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The classic designer: templates with fixed elements

An older editor where you place each element in a fixed position on the page. Its templates still print and save to records, and it has conditional sections, line items tables, a header and footer, and a Word file as a fixed background.

6 min
Before you start · for owners and managers
The document template permissions (classic)
  • You need: The document template permissions (classic)

How it differs from the document editor

Classic designer
Document editor
Layout
Each element in a fixed position
Text that flows from page to page
A Word file
Upload Word places it as a fixed background
Import Word or PDF turns it into an editable template
Saving to the record
A file or image field
A file field only
Triggers automations and shows in the change history
No
Yes
Moves the status on save
No
Yes
Its permissions
The classic template permissions
The document template permissions

A classic template is created from Settings → Document Templates: press Add Template, enter the Name, choose the Category and the Unit, then press Create & Open Generator.

A Word file as a fixed background

In the classic designer, press Upload Word and choose a .docx file. Its pages show as a background with the same fonts, tables, images and Arabic direction. Place the fields over their positions, then save the template: uploading the file doesn’t save it on its own.

The Word content becomes a fixed image of the pages, so you can’t edit its text inside the designer. Edit the file in Word, then upload it again. For a template whose text stays editable, use Import Word or PDF in the document editor instead.

Conditional sections and reflow

Group elements into a section, and choose a field that hides the section when it’s empty. When the section is hidden, the content below it moves up to fill the space.

Header and footer

Two areas with a height you set, repeated on every page. You can put the page number and the page count in them. A body element that enters the header or footer area is refused when you save.

Tables

The line items table prints the subtotal, tax and total if you choose them. In an Arabic document, the columns flip automatically so the product is on the right, and you can turn this off for each table. You can hide columns, and reverse the order of the rows.

Lists

For a text element: no marker, a dash, a dot, or automatic numbering that restarts when you add a line.

Direction and fonts

Choose the template’s direction. Fonts come from a set list, and a font that isn’t supported is refused when you save.

If something goes wrong

What you see
Why
What to do
“The header is too tall” or “No space for the body”
The 2 areas are too tall.
Reduce their height.
“Element outside the area”
An element goes past the edges of the header or footer, or a body element enters them.
Move it inside its edges.
“The field doesn’t exist” in a section
The section depends on a field that doesn’t exist in the unit.
Choose a field that exists.
Saving to the record didn’t trigger the automation
That’s how the classic designer works.
Use a template from the document editor.
“Only Word (.docx) files are supported.”
The file is in another format, such as .doc or PDF.
Save it from Word as .docx.
“We couldn’t read this Word file. Make sure it opens in Word and try again.”
The same message shows for every conversion problem: a password, macros, a file too large or damaged, or a conversion that ran out of time.
Remove the password and macros, make the images smaller, and save the file again from Word as a plain .docx.

A real example

Shield Security Co.
The situation

They have an old contract in the classic designer, built on an approved Word file.

What they did
  1. They kept it in the classic designer because its layout is legally fixed.
  2. They created the new quotes in the document editor, to use automations and status moves.
The result

Both templates work side by side.

A made-up company, to show the idea. The numbers are rounded.

Good to know

A Word file can be up to 25 MB, .docx only, and converting takes up to 90 seconds.
Up to 50 conditional sections in a template, 100 elements in a section, and a section can span up to 5 pages.
Up to 50 elements in the header or footer area.
At least 40 mm stays free for the body between the header and the footer.
Up to 32 columns in a table.
Fields from linked records go up to 2 levels deep.
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