Templates¶

Design the labels and documents your warehouse prints — barcode labels, LPN labels, location markers, and invoices — and control how they look.

What you can design¶

Each template also carries a category that groups it in the browser: Inventory, Orders, Receiving, Shipping, Products, Locations, or Custom.

Output formats¶

Common sizes¶

Where templates actually get used¶

Designing a template doesn't, on its own, make the platform use it. Only two things pick up a template automatically:

• Invoices — invoice PDF generation looks up an active invoice template by name and renders through it. See invoice rendering.
• Reports — system report designs go through the same engine.

Everything else is printed on demand: you open a template and print it, optionally across a range of identifiers.

Browsing templates¶

Open Administration → Templates.

From the browser you can search by name or description, filter by type, size, or status, see a thumbnail of each design, and edit, duplicate, delete, or print a test label.

Invoice rendering¶

Invoices are the main document workflow that picks up a template on its own.

How an invoice finds its template¶

Invoice generation looks for an active template whose name identifies it as an invoice template. If there isn't one, the platform tells you to create one rather than quietly producing an unstyled document.

Bill To addresses¶

Invoice templates can render a Bill To block, which matters for third-party billing where whoever pays isn't whoever receives the goods.

Address lines are compacted — empty parts are dropped rather than left as blank lines, so an address without a second street line doesn't print a gap. Lay the block out as four consecutive lines and let it collapse on its own.

Long invoices and multi-page output¶

Invoice templates are document templates, and documents get a table-flow pass that labels don't. The top-most table on the design drives it:

1. Rows size to their content. The row height you set is a minimum — a row grows to fit the wrapped text in its tallest cell.
2. Page one fills to the bottom page margin, not to the bottom of the table box you drew. Your box is the floor, never the ceiling.
3. Continuation pages start at the top margin, redraw the table header, and carry on with the rows.

You don't need a separate page layout for long invoices. Design one table and let it flow.

A cell whose text would wrap past a whole page is cut at the last line that fits and marked with an ellipsis, so one runaway description can't push the rest of the invoice off the page.

Totals and notes below the table¶

Elements placed below the table box — the subtotal, tax and total block, payment terms, notes — move with the table rather than being painted over it:

• If the table fits its box, they print exactly where you designed them.
• Once the table overruns its box, they keep the gap you designed below it, so they follow the table's real last row. That also pulls them up under a short tail on a continuation page.
• If the block would then cross the bottom margin, it moves to a fresh page.

Elements that overlap the table box vertically, such as background panels and side notes, render where you designed them and are never shifted.

Font sizing in tables¶

Table text is scaled down automatically when the configured font size is large, so a header size that suits a label doesn't blow out a document table. If table text prints smaller than the size you set, that's why — set a smaller size explicitly rather than fighting the scaling.

Attachments¶

Files attached to an invoice — BOLs, receipts, photos — are stored and listed against it. They're attachments to the invoice record, not content merged into the rendered PDF by your template.

The template editor¶

The canvas in the middle is your label or document. The panel on the left holds the elements you can add; the panel on the right shows the properties of whatever you've selected.

Moving around the canvas¶

Turn on the grid and snapping when you want elements to line up, and use the rulers (inches or millimeters) when a measurement has to be exact.

Elements you can add¶

To add one, click the element type, then click the canvas where you want it — or drag it into position.

Setting properties¶

Every element has a position (X and Y), a size, a rotation, a layer order, and an opacity.

Text elements also take a font, size, style, alignment, and color, plus a data binding if the text comes from a record.

Barcode elements take a type, a data source, a height, and whether to print the human-readable text underneath.

Building a label¶

1. Choose New Template, set the type to Label, pick the size, and give it a name and description.
2. Add a Text element near the top for your company name. Around 18pt, bold, centered works well.
3. Add a Barcode element in the middle. Choose Code 128, bind it to {{product.sku}} or {{lpn.number}}, set the height to about 1 inch, and turn on the human-readable text.
4. Add a Text element below the barcode bound to {{product.name}}, around 14pt.
5. Add whatever else the label needs — {{quantity}}, {{location.name}}, {{current_date}}.

6. Choose Save.

   The template appears in the browser and is ready to print.

Building a document¶

Lay a document out in four bands:

Pulling data onto a template¶

Wrap a field name in double curly braces and the platform substitutes the real value when the template is printed.

Products¶

{{product.sku}} · {{product.name}} · {{product.barcode}} · {{product.category}} · {{product.description}}

LPNs¶

{{lpn.number}} · {{lpn.type}} · {{lpn.contents}} · {{lpn.location}}

Orders¶

{{order.number}} · {{order.customer_name}} · {{order.created_at}} · {{order.total_items}} · {{order.notes}}

Locations¶

{{location.name}} · {{location.zone}} · {{location.aisle}} · {{location.type}}

System¶

{{current_date}} · {{current_time}} · {{warehouse.name}} · {{user.name}}

Formatting a field¶

Add a filter after a pipe to change how the value prints:

Managing templates¶

To edit one, open it from the browser, make your changes, and save. Each save keeps the previous version in the template's history, so you can look back or restore an earlier one.

To make a variation, choose Duplicate. You get a copy with " (Copy)" on the end to edit freely.

To remove one, choose Delete and confirm.

Printing¶

Checking it first¶

Open the template, choose Preview, and either enter sample data or pick a real record. You'll see exactly what will come out of the printer.

Printing a batch¶

1. Go to Products, LPNs, or Orders.
2. Tick the records you want labels for.
3. Choose Print Labels.

4. Pick the template.

   One label is generated per record and sent to the printer.

Designing labels that actually scan¶

Keep the design sparse. A label with fifteen elements on it is harder to read at arm's length than one with five.

Give the barcode room. At least 0.75 inches tall, with 0.25 inches of clear white space either side. Black on white — nothing else scans reliably.

Print horizontal barcodes. They read more reliably than vertical ones.

Don't go below 10pt on text anyone has to read standing up, and leave a 0.125 inch margin around the edge of the label.

Name templates so you can find them later. "4x6 LPN Label - Warehouse A" beats "Label 3".

Troubleshooting¶

Related guides¶

• Bulk upload - Import the data that fills template fields
• Managing receiving orders - Printing LPN labels during receiving
• Shipping and logistics - Printing shipping labels

Need more help? Email support@zoratech.io, or check the FAQ and troubleshooting guide.