# Turn a report into a Datumvia template

**For the person using this:** copy everything on this page, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or
Gemini, then attach the Word report you already send. You'll get back the same report with
`{{brackets}}` where the details go. Import it in Datumvia (open a job → Report → Use a template →
import a Word template).

Upload a blank or past report with client names, addresses and signatures removed. The layout is
what matters here, not the details.

---

## Instructions for the AI

You are turning the user's report into a template for the Datumvia app. The app reads the Word file,
turns every `{{bracket}}` into a field the user fills in on site, and prints the report with the
answers in place. Keep the document exactly as it is and change only what varies from job to job.

### What to produce

The user's Word document (`.docx`) with brackets inserted, and everything else unchanged: the same
wording, layout, fonts, tables, logo and images.

If you cannot return a Word file, give a numbered list of changes instead, each in the form:
**In [section or nearby text]: replace "[exact existing text]" with `{{name}}`**, precise enough to
make in Word with Find and Replace.

### Which text becomes a bracket

Bracket only what changes between jobs: job and report numbers, dates, client, site address, builder,
inspector, results, findings, recommendations and the like. Leave fixed wording alone: headings,
standard clauses, limitations, disclaimers, the company's own letterhead text if it never changes.

Where the source has a blank to fill in (a line of dots or underscores, an empty table cell after a
label, "Client: ______"), replace the blank with the bracket and keep the label.

### Naming brackets

- Lowercase letters, numbers and underscores only; no spaces. `{{site_address}}`, `{{report_no}}`.
- The name becomes the field's label in the app (`site_address` shows as "Site address"), so make it
  read well.
- Using the same name twice fills the same answer in both places. Use this deliberately, for example
  for a job number that appears in the heading and again in the sign-off.
- **Names that fill themselves in** from the user's Datumvia profile: `name`, `company`, `licence`,
  `phone`, `email`. Use these for the inspector's own details.
- **Any name containing `date`** becomes a date field that starts at today: `inspection_date`.
- **Long answers get a large box** when the name contains one of: summary, notes, details,
  description, comments, recommendations, findings, scope, remarks, observations, defects, repairs,
  actions, condition, experience, limitations. Name paragraph-length fields accordingly:
  `{{findings}}`, `{{recommendations}}`, `{{scope}}`.

### Special brackets

- **Choice from a list:** `{{outcome | Satisfactory | Subject to rectification | Not satisfactory}}`.
  Use this where the source has tick boxes, circle-one options, or a fixed set of results. The app
  always adds an "Other…" choice as well.
- **Logo:** `{{logo}}` inserts the logo from the user's profile. Use it only where the source has a
  logo placeholder and the user wants their own; otherwise leave existing logos as they are.
- **A checklist, printed in full:** `{{checklist | List name}}` prints that inspection checklist
  (every item, its result, the comments and which photos go with it) where the bracket sits.
- **A reference to a checklist:** `{{checklist_ref | List name | 2.1}}` prints
  "Refer to attached Checklist 2.1 - List name" and the list is attached behind the report. The
  number is optional.

### Tables of repeated inspection items

If the report contains a table with a row per inspection item (Item | Result | Comment), do **not**
bracket every cell. Replace the whole table with one checklist bracket, `{{checklist | List name}}`
or `{{checklist_ref | List name | n}}`, and tell the user the list should be set up in the app as a
checklist. Offer to convert those rows into a Datumvia checklist file as a second step. (The format
is at https://datumvia.com/ai/checklist.md.)

### Things that go wrong

- **Keep each bracket in one piece:** the same font and formatting from `{{` to `}}`, with no line
  break inside it. A bracket split across formatting changes may not be recognised.
- **Headers and footers are not printed.** The app drops the Word header and footer. If they hold
  anything that changes per job (a job number, a revision), move it into the body near the top and
  say so. Fixed footer text can stay, but tell the user it will not appear.
- **Lists inside an answer need no brackets of their own.** If the user types lines starting with a
  dash or `1.` into a field, the app prints them as bullets or a numbered list. One bracket per field
  is enough, even for a list of recommendations.
- **Do not bracket signatures.** Leave signature lines as they are, to be signed on the printed copy.
  The signatory's printed name can be `{{name}}`.

### How to reply

1. The edited `.docx` (or the numbered list of changes).
2. A table of every bracket you added: the bracket, what it holds, and its type (text, date, large
   box, choice, checklist).
3. **Please check:** anything moved out of a header or footer, any table replaced with a checklist
   bracket, and anything you were unsure whether to bracket.

### Example

Source:

```
SITE INSPECTION REPORT                              Report no. 26-104
Client: J & K Smith          Date of inspection: 4 June 2026
Site: 12 Example Street, Bowral NSW 2576
Outcome:  [ ] Satisfactory   [x] Subject to rectification   [ ] Not satisfactory
Findings
The frame is generally in accordance with the drawings...
Inspected by: Jane Rivers, Rivers Consulting Engineers
```

Becomes:

```
SITE INSPECTION REPORT                              Report no. {{report_no}}
Client: {{client_name}}      Date of inspection: {{inspection_date}}
Site: {{site_address}}
Outcome: {{outcome | Satisfactory | Subject to rectification | Not satisfactory}}
Findings
{{findings}}
Inspected by: {{name}}, {{company}}
```