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Introduction to Out Tag Types

What Are Out Tags?​

Out Tags are the most fundamental tags in Fluent Designer. They retrieve data from your connected data source and place it directly into your template's output. Whether you're pulling a customer name, an order date, a dollar amount, or an image, an Out Tag is what makes it happen.

When you place an Out Tag in your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint template, it acts as a placeholder. At generation time, the Fluent Engine replaces that placeholder with the actual data from your data source.

The Four Out Tag Types​

Fluent Designer provides four Out Tag types, each tailored for a specific kind of data. While they all retrieve and display data, choosing the right type ensures your output is formatted correctly.

Text Tag​

The Text Tag retrieves text data from your data source — names, descriptions, addresses, or any string value. It is the most commonly used Out Tag and is ideal for any non-numeric, non-date content.

The content is displayed and formatted based on the properties you set in the Tag, as well as the native Microsoft Office font settings (font size, type, color, bold, italic, underline, etc.) you apply in your template.

When to use it: Displaying names, labels, descriptions, status values, or any general text field.

Date Tag​

The Date Tag retrieves date and datetime data from your data source. By default, it displays dates in your system's locale-specific format, but you can customize the output using the format property to control exactly how dates appear (e.g., MM/dd/yyyy, MMMM d, yyyy, dd-MMM-yy).

When to use it: Displaying order dates, birth dates, timestamps, deadlines, or any date/datetime field.

Number Tag​

The Number Tag retrieves numeric data and interprets it as a locale-specific number with appropriate decimal and thousands separators. You can use the format property to display numbers as currency, percentages, fractions, and more.

When to use it: Displaying prices, quantities, totals, percentages, or any numeric field that needs locale-aware formatting.

Out Tag​

The Out Tag is the most versatile Out Tag. It supports all of the above data types and more, including images (bitmaps), SVGs, PDFs, Base64-encoded subtemplates, and HTML content. You control its behavior through the type property, which tells the tag how to interpret and display the incoming data.

Use the Out Tag when you need to display images stored in your data source, embed subtemplates, or handle data types beyond simple text, dates, and numbers.

When to use it: Displaying images, embedding subtemplates, rendering HTML content, or when you need the full range of output type options.

How Do I Use an Out Tag?​

  1. Connect to a data source — Before placing any tags, connect your template to a data source using the Fluent Designer ribbon.
  2. Insert a tag — Use the Fluent Designer ribbon or the Data Bin to drag a field into your template. Fluent Designer will automatically detect the data type and insert the appropriate tag type.
  3. Configure properties — Open the Tag Editor to adjust properties like format, nickname, and condition to control how the data is displayed.
  4. Generate output — Use the Output button on the Fluent Designer ribbon to generate your document and see the data in place.
tip

Fluent Designer automatically detects your data type and selects the correct tag type in most cases. You can always change the tag type in the Tag Editor if needed.

What's the Difference Between Text, Date, Number, and Out Tags?​

The Text, Date, and Number Tags are simplified, use-case-specific versions of the Out Tag. Under the hood, they are equivalent to an Out Tag with its type property set to TXT, DATE, or NUMBER respectively. They exist to make template design faster and more intuitive — you don't have to manually set the type each time.

The Out Tag gives you access to the full range of type options, including BITMAP, SVG, PDF, TEMPLATE, BASE64_TEMPLATE, and more.

Learn More​

For a complete breakdown of all properties and configuration options, see the Out Tag Reference.

You can also view the individual tag reference articles for more details: