The Epicor CPQ Capture Tool is a program that helps administrators design output documents consistently and quickly.
After a visitor has used a configurator, their work can be saved and reused inside Epicor CPQ. But in order to share this configuration with other applications, or to download and save it, the configuration must be exported or "output" in a format useful to other programs. For example, a retail visitor can choose to output her configuration as a Word document, or an industrial visitor can output a CAD file.
The format of these output files comes from a template, which often includes a company logo, contact information, legal disclaimers, or other information that must be included in every completed configuration. Configurator architects can use the Capture Tool to turn any Word, Excel, or CAD document into a Epicor CPQ template by adding output fields to the document. If you have ever performed a mail merge in Microsoft Word, you're already familiar with this concept of merging together a master template with individual data to create an output document.
The capture tool is locally installed and used only by users with the "Company Administrator" role who are working on the visual design of Word or CAD templates; your customers and even most company admins will not need to use this tool.
System Requirements
The capture tool requires:
- a workstation running the Windows operating system, version 10 or higher. Windows can be running natively (on an Intel PC) or through emulation (on an Apple PC, using parallels desktop, for example). If running an emulator, note the full Windows 10 OS with all suggested updates must be emulated.
- Microsoft Office installed locally on that workstation. The web-based, online version of Word (as part of Office 365 or Microsoft 365) is not supported.
Installing the Capture Tool
The capture tool installer can be downloaded from the Admin > Infrastructure > Tools page.
Click "Download Capture Tool". Download and install the capture tool onto the workstation where, as an administrator, you will be creating these templates.
Logging in to the Capture Tool
The first step in using the capture tool is launching the program and signing in with the following inputs:
| Subdomain | The subdomain of your company account. The subdomain of your company can be discovered by looking at the url you use to visit Epicor CPQ in the browser. If you use a URL like: https://companyname-dev.kbmax.com, then your subdomain is 'companyname'. |
| Email / Password | Any user account with a role of 'Company Administrator' can be used to login to the capture tool. |
Using the Capture Tool
Once you have logged in, click "sync templates". After the sync is complete, you will be presented with a list of Outputs that are defined throughout all configurators and quote outputs in your company. To start capturing for a specific output, select the output in the list and press the 'capture' button. This will download and open the template file for that output, and the capture tool will show options relevant for that output type.
Learn more about capturing for a specific output type below:
Capturing CAD Output Fields
The Capture Tool can be used to capture CAD output fields, specific CAD entities (features, components, annotations, etc.) you would like to control in your configurator output.
Capturing Excel Output Fields
The Capture Tool can be used to capture Excel output fields, specific cells in an Excel spreadsheet you would like to control in your configurator output.
Capturing Word Output Fields
The Capture Tool can be used to capture Word output fields, text sections, containers, images, and lists that you would like to control in your configurator output.
Synchronizing Templates
If you want to synchronize your template library in the cloud with a folder on your local computer, you can use the 'Sync Templates' button in the header of the capture tool. This is a 2-way sync, and it's primarily used for when you have made changes to several template files (like CAD files), and wish to synchronize them back to the cloud all at once. The local folder that will be used for this operation is the Templates Folder defined in your Builder Settings.