Often, you will have scenarios where you want to output checkboxes in your template with a tick or a cross corresponding to the answers in a Choices field of your form design.
Or maybe you want to include links to content or files captured in the Form entry.
And if you are using non-English languages, you’ll probably have cases where you need Unicode support to display text.
The way you do this in a Data Template is to use formula functions and Unicode characters to output the desired symbols.
Hyperlinks
Our LINK formula function makes it easy to output a Word/Excel hyperlink that can be clicked to navigate to a URL. These links also carry into PDF outputs.
Here’s an example of LINK in action:
{( LINK('Go to Google', 'https://www.google.com') )}This will output a link like this: Go to Google.
Checkboxes
Our template engine has built-in support for outputting checkboxes via the CBOX formula function.
For example, let’s say you want to output a ticked checkbox when the answer to a field is ‘Yes’ (or, in the case of multiple selections, contains) and a crossed checkbox if not.
Use the following formula in your Data Template to do so:
{( CBOX({{myField}}, ’Yes’) )}This will output one of the following:
☒
If you want to display an empty (i.e., not crossed) box when the answer does not match the specified result, then use the CBOXB function:
{( CBOXB({{myField}}, ’Yes’) )}This will output one of the following: ☐
Change the font size or font weight (e.g., bold) of your formula text to set the display size of the output symbol.
Unicode Characters
Segoe UI Symbol font is required to output special characters.
Limitation
Unicode character codes exceeding 4 aren’t supported.
u263A 
u1D4A2 
APPLE MAC USERS
Segoe UI Symbol is currently unavailable for Mac OSX – you MUST use a Windows PC to apply the font to your templates.
A full list of all supported characters for the Segoe UI Symbol can be found here:
Supported Unicode character report for Segoe UI Symbol (fileformat.info)
Note the Unicode number under each symbol in the link above – this is the value you can use in formula functions that output values.
{( IF({{myField}} =’Yes’, ‘u263A’, ‘u263C’) )}Assuming the section where the above formula appears is set to use Segoe UI Symbol font, then you could expect an output of (either or):
☼
Change the font size or font weight (e.g., bold) of your output formula to change the display size of the symbol.
Non-ASCII languages (i.e., Chinese)
Our platform has extensive Unicode support, given our Windows operating system base. However, only specific fonts can be supported.
By default, the fonts found at this link are all supported:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/typography/font-list/
When creating a Word or Excel template, you need to be mindful of the specific font you use for your Unicode areas.
If you use a font not in the supported list above, you will find that the generated output has unpredictable results – usually missing characters in the output.