What are CPD Templates?
A Capcade Document (CPD) template is a reusable document layout, defined at the entity level. Once a template is in place, users can generate a PDF from any record and save it directly into the data room (VDR).
This is useful when you regularly need to produce the same kind of document — for example certificates, statements, confirmation letters, or reports — where the structure stays the same but the content changes per record.
Working with CPD templates from data tables means:
CPD templates are managed at the entity level. Only entity admins can create or modify CPD templates. Once a template exists, anyone with the relevant data room and data table permissions can use it to generate PDFs.
How to create a CPD template
CPD templates are created in the data room. You will start with a blank Capcade Document, set up its structure, and then save it as a template.
Navigate to the data room within the relevant workspace.
Click "New", followed by "Capcade Document (CPD)" in the top right corner, and give your file a name.
In the top left of the blank CPD that opens, click on {・} and select which data table you would like to be the source data that feeds into this template.
Set up the document structure - add the headings, sections, layout, etc. and, importantly any fields you want pulled from the data table. This is done by clicking back to the {・} and selecting each field you want to use, and dropping it where you'd like to use it.
Click "Save as template" once happy with the structure.
Only entity admins can save a CPD as a template. If you don't see the "Save as template" option, check your role at the entity level.
Generate a document from a data record, using your template
Once a CPD template is in place, users can generate a CPD document for any record and choose where it lands in the data room.
Navigate to the data table record you would like to have turned into a document.
Click on (∙∙∙) and select "Generate Capcade document".
Choose a template, then click "next".
Assign the document a name and choose a location in the VDR where you would like it saved.
Click "Create Here".
The output will be your the template you selected with the fields which previously had your short codes, now populated with your data records.
To save the new CPD doc as a PDF:
Navigate to the CPD in the VDR.
Right-click on the CPD.
Hover over "Other" in the menu.
Click "Convert to PDF".
Choose the folder in the data room where the generated PDF should be saved.
The PDF will be created from the record's data and saved into the data room location you selected. From there it behaves like any other document in the data room, it can be shared, version controlled, watermarked, and included in audit reports.
Tips for working with CPD templates
Keep the template structure tight and focused. Anything you add to the template will appear in every generated PDF.
Test the template against a few sample records before rolling it out widely, to confirm the layout holds up across edge cases (long values, empty optional fields, etc.).
Updates to the template only affect newly generated PDFs. PDFs already saved into the data room are not retroactively regenerated.
To learn more about working with Capcade Documents and the data room, visit the collection of articles in our help guide.