Build your first template

Set a template up once and autofill produces identical output every time you run it: a few minutes of setup buys a reusable document. Templates are live configuration, so editing a field and saving means the next run uses the new logic. There is no deploy, no rebuild. Everything revolves around fields: the AI only ever looks for the fields you declare, never arbitrary data. (New to the vocabulary? See core concepts.)

Your account already has a workspace and dropped you on the dashboard, so there is nothing to set up first. Open Templates and click + New template. A blank, unsaved draft opens in the editor. Name it, then click + Add in the document bar above the preview to attach a source PDF: an existing workspace document source, a fresh upload, a blank page, or a Form tab. Each source becomes a source tab. Nothing is written until you click Create template.

What a field is

A field is one value the template knows how to produce. Pick a type from the toolbar (Text, Number, Date, Select, Signature, Checkbox, Image; the + holds Address, Batch, Options) and click where the value should land. A field appears with a default static input reading "SAMPLE VALUE" and a write zone marking where it prints. Name it (Invoice Number), and it is ready.

Every field stores its value in case data under a stable key, so renaming the display label only relabels the column, it never moves the data. The type is load-bearing: a date field forces the AI to return a parseable date, a number a number. Use the batch type for repeating rows whose count varies (line items, for instance) rather than declaring Item 1, Item 2 by hand. Types also power the dashboard views you unlock on a higher plan: address fields feed the Map view, date fields the Calendar, numbers the Analytics totals.

The types in brief: text is the single-line default that auto-grows to multiple lines once the value wraps or the zone is tall enough; number for prices, totals, fees, and counts; date carries a configurable display format; checkbox is a boolean; select picks one value from a fixed list; options renders a radio or checkbox choice on the page with single or multiple selection; address prints as one line or splits into parts (street, city, state); image is uploaded once and reused at fill time for logos, stamps, or scanned signatures; signature captures a drawn signature a client can sign from the portal.

Where a field gets its value

Each field has an input that says where its value comes from. There are three sources:

A question input asks the person running the template to type the value into a form (the form lives on the Form tab, which appears automatically once any field uses a question). An extracted input lets the AI read the value off the incoming document; you can drop read zones to point it at the region to look in, or leave it open and let the AI find it. A static input bakes in a constant, the same text on every run. Mix all three freely: a cover sheet might use a static input for fixed boilerplate, an extracted input for the vendor name, and a question for one thing the AI can't know.

A field can also reference a value that already exists elsewhere in the same case, so you compute once and reuse it. Deeper transforms (AI prompts, calculations, bindings, multiple keys per field) are the subject of smarter templates; for a first template, the three input sources are all you need.

NameInvoice Number

Typetext

Keyinvoice_number

Input sourceextracted

Place it and save

The write zone is where the value prints. Drag it to position, resize from the corners, and the value stamps at those exact coordinates at fill time. Placement is precise by design (for the full mechanics, see placement on the canvas). When the fields are placed, click Create template to save. You can also ask the workspace AI chat to draft placements for you: describe each field in plain language and confirm what it proposes.

If the PDF already has form fields built in, you do not have to stamp over them: AcroForm fields (text, checkbox, radio, dropdown) are detected and listed in a "Fields that came with the document" panel, and enabling one fills it by name (checking the box, picking the radio option, choosing the dropdown value) instead of typing on top. Encrypted government forms (many DMV PDFs, for instance) are decrypted on upload so their fields stay fillable. Value origin is tracked once a case runs: an AI-extracted value is marked as such, a manual edit flips it to modified, and a re-extract overwrites AI values but leaves manual edits alone.

Run a simple fill

To produce a finished paper, open the template, click the arrow next to the Run button, and choose Run with your documents.... In the run modal's Documents section, click Replace, upload a sample PDF, and click Run. The engine reads each extracted field off your file, resolves the static and question values, and stamps everything onto the write zones you placed. The filled PDF downloads automatically and shows in the preview. Runs use the last saved version, so with unsaved edits you are prompted to save first.

That is the whole loop for the free tier, The Filler: one template, one paper, in hand. The full run engine (real cases, the run modes, batch fills across many records) lives in running autofill, and it opens up once you grow into the cases pipeline on a higher plan.

Troubleshooting

• Extracted values are wrong or blank. Confirm the input source is extracted (a question input is never read from the file), then refine the AI instruction on it. An extracted field with no value yet stays blank.
• Text lands in the wrong place. Click the write zone and drag it, or resize from the corners. Placement is exact.
• No Run button. It appears once a template with source pages is selected; a form-only template has nothing to stamp.
• Form tab missing. It appears only when a field uses a question input.

Related

• Smarter templates
• Placement on the canvas
• Running autofill
• Process an Invitation to Bid: see it in action