Settings

Templates and Forms

The wording and merge fields of your letters and emails, and the questionnaires you build to collect answers.

Updated SettingsLast checked

Templates holds the wording of the letters and emails your business sends, with merge fields that fill in each client's details. Forms is where you build the questionnaires and checklists you collect answers with.

For business administrators

Templates needs permission to view letter templates, and Forms needs permission to view forms. Changing either needs the matching manage permission.

Templates

The list on the left has two groups. Letter templates holds engagement letters and schedules, with inactive ones at the bottom. Email templates holds the emails Orin sends for you, such as the client portal invitation.

  1. Step 01

    Open a template

    Go to Settings, then Templates, and select a template. It opens in the editor on Wording. Branding sets how your letters look. To start from scratch press New letter template; to start from an existing one, use the duplicate button beside it.

  2. Step 02

    Edit the wording and insert merge fields

    Type as you would in a document. Field inserts a merge field, such as the client's legal name or year end, which is filled from the client and engagement when a letter is produced. Fields marked optional are left empty when the client has no value. Clause and Insert add ready-made content. Proof previews the letter.

    Templates editor with an engagement letter open on the Wording tab and the Field menu showing client fields such as Legal name, Trading name and Registration number. New letter template is marked 1.
    The template editor with the Field menu open. 1: New letter template.
  3. Step 03

    Choose who it is used for

    The list at the top right of the editor, for example For companies, sets which kind of client the template is used for.

  4. Step 04

    Save

    The editor shows Unsaved changes while you are editing. Press Save to keep them, or Discard to throw them away. Letters already issued from the template are not changed either way.

A template that letters were produced from cannot be deleted. Use Deactivate instead, which takes it out of use and keeps it under Inactive.

Forms

A form is the right tool when you would otherwise send the same email with the same questions. The answers arrive structured rather than as prose to re-read.

  1. Step 01

    Open Forms

    Go to Settings, then Forms. Each form shows its Status (Draft or Published), version and when it was last updated. Filter with Status.

    Forms list with names, Draft or Published status, version and updated date. The New form button is marked 1.
    The Forms list. 1: New form.
  2. Step 02

    Create a form

    Press New form, enter a Name and an optional Description. Leave Include answers in reporting on unless the form collects something you would rather not have in reports; turning it on later does not file answers that already arrived. Press Create and build. The form starts as a draft only your business can see.

    New form dialog with Name, Description and an Include answers in reporting checkbox, and a Create and build button.
    Creating a form.
  3. Step 03

    Build the questions

    The builder has the Field library on the left: questions (short and long answer, number, date, yes or no, table), choices, file upload, signature and layout blocks. Add blocks to the form in the middle and set each one's details on the right. Form settings holds the title, introduction, the submit button's wording and the confirmation message.

    Form builder with the field library on the left, the New client information form in the middle, and Form settings on the right. The top bar has Discard, Save version, Copy form key and Unpublish.
    The form builder.

    To ask a question only when an earlier answer calls for it, select the question and open Show only if on the right. Under Question, choose an earlier yes or no, choose one or dropdown question, then choose the answer under Is answered. Choose Always show to remove the condition. While the question is hidden from the person filling in the form, it is not required and no answer to it is accepted. The builder still shows every question.

    The form builder with a Your VAT number question selected. On the right, Show only if is open and marked 1, with Question set to Are you registered for VAT? and Is answered set to Yes, marked 2.
    A question shown only when the answer above is Yes. 1: Show only if. 2: the answer that shows it.
  4. Step 04

    Save a version and publish

    Press Save version to keep your changes. Discard drops changes since the last saved version. Publishing the form creates its public address; Copy form key copies its key. Unpublish takes the public link down, and it then answers as not found.

Next steps

Common questions

I changed a template. Do letters already sent change?
No. Letters already issued keep the wording they were produced with.

Can a client see a draft form?
No. Nothing is public until you publish it.

Why can I not pick a question under Show only if?
Only an earlier yes or no, choose one or dropdown question that has no condition of its own can be used. If you move that question below, delete it or rename the chosen answer, saving the form says the condition no longer works.

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