When you start a new job from Autopilot or from the Choose Template screen of Tap Inspect you get a new, blank inspection report that is ready to fill out. That report is built from a template.

Your Tap Inspect template can be thought of as your blank inspection form, or your report checklist. It contains a list of items grouped in sections that make up the basic structure of the inspection report. Each new inspection report is created from a template. 

By adding additional templates, editing your existing templates, and even saving frequently used values in your template you can greatly reduce the amount of work you need to do in the field.

Your default templates were added from the standard templates you chose when you created your Tap Inspect account. They are now yours to edit, copy and even delete as you desire.

Managing Your Templates

You manage your templates by tapping Edit in the top right corner of the Choose Template screen of the mobile app. 

The Manage Templates screen lets you add new templates, rearrange the order of your templates, trash a template and open one of your existing templates in the Template Editor.

Editing Templates

Tap on a template on your Manage Templates screen to open it in the Template Editor. Each template is made up of a collection of Sections containing Items that are used to record your inspection data.

Templates also have Report Options. These options tell Tap Inspect how the report behaves and also how to build the final report. You can specify things like the title of the report, the name of the template, whether to include a Table of Contents in the report, to include a Report Summary and where to put it or whether to put photos on the Report Summary in addition to in the report.

Sections

At the top level of a template you see a list of sections. They are displayed in the same order they will be displays in your report. They can be rearranged by dragging them up and down. The section names are what will be listed in the Table of Contents of a PDF report if that Report Option is enabled.

Sections can also be be hidden or visible. A hidden section has a green plus indicator and is still in your template. It just will not be visible when doing your report or when the report is viewed by your client. It can be 'un-hidden' by tapping the green plus if needed for a particular report and all the items are already there.

What makes up a Section

Tap on a section and you can see it is a collection of items, a section header, a section footer and possibly sub-sections. Just like the sections in the top level, you can rearrange the items as well as hide or show them. To edit the text of the header of footer just tap on them. You can also change the name of the section.

Item Types

There are several type of items available in Tap Inspect to help you record different types of information. The most useful are the Multiple Choice, Generic Text Entry, and Photo item types. 

Take a look at the Site section of the Home Inspection template and tap Site Grading. This is a Multiple Choice item that allows you to select an option (or more than one option if Allow Multiple Selection is checked). You can add more options to select from, rearrange their order or delete one or more.

Now go into the General section and tap Approximate Age to go into that item. This is a Generic Text Entry item and just like the name suggests it allows you to enter text. You can leave it blank and add text at the time of inspection or you can add text to the item in the template and it will be filled out in every report.

Tap Overview Photos of Property to go into that item. This is a Photo item. This prompts you to add a photo as a way to record information. This can be super handy for things like data plates instead of using Generic Text items to type serial and model numbers.

Conclusion

I hope this gives an overview of what makes up a template and how they are structured. Keep in mind that the template is YOURS. The standard templates are a good starting point but we all do inspections and report things a little differently. We built Tap Inspect to be as flexible as possible and there is no right or wrong way to do anything.