PDF templates

A PDF template is a PDF you fill often, such as a custodian's account application, with boxes marked where each client detail goes. Upload it once, and you can fill it for any client from their profile in a click, rather than typing the same details into every copy.

Upload a template#

Owners, admins and roles with Build and change forms can add and change templates. Everyone else can see them.

1. In the sidebar, open PDF templates.
2. Click Add a template.
3. Choose the PDF, up to 20 MB, from your computer or straight from Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. The Name is filled in from the file's name. Change it if you like, for example to "Schwab account application".
4. Select Upload template.

To find a template by name, type in the search box on PDF templates.

Each template's PDF counts toward your plan's storage, like any other document you keep. See Usage and allowances.

Every template is scanned for malware. A new one opens in the builder once the check passes, usually within a minute. One that fails is marked Malware found and cannot be filled. A PDF that needs a password to open, or is damaged, is refused. Open it, save or print it as a new PDF, and upload that instead.

Mark where each detail goes#

Open the template from the list. Its pages are shown with your boxes drawn on them.

1. Select Add a box, then click the page where the detail goes.
2. Drag the box to move it, and drag its corner to size it.
3. With the box selected, choose What goes here:
   • A name or contact detail, from the client's record: the Full name, First and middle names, Last name, Email address or Phone number. Choose the Detail, and under Whose, choose The client's or Their spouse or partner's. The record keeps one name, so the last word of it is the last name.
   • A profile fact, any of your firm's client details, such as a date of birth, employer or home address. Choose the Fact, and under Whose, choose The client's or Their spouse or partner's.
   • Part of an account. Enter Which account, as a number from 1 to 20, and choose the Part, such as Where it is held or Last four digits.
   • Text you type, for anything that is the same on every copy.
4. Adjust the Text size if the value needs to fit a small space.
5. Select Save. Until you do, Unsaved changes shows beside the button, and leaving the page asks first so a layout isn't lost.

To take a box away, select it and choose Remove this box. To remove the whole template, select Delete template.

Mark where the client signs#

Some workspaces can also mark signature lines. Choose Signature or Date signed in What goes here, and under Who signs, choose The client or Their spouse or partner.

These boxes are left empty when the PDF is filled. Once the copy is signed, the typed name is written into the signature box in a handwriting style, with a small line under it naming the signing record, and the date box gets the date they signed. Size a signature box to the signature line.

Fill a template for a client#

1. In the sidebar, open Clients and open the client.
2. On the Profile tab, find Fill a PDF.
3. Choose the template and select Fill PDF.

If the profile is missing a detail the template needs, you are told before you fill it, under Left blank, because the profile does not have it. Add the missing detail to the profile first, or fill it anyway and complete that box by hand.

The filled copy is saved to your Firm documents, under Filled for clients in a folder for that client group, and opens there, ready to send to your client for signing. It carries that client group's details, so it can be delivered only to people in that client group, and it can't be added to any other form. See Sharing firm documents and Collecting signatures.

Where the details come from#

A template fills from the client's profile, which grows as you work. When a question on a form is set to Keep on client, the answer is added once you accept it from their reply. A repeating section can save each entry as one of the client's accounts. See Building a form.

That means the best time to set up a template is after you have built the onboarding form that collects what it needs. Check each fact the template uses is asked for somewhere.

None of the details Cartenda starts you with is a Social Security or account number, because profile details are shown back to your client, prefilled, on their next request. Bear that in mind before adding one of your own; see Client details.

A box can still hold a Social Security number: choose A name or contact detail, then Social Security number, and whose it is. It is read when you fill the template, from the most recent reply in which the client or their partner gave it. Filling a template that has one works like revealing a number on a submission. You need permission to see full numbers, you are asked to confirm your password if you have not in the last 15 minutes, and each fill is recorded in the audit log with whose numbers went onto it.

The filled copy is kept in your firm documents so your client can sign it, and it is protected like the number on it. Opening it, sending it to a client, or adding somebody to a request it goes out on, needs the same permission and a password confirmed in the last 15 minutes, and each is recorded in the audit log. The signed copy that comes back is opened the same way. It is always sent with a code, never as Anyone with the link. To have your client sign it, use Deliver on the document: it can go only to the client group it was filled for, and your client enters a code we send them before the PDF opens. It cannot be added to any other form. It is deleted when you erase the client, and once your retention window has passed. An account number has no box, so leave that space to be completed on the filled copy.

Before you rely on a filled template, check a filled copy against the custodian's own requirements. Some custodians have their own rules for how their paperwork is completed and signed. This is general guidance, not legal advice; your compliance officer can confirm what applies.