---
title: "Captions & Translations"
slug: "captions-and-translations"
description: "Manage captions and translations in Document Customizer for multilingual documents, ensuring accurate labels and seamless language support."
updated: 2026-04-29T14:39:05Z
published: 2026-04-29T14:48:11Z
canonical: "docs.abakion.com/captions-and-translations"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.abakion.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Captions & Translations

## Feature Overview

Captions & Translations is the central language management feature in Document Customizer. It provides a shared pool of named caption codes, each with one or more translated text strings for different language codes. These captions are used throughout the app wherever a label needs to appear on a printed document — column headers, header field labels, footer content labels, address captions, title text, total section labels, and address line prefixes all draw from this pool.

A **Caption** is simply a code (up to 50 characters) linked to one or more **Caption Translation** records. Each translation record stores the language code and the actual text to display. At print time, the system looks up the caption code, finds the translation for the document's language, and uses that text as the label. If no translation exists for the document's language, it falls back to a blank-language record, then to the Default Language configured in Report Pack Setup.

Beyond per-field captions used in header and column setups, two specialised caption structures exist. **Total Caption Templates** allow you to rename all the labels in the document totals area (Subtotal, Total Excl. VAT, VAT Amount, Total Incl. VAT, etc.) independently per report template. **Report Pack Setup** holds the global default language used as the final fallback when no other translation is found.

When you assign a field in Header Setup or Column Setup and the system creates a caption automatically, it generates translations for all globally enabled localisation languages (DAN, ENU, ENG, DEU) using the field's current BC caption as the default text. You can then customise those translations individually.

**Key Facts**

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| **Where to manage captions** | All Captions page; Caption Translations page (per caption) |
| **Where to manage total labels** | Total Caption Templates page; Total Captions page |
| **Where to set default language** | Report Pack Setup (Default Language field) |
| **Language fallback order** | Document language → blank language → default language in Report Pack Setup |
| **Auto-creation** | Captions are automatically created when you assign a field in Header Fields or Column Extended Description Fields |
| **Import/Export** | Captions and translations can be imported/exported via the Import Captions / Export Captions reports |
| **Scope** | All Document Customizer documents in the same company share the same caption pool |

---

## Getting Started

1. Open **All Captions** from Document Customizer (or from the action bar in Header Fields or Column Fields). This shows all caption codes defined in the system.
2. To add a new caption, create a new record with a **Caption Code** (a short identifier, e.g. `YOUR-REF`).
3. Open **Translation** for the caption to go to **Caption Translations**. Add one row per language: enter the **Language** code (e.g. `ENU`, `DAN`, `DEU`) and the **Caption Text** to display in that language.
4. Add a row with **Language** blank and **Caption Text** set to your preferred default text — this is the fallback used when no language-specific translation is found.
5. Assign the caption code to the relevant header field, column field, or section in your setup.
6. To verify, open **Report Pack Setup** and confirm the **Default Language** is set correctly.

---

## Related Features

Captions & Translations is used by every other Document Customizer feature that displays text on a document. **Header Setup** uses captions for field labels. **Column Setup** uses captions for column headers and inline field labels. **Footer & Sections** uses captions within HTML parameter lookups. **Address Setup** supports captions as prefixes on address lines. **Total Caption Templates** extend the system specifically for the totals area. The **Import/Export** feature at the app level can transfer caption data between environments, allowing you to set up captions once in a template company and import them into live environments.

---

## User Stories

****US-01: Translate a standard field label into Danish and English****

**As a** Business Manager **I want to** have the "Your Reference" field on the invoice header show as "Deres reference" in Danish and "Your Reference" in English, depending on the customer's language **So that** documents sent to Danish customers are in Danish and documents to international customers are in English

**Setup:**

1. Open **All Captions** and locate the caption code assigned to the "Your Reference" header field (or create a new one, e.g. `YOUR-REF`).
2. Open **Translation** for that caption.
3. Add a row for Language `DAN` with Caption Text `Deres reference`.
4. Add a row for Language `ENU` with Caption Text `Your Reference`.
5. Add a row for Language blank with Caption Text `Your Reference` (fallback for all other languages).
6. Assign the caption code to the relevant header field in Header Setup.

****US-02: Create a new caption from scratch for a custom document field****

**As a** Business Manager **I want to** add a custom label "Project Reference" to a header field that shows our internal project number **So that** the field appears with a meaningful, professional label rather than the technical BC field name

**Setup:**

1. Open **All Captions** and create a new caption with code `PROJ-REF`.
2. Open **Translation** and add language rows: `ENU` → "Project Reference", `DAN` → "Projektreference", blank → "Project Reference".
3. In **Header Fields** for the relevant template, assign `PROJ-REF` to the **Caption** field of the project number row.

****US-03: Set the default fallback language for all caption lookups****

**As a** IT Manager **I want to** ensure that when a document is printed for a language that has no specific translation defined, the system falls back to English **So that** documents never appear with blank labels or technical caption codes

**Setup:**

1. Search for **Report Pack Setup** in Business Central.
2. Set **Default Language** to `ENU`.
3. Save. From now on, when the system cannot find a translation for the document's language and there is no blank-language translation, it will use the ENU translation as the final fallback.

****US-04: Rename the "Total Incl. VAT" label on invoices to "Total Amount Due"****

**As a** Business Manager **I want to** change the label "Total Incl. VAT" in the invoice totals section to "Total Amount Due" in English, to use more customer-friendly terminology **So that** invoices are clearer for customers who are not familiar with tax terminology

**Setup:**

1. Open **Total Caption Templates** and locate or create a template (e.g. `INVOICE-TOTALS`).
2. Open **Total Captions** for that template. Find the **Total Incl. VAT Caption** field and assign a caption code (e.g. `TOTAL-DUE`).
3. Open **All Captions**, locate or create `TOTAL-DUE`, and open Translation. Add `ENU` → "Total Amount Due", `DAN` → "I alt til betaling", blank → "Total Amount Due".
4. In **Document Customizer Content**, set **Total Caption Template** to `INVOICE-TOTALS` for the Sales Invoice row.

****US-05: Rename all totals labels together using a Total Caption Template****

**As a** Business Manager **I want to** create a custom set of totals labels for our purchase orders where all standard BC labels (Subtotal, Line Amount, etc.) are replaced with our preferred terminology **So that** all purchase order printouts use consistent, company-approved terminology throughout the totals section

**Setup:**

1. Open **Total Caption Templates** and create a new template, e.g. `PO-TOTALS`.
2. Open **Total Captions** for the template. For each of the 11 caption fields (Subtotal, Total, Invoice Disc. Amount, Line Amount, VAT %, VAT Amount, Total Incl. VAT, Total Excl. VAT, Payment Disc. on VAT, Interest Amount), assign caption codes with your preferred translations.
3. In **Document Customizer Content**, assign `PO-TOTALS` to the **Total Caption Template** field for the Purchase Order row.

****US-06: Copy a Total Caption Template for a credit memo variant****

**As a** Business Manager **I want to** use the same total labels structure as the invoice but with "Credit Amount" instead of "Total Amount Due" **So that** credit memo totals use contextually appropriate labels without redefining all other captions

**Setup:**

1. Open **Total Caption Templates** and select the invoice template.
2. Use the action **Copy to new** and enter a new code, e.g. `CR-MEMO-TOTALS`.
3. On the new template, open Total Captions and modify only the Total Incl. VAT Caption to a caption code for "Credit Amount".
4. Assign `CR-MEMO-TOTALS` to the Sales Credit Memo in Document Customizer Content.

****US-07: Import captions from another environment to avoid re-entering translations****

**As a** IT Manager **I want to** import the complete caption and translation setup from a template company into a new live company **So that** the new environment is immediately ready with all the correct multilingual labels without manual re-entry

**Setup:**

1. In the source environment, run the **Export Captions** report from Document Customizer to export all captions and translations to a file.
2. In the target environment, run the **Import Captions** report and import the exported file.
3. Verify the captions are now available in **All Captions** in the target environment.

> **Note:** Caption import/export covers the Captions and Caption Translations tables. It does not transfer Header or Column template assignments — those must be set up or imported separately via the Document Customizer setup export.

****US-08: View and edit all captions across the entire app in one place****

**As a** IT Manager **I want to** review all caption codes and their translations in a single list to audit and correct any inconsistencies before going live **So that** I can ensure every label in every document is correctly translated before the system is released to users

**Setup:**

1. Open **All Captions** from Document Customizer.
2. Browse or filter the list by caption code or label.
3. Open **Translation** for any caption to edit its language-specific texts.
4. Changes take effect immediately on the next report printout — no rebuild or publishing is required.

---

## Field Reference

| Field | Where to find it | What it does | Default |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Caption Code | All Captions | Unique identifier for a caption; referenced by header fields, columns, sections | — |
| Label | All Captions | Optional short descriptive label for internal reference only | — |
| Language | Caption Translations | BC language code (e.g. ENU, DAN, DEU); blank = fallback for all languages | — |
| Caption Text | Caption Translations | The actual text displayed on the document for this language | — |
| Default Language | Report Pack Setup | The language used as the final fallback when no other translation is found | — |
| Total Caption Template Code | Total Caption Templates | Unique code for a set of totals labels | — |
| Description | Total Caption Templates | Description of the total caption template | — |
| Subtotal Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the subtotal line label | — |
| Total Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the total line label | — |
| Invoice Disc. Amount Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the invoice discount amount label | — |
| Line Amount Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the line amount label | — |
| VAT % Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the VAT percentage label | — |
| VAT Amount Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the VAT amount label | — |
| Total Inc. VAT Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the total including VAT label | — |
| Total Excl. VAT Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the total excluding VAT label | — |
| Payment Disc. on VAT Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the payment discount on VAT label | — |
| Interest Amount Caption | Total Captions | Caption code for the interest amount label | — |
| Total Caption Template | Document Customizer Content | Assigns a Total Caption Template to a specific document | Blank |