In Fuga, a template is a fixed text for a letter, email, text message or document. Fuga fills in the details of the practice, client, animal or consultation automatically. This lets you quickly create a report, certificate or letter, and send reminders in batch while every client is still addressed personally.
Fuga includes standard templates, such as the vaccination reminder, the appointment confirmation and the referral report. You cannot modify them, but you can make your own version. How to do that is explained in How can I personalise a standard letter, email or document?. To put a logo, signature or image in a template, see How do I add an image, logo or signature to a template?.
Only a user with the Administrator role can add, edit, clone, deactivate or delete templates. Other users can view and use templates.
Finding a template
- Go to Configuration.
- Choose 'Template' in the drop-down list of the search bar.
- Type the name or part of the name of the template and click Search. With an asterisk (*) you see all templates, including the standard ones.
Next to each template you find the actions:
- Show (eye): open the template record.
- Edit (pencil): change the template. This is only possible for your own templates. A standard template has no pencil.
- Clone: make a copy that you can then freely adjust.
- Deactivate (cross): the template disappears from the selection lists but is kept. You can activate it again later. This is the best choice if you might still need the template.
- Delete (bin): the template is removed permanently. Only use this for your own templates that you are sure you no longer need.
Adding a new template
Go to Configuration => Add template. You can also click the plus in the template overview. Then fill in the fields:
- Name: a recognisable name. It must be unique within your practice.
- Language: the language of the template. This way, for example, only Dutch-speaking clients receive a Dutch template.
- Template type: Letter, email, sms, Drawing or Text field. For a reminder by post or email the Letter type is enough: Fuga also uses it for the email, so you do not need a separate email version. A template of type email can only be used for emails. A Drawing template is a clinical drawing, such as a dental chart, on which you make notes. You use it in the consultation or the animal record via the Files tab => 'create file from template'. A text field template works differently, see below. The type cannot be changed after the first save.
- Target/context: determines where you can use the template and which variables are available. See "Target/context and variables" below.
- Layout: Basic (plain text) or Rich text (for tables, links and images). If you later want to switch an existing template to Rich text, read this article first: line breaks and the fields at the top of the letter are lost.
- Based on: copies the text of an existing template as a starting point. The Target/context is not copied, you set it yourself. For a complete copy, use Clone.
- Filename: the name of the file Fuga creates when you use the template. You can use the same variables as in the content. For example "Report_$clientFirstName$_$clientLastName$" gives the filename "Report_Miguel_Hapers".
- Suppress header and footer (internal documents): tick this for internal documents that do not need the practice letterhead.
- Content: the text of the template, with the variables you need.
- Click Save.
Target/context and variables
The Target/context determines in which record you can use the template and which data Fuga can fill in. Some examples:
- Practice: a general flyer about the practice.
- Client: a letter to the client, for example with outstanding amounts.
- Animal: a vaccination reminder or a report with the vaccination status and recent history.
- Consultation: a consultation report or a referral report.
- Sale: a document with the dosage of the products sold.
- Communication: a report of a conversation.
- Appointment: an appointment confirmation or reminder.
With Animal and Consultation you can also use the client and practice details. For a letter to the client about an animal, ticking only Animal is enough.
Only tick the targets you really need. With several targets, Fuga checks every variable against every ticked target. If a variable does not exist in one of them, you cannot save and an orange message appears, for example "$clientStreetAndNumber$ (Unknown Person)".
Variables are written between two dollar signs, for example $patientName$. Fuga replaces them with the right data when you use the template. Under 'Info' in the template you see all variables for the chosen target. You can copy them and paste them into the content. These are the most used ones:
| Variable | Result |
|---|---|
| $practiceName$, $practicePhone$, $practiceEmail$ | Practice name, phone number and email address |
| $practiceStreetAndNumber$, $practiceZip$, $practiceCity$ | Practice address |
| $clientFirstName$, $clientLastName$, $clientName$ | Client first name, last name and full name |
| $clientAddress$, $clientEmail$, $clientPhone$, $clientNumber$ | Address, email, phone number and client number |
| $patientName$, $patientSpecies$, $patientBreed$ | Animal name, species and breed |
| $patientDateOfBirth$, $patientAge$, $lastWeight$ | Date of birth, age and last weight |
| $patientTransponder$, $patientPassport$ | Chip number and passport number |
| $anamnesis$, $clinicalExamination$, $diagnosis$, $therapy$, $followup$, $prognosis$ | Consultation text fields |
| $referringVetFirstName$, $referringVetLastName$ | Referring veterinarian |
| $date$, $beginTime$, $personFromPractice$ | Date, start time and veterinarian of the appointment |
| $personLoggedInTitle$, $personLoggedInFirstName$, $personLoggedInLastName$ | Title and name of the person creating the document |
| $dateToday$, $dateTodayPlus7$, $dateTodayPlus30$ | Today's date, in 7 days, in 30 days |
Besides $dateTodayPlus7$ and $dateTodayPlus30$, there are fixed variants for 1 to 10, 14, 21, 42, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 330 and 360 days. Any other number of days does not work.
Where do you use a template?
- In a record: open the client record, the animal record or the consultation, go to the Files tab and click the 'create file from template' icon. You only see the templates whose Target/context matches that record. A consultation template, for example, does not appear in the client record.
- From the Docu center, without opening a record first.
- For several clients at once: look up the clients or animals via Consultation => Advanced search and click the letter icon or the email icon (@) at the top of the results.
- Automatically: vaccination reminders, appointment confirmations and reminders, and payment reminders use the template set in the protocol or in Practice preferences. How to select your own template there is explained in How can I personalise a standard letter, email or document?.
Deactivated templates do not appear in any selection list.
Creating a text field template
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 (+) next to the field.
You create one via Configuration => Add template:
- Give the template a name and fill in the filename.
- Set 'Template type' to 'Text field'.
- Under 'Text field type', choose the field the text is meant for, for example Clinical examination.
- Under 'Target/context', untick 'Practice' (ticked by default) and tick only the Consultation context. 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 Sale context. If you tick any other context, saving fails with the message "Invalid destination/context for this text field".
Text field templates are not filled in automatically when you open a consultation. You choose them yourself with the plus.
Creating a template in HTML
If you already have the text as HTML, you can load it as a template like this:
- Add a new template with the 'Basic' layout and give it a recognisable name.
- Paste the HTML into the 'Content' field.
- Save the template.
- Click the pencil again to edit the template and set the layout to 'Rich text'.
This method is not guaranteed to keep working for more advanced HTML.