Select Records During Document Assembly

Instead of displaying questions during the interview for which you must enter individual answers, HotDocs presents a list of records from which you can choose. The information in the record or records you select will be merged into the assembled document.

In some situations, the template developer may allow you to select multiple records from the table, for example, to create a list of answers.

To select records from a database table

1. Assemble a document. (See Assemble a Text or Form Document.)
2. When a database table appears, click a single row in the table, or press and hold either Shift or Ctrl to click multiple rows.
3. If selecting a single row, complete the following steps:
   • Click Select. HotDocs places the record in the Selected Item pane of the assembly window. (You can also double-click a record and have it automatically placed in the Selected Item pane.)
   • Click Next. HotDocs merges the answers from the database record into the assembled document.
4. If selecting multiple rows, complete the following steps:
   • Click Select. HotDocs adds the records you just selected to the Selected Items pane of the assembly window. (Additionally, to select multiple records, double-click the cell that uses a thicker border in the last record you selected.)
   • Optionally, select a record and click the Up button (moves the record up to the next row in the list of records) or the Down button (moves the record down to the next row in the list of records). You can also click the column headings of the Selected Items list to automatically sort selected rows by any field. (These options are available if the template developer has given you permission to sort your records. If these buttons do not appear, you cannot change the order of selected rows.)
   • Click Next. HotDocs merges the answers from the database into the assembled document.

If the template developer has assigned a filter to the table, you may see different results. For example, if only one record meets the filter criteria, that record will automatically be merged into the document without appearing in the interview. Similarly, if no records meet the filter criteria, HotDocs will ask the questions and allow you to enter your own answers. Finally, in some situations, the template developer may have opted to have any selections returned by the filter automatically merged into the assembled document without first prompting you.

To remove a selected record, you can either select a different record, or you can click Clear.

To remove a single selected record from the Selected Items list, select the record and click Clear. To remove all selected records from the list, click Clear All.