Configure Document templates in Admin console

If your tenant has the Document templates feature enabled in the Admin console, Admin or Super Admin users can use the Document template page in Admin console to create, update, and maintain multiple versions of templates for the following document types:

• Customer rate confirmation
• Carrier rate confirmation
• Bill of Lading
• Customer invoice

Important note: The Document template feature is not enabled by default. If you want to enable document templates for your tenant, contact your Turvo Representative.

Each document type has one default template, which is used to create documents of that type for all customer or carrier accounts. Default document templates can be based on either Turvo templates or Custom templates, using the toggle provided at the top of the template’s preview pane.

• Turvo templates are the standard templates, created by Turvo, which allow you to change the page and header settings and certain settings relevant to each document type.
• Custom templates require the creation and upload of an HTML file, allowing for more control over the content and appearance of the document. Custom templates include the Versions and Favorite features, allowing you to: 
  • Maintain and revert to any of the five most recently uploaded versions of the template; and  
  • Select one Favorite version, separate from the latest five versions, that is maintained as a backup, even if it is older than the last five versions that were uploaded. 

In addition to the default template, the Document templates page provides the ability to create secondary templates. Secondary templates are always created using the custom templates feature, and secondary templates must be assigned to a specific customer or carrier account where the default template may not be applicable. 

In this article, you will learn explore the following topics:

• Accessing the Document Templates page
• Configuring the Page and Header settings
• Selecting default templates
• Configuring Turvo templates for each document type
  • Toggle Turvo template header settings
  • Customer rate confirmation
    • Creating a customer rate confirmation from a template
  • Carrier rate confirmation
    • Creating a carrier rate confirmation from a template
  • Bill of lading
    • Creating a BOL from a template
  • Customer invoice
    • Creating a Customer invoice from a template
• Adding and managing custom templates
  • Downloading the data glossary and sample template 
    • Data glossary
    • Sample template
  • Configuring a custom template as the Default template
  • Creating and assigning a new secondary custom template
    • Viewing assigned templates from within the customer or carrier account
    • Reassigning a template to another account
    • Renaming a template
    • Archiving a secondary template
  • Adding a logo to a custom template
  • Managing custom template versions
    • Uploading a new custom template version
    • Downloading a previously uploaded template version
    • Setting a favorite version

Accessing the Document Templates page

Navigate to the Admin console by clicking on your profile icon in the top right corner of Turvo, then select Admin console from the drop-down.

Then click into Document templates.

Configuring the Page and Header settings

Once you have accessed the Document templates page, set up your preferred page and header settings. These settings will apply only to the default document templates that use the Turvo template option and have the Header toggle set to Default. 

Note: Some elements can be overridden on specific document templates to differ from what you choose as the default in Page and header settings.

The document preview displays how your changes will be applied in real time as you make them.

The following elements can be configured in Page and header settings:

• Page number toggle: Controls whether or not documents will be created with page numbers.
• Secondary ID: Controls whether or not your documents are created with the shipment secondary ID displayed.
• Logo toggle: Controls whether or not you want your logo to be displayed in document headers. This can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
• Logo upload: Click Upload to upload a different logo to be displayed on your documents. In the Upload logo, modal click UPLOAD A NEW IMAGE to select an image from your computer. Once a file is selected, click Open, and then click the SAVE button to add the image to the document template. This can be overridden for each document type to differ from default. 
  • Note: jpg, png, and gif file types are supported.
• Address: Type in a City and State. Suggestions will appear in a drop-down menu as you start typing. To provide more information, click the More actions icon (three dots) to the right of the Address field to reveal Street address, Zip, and Country fields. This information can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
• Phone: Type in the applicable phone number. To provide more information, click the three dots to the right of the Phone field to reveal Extension and Country fields. This information can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
• Email: Type in the email you want to display on documents. This can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
  • Note: The Address, Phone, and Email fields pre-populate from the Company profile in the Admin console.

• Fax (optional): Type in the applicable fax number. This field is optional and can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
• Website (optional): Type in a website URL that you want to be included in the header of documents. This field is optional and can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.
• Header alignment: Control where you want your header to display on the page. Click the corresponding icon for left, center, or right alignment to adjust how the header is displayed. Take note of how the alignment looks in the document preview. This option can be overridden for each document type to differ from the default.

When all changes are made, be sure to click SAVE in the bottom right corner.

Selecting default templates

Before document templates can be used to generate shipment documents, you will need to establish a default template.

1. Select a document type from the left pane to expand the view. The default template and all secondary templates will be listed below, along with the +Add template button.

2. Use the Custom template/Turvo template toggle at the top to select the type of template to be assigned.
   1. You can configure a Turvo template and maintain multiple versions of a custom template under the Default template. However, only one of either Turvo template or a version of Custom template can be assigned as the default template. 
   2. The Turvo template option is not available for secondary templates. If you wish to utilize a Turvo template, it must be used as the default template.
3. Click the Use this checkbox to select the template that will be used as the default. This checkbox can only be selected in one version of the template. If you have a Turvo template and a custom template with multiple versions created under the Default template option, then only the Turvo template or one version of the custom template can be selected. Clicking Use this one version of the template will uncheck it from the version currently used as the default template.

Once a default template is created and selected, that template is shown when clicking on the document type’s Default template in the left pane.

Configuring Turvo templates for each document type

To configure a Turvo template for a document type, select the document type in the left pane and then click Default template. Click the Turvo template toggle to open that document’s standard Turvo template. 

A preview of the template will be displayed in the middle preview pane. Configurable fields and toggles that you can use to customize the template are shown in the right pane. Changes made in the right pane will be reflected in the preview pane immediately.

The sections below outline the fields and toggles provided in the Turvo template for each document type.

Toggle Turvo template header settings

For all Turvo templates, use the Default/Custom toggle at the top of the Header portion of the right pane to make modifications to the header. 

• If Default is selected, the header will align with what is defined in Page and header settings.
• If Custom is selected, you can change the header settings to be applied to the selected document type only.

Customer rate confirmation

To configure a Turvo template that can be used as the default template for the Customer rate confirmation document type:

1. Click Customer rate confirmation, listed in the Plan category, in the left pane.
2. When the section expands, click Default template.
3. Select the Turvo template option from the Custom template/Turvo template toggle. 

4. Once the Turvo template appears, configure the Customer rate confirmation template’s header settings in the right pane, as outlined in the Toggle Turvo template header settings section above. 
5. Next, use the toggles and fields below the header settings to configure the sections and fields included in the template to suit your organization’s needs. The configurable fields are outlined below:

5. 1. Show equipment needed: The Show equipment needed toggle controls whether or not the Equipment section is included in the document. This section of the rate confirmation pulls the following information, if provided, from the Equipment needed section of the shipment’s Details tab > Shipment block: 
      1. Types of equipment needed.
      2. The temperature range provided in the Min temp and Max temp fields.
         1. If only the minimum or the maximum temperature is listed, only that temperature is shown as a single value and does not indicate if it is the minimum or maximum temperature.
      3. Equipment services entered in the Services field and service notes from the Notes field.
   2. Show items: The Show items toggle controls whether or not the Items section is included in the document. This section of the rate confirmation pulls the following item information from the shipment’s Items section, if included: 
      1. Item names 
      2. Total item quantity
      3. Total weight
      4. Total item handling quantity
   3. Cost notes: The Cost notes toggle controls whether or not notes for each cost item will be included within the Rate section of the document. The notes are created and maintained in the Note field for each cost item in the shipment's Details tab > Customers block > Costs segment.
      
      Important note: If you regularly include internal notes on your customer shipment cost items, leave this toggled OFF so that internal notes are not accidentally copied to documents sent to the customer. The Lock icon found here only prevents the sharing of the cost's note to shipping partners with their own Turvo tenant and does not prevent the note from being added to documents sent to the customer, such as the customer rate confirmation or customer invoice. 

5. 4. Terms and conditions: Click Edit to open the Terms and conditions modal. Here you can customize what you want to be displayed in the Terms and Conditions section of Customer rate confirmations.
      1. In the Terms and conditions modal, enter free-form text, or use the Insert placeholder drop-down to select from one of the following:
         1. Customer account owner name
         2. Customer account owner phone number
         3. Customer account owner email

5. 3. 1. 4. If a placeholder is added, it will populate with the relevant customer data when this document type is created on a shipment. For example, if you select Customer account owner name, “$(ownerName)” will be inserted wherever your cursor is in the text editor. If John Hancock adds a Customer rate confirmation to a shipment for a customer that he is the account owner for, then his name will populate this placeholder text on the Customer rate confirmation document. 
      2. Note: This information is pulled from the user’s profile. If the name or contact information needs to be changed, then the user needs to edit their user profile.
   4. Show signatures: The Show signatures toggle controls if the Shipper and Receiver signature, Title, and Date lines are included in the document.
      1. Note: If you want customized signatures on your Rate Confirmations, toggle off the Show signatures option and add your signatures in the Terms & conditions section. If you want a specific reply-to email for certain documents sent from Turvo, contact Turvo Support.
   5. Contact information: Click the Contact information drop-down menu to select from Customer account owner, Carrier account owner, and My company. This selection controls what contact information will be displayed in the header of the document. This choice can be overridden on a per-document basis in the Create document modal when a document is manually created on a shipment.
      1. If My company is selected, the document will show the contact information as defined in Page and header settings.
      2. If Customer account owner or Carrier account owner is selected, the contact information for that user will be used instead of the header default.

Note: Some elements can be overridden in the Create document modal when you manually add a Customer rate confirmation to a shipment.

6. Once you are finished configuring your template, be sure to click SAVE in the bottom right corner. Click CANCEL if you would like to revert the changes you’ve made without saving.

Creating a customer rate confirmation from a template

When using the +Add document modal in a shipment to create a customer rate confirmation, the Contact information drop-down can be used to override the template’s Contact information setting when creating the document. Otherwise, the setting used in the template will be selected automatically.

Carrier rate confirmation

To configure a Turvo template that can be used as the default template for the Customer rate confirmation document type.

1. Click Carrier rate confirmation, listed in the Plan category, in the left pane.
2. When the section expands, click Default template.
3. Select the Turvo template option from the Custom template/Turvo template toggle.

4. Once the Turvo template appears, configure the Carrier rate confirmation template’s header settings in the right pane, as outlined in the Toggle Turvo template header settings section above. 
5. Next, use the toggles and fields below the header settings to configure the sections and fields included in the template to suit your organization’s needs. Check or uncheck each of the following elements to control what is visible on each stop in the Route section of the document:
   
   1. Location names: Display the location name of each stop in the shipment’s route.
   2. Addresses: Display the addresses of each stop in the shipment’s route.
   3. Customer name: Display the customer name, external IDs, and the specific items for each customer at the stop, including the total quantities and weight of the items.
      1. Note: If unchecked, the names, total quantities, and weight for all items at the stop will still be displayed, but will not be associated with a specific customer.
   4. Phone numbers: Display the contact name and phone number for each stop.
   5. Pickup and delivery numbers: Display the pickup and delivery appointment numbers for each stop. 
   6. The Phone type drop-down controls what phone number is surfaced for each location on the route. Click the drop-down menu to select from Location main phone and Location contact phone. This can also be overridden on a per-document basis.

5. 7. The Show equipment used, Show items, Cost notes, Terms and conditions, Show signatures, and Contact information configurations match those found in the Customer rate confirmation, detailed above.
      1. Note: Like the Show equipment needed toggle in the Customer rate confirmation Turvo template, the Show equipment used toggle controls whether or not the Equipment section is included in the document. However, for the Carrier rate confirmation, this information is pulled from the Equipment used section of the shipment’s Details tab > Shipment block.

Note: Some elements can be overridden in the Create document modal when you manually add a Carrier rate confirmation to a shipment.

6. Click SAVE in the bottom of the right pane when you are finished configuring the template.

Creating a carrier rate confirmation from a template

When using the +Add document modal in a shipment to create a carrier rate confirmation, the modal will be auto-populated with the settings as defined in the template, but some elements can be changed here. Choose whether or not to include the Addresses, Phone numbers, and Pickup and delivery numbers. You can also change the contact information from the Contact information drop-down menu.

Important note: The HTML files for your custom templates must be configured to include the Addresses, Phone numbers, Pickup and delivery numbers, and Contact information fields for these toggles to work properly with custom templates.

Note: If your shipment has a range of potential pickup or delivery dates, rather than a specific date, the full range will be shown when generating the document from a Turvo template. Custom templates will require the appropriate HTML configuration to replicate this feature. 

Bill of lading

The Bill of lading (BOL) template is found in the Ship category in the left pane. Unlike the other document types, the BOL template requires the creation of a Custom template. The Turvo template option is not available. See the Adding and managing custom templates section below to learn more about custom templates.

Creating a BOL from a template

See our Creating a Bill of Lading from a template article to learn more about the features unique to creating a BOL.

Customer invoice

To configure a Turvo template that can be used as the default template for the Customer rate confirmation document type.

1. Click Customer invoice, listed in the Bill category, in the left pane.
2. When the section expands, click Default template.
3. Select the Turvo template option from the Custom template/Turvo template toggle. 

4. Once the Turvo template appears, configure the Customer invoice template’s header settings in the right pane, as outlined in the Toggle Turvo template header settings section above. 
5. Next, use the toggles and fields below the header settings to configure the sections and fields that will be included in the documents generated from the template. 
   1. Note: Some elements can be overridden in the Create document modal when you manually add a Customer invoice to a shipment.
   2. The configurable fields are outlined below. All of the elements are the same as those described in the Customer rate confirmation template section above, and control similar sections within the template, unless otherwise specified:
      1. Show equipment needed
      2. Show items
      3. Terms and conditions
      4. Show signatures
      5. Contact information
      6. Status: Click the Status drop-down menu to select from Draft, Received, Approved, Rejected, and Void. The chosen status controls the default status the document will be created in. For example, if Draft is selected, then whenever a Customer invoice is created in a shipment, it will be in the Draft status. This choice can be overridden on a per-document basis in the Create document modal when a document is manually created on a shipment.
         1. Important Note: Remember that Approved is the status that triggers an invoice to sync to your financial management system (FMS).

• Once you are finished configuring your template, be sure to click SAVE in the bottom right corner. Click CANCEL if you would like to revert the changes you’ve made without saving.

Creating a Customer invoice from a template

Once a template is created and applied, it can be used to create a customer invoice document in a shipment. See our How to create and share a customer invoice article to learn more about creating a customer invoice from a template.

Adding and managing custom templates

Important note: Creating the HTML files used for custom template requires a working knowledge of HTML editing.

Custom templates allow your organization to create documents based on your own custom-built HTML files, giving you the freedom to arrange the content and appearance of your documents. Using custom templates provides the ability to:

• Create an alternate default template, if the provided Turvo template does not meet your business needs.
• Create secondary templates for assignment to specific customer or carrier accounts, if the default template does not meet your business needs for that account.
• Maintain multiple versions of a custom template, so that you can easily revert back to any of the latest five uploaded versions, if your current version cannot be used.

Important note: For security purposes, users can only upload five templates in a 24 hour period.

Downloading the data glossary and sample template 

While it is the responsibility of your organization to create the HTML file that will be used as the template, Turvo provides files, outlined in the subsections below, to help you understand how to format fields in your template to pull information from your shipments in Turvo. 

Data glossary

When the Custom template option is selected on any document template, the Page and header settings option on the left side will switch to the Download data glossary button. 

Click this button to download the data glossary spreadsheet file. This spreadsheet contains two tabs: One tab containing a glossary of Data Variables, and the other tab providing an example and tips for creating a custom template HTML file. 

Note: If there are fields in your shipments that are not included in the data glossary, contact Turvo Support to obtain the necessary HTML code.

The data glossary’s Data Variables tab provides HTML samples for mapping data from your Turvo shipments to your custom templates using the following format in four columns:

• Variable Name: This column provides the code for field names to be used in your HTML file.
• Variable Description: This column describes what shipment information appears in this field when used in the document generated from the template.
• Header: This column will point you to the field within the shipment’s Details tab that the template will pull information from.
• Object/Loop: The fourth column indicates if the variable is an Object or a Loop. An object is a single fixed data point such as an address or account name. A loop is a single variable that can have multiple values such as the items in, or services attached to, a shipment.

Sample template

When opening a custom template, the right pane updates as well, with header options and the Sample template button. Click this button to download a pre-made HTML file for the selected document type, which your organization can edit in a plain text or HTML editor to suit your needs. These files are based on the Turvo template provided in the Default template options of each document type. 

Note: Despite not including a Turvo template, a sample template is available for the BOL document type.

Configuring a custom template as the Default template

To create a new custom template version and assign it as the default template:

1. Select a document type in the left pane.
2. When the section expands, click Default template.
3. Select the Custom template option from the Custom template/Turvo template toggle. 
4. Click the Upload button to launch the Upload template modal.

5. Click on the first Drop file here to upload or click to browse section of the modal to open your file explorer and select the HTML file you wish to upload, or drag and drop the HTML file from a file explorer window that is already open. 
6. Use the Select logo from radio buttons to:
   1. Upload a new logo using the second Drop file here to upload or click to browse section of the modal.
   2. Reuse the logo that is configured for the Favorite template version.
   3. Reuse the logo that is configured for the Previous template version that was uploaded.
   4. Important note: An automatically-generated HTML code piece will be displayed in the right pane when viewing a custom template. Copy this code into your HTML file in order to ensure the logo is displayed properly in documents generated from your templates. 

Note: The following restrictions apply when selecting files and uploading the template and logo files:

• Upload attempts: For security reasons, you are allowed to successfully upload up to five files per day.
• Template file: The template file must be HTML format, and maximum allowed file size is 1MB.
• Logo: Only PNG, JPEG, & JPG file types are accepted and maximum allowed file size is 2MB.
• File name: The name should contain only alphanumeric characters, and the length should not exceed 250 characters.

7. Click Upload when you are done.
8. The new version of the custom template will appear under the Versions menu. Once you have a version of the template that you are ready to assign as the default template, select that version from this menu to display it.

9. At the top right of the center preview pane, click the Use this checkbox to indicate that the selected version should be used as the Default template. 
   1. Note: If the Use this checkbox is checked under the Turvo template option or in another version of the Custom template, a warning message will appear asking you to confirm your selection. Use this checkbox will be unchecked in the other template version.

The selected version of the custom template is now assigned as the Default template and appears automatically when clicking the Default template option in the left pane.

Creating and assigning a new secondary custom template

If your default template does not meet the needs of one of your customer or carrier accounts, create a secondary template that can be assigned to a specific account. These templates feature the same 

Note: Secondary templates must be assigned to a customer or carrier account upon creation. Only custom templates created in the Default template can be created without assigning to an account upon creation.

To add a new secondary custom template to a document type:

1. Select the document type in the left pane and click the +Add template button. 
2. The Add new template modal appears.

3. Enter a name for the new secondary template in the Template name field.
   1. The same Template name cannot be used for 2+ different templates for the same document type.
4. To select an account to assign the template to, type a name in the Assign customer field (or Assign carrier field if the template is for the Carrier rate confirmation document) and select from the results that appear in the drop-down below.
5. Click CREATE to create the new secondary template.

Once created, a blank preview window appears for the new secondary template. From here, you will use the Upload button and follow the same process outlined in steps 4 through 9 of the Configuring a custom template as the Default template section above.

Note: The customer or carrier account that the secondary template is assigned to will be displayed to the right of the Versions menu.

Once you’ve created a version of the template that you wish to use to generate the document for the customer or carrier account, use the Versions menu to select that template version, and click the Use this checkbox. 

The assigned template version will have a checkmark next to the version name in the Versions menu.

Viewing assigned templates from within the customer or carrier account

Once the secondary template has been assigned to the account, a link to the template will appear in the customer or carrier’s account page, in the Details tab > Settings section > Document templates segment. 

The links in this segment display the name of the document as defined in the selected template version’s HTML file, not the name given when creating the secondary template. Users with access to the Document templates page can click the link from within the account to navigate to that template quickly. 

Reassign a template to another account

To change the account that the template is assigned to: 

1. Click the More actions icon (three vertical dots) to the right of the template’s name in the left menu pane.
2. Click Assign in the More actions menu. 

3. The Update template modal appears. Use the Assign customer or Assign carrier field to update the assigned account. 

4. Click UPDATE when you are done. The name of the newly assigned account will replace the name of the previously assigned account, to the right of the Versions button in the center preview pane.

Renaming a template

To change the name of a secondary template: 

1. Click the More actions icon (three vertical dots) to the right of the template’s name in the left pane. 
2. In the More actions menu, click Rename.

3. The name of the template will become a text field. 
4. Enter the new name of the template, then click the checkmark on the right of the field to save your changes. 
   1. Click the arrow to the left of the checkmark to close the text field without changing the name of the template.

Archiving a secondary template

If you would like to remove the secondary template so that it cannot be used, use the Archive feature.

1. Click the More actions icon (three vertical dots) to the right of the template’s name in the left pane. 
2. In the More actions menu, click Archive.

3. An alert appears, where you will confirm that you wish to archive the template.

4. Click ARCHIVE to archive the template, or CANCEL to return to close the alert.
5. Once archived, the template will no longer appear in the Document templates page. If the template was assigned to a customer or carrier account, it will be removed from that account and the default template will be used for document creation for that account until a new template is created and assigned.

Adding a logo to a custom template

If your secondary template or custom default template needs to include a specific logo, use the Logo options in the right pane to upload an image. Uploading the file here allows Turvo to retrieve the image file during document creation, and provides HTML code that you can insert into your template’s HTML file to ensure the logo image is displayed correctly.

1. Click Upload to upload an image file.
2. The Upload logo modal appears. Click UPLOAD A NEW IMAGE and select a file.
   1. Note: Only png, jpeg, & jpg file types are accepted and the maximum allowed file size is 2MB.

3. Once the file is selected, a preview of the image is shown. 
   1. Use your cursor to drag the selection box around the image. If you wish to include only a portion of the image, select only that portion. If you wish to display the entire image, drag the selection box around the entire image. 
   2. Click SAVE once your selection is complete.

4. Once a file is uploaded, the image is displayed in the right pane, below the Upload button and the HTML code shown below will update.
   1. If your uploaded HTML file already contains the correct code, the image will appear in the center preview pane.

5. If you need to add code for the image into your HTML file, click Copy to clipboard beneath the HTML code shown below the image. This will copy the provided HTML code to your device’s clipboard so that you can paste it into the header of your custom template’s HTML file to make the selected logo appear in generated documents.

Managing custom template versions

Beneath the template toggle are the version management controls, where new versions of your custom template are uploaded, existing versions can be downloaded, and different existing versions can be selected from. These features are available in both custom default templates and secondary templates.

Uploading a new custom template version

Click the Upload button to add additional versions to your custom template (either a custom default template or secondary template). The Upload template modal, as described in the Configuring a custom template as the Default template section above, appears. Follow steps 4 through 8 from that section to upload your new template version.

Only the last five versions of the template, and one Favorite version, can be accessed at any given time. If you already have five versions when uploading a new version, the oldest version (other than the Favorite) will be removed from the template.

Note: Contact Turvo Support to revert to any version older than the last five versions.

Downloading a previously uploaded template version

If you do not have a local copy of the selected template version’s HTML file, click the Download button to save a copy. 

Setting a favorite version

Marking a template version as the Favorite will save the version separately from the five latest versions that are automatically maintained in the Versions feature. This allows you to maintain a backup version that is older than the latest five versions.

To mark a template version as the favorite, click the star-shaped Favorite icon at the top right of the center preview pane. Once checked, the version will appear listed under the Versions menu as Favorite with the original name of the template version shown in parentheses.

When marking a template version as the Favorite, keep the following in mind:

• Only one version of a template can be marked as the favorite version.
• Once a version is unmarked as Favorite, if there are already five newer versions of the template, it will be removed from the Versions list and you will no longer be able to revert to that version of the template.
• The Favorite version does not need to be the same version that is marked with the Use this checkbox.
• Both custom default template versions and secondary template versions include the Favorite option. Turvo templates do not have the Versions or Favorite features.