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Documentation

Document types

Create a type, choose its fields and numbering, and attach its templates.

A document type describes what you produce: “Product label”, “Parcel label”, “Certificate”… It brings together the information to enter (its fields) and the templates to print. The Document types tab lists your types on the left and opens the selected type on the right; save with Save (Ctrl+S).

Document types tab: list of types and fields of the Shipped parcel type.Document types tab: list of types and fields of the Shipped parcel type.

Identity

  • Name and Description.
  • Document language: the language of dates and formatting in the printed documents, separate from the interface language.
  • Advanced settings › Type key: the short name used by the cee command (shipping-label, for example).

Fields

Each field has a label, shown to the operator, and a variable {key}, its short English name, which you place in templates and formulas. For a more meaningful name, Rename the variable (pencil) changes it everywhere it is used.

Kind Entry What is printed
Text one line, or several the entry
Number a number the number as entered
Date a date, prefilled if you wish the date, short, in words or YYYY-MM-DD, in the document language
Choice list buttons or a list the chosen option
Counter nothing: automatic the number, with the leading zeros you want
Combined nothing: automatic several pieces of information joined together, for example {reference}-{serial}
Formula nothing: calculated the result of the calculation (see Formulas)
Yes/No a checkbox used in conditions: {if fragile then "FRAGILE" else ""}

For each field: Required, Ask the operator (otherwise, a fixed value, never shown during entry) and a default value.

Automatic information

Usable in every template, with nothing to enter:

Variable Value
{date}, {date_long}, {date_iso} document date: short, in words, or YYYY-MM-DD
{time} time the batch was started
{year}, {month}, {day} year, month, day
{copy}, {copies} rank of the copy and total number (“3/12”)
{document_type} name of the document type
{location} location set in Settings

Counters

  • Numbers with no ceiling, with as many digits as you choose.
  • Reset: never, every year, every month or every day, based on the document date.
  • The numbers in a batch run in sequence, and every number used stays traced: a failed output is regenerated with the same number.
  • The next number can be set by hand; ceelab asks for confirmation if it goes down.
September 2026October 20262026-09-00012026-09-0002…2026-09-00572026-10-00012026-10-0002…2026-10-0042↺ reset
A counter reset every month, used in the combined field {year}-{month}-{serial}: numbering starts again at the beginning of each month, based on the document date.

The number 2026-10-0042 comes from a 4-digit counter reset every month, combined like this: {year}-{month}-{serial}.

Templates of the type

The Templates section shows the type’s templates:

  • Produced on every generation: checked templates come out for each copy, with the same information and the same number;
  • Edit, Detach;
  • Create a template (label or A4, already filled with the fields of the type) and Attach an existing template….

A label goes to the label printer; a document is saved as a PDF.

If a template refers to information the type does not have yet, ceelab flags it and offers to create it (Create these fields, or Create and attach for a template imported from Word).

File names

File names builds the name of the PDFs from your fields ({code}, for example), with a preview. PDFs are saved in one subfolder per type; ceelab never overwrites an existing file.

Deleting a type

Its templates are kept, and the history of its documents can still be viewed and reprinted.