If you’re new to Smart Fields, then you may want to first check out this article, where we explain how Smart Fields offer a powerful way to automate your templates and content, and can also be used to collect key information that you’d like to report on later.

Before you can create Smart Fields in documents and in presentations, you'll first need to belong to either the QorusDocs Admin or Designer role. 

It's also important to note as you begin, that Smart Fields are available in Word and in PowerPoint, and work with Delimiters and Pursuits.

Delimiters are characters or a combination of characters, that indicate the start and the end of placeholder text, while Pursuits allow you to manage the creation of complex documents like proposals and bid responses, as projects.

In this article, we’ll cover how to: 

1. Create a Smart Field in QorusDocs Hub
2. Create a Smart Field in the QorusDocs Add-ins for Word and PowerPoint
3. Create a Smart Field by simply typing text in a document
4. Fill in the Smart Field creation form

1. Create a Smart Field in QorusDocs Hub

Log in to QorusDocs Hub , then on the left navigation click on “Manage”, followed by “Smart Fields”, and then on “Add”:

This will bring up a Smart Field creation form, which you can learn about here.

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2. Create a Smart Field in the QorusDocs Add-ins for Word and PowerPoint

In Word or in PowerPoint, click on the QorusDocs Add-in icon on the Home ribbon in Microsoft Office to launch the QorusDocs Add-in.

Then click on the more menu icon (the one with the three dots) and then on ‘Design': 

And then click on the 'add' icon (the plus sign):

The Smart Field creation form will appear on your screen, and you can learn how to fill that in next section.

You should see the Smart Field you’ve just created in your list of Smart Fields. If not though, you can always click on ‘Refresh’ to retrieve the latest list of Smart Fields.

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3. Create a Smart Field by simply typing text in a document

Smart Fields in QorusDocs work with characters known as delimiters, which indicate the start and end of a Smart Field in a document.

For example, in the screenshot below, after inserting the Smart Field called ‘Proposal Title’, there are additional characters that were inserted before and after the words ‘Proposal Title’. Here, the delimiters used are the characters '<' and '>'.

You can define your own delimiters in QorusDocs Hub by following the instructions here.

When users insert content, use the ‘Cart’, or click on ‘Create’ to create new documents and presentations, QorusDocs scans the content for delimiters.

Wherever QorusDocs finds text between a starting and ending delimiter, it treats that text as a Smart Field.

This means that you can simply add delimiters before and after placeholder text in your existing

content and templates. You can use your keyboard to type text between delimiters so QorusDocs recognizes your text as Smart Fields within the body of a document or presentation.

For example, if we were to type ‘<Hello World>’ in the template in the screenshot above, QorusDocs will add ‘Hello World’ to the list of document-level Smart Fields.

If we were to type ‘<Proposal Sub title>’ in the same template, QorusDocs will recognize ‘Proposal Sub title’ as a Smart Field. Because this Smart Field already exists in the list of hub-level Smart Fields, QorusDocs will not add it again but will instead match it to the existing Smart Field.

You can save document-level smart fields to your QorusDocs hub for future re-use. Here's how:

1. Click on the ‘Refresh’ icon to have QorusDocs scan through your document and pick up any document-level Smart Fields

2. Click on the gear icon next to Smart Fields that have the question mark in a circle next to them (these are document-level Smart Fields)

3 .Follow these instructions to complete the Smart Field creation form and save the Smart Field to your hub.

When browsing on the QorusDocs Hub and doing a quick search you will see that the new smart field has been added in the smart field section.

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4. Fill in the Smart Field creation form

Field Name, Description, Field reference, and Required

Next, you’ll see the following window pop up on your screen where you can give the Smart Field you’re creating a name and a description, and also specify whether this Smart Field must always contain information (required), and a field reference from your connected CRM if applicable:

1. The field name you define here will show up in the Smart Fields form that will pop up whenever someone inserts that content into an email, presentation or document, and also whenever someone uses this content to create a brand-new document. The maximum number of characters allowed for Smart Field names is 30 characters.
2. The description will be visible in the Smart Fields form, and will appear as grey helper text, next to field names. The maximum number of characters allowed for Smart Field descriptions is 50 characters.
3. The field reference is used to map CRM fields for those who have integrated Salesforce.com or Dynamics 365 with QorusDocs.
4. Required is used to specify whether entering information in this field is mandatory or not.

Smart Field Type

Next, in the same pop-up window, click on the drop-down menu to select the type of Smart Field you’d like to create:

The “Type” you select determines the kind of information that the Smart Field can receive. You can learn more about the Smart Field types available here.

Remember Values

Then, if you'd like QorusDocs to remember the values used to populate this field, you can turn on 'Remember Values':

When turned on, as users start typing information for this field in the Smart Fields form, QorusDocs will provide autofill suggestions based on information previously entered into this field.  

When turned on, as users start typing information for this field in the Smart Fields form, QorusDocs will provide autofill suggestions based on information previously entered into this field.  If the autofill suggestion is useful, then it can save the user time. If not, the user always has the choice to override the auto-filled suggestion and type in something else.

Here’s how this works:

• For the option ‘Personal – Based on the current user’s history’

This option will ensure that the Smart Field remembers the last 10 values the user personally used. In other words, if Tom fills out the Smart Fields form, then Tom sees autofill suggestions based on information Tom has used in the past.

• For the option ‘Shared – Based on values entered by any user’

This option will ensure that the Smart Field will remember the last 10 values entered by any user in the hub. In other words, when Tom fills out the Smart Fields form, Tom sees autofill suggestions based on information everyone using QorusDocs has entered into this field in the past.  

There are two exceptions though that will override the ‘Remember Values’ settings you specify here:

• When using content in a Pursuit where the Pursuit already has the Smart Field information

If this Smart Field is associated with a Pursuit Type, and a user uses this document with a Pursuit of that type, and the Smart Field contains information, then the information in the Pursuit wins. In other words, if Tom is working on a proactive proposal Pursuit, where he has already captured the client’s company name, when he uses a template while in that Pursuit, the template will automatically be populated with the company name of the client from the Pursuit, and not with any previously remembered values.

• When inserting multiple pieces of content that contain the same Smart Field in the same document and the same work session

If a user inserts content that contains a Smart Field into a document, spreadsheet, or presentation they are working on, and within the same work session, they insert another piece of content that contains the same Smart Field – the last value they used for that Smart Field will persist the second time around. In other words, if Tom is working on a sales pitch outside of a Pursuit and specifies the company name as ‘ABC Trading’ when he inserts content, the next piece of content he inserts into that presentation (on the same day, without being signed out) will have the company name Smart Field auto-filled with ‘ABC Trading’, regardless of the ‘Remember Values’ settings.

When you're ready, click on 'save' to save your newly created Smart Field.

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