Clause options are found directly under the how would you like to fill this field question. Clauses support three visibility options

  • Include this clause: The clause will always appear on the output document.
  • Exclude this clause: The clause will never appear on the output document.
  • Include based on a Webform field: The clause will conditionally appear in the output document, depending on whether or not the connected Weform field is filled.

All clauses are enabled by default. You’ll need to disable and conditionally enable each clause individually.

To control clauses in Workflows:

  1. Navigate to your Workflow editor
  2. Locate and select your clause
  3. Under How would you like to include this clause?, select the relevant option
  4. If you select Include based on a Webform field, click Choose a Webform field to connect
  5. Search for and select the relevant Webform field
    • Some fields like Dropdown and Radio Button type fields will have additional options.

Note: When selected, enabled clauses will be highlighted in green and disabled clauses will be highlighted in blue.

Updating dynamic templates

It’s highly recommended to have your dynamic template fully configured prior to creating a Workflow with it, or adding it to an existing Workflow. As mentioned above, content within dynamic templates cannot be changed within the Workflow editor. Once your template is added to a Workflow, you won’t be able to update any text or adjust field types, or any field and clause names.

Dynamic templates in Workflows are read-only. You cannot edit field names or types Fields and clauses in dynamic templates cannot be edited in the Workflow editor.

If you need to edit your dynamic PDF, you’ll need to do so by editing the original template. Be sure to publish your template changes. Once your template has been updated to your liking, you can update your Workflow to include the latest version.

Note however that field and clause configurations will be cleared upon updating your template. This means that you will need to reconnect each of your fields and clauses individually.

To update dynamic templates in a Workflow:

  1. Navigate to your Workflow editor
  2. Click PDF in the top navigation bar
  3. Select Update to latest document The update to latest document button is found directly below the file name field.
  4. Confirm your change A confirmation message will pop up at the top of your browser
  5. Reconnect all fields and clauses
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