Document Management

Power users shape document behavior through document templates: one per kind of document, such as “Welcome Letter”, “Original Note”, or “Claim Photo”.

Document templates

A template combines three things:

Setting	Property	Purpose
Data	Method	A method signature that fetches the data to merge (for example, the process and contact fields a letter needs).
Generator	AttachmentService	The plugin that renders the document. See Generators.
Storage	FileObjectAssembly	Where generated or uploaded documents of this type are stored. See Storage.

Templates can also set a file name format, used to recognize uploaded files automatically (see Automatic indexing), and outbound and return services that track mailed documents.

From a template’s summary page you can Copy it, Generate a test document for a given record ID, or download Test Data to build a Word merge template against.

Generators

Generator	Output	Source
Delimited	CSV, pipe-delimited, and other delimited files	Built in
Fixed width	Fixed-width text files	Built in
XHTML	HTML from an XSLT transform	Built in
Aspose Words	Word, PDF, or RTF from a Word template	Aspose integration
Aspose Cells	Excel workbooks merged with QBO data	Aspose integration
Aspose PDF	PDF documents	Aspose integration
OpenXML	Office (Open XML) documents	Built in
Markdown	Markdown documents	Built in
Parquet / Avro	Analytics-ready data files	Built in
Zip	Compressed packages of documents	Built in

Storage

Each storage location is a named file object. A template sets where its documents go, and an installation can configure as many locations as it needs.

Storage	Source
Local disk, network share (UNC), internet (HTTP) reference	Built in
Cached and distributed (write to several locations)	Built in
Amazon S3	AWS integration
Azure Blob Storage	Azure integration
Google Cloud Storage and Google Drive	Google integration
sFTP, FTP, FTPS	Built in

Monitor a folder for new documents

Schedule QBO to watch a file object, such as a client’s sFTP folder, and import new files as documents:

• Path and Pattern (for example *.pdf) choose which files to pick up.
• Template sets the document template on import.
• Statement runs after import, for example to bind each document to its parent record from its file name.
• Transfer or Move copies the files to your main storage. Move also deletes the originals.

Automatic indexing

Bulk-loaded documents (dragged in, picked up from a watched folder, or received through the API) can be indexed automatically with the standard BindUnbound statement:

1. Give each template a file name format, for example *Note*.pdf for “Original Note”.
2. Run BindUnbound with a Target table such as Loan.
3. QBO matches each file name to a template and to a record whose identifier appears in the file name, then sets both on the document.

Run it once with Batch Apply, or schedule it.

Revision tracking and signatures

• Check out / check in / undo checkout are standard document operations, configured in Attachment.config.
• The DocuSign integration can request a signature and receive the signed document back onto the record.

See all document integrations on the Integrations page.