Creating and using Templates in WorkPoint 365

1. Introduction

Templates serve as a shortcut for creating documents in WorkPoint. Using templates documents can be outfitted with predefined data, and data from WorkPoint solutions can be merged into documents created, based on templates. A great feature of using templates is the ability to pull data from entities and merge them into the document.

Examples of use could be creating a standardized document for employment of a new employee. This document could contain important information about the new employee, such as employee name, employee number, and the employment date, for filing purposes.

Another use case could be when a company has a set template for contracts, which always contains the same type of information from the parties who enters the agreement. A template can be set up to contain the information required, and then further specification of the document can be added.

In this article, we explain how to set up templates in the Template Library of WorkPoint, and we show how to use templates, both from WorkPoint in the browser and from WorkPoint Express.

2. Requirements

Management of templates requires a WorkPoint Express license.

Creating documents based on templates can be done through the browser version of WorkPoint without said license.

3. Setting up a document template

Templates can be set up from the Template Library, which can be accessed in the following way:

From the root site of the WorkPoint solution, in the top right, click the "All actions"-button.
In the drop down menu, click "Lists".
Click the "Template Library"-button.

In the Modern UI mode of the Template Library, click "New Word template".

Select which business module on the solution the new template should be used for. Alternatively you can select to create a template without mail merge fields. In this example, we select the "Employees" business module.

Upon clicking the business module from the list, WorkPoint asks if we want to open the document in Word. Click the "Open URL:wpword" button.

If you receive an error when Word attempts to open, ensure that you are logged into Word with the user trying to create a document template.

In Word, we can create lines of text as descriptions of the data we want to pull from WorkPoint.

In this case, we want to pull data from WorkPoint for the date that the employee was employed. In the "Mailings" ribbon tab, click the "Insert Merge Field"-button
The list shows all fields from WorkPoint that are available for mail merge into this document. Fields from both the business module that was selected for the template in pt. 6 and parent business modules are available. In this example, we select the "Employees_Employment_date" field.

Note that fields which are of type Multiple lines of text AND is using enhanced rich text are not supported for mail merging.

Note that also fields from parent modules of the selected module support can be merged into the document.

Lastly, note that the full length of the mail merge field (including the business module name) may not exceed 40 characters.

The mail merge field has now been inserted. Mail merge fields are enclosed in "«" and "»" symbols.

The template document can now be saved:

In the document, click the "File" ribbon menu item and select "Save As".
Select to save the template in the template library of the solution.

Provide a name for the template.
Click the "Save" button.

Word might prompt you to provide a name in the dialogue shown in the image above. If so, provide the name for the template again.
Click the "Save" button.

In some cases, documents require one or more fields to have a value, i.e. certain fields cannot be empty. A solution administrator can configure fields for documents that require a value.

In case your document does not require any fields to have a value, you can skip to past pt. 21 in this guide.

In this case, a GDPR field for the document must be set before we can successfully save the document. This is shown as an error message in the yellow bar on top of the document, and the "Properties" side panel opens where a value for the field can be set:

The yellow bar informs us that a property of the document must be set before it can be saved.
A value is selected for the field.

We can now click the "Retry Save" button in the yellow error message bar:

Click the "Retry Save" button.

Provide the name for the template again.
Click the "Save" button.

The document is now saved, and Microsoft Word can be closed.

The template now shows in the Template Library:

3.1. Editing a template

Existing templates can be edited by clicking the name of the template in the Template Library:

This will open the Template in Microsoft Word, where the template can be edited in the same way as it was originally created.

4. Using a document template

Documents based on templates can be created both from WorkPoint in the browser and from WorkPoint Express. Both methods will be explained in the following sections.

4.1. From the browser

This section will explain how to create documents based on templates in WorkPoint through the browser.

In this example, we will use the template created in section 3 of this article to create a document for an employee which contains employee data, and which can be further filled with information.

In the entity list of the "Employees" business module, enter the site of the employee for which the document should be created.

In the My Tools menu, click the "All actions" button
Click "New".
Click "Document".

These steps opens up the document creation wizard:

Provide a name for the document.
Select in which document library to save the document.
Optionally select a document folder of the library in which to save the document.
Select which content type the document is.
Click the "Choose alternative document template" button to select a template to use for the document.

If "Choose alternative document template" is not clicked, but the document is instead saved now, a default template is used to create the document.

Select the template that was created in section 3 of this article.
The window in the top right of the wizard shows a preview of the selected template.
Hover over the "Save" button and select "Save and edit online" (or "Save and Edit" if you want to edit in the Microsoft Word desktop app).

In this example, the Wizard prompts me to fill in additional information before I can create the document:

I fill in the necessary information.
Click "Save and continue".

Creating the document may take a small amount of time depending on the number of mail merge fields and other aspects. The following windows appears:

After the document is created by the system, the document is opened in the chosen editor:

The data from the employee has been merged into the document.
Additional information can be added as normal in Word.

4.2. From WorkPoint Express

This section explains how to create documents based on templates from WorkPoint Express.

In this example, we will use the template created in section 3 of this article to create a document for an employee which contains employee data, and which can be further filled with information.

In workPoint Express, under the business module for which the template was created, open the employee for which the document should be created.

Right-click the documents library for the chosen employee.
Select "Create Document From Template...".

These steps opens up the "Create Document From Template" wizard:

Provide a name for the document.
Select in which document library the document should be saved.
Optionally specify a folder in the document library in which the document should be saved.
Select the content type of the document.
Click the "Choose alternative document template" button.

Select the template that was created in section 3 of this article.
Hover over the "Save" button and select "Save and edit online" (or "Save and edit" if you wish to edit the document in the Microsoft Word desktop app).

In this example, the Wizard prompts me to fill in additional information before I can create the document:

I fill in the necessary information.
Click "Save and continue".

Creating the document may take a small amount of time depending on the number of mail merge fields and other aspects. The following windows appears:

After the document is created by the system, the document is opened in the chosen editor:

The data from the employee has been merged into the document.
Additional information can be added as normal in Word.

5. Setting up an e-mail template

5.1. From Microsoft Outlook

This section explains how to set up an e-mail template through Microsoft Outlook for use with the "send e-mail" function of WorkPoint Express.

Setting up an e-mail template can be done from Microsoft Outlook:

Start by creating a new e-mail and type in a subject in the "Subject" field.
Fill in the information that should always be in the body of the e-mail

Access the File menu and click "Save As".

Select a location to save the template file on your computer.
Provide a name for the template.
Click the "Save" button.

The e-mail can now be closed and there is no need to save it.

In the Template Library of WorkPoint in the browser (in Classic UI this time), click the "Upload" button.

Click the "Choose File" and browse for the template file that was created.
Optionally check the "Add as a new version to existing files".
Optionally add a version comment.
Click the "OK" button.

These steps opens the "Add a document" window:

Select the content type of the template. The default setting is "Document template without mail merge", which we will leave it at.
Select the entity support. This defines whether the template can be used for other entity types than the current one.
Select whether this template is active.
Optionally provide a guide for the usage of this template.
Optionally select a template set which this template will be available.
Optionally select the template sets in which this template is required.
Select one or more template languages.

In this case, I am required to set a GDPR setting for the template.
Set the Template usage. If using this template as an e-mail template, as we are, it is important to set this setting to "Email".
Click the "Check In" button.

The e-mail template is now uploaded to the Template Library of WorkPoint.

5.2. From Microsoft Word

Email templates can be created through Microsoft Word. A good reason to use this method is the possibility of using mail merging in the e-mails based on these templates.

Email templates through Word are created as any other Word template:

In the template library, click the "New Word template" button.

Select a business module to create the template for. This choice also decides which fields can be merged into the template. Fields located on the chosen business module, as well as an parent module, can be merged into the template.

Create the template and insert mail merge fields you wish to include.

Save the template, and return to the template library.

Note that the "Template usage" field is empty for the template.
Select the template by clicking an empty area of the template.

Open the "Details panel" by clicking the circled "i" in the top right of the page.
Scroll down to the "Template usage" column and select "Email". Then click any empty area of the panel to apply the setting.

Note that the "Template usage" field of the template now contains "Email".

The template can now be used when sending email through WorkPoint and WorkPoint Express.

5.2.1. Setting the subject property

To set the subject for e-mails based on a template created in Microsoft Word, follow these steps:

CompanyContractSignedEmailTemplate.dotx - Word

When creating or editing your template, click the "File" menu.

In the "File" menu, click the "Info" tab.
In the "Info" tab, click "Show All Properties".

In the list of properties, click and edit the "Subject" property. Here can input the text that should be shown in the subject line of e-mails based on this template. Remember to save your template.

6. Using an e-mail template

Using an e-mail template can be done from WorkPoint Express:

In WorkPoint Express, right-click a person. In this case, I right-click a person in the "Employees" business module.
Click "Send E-mail...".

Select the template that was created in section 5 of this article.
Click the "Send E-mail..." button.

This opens up the e-mail in Microsoft Outlook from where the contents can be edited and additional information can be added:

At this point, the recipients of the e-mail can be set, and the e-mail can be sent as normal using Microsoft Outlook.

In circumstances where a single person can be selected, e.g. in a "Contacts" business module for a Project Management solution, the "Recipients" section of the "Send E-mail" window can be automatically filled in:

In this example, I am accessing a Project Management solution in WorkPoint Express. I am also viewing information on the "Companies" module of the solution.
I expand the "Contacts" section of the company.
I right-click a contact person, and click "Send E-mail...".

As can be seen in the image above, the "Recipients" section is automatically filled with the contact person's information.

7. Setting up an Excel template

In this section, we will demonstrate how to set up an Excel template and use mail merging to import data from your WorkPoint solution.

A new Excel template can be created from the document Template library:

In the root of your WorkPoint solution, click the "All actions" button in the My Tools panel.
In the menu, click "Lists"
Click "Template Library".

In the Template Library, click the "New Excel template" button in the command bar.

This opens the following dialogue window:

anm0014 - Template Library - All Documents - Google Chrome

In the "Business Module" drop down menu, select the business module for which you are creating a template. In this case, we are going to make a budget template for projects in the "Level 1 Projects" business module.
Type in a name for the template.
Select a file extension for the template. The default file extension is .xlsx.
To create the Excel template, click the "Create" button.

Your system now asks if it should open the template in Excel:

Here we select to open the template in Excel.

In the following example, we have set up the following template:

We can now start merging data from our WorkPoint solution into the template.

We start by importing project title, ID, etc. into the template:

We begin by selecting the cell in which we want to merge data from WorkPoint.
We then click the "Use in Formula" button in the "Formulas" ribbon.

We can merge data from the business module we selected in step 98 and all parent modules. In this case, we scroll to the bottom and select the "Level1Projects_Title", which corresponds to the title of a project.

The merge field is put into the selected field, and we press Enter on the keyboard to accept:

We can use the same process to merge more data into the template:

The template should save automatically, but if not we can save it manually:

In the "File" menu, click "Save a Copy".
Next, we select the site and location for the template.
Lastly, we click the "Save" button.

8. Using an Excel template

In this section, we will demonstrate how to use an Excel template. In this demonstration, we will use the template we created in section 7 of this article.

We start on a Project site:

In the My Tools panel on a Project site, we click "All actions".
We then click "New".
Finally, we click "Document" to create a new document.

We provide a name and location for the new document.
We then select "Choose alternative document template".

In the Template list, we select the Project budget template we created in section 7 of this article.
To the right we can see a preview of the template.

In the bottom right of the wizard, we hover over the "Save" button and select "Save and edit online".

The WorkPoint system now generates a new Excel document based on the selected template and opens it:

We can see that the WorkPoint system has successfully imported data from the Project the document was created on into the excel document.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Requirements