Templates
What a template is, the three ways to create one, and how it captures structured data.
A template is how Scanix turns a stack of one kind of document into clean, structured data the same way every time. Build it once, then run thousands of documents through it — each comes out with the right fields filled in and filed where you want them.
What a template is
Think of a template as a saved recipe for handling one type of document — an invoice, a passport, a delivery note. It captures every decision Scanix needs to make so you don't have to make them again per document:
- Where the document comes from — a file import, a scanner, or a watched folder.
- How to clean up the scan — resolution, color mode, and the image fixes that run before reading (deskew, rotate, crop, remove blank pages, denoise, and more).
- What data to pull out — the zones you draw over a sample page and the index fields (the metadata columns of your export) those zones feed.
- How values are validated — the data type, character rules, and patterns each captured value must satisfy, so bad reads get flagged for review instead of slipping through.
- Where the finished files and metadata go — the filename pattern, document format, metadata format, and destination.
Because all of this lives in the template, every document of that type is handled identically — the throughput-and-consistency win that makes capturing thousands of pages practical.
A template is also the unit that other parts of Scanix build on: Job Groups chain several templates together to sort a mixed pile, and hot folders run a template automatically on anything dropped into a watched folder.
Templates capture; AI capture understands
A template reads values from places you define on the page. AI capture instead reads the document the way a person would, finding fields without fixed zones. They solve different problems — see Templates vs AI capture to choose, or combine them (a template can call an AI service and map its output to index fields).
Three ways to create one
Scanix gives you three on-ramps to a new template. They're different front doors to the same thing: whichever you pick, the result is a normal template you can re-open and refine in the Designer at any time. Start each from the Templates page in the left navigation, where the three creation tiles sit across the top of the list.
AI builds it from a sample. Give the Smart Template wizard one example document and AI proposes the zones, the index fields, and an anchor for each — a working draft in seconds. When it saves, the template opens in the Designer so you can confirm and adjust. Because it was AI-built, its card later gains a Re-analyse action that re-runs the current AI model against the saved sample.
Best when you want a fast head start and would rather correct a draft than build from scratch.
Full control over every setting. The Custom Builder opens the Designer directly — the complete template editor. You draw zones on a sample page, configure each field, set up anchoring, and tune the scan, splitting, and output sections by hand.
Best when you know exactly what you want, or when you're refining a template another mode created. This is the authoritative surface for power users — every setting is here.
Step-by-step manual setup. The Guided Wizard is a modal that walks you through the build one stage at a time, with a progress rail showing where you are. It covers the essentials in order — name and language, source, scan and image clean-up, zones, index fields, splitting, AI, output — and won't let you move on until the current step is valid.
Best when you're new to templates and want a guided path that can't skip a required setting. You can always open the finished template in the Designer afterward for the deeper options.
Screenshot
The Templates page with the three creation tiles across the top — Smart Template (AI builds it from a sample), Custom Builder (Full control over every setting), and Guided Wizard (Step-by-step manual setup) — above the grid of template cards. — shot templates-overview-01
No matter which door you came in through, the Designer is where you draw and tune extraction zones over a sample page, and anchoring is what keeps each zone locked to the right text when scans drift or vary between document variants.
How a template captures structured data
Once a template runs, the same chain happens for every document, in order:
Clean up the page
Scanix applies the template's scan and image settings — color mode and any enhancements like deskew, crop, or blank-page removal — so the engine reads a clean page. The reading always happens on the cleaned-up image, so your zones line up with what the engine actually sees.
Read each zone
For every zone you drew, Scanix reads the text inside it and extracts a value according to that zone's type and rules. If a zone is anchored, it first finds its reference label on the page and shifts to follow it, so it captures the right value even when the layout moved.
Fill the index fields
Each captured value flows into the index field it's linked to — the metadata columns that become your export. Fields can also come from manual entry, a passport's machine-readable zone, an auto-incrementing counter, and more.
Validate
Each value is checked against its rules — the right type, allowed characters, and pattern. Anything that fails or comes back empty where it's needed is flagged for review rather than silently exported.
Name and file
The finished document is written out using the template's filename pattern, document format, and metadata format, to the destination you chose.
The two pieces most worth understanding deeply are index fields — what gets captured and how it's typed and validated — and anchoring — how a zone stays on the right value across messy, drifting scans.
The Templates list
The Templates page is home to every template you've built. Open it from the left navigation; the title bar shows a running count and a Search templates box. Each template appears as a card with its icon, name, and description — click a card's body to open it in the Designer.
Hover a card and a row of actions appears:
- Re-analyse — re-runs the current AI model against the saved sample. This appears only on Smart Templates and needs the sample image that was saved with it.
- Export as .six — saves the template to a
.sixfile you can move to another machine or keep as a backup. - Duplicate — copies the template, adding " (Copy)" to the name, so you can branch a variant without touching the original.
- Delete — removes the template after a confirmation dialog.
To move templates between machines in bulk, use the Import / Export tile, which opens a Transfer Templates dialog with Export and Import tabs for .six files.
Deleting a template is permanent
The confirm dialog removes the template along with its zones, index fields, AI configuration, and field mappings, and it can't be undone. Documents and batches you've already processed are unaffected.
A template in use opens read-only
While a template is being used by an active batch, it shows a lock badge, opens read-only, and can't be saved or deleted until that processing finishes. This keeps a running job from changing out from under itself.
Across the app, clicking the dim area behind a dialog never closes it — use the dialog's close, Cancel, or Escape.
Next steps
The Designer
Draw and tune extraction zones over a sample page in the full template editor.
Index fields
Define the metadata your template captures — typed, validated, and required where it matters.
Anchoring
Keep each zone locked to its label so the right value is captured when scans drift or rotate.
Templates vs AI capture
When to use zone-based templates, when to use AI capture, and how to combine them.