How to create a template
A template in Fuga lets you standardise written communication. You create a template once with variables (like client name or patient name) and Fuga fills them in automatically each time.
Getting started
- Go to Settings.
- Click Add template under actions.
- Enter a name. This must be unique within your practice.
- Choose a language (Dutch, French, English, or leave empty for all languages). The language determines which clients receive the template.
- Choose the type:
- Letter — for printed or digital documents (reports, contracts, payment reminders)
- Email — for email message body text
- SMS — for SMS messages
- Drawing — for clinical drawings (dental, dermatology, ophthalmology, neurology)
- Text field — a standard-text snippet for a consultation text field (see below)
- Set the destination/context. This determines which variables are available. You can select multiple destinations at once:
- Practice — general practice info
- Client — client details and financial info
- Animal — patient details and medical history
- Consultation — diagnosis, therapy and follow-up
- Sales — products and dosages
- Communication — conversation reports
- Appointment — date, time and veterinarian
- Choose the layout (letters only):
- Simple — plain text with three fields: top-left, top-right and content
- Rich text — HTML editor with formatting, tables and images
- Optionally select an existing template under Based on to use its content as a starting point. Note: the destination is not copied — you need to set it manually.
- Fill in the file name template. Use variables for dynamic names, for example:
Report_$clientFirstName$_$clientLastName$ - Tick Suppress header and footer (internal documents) if the template will be printed on pre-printed paper. If you want to hide the header but keep the footer, go to Settings > Practice details > Documents and set 'Extra footer space (mm)' to a value other than 0 in the 'Pre-printed' mode.
- Write the content of your template and insert variables where needed (see below).
- Click Save.
Using variables
Write variables between dollar signs: $variableName$. Fuga replaces them automatically with the correct value when generating a document. Each context has its own set of available variables — you can find descriptions under the Info button when editing a template.
Important: if you combine multiple destinations, only use variables that exist in all selected contexts.
Practice variables
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
$practiceName$ | Practice name |
$practicePhone$ | Phone number |
$practiceEmail$ | Email address |
$practiceStreetAndNumber$ | Street and number |
$practiceZip$ | Postal code |
$practiceCity$ | City |
Client and animal variables
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
$clientName$ | Full client name |
$clientNumber$ | Client number |
$clientEmail$ | Client email address |
$clientPhone$ | Client phone number |
$clientAddress$ | Full address |
$clientVat$ | VAT number |
$patientName$ | Animal name |
$patientSpecies$ | Species |
$patientBreed$ | Breed |
$patientAge$ | Age |
$lastWeight$ | Last recorded weight |
$lastTemperature$ | Last recorded temperature |
Consultation variables
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
$consultationType$ | Consultation type |
$diagnosis$ | Diagnosis |
$therapy$ | Therapy |
$followup$ | Follow-up |
$referredVetName$ | Referred veterinarian name |
Date variables
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
$dateToday$ | Today's date |
$dateTodayPlus7$ | Date in 7 days |
$dateTodayPlus14$ | Date in 14 days |
$dateTodayPlus30$ | Date in 30 days |
$dateTodayPlus360$ | Date in 360 days |
You can use any value from 1 to 360, for example $dateTodayPlus90$ for a check-up in 3 months.
Appointment variables
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
$date$ | Appointment date |
$beginTime$ | Start time |
$endTime$ | End time |
$personFromPractice$ | Veterinarian name |
Image placeholders
In addition to text variables, you can insert image placeholders that are automatically replaced with the actual image when the template is used:
| Placeholder | Result |
|---|---|
| Practice logo | Your practice logo |
| Logged-in vet signature | Signature of the logged-in veterinarian |
| Animal photo | Patient profile photo |
| Client barcode | Barcode for the client |
| Animal barcode | Barcode for the patient |
| Animal weight curve | Weight history graph |
| Dental/Dermato/Ophtalmo drawing | Clinical specialty drawing |
Drawing templates
When you choose the type Drawing, you select a specialisation:
- Dental — dental chart (separate templates for dog, cat, horse, rabbit)
- Dermatology — skin diagram
- Ophthalmology — eye diagram
- Neurology — neurological diagram
Fuga loads a background image on which you can annotate during a consultation with lines, text and shapes. The drawing is saved as a vector image (SVG).
Tips
- Standard templates from Fuga are read-only. To customise one, create a new template and select the standard template under Based on.
- A template can have multiple destinations at once, for example Consultation and Sales.
- Unused templates can be deactivated so they no longer appear as an option.
- You can use images (.jpeg, .png and .gif files) in your template content. When designing, you can use all images available at practice level (Practice files). When applying a template, you can use images available in the context — for example X-ray images from a consultation.
Text field templates
Besides documents, you can prepare standard texts for the text fields of a consultation — for example Anamnesis, Clinical examination, Diagnosis, Therapy, Follow-up or Description. You insert such a text-field template during the consultation with the plus (+) button next to the relevant field.
- Go to Settings > Add template.
- Give the template a name and fill in the file name.
- Set the type to Text field.
- Under Text field type, choose the field the text is meant for, for example Clinical examination.
- Under destination/context, untick Practice (ticked by default) and tick only Consultation. Leave all other boxes empty.
- Type the standard text in the Content field and click Save.
The fields Anamnesis, Clinical examination, Additional examination, Diagnosis, Therapy, Follow-up and Prognosis all belong to the Consultation context. The Description field can be placed in either the Consultation or the Sales context. If you tick any other context, saving fails with the message "Invalid destination/context for this text field".
Creating an HTML template
There is a workaround to upload an HTML file directly as a template:
- Add a new template with Simple layout and give it a name.
- Paste the HTML into the Content field.
- Save the template.
- Edit the template again and change the layout to Rich text.
Note: this method is not guaranteed to keep working for advanced HTML.