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Document Templates

Create Standardised Documents from Your Records

Document Templates let you create standardised documents that automatically merge with your record

data. Perfect for generating purchase orders, labels, delivery notes, invoices, and other professional documents with consistent formatting.

What Are Document Templates?

Document templates are pre-designed layouts that combine:

  • Fixed content: Text, images, and formatting that stays the same
  • Dynamic fields: Placeholders that pull data from your records
  • Charts: Live charts from your dashboard reports
  • Brand styling: Colours and typography from your Brand Guide

When you print or generate a document, Kinabase automatically fills in the field values from the selected record, creating a polished, professional output.

Common uses

  • Purchase Orders — Automatically generate purchase orders with supplier details, line items, and totals.
  • Delivery Notes — Create packing slips and delivery documentation from order records.
  • Labels — Print product labels, asset tags, or equipment identifiers with QR codes.
  • Certificates — Generate training certificates, compliance documents, or quality approvals.
  • Quotations and Proposals — Create branded proposals with customer details, pricing, and charts automatically filled in.

Creating a Document Template

Access the Templates Section

  1. Select the collection from the sidebar.
  2. Click ⋯ (options menu) in the top-right corner and select Configure, or right-click the collection name and choose Configure.
  3. Under the Documents section, click Templates.

Add a New Template

  1. Click the Add button to create a new template.
  2. Fill in the template details:
    • Icon: Choose an icon to represent your template.
    • Title: Give your template a descriptive name (e.g., 'Purchase Order', 'Delivery Label').
    • Description: Optionally add a description to help users understand when to use this template.
  3. Click Add. Your template is created and you can now edit its contents.

Editing a Document Template

Open the Editor

From the templates list, click Edit (pencil icon) next to your template to open the document editor.

The Editor Interface

The document editor has four main areas:

  1. Toolbar (top): Formatting tools and element insertion
  2. Page List (left): Thumbnail view of all pages
  3. Canvas (centre): The main editing area
  4. Properties Sidebar (right): Settings for selected elements

Text Formatting

The toolbar provides comprehensive text formatting options:

  • Text styles: Paragraph, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3
  • Character formatting: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough
  • Alignment: Left, Centre, Right, Justify
  • Lists: Bullet points, Numbered lists
  • Indentation: Increase or decrease indent
  • Colours: Text colour and highlight colour

Inserting Dynamic Fields

To insert data from your records into the template:

  1. In any text area, type the @ symbol.
  2. An autocomplete dropdown appears showing all available fields from your collection. Use the search box to filter or scroll through the list.
  3. Select the field to insert it at the cursor position.

The field appears as a highlighted placeholder that will be replaced with actual data when the document is generated.

You can insert various types of dynamic content:

  • Record fields: Any field from your collection (text, numbers, dates, etc.)
  • Related records: Fields from linked collections
  • Signatures: Capture signatures from workflow actions
  • Computed values: Calculated fields and aggregations

Adding Elements

Click the + button in the toolbar to insert additional elements:

  • Tables: Standard tables for structured data
  • Data Tables: Dynamic tables linked to lists or related records
  • Charts: Live charts from your dashboard reports (see Embedding Charts below)
  • Images: Upload and embed images
  • QR Codes: Auto-generated or custom URL QR codes
  • Text Boxes: Positioned text elements on the page
  • Logos: Your organisation's logo from the Brand Guide
  • Horizontal Rules: Visual dividers
  • Signatures: Signature fields for workflow actions
  • Fields: Dynamic field placeholders

Embedding Charts

You can embed live charts

from your reports directly into document templates. Charts render with current data each time a document is generated, so your documents always reflect the latest figures. Line, bar, pie, and scatter charts are all supported.

Adding a chart

  1. Click the + button in the toolbar and select Chart .
  2. In the Configure Chart modal, choose a report from the dropdown. Reports are grouped into Dashboard Reports, Collection Reports, and Record Reports.
  3. Select the specific chart you want to embed, then click Save.
  4. Resize or reposition the chart on the page as needed.

Changing a chart

To change the chart after inserting it, select the chart element and click Configure Chart in the Properties Sidebar.

Permissions

Only reports visible to Everyone are available for embedding. If a report is missing from the list, ask an admin to check its dashboard permissions. This ensures that no colleague is locked out of editing a shared template because it references a chart they cannot access.

Managing Pages

  • Add page: Click Add Page in the page list to create additional pages
  • Reorder pages: Drag pages in the sidebar to change their order
  • Delete page: Right-click a page thumbnail to remove it

Canvas Controls

  • Zoom: Use the zoom controls to adjust your view
  • Margin guides: Toggle guides to see the printable area
  • Sidebar: Show or hide the properties panel

Positioning Elements with Arrow Keys

For elements set to In front of text mode (text boxes, images, charts, logos, and QR codes), you can use arrow keys for precise positioning:

  1. Select the element you want to move on the canvas.
  2. Press any arrow key to nudge the element by a tiny increment in that direction.
  3. Hold Shift while pressing an arrow key to move the element in a larger step instead, useful for covering larger distances quickly.
  4. If the Alignment Grid is enabled, elements will automatically snap to grid lines, page edges, and nearby elements as you nudge. The grid appears briefly to confirm the snap.
  5. Hold Alt (Option on Mac) while pressing an arrow key to bypass snapping entirely and place the element exactly where you want it.

Arrow key nudging only works for elements in In front of text mode. Inline elements cannot be nudged.

Duplicating a Document Template

You can duplicate any existing template to create a copy with all its content, formatting, icon, description, and brand settings.

  1. From the templates list, right-click on the template you want to copy, or click its options menu icon (⋯).
  2. Select Duplicate.
  3. The new template appears in the list with "(copy)" appended to the original name. If copies already exist, Kinabase adds a number — for example, "(copy 2)", "(copy 3)".

Duplicated templates are a fast way to create variations of an existing layout. For example, you might duplicate a purchase order template to create supplier-specific versions, changing only the details that differ.

You need Configure permission on the collection to duplicate templates.

Using Document Templates

Printing from a Record

  1. Open the record you want to generate a document for.
  2. Click ⋯ in the top-right corner of the record details.
  3. Select Print. The print preview opens showing available templates.
  4. Use the tabs or dropdown to select the template you want.
  5. Click Print to send to your printer, or save as PDF.

Batch Printing

You can print multiple records using the same template:

  1. In your collection view, select multiple records using checkboxes.
  2. Click ⋯ or right-click to access bulk options.
  3. Choose Print and select your template to generate documents for all selected records.

The system shows progress as "X of Y records loaded" during batch operations.

Label Printing

For label templates, Kinabase supports Zebra label printers in addition to standard printers. Configure your printer preferences in the print dialog.

Automating Document Generation

Document templates can be used with automations

to automatically generate PDFs.

Setting Up PDF Generation

  1. Go to Settings → Automations.
  2. Create or edit an automation and add a trigger (e.g., when a workflow stage changes to 'Approved').
  3. Select Generate PDF document as the action.
  4. Configure the step:
    • Document Template: Choose the document template to use.
    • Filename: Optionally set a custom filename for the generated PDF,
      • To create a dynamic name - simply reference record fields here using a dollar sign, for example: $TITLE-$COMPANY-$DATE
    • Save file to: Choose where to store the PDF:
      • Don't save — the PDF is only emailed, not stored.
      • Record folder — saves to the record's file store
        (Please note: this requires files to be enabled on the collection).
      • Specific field — saves directly into a file field on the record.
        Select the target field from the File field picker.
    • Archive subfolder: When saving to a file field that already contains a file, optionally specify a subfolder name (e.g. "Previous Versions") to archive the existing file before the new PDF replaces it.
    • Email: Configure email delivery with recipients, subject, and body.

Read our Automations guide for more on setting up automated workflows.

Brand Integration

Document templates automatically apply styling from your Brand Guide:

  • Typography: Headings and paragraph styles use your brand fonts
  • Colours: Access your brand colour palette
  • Logo: Insert your organisation logo

Read our Brand Guide documentation for details on configuring your brand identity.

Best Practices

  • Keep it simple — Start with essential information and add complexity as needed.
  • Test with real data — Preview templates with actual records to ensure fields and charts display correctly.
  • Consider print margins — Use margin guides to ensure content doesn't get cut off when printing.
  • Use consistent naming — Give templates clear, descriptive names so users know which to select.
  • Leverage data tables — Use data tables for line items or related records instead of manual entry.
  • Use charts for impact — Embed dashboard charts in proposals and reports to let the data speak for itself.

Troubleshooting

Fields showing placeholder text

Ensure you're viewing the template with a record selected. Field placeholders only populate when generating for a specific record.

Fonts not displaying correctly

Brand fonts may need a moment to load. Refresh the page or check your Brand Guide configuration.

Can't see Templates option

You need Configure permissions on the collection to manage templates. Ask your System Admin.

PDF not generating in automation

Check the automation history logs for errors. Ensure the template exists and all required fields are available.

Chart not appearing in the list

Only reports visible to Everyone can be embedded in document templates. Ask an admin to check the dashboard permissions for the report you're looking for.

Document templates help your organisation maintain professional, consistent documentation while saving time on repetitive document creation. Combine them with automations to fully streamline your document workflows.

If you need assistance, contact your System Admin or our Support Team.

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