Working with Participant Custom Data Merge Fields

Modified on Thu, 6 Jun at 6:07 PM

In this article:

How Participant Custom Data Fields Are Merged
Generating Documents for Specific Parties
Advanced Options
Troubleshooting

How Participant Custom Data Fields Are Merged

If you create a custom data field for a participant type, this field appears in the merge field list with the prefix pt_, followed by the participant type and then the field name.

For example, if you create a custom data field called qualifications for the Attorney participant type, the merge field would be created as pt_Attorney_qualifications.

Because the system already knows which participant type this merge field is associated with, it's not necessary to include the pt= option when using this merge field in a document or field within Actionstep. Instead, you can add this field using just the merge field name alone, e.g., [[pt_Attorney_qualifications]].

If you have more than one of these participant types in a matter, you can refer to the specific participants using the row-number (rn) option.

For example if you wanted to display the qualifications of the second attorney added to a matter, use [[pt_Attorney_qualifications|rn=2]] (although this would most likely be done inside a repeat block using rn=* under normal circumstances).

NOTE: Actionstep creates a copy of the values in these fields inside the matter when you add contacts as matter participants. This is to preserve the field value within the matter from subsequent changes to the contact record.

Generating Documents for Specific Parties

You can link a template to a participant type so that you can generate documents specific to the selected participant. (See Document Templates Overview for more details.)

NOTE: There is no need to use the Record Number (rn=) option in this case since the record is selected by default when you click the specific party in the list.

TIP: If you want a generic template that works across all matter participants then you can use the option |pt=selected__participant (double underscore) to identify which participant the user clicked to generate the document.

Advanced Options

Actionstep includes some advanced options that, when using a participant type merge field, allow you to specify whether you want the participant custom data to come from the matter or the contact record. Additionally, for secondary contact types, you can access the custom data fields of their primary contact types. The following examples explain how:

Example 1: Getting the data from the contact record instead of the matter

Use the source option with values action (default) or contact_record.

[[pt_Policeman_Badge_Number|source=contact_base]]

This merge field pulls the Policeman Badge Number from the contact record rather than the matter.

Example 2: Accessing a base participant type field.

Let's say that for the base participant type of Company, you created a custom participant data field called ABN and you want to include a merge field that shows the ABN for a participant type of Insurer, which is a secondary participant type derived from Company.

[[pt_Company_ABN|pt=Insurer]]

This merge field pulls the ABN number from the matter participant data.

If you want the ABN from the Insurer's contact record, you can combine the options:

[[pt_Company_ABN|pt=Insurer|source=contact_base|pt=Insurer]]

Troubleshooting

If you see missing merge field indicators in the generated document from participant type custom data merge fields, it may be caused by the fact that the contact record was added to the matter before you entered the value of this field in the contact record.

To correct this, either remove the participant from the matter and add it back in, or edit its value while working with the contact on the Parties tab of the matter. (Hover over the name in the matter's participant list to edit the values).