Opening and editing templates

Templates can be opened and amended through Document Management. You can view and edit these files in the same way that you would edit any other Word document. You can easily edit the existing text, insert new merge variables, format text, copy and move information, create bulleted lists, spell check, insert images, and create tables, etc. Templates can be opened in read-only or read/write mode. Read-only allows the file to be viewed, whereas read/write allows them to be edited.

You can edit templates whenever you need to. Each time you recompile a template, Document Management creates and stores a new version automatically. However, it always retains the old version for historical purposes.

To open a template as read-only:

1. In the Merge Templates folder select the template (not the compiled version) you want to open.

2. Right-click it and click Open > Open as Read-only.

• You can also open a template by double-clicking it. However, the default double-click action is governed by a System Configuration setting. Refer to the note below.

To open a template as read/write:

1. In the Merge Templates folder select the template (not the compiled version) you want to open.

2. Right-click it and click Open > Open as Read/write.

• You can also open a template by double-clicking it. However, the default double-click action is governed by a System Configuration setting. Refer to the note below.

To edit a template:

1. In the Merge Templates folder and select the template (not the compiled version) you want to edit.

2. Open the template as read/write.

3. Edit the template as required. You can easily edit the existing text, insert new merge variables, format text, copy and move information, create bulleted lists, spell check, insert images, and create tables, etc.

4. Click the Compile button to recompile the template. A new version of the template and the compiled document are stored in Document Management in the same folder as the original. These newer versions are suffixed with the next available version number starting at 1 (e.g. Client Letter.1.doc). The compiled version of the document is displayed.

5. Close the compiled version. The updated merge template is now ready for use.

To edit a template's details:

1. In the Merge Templates folder and select the template (not the compiled version) whose details you want to change.

2. Open the document as read/write and then click the Edit Document Details button on the toolbar.

• In Document Management, you can also right-click a document and select Edit Document Details.

3. Edit the document details as required:

• Display name. The name of template displayed in Document Management.

• Description. Brief description of the template. Optional, but highly recommended to aid you to recognise it when searching. Variables may also be entered using the Insert button (...) at the right. These are merged into the Description field when the template is used for a merge.

• Keywords. Words to be associated with the template. Optional, but useful when searching.

• Extension. (Read only) File extension/type, e.g. .doc, .docx, .xls or .oft.

• Version. (Read only) Version of the selected file.

• Force new document. Specifies that if a document with the same name already exists for the selected template and context (e.g. matter), a new document is created. When the Edit Document Details dialog box is displayed after a merge, it appends "-1", "-2" etc on to the name, in order to create a new document. However, this appendage can be removed to create a new version of the existing document, if required.

• Merge table. Sets the context (e.g. client, matter, etc.) for this template.

• Macro name. Specifies the name of the Word or Excel macro to be run automatically after a document has been merged using the selected template. For more details refer to Attaching macros to merge templates.

• Template Tags. Allows you to categorise the template so that it appears in Document Management in a pre-defined group or groups.

• Document Tags. Allows you to categorise the document so that it appears in History in a pre-defined group or groups, after being used to merge a document.

4. Click OK to save your changes.

Note

• A firm-wide option is available in System Configuration so that administrators can choose whether templates open in read/write or read-only mode when double-clicked. This affects the double-click function for templates opened from Document Management or the Document and History Viewers. For more information refer to Document settings in System Configuration.