Format Answers in the Document

As you mark up the HotDocs Model, you may want an answer to appear in a special format. For example, you may want to spell out a number (twenty-five vs. 25) or you may want to use the long form of a date (such as 14th day of March, 2007). To do this, you can assign a format property to a variable. When the document is assembled, the answer will be formatted according to the markup.

To format an answer, you first define the format property, followed by an equal sign and the specific format you want to use.

For example, the following marked up date:

[AgreementDate;da;format="dth day of Mn, YYYY"]

would merge the following answer in the document:

6th day of November, 2008

The type of format you assign depends on the type of markup field you're inserting. See the tables below to view the available formats:

Text Formats

Property Name	Description	Defined As	How It Formats the Answer
upper	All letters upper case	format=upper	THIS IS THE ANSWER.
lower	All letters lower case	format=lower	this is the answer.
title	First letter of each word uppercase	format=title	This Is The Answer.
sentence	First letter of first word upper case	format=sentence	This is the answer.

The sentence format capitalizes the first letter of the first word in the answer, regardless of the answer's placement in the paragraph or document.

Number Formats

Property Name	Description	Defined As	How It Formats the Answer
alpha	Case-sensitive, spelled out number	format=alpha format=Alpha format=Alpha	nine Nine NINE
ordinal	Case-sensitive, spelled out ordinal number	format=ordinal format=Ordinal format=ORDINAL	ninth Ninth NINTH
09	Number including a leading 0 if the user enters one in the answer	format=09	04 78
9	Simple numeral	format=9	98 7,952
9 1/8	Fraction	format="9 1/8"	2 1/4
9,999.00	Monetary amount with cents (even if no cents are entered)	format=9,999.00	9,216.00 9,216.92
9.9	Whole numeral with optional decimal places	format=9.9	87.1254
9999	Numeral with no thousands separator	format=9999	12875
9th	Ordinal number	format=9th	23rd
Nine Dollars and Twelve cents	Spelled out monetary amount	format=Nine Dollars and Twelve cents	Five Dollars and Thirty-Six Cents
ninth	Spelled out ordinal number	format=ninth format=Ninth format=NINTH	thirteenth Thirteenth THIRTEENTH

Date Formats

HotDocs 2008 and Earlier Users

Property Name	Description	Defined as	How It Formats the Answer
d	Numeric day	format=d	1
m	Numeric month	format=m	1
y	Numeric year (4 digits)	format=y	2008
dd	Two-digit numeric day	format=dd	01
mm	Two-digit numeric month	format=mm	01
yy	Two-digit numeric year	format=yy	08
yyyy	Four-digit numeric year	format=yyyy	2008
dth	Case-sensitive, numeric ordinal day	format=dth format=dTH	1st 1ST
dy	Case-sensitive, spelled out day	format=dy format=Dy format=DY	first First FIRST
mn	Case-sensitive, spelled out month	format=mn format=Mn format=MN	january January JANUARY
yr	Case-sensitive, spelled out year	format=yr format=Yr format=YR	two thousand eight Two Thousand Eight TWO THOUSAND EIGHT
wd	Case-sensitive, spelled out weekday	format=wd format=Wd format=WD	monday Monday MONDAY
mnt	Case-sensitive month abbreviation	format=mnt format=Mnt format=MNT	jan Jan JAN
wdy	Case-sensitive weekday abbreviation	format=wdy format=Wdy format=WDY	mon Mon MON

HotDocs 2009 and Later Users

Property Name	Description	Defined as	How It Formats the Answer
d	Numeric day	format=d	1
dd	Two-digit numeric day	format=dd	01
ddd	Case-sensitive weekday abbreviation	format=ddd format=Ddd format=DDD	mon Mon MON
dddd	Case-sensitive spelled-out weekday	format=dddd format=Dddd format=DDDD	monday Monday MONDAY
dth	Case-sensitive numeric ordinal day	format=dth format=dTH	1st 1ST
dy	Case-sensitive spelled-out day	format=dy format=Dy format=DY	first First FIRST
m	Numeric month	format=m	1
mm	Two-digit numeric month	format=mm	01
mmm	Case-sensitive month abbreviation	format=mmm format=Mmm format=MMM	jan Jan JAN
mmmm	Case-sensitive spelled-out month	format=mmmm format=Mmmm format=MMMM	january January JANUARY
y	Numeric year	format=y	2009
yy	Two-digit numeric year	format=yy	09
yyyy	Four-digit numeric year	format=yyyy	2009
yr	Case-sensitive spelled-out year	format=yr format=Yr format=YR	two thousand nine Two Thousand Nine TWO THOUSAND NINE

True/False Formats

Property Name	Description	Defined as	How It Formats the Answer
true/false	If the answer is true, merges text to the left of the forward slash; if false, merges the text to the right of the slash	format="true/false"	True text False text
yes/no	If the answer is true, merges text to the left of the forward slash; if false, merges the text to the right of the slash	format="yes/no"	True text False text
truetext/falsetext	If the answer is true, merges text to the left of the forward slash; if false, merges the text to the right of the slash	format="truetext/falsetext"	True text False text

List Formats

Property Name	Description	Defined as	How It Formats the Answer
a, and b	Comma after the first in the series, even if there are only two items in the series	format=a, and b	apples, and oranges
a, b	Leaves out the conjunction	format=a, b	apples, oranges, cherries
a, b and c	Leaves out the comma before the final item in the series; items in list are not capitalized	format=a, b and c	apples, oranges and cherries
A, b and c	Leaves out the comma before the final item in the series; first item in list is capitalized	format=A, b and c	Apples, oranges and cherries
A, B and C	Leaves out the comma before the final item in the series; items are capitalized	format=A, B and C	Apples, Oranges and Cherries
A, B AND C	Leaves out the comma before the final item in the series; items are capitalized; conjunction is upper case	format=A, B AND C	Apples, Oranges AND Cherries
a, b or c	Uses the conjunction or to separate items in the list	format=a, b or c	apples, oranges or cherries
a, b, and c	Includes the last comma in the series	format=a, b, and c	apples, oranges, and cherries
a; b; and c	Uses semi-colons to separate items in the list	format=a; b; and c	apples; oranges; and cherries

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