Export, import and copy

A template you have built once can be reused: duplicated in the same table, copied to another table or Base of your company, or exported as a file and imported anywhere, including into another company’s AutomaDoc.

All three are on the Template tab, in the Export and copy card. Duplicating and copying need edit rights on the Base, like any change to a template.

Duplicate

Duplicate makes a copy in the same table, named “(copy)”. It keeps the file, the output format and filename pattern, the timezone, the image quality, Records per document with its label settings, the attachment and status fields, and the fields set under Signing by automation. A template made in the template designer keeps its design, so the copy opens in the designer too. The webhook callback is not copied, and the copy gets its own API key.

Copy to another table or Base

Copy to… lets you pick a table of this Base, or of another Base of your company where AutomaDoc has been opened. You need edit rights on the Base you copy to.

The copy keeps the file, the output settings, Records per document and its design from the template designer. Field settings (the attachment field, the status field, the fields under Signing by automation) stay with the original, because a field belongs to one table. Set them again on the copy. In the designer, open the copy with Design in browser from its own table: fields the new table does not have are shown as unknown.

Export

Export downloads an .automadoc file: the template file and its settings (name, output format, filename pattern, timezone, image quality, Records per document). It deliberately leaves out everything that belongs to your company: the webhook address and token, API keys, and links to fields. It does not carry a design from the template designer either: an imported template is an ordinary Word template.

On an approval template, Export is next to Download on its page in the Company Portal; the file also carries the statuses it generates on.

Import

• Into a Base table: in the extension, open the template list and choose Import template. The template is created in the table you are in and opens on the Template tab, where Template Fields shows which of its placeholders this table has no field for.
• As an approval template: in the Company Portal, open Approvals and choose Import. Pick the file and paste the approval’s link, as when connecting one. The template starts as a draft: test it before going live.
• From a layout made in another Lark document app: export the layout there (as a .txt file) and choose it under Import template, as for an .automadoc file. It is converted to a Word template in your browser, with fields as placeholders and repeating table rows as loops, then created and checked like any upload. A note on the Template tab lists what was converted and what to finish in Word, such as computed totals.

An import counts as a new template, so it needs a free template slot. If a template of the same name is already in the table, a number is added.

Templates made for other Lark document apps

When you upload or import a Word template written for another Lark document app, AutomaDoc tells you which of its syntax it recognised (sections such as {$index+1}, sortBy, {%Picture}) and anything that will not print as intended.

Good to know

• The file is checked when it is imported, exactly as an uploaded template is: placeholder errors show on the Template tab.
• An exported file is not tied to your company; anyone you send it to can import it. It contains your template file, so share it as you would the Word file itself.