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A variable is a merge field designed to save you time by auto-filling any information that frequently occurs in your documents. It's a piece of text surrounded by square brackets, like this:
The variable will not have the yellow background when a recipient is viewing the document, it only appears this way in the editor so you can easily distinguish between text and a variable.
Important Information about variables:
You can add variables in both templates and documents.
Variables will work in three pricing table fields: Name, Description, and Plain text column.
Variables will only work in the template or document body and titles. They will not work in saved messages, or email subject/body.
How to add variables to your template/document
Select a text block where you'd like to place your variable
Type a square opening bracket and either choose the name of a variable from the dropdown or type your own and press Enter
Alternatively, on the right, go to the Variables section and select +Add custom variable to create a new variable. Enter the desired name and select Add variable.To use it, select Copy variable at the bottom of the page pop-up, then paste it into your text block using Command+V. The variable will also appear in the Variables list.
To fill out a variable with actual info, click on a variable in a template/document or open the variables list under Variables on the right, and enter a value. The information is populated throughout the template/document through the variable used.
To delete a variable, first, delete it on the document body.
Next, click on Variables on the right panel, click on the Not used dropdown and find the variable in the list. Hover over it and click the bin icon to delete the variable from your variable list.
How to use variables in titles
Warning: You won't be able to use variables in titles when working with forms, document bundles, or bulk send.
In document bundles, this applies to documents within the bundle, not the bundle name itself.
In Smart Forms, variables in titles are supported.
Note: We suggest adding variables to template titles so that they are auto-filled each time you create a document from the template.
Adding variables in a template title is easy:
Open a template you want to edit
Start typing square brackets (“[“)
Choose one of the variables from the dropdown and it will be inserted into the title.
Alternatively, you can copy a variable from the variables tab and paste it into the template title, or create a new custom variable directly within the title.
Note: Please note that adding custom variables when creating a document from a template will not work. Variables will be passed to the document title as a simple text value instead of a variable.
Using CRM variables in titles
By default, when you create a document, the template title is replaced with the name of the Deal or Opportunity. However, if you include CRM variables in the template's title that you use for creating documents from your deals/opportunities, the document's name will be based on the template name, and the variables in the titles will be auto-filled with the corresponding field values.
Copy a CRM variable you’d like to insert in the template title
Open a template you use to create documents from your CRM and paste the copied variable into the template title
Create a document from this template via your CRM and the variable will be auto-filled with the field value
Types of variables
There are 4 types of variables:
Role variables
Note: Role variables can be set up only at the template level.
These variables automatically populate information about your recipient when they're assigned to a Role. They can populate your recipient's first and last name, email address, phone number, and company, as long as the information exists in PandaDoc Contacts. If your recipient doesn’t exist in your PandaDoc Contacts, you can add them when you create the document.
Create a Template Role (you'd have to be in a template to do that)
PandaDoc will automatically generate the default role variables: first name, last name, email, company, phone, title, and address
Click Variables in the right panel, next find the default role variables by the Role name at the beginning, e.g. Client.FirstName
Copy a variable and paste it where you need it in the template
Next, click the Create document, assign recipients to roles, and select Continue. Role variables will be populated upon document creation.
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.).
Note: [Document.ExpirationDate] and [Document.SentDate] variables are filled once you send your document. Variables' date format depends on the default date format and recipient view localization settings set up in your workspace settings.
Pricing table variables
Pricing table variables help you easily reuse data from the pricing table footer in your template, document, or form. Each row you add to the footer of your pricing table will appear as a variable, as long as it has a value.
To access the list of variables, first click on a pricing table in your template, document, or form. Then, click Properties on the floating panel and select Variables on the right.
Finally, click the copy icon next to the variable name and paste the variable into your document’s content.
You can also find pricing table variables in the Variables tab on the right.
Note: If you rename a pricing table, variables will automatically reflect this change.
Custom variables
These variables act as placeholders for any information you need to populate manually when creating a document. You can name them whatever you want, and they’re useful if the information doesn’t exist in your Contacts.
To add a custom variable open the square opening bracket, type the name of your variable, and click Enter.
To edit the name of a custom variable:
Go to the Variables tab
Find your custom variable
Select the three ellipses menu next to the variable name > Rename
Type the name you need and select Save