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PandaDoc glossary

Get familiar with the PandaDoc terminology to better understand our training and Help Center materials.

Updated over a month ago

Get familiar with the PandaDoc terminology to better understand our training and Help Center materials.

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Foundational objects

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Documents

A PandaDoc Document is a single-use document that you create and send via PandaDoc out to to specific people. We use the word "document" in contrast to templates, content library items, and forms.

Templates

A PandaDoc template is a master copy of your key document (your typical Proposal, Agreement, Contract, etc.) that you pre-build so you can generate documents faster than creating every new document from scratch each time.

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Content library items

Content library items are modular chunks of saved content that you can insert throughout documents on an as-needed basis. You can also use our Smart Content feature to set up conditional logic to insert pre-built content library items into documents automatically.

Forms

Forms are designed to collect information and electronic signatures from your recipients. You can share a PandaDoc Form via a direct link or by embedding it on your website — no coding necessary.

Editor objects

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Blocks

These drag-and-drop elements are for building the content of your Template (or Document). For example, a text block will allow you to add the text for your Template, a Table of contents block will allow you to auto-create the table of content for your template (document), etc.

Fillable fields

These are drag-and-drop elements overlaid on the top of your document. They’re used to collect information from your recipient, like when they have to fill out a form. The most popular field is the Signature field which you will use as an eSignature tool.

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Variables

Variables are text placeholders, designed to help you auto-fill any dynamic information in your document. For example, a document is prepared for [Client.FirstName]. Variables can be created on both templates and documents.

Template roles

Template Roles are placeholders in a template that will be assigned to recipients when a document is created. Using template roles makes it easy to pre-assign fields and auto-fill variables to save time and clicks. Template roles will help you set your template up for signing order, workflow, and auto-fill tokens.

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Recipients

Recipients are people who are designated to receive a particular document.

Design theme

The design elements help you stylize your document, template, content library item, or form in a standardized way. You can save your design settings to create a theme that you can apply to any document, template, content library item, or form in just one click.

Types of blocks

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Text

You can use text blocks to include letters, symbols, and numbers.

Image

Image blocks allow for JPG, PNG, WebP files. You can save images to the image library when you upload them so you can easily reuse them later.

Video

Video blocks allow you to embed videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, and Vidyard in your document using web-hosted URLs.

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Table

Table blocks allow you to format text across an adjustable number of rows and columns.

Pricing Table

The PandaDoc pricing table serves as a quoting tool for your templates (documents).

Quote Builder

Quote builder block allows you to build more advanced quotes than the pricing table allows with more calculation and design functionality.

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Table of contents

Table of contents blocks allow you to insert a dynamic and clickable table of contents that is powered by your header settings.

Page break

Page break block allows you to create page separation where you want it- you can have a long scrolling page that feels more like a website or create standard page sizes that feel more like a classic document.

Smart content

Smart Content blocks allow you to pre-define content library items you want automatically inserted into a document based on conditional logic.

Types of fields

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Text field

Text fields collect letters, numbers, and symbols.

Signature

Signature fields collect drawn, typed, or uploaded esignatures.

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Initials

Initial fields collect drawn, typed, or uploaded initials.

Date

Date fields use a calendar dropdown to collect a date or can be set up to automatically fill in the signing date.

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Checkbox

Check box fields allow selection or acknowledgment of text or data.

Radio buttons

Radio buttons allow for a single selection of multiple options visually laid out on the page.

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Dropdown

Dropdown fields allow for a single selection of multiple options selected from a menu.

Card details

Card details fields allow for the collection of a credit card number for use in Stripe.

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Collect files

Collect files fields allow for a file to be uploaded as part of the document completion process.

Stamp

Stamp fields allow for the collection of a notary stamp.

Types of variables

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Template role variables

Template role variables are automatically generated when you create a role on your template. Open the variables tab on the righthand sidebar in the editor to copy the variables and paste them into a block.

CRM variables

CRM variables are created when you select within your CRM which fields you want variables generated for. Once generated, you'll copy and paste the variables from the CRM into a block in your document where you want the data to be merged.

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Custom variables

Custom variables are created when you start with a bracket [ type your desired text and close with another bracket ]. This will allow you to use variables to update text throughout your document quickly and will also serve as a reminder before sending if any variable is left unfilled.

System variables

These variables have been predefined by PandaDoc. They will automatically populate information about your document, specific to that individual document and its content (such as document created date, document sent date, reference number, document value, etc.).

Other key objects in the app

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Catalog

The Catalog allows you to create or import your products to be easily added to a pricing table or quote builder block. Configure pricing, description, image, and more.

Contacts

Contacts are stored whenever a recipient's information is added to a document either manually or though a CRM integration. Once a contact is created, it's even easier to add them to a document in the future.

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User roles

The account permissions that you can set up for each user (from your team). In PandaDoc, there are three permission levels: Team Member, Manager, and Admin.

Workspaces

A Workspace is an isolated working environment and only its members have access to documents and other information within it. It’s a great way to separate different teams, divisions, or parts of your organization.

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Reporting

The reporting module allows you to measure the performance of your document funnel, individual users, template usage, and more.

Bundling

Bundling allows you to group multiple documents, send, and track them all at once in one tidy package.

Next Steps: Learn PandaDoc fundamentals to understand how to use PandaDoc.

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