Overview
ShareDo's Documents Admin area offers various options when creating a new document, content block, SMS, or email template.
These options are described as document template types.
Document template types are designed to provide document template authors with an easy-to-use method of creating different types of templates.
Out-of-the-box document template types
Your system configuration comes pre-loaded with several document template types. Find the document template types under the Document Assembly global feature.
Clicking this feature shows a list of document template types.
Common document template types include:
| Template Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Document – Internal | A template designed to produce documents which will not be issued externally. |
| Document – Issued | A template designed to produce documents which will be sent or issued to external parties. |
| Document – Multi-Party | Templates designed to produce documents generated for many parties in a single operation. These are conceptually similar to a lightweight mailing list and often used for activities like witness citation. |
| Content Blocks – Documents | Templates designed to capture reusable content defined as word templates. |
| Content Blocks – HTML | Templates designed to capture reusable content defined as HTML. |
| Email – HTML | Templates for the authoring of emails in HTML. |
| Email – Notification | Templates used by ShareDo notifications. |
| Pass through generator | Templates that will be used when no generation of dynamic Word content is required. |
| SMS | Templates used for SMS communication. |
What do document template types do?
Document template types contain several low-level system concepts that document authors usually do not need to concern themselves with, including:
- Activity Type - this describes the underlying work type that processes the document automation.
- Document Generator - how the document is generated.
Like most things in ShareDo, you can extend document template types to meet your unique needs.
Configuring custom document template types is considered advanced configuration, but for more information, see the next section.
Configuring Custom Document Template Types
Overview
Depending on your requirements, configuring custom document template types will involve a couple of steps.
- Configuring a template type
- Configuring a custom work type
Configuring a document template type
Within the document admin portal, navigate to:
Configuration > Manage Document Features
And select the Document Assembly global feature (1).
Click the + button (2) to open a blade to configure your new template type.
Select a base template type to start. This will determine the underlying functionality of your template. The table below describes common base types.
| Base template type | Configuration |
|---|---|
|
Document (Standard)
|
Supported Generators – Open XML Supported Activity Type Paths - task-activity-prepare-document Supports Attachments – YES Supports Multiple Templates – YES Supports Enclosures - YES Can have question sets – YES |
|
Document (Multi-Party)
|
Supported Generators – Open XML Supported Activity Type Paths - task-activity-multi-party-comms-document Supports Attachments – YES Supports Multiple Templates – YES Supports Enclosures - YES Can have question sets – YES |
|
Email (Standard)
|
Supported Generators – HTML Supported Activity Type Paths - task-activity-send-email Supports Attachments – YES Supports Multiple Templates – NO Supports Enclosures - NO Can have question sets – NO |
|
Email (Multi-Party)
|
Supported Generators – Markdown HTML, Mark Down plain text Supported Activity Type Paths - task-activity-multi-party-comms-email Supports Attachments – YES Supports Multiple Templates – NO Supports Enclosures - NO Can have question sets – NO |
|
SMS - ShareDo
|
Supported Generators – Mark Down plain text Supported Activity Type Paths - task-activity-send-sms Supports Attachments – NO Supports Multiple Templates – NO Supports Enclosures - NO Can have question sets – NO |
Once you have selected the base type, complete the remaining configuration referencing the table below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| System Name | Enter a unique system name for your template type. |
| Title | Enter a unique name for your template type. |
| Description | Enter an optional description. |
| Icon | Specify a font awesome icon. |
| Enabled | Either enabled or not. |
| Activity Type | Specify the work type that will be used to manage your template production – see next section. |
| Generator | Specify the generator that will be used to assemble your documents. |
Configuring custom document work types
The document assembly process is managed via work types and their associated phase plans. For example, Prepare Document:
Or Outbound Email:
These types can also be specialised; for example, you may wish to configure a specialist email activity that requires an approval step or something similar.
To create a specialist document activity work type, follow the usual steps to configure the work type until you get to the work type's phase plan.
As part of the phase plan configuration, you need to make ShareDo aware of what document activities must occur at each phase. Specify these via the Phase features. Configure the following phase features as required.
| Phase feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Generate Document | The document assembly process will be triggered on progression to this phase. |
| Document Refresh | The document contents can be refreshed during these phases. |
| Document Delivery Required | The document should be delivered via a delivery channel upon reaching this phase. |
| Can Edit Document Generation Form | The template and other details are editable during this phase. |