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# Creating and using titles and legal forms

In the settings you can create **titles** and **legal forms** and then add them to a customer or supplier file. They matter most for **letters and e-mail traffic** with the customer or supplier: they make sure you address someone correctly (e.g. 'Mr.', 'Mrs.') and that the right legal form (e.g. Ltd, PLC) appears on your documents.

* **Title** = the way you address someone (for example Mr., Mrs., Dr.).
* **Legal form** = the legal form of a company (for example Ltd, PLC, LLP, sole trader).

## Where do I find this setting?

Go to **Settings > General** and click **Title & Legal forms** in the menu on the left. This is where you manage both lists.

![The Title & Legal forms section in Settings > General](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/e/a/d/f/eadf6dec760ec000/aanspreekvorm-rechtsvormen-en_16uag55.png)

||| After changing the settings, click 'Activate settings' at the bottom right to actually apply them in your Robaws environment.

## Step 1 – Create titles

Titles are a simple list of words. By default the list contains **dhr.** and **mevr.** (the Dutch titles). You can change them or add your own.

1. Go to **Settings > General** and click **Title & Legal forms**.
2. Under **Title**, type a new value in the **Add** field (e.g. *Dr.*, *Family*) and press Enter. You remove a value with the little cross.
3. Click **Activate settings**.

## Step 2 – Create legal forms

A legal form has more options than a title. For each legal form you set:

* the **Name** of the legal form (e.g. Ltd);
* the **Suffix customer name**: the abbreviation that is automatically placed *after* the customer name on your documents (e.g. *Peeters Construction* → *Peeters Construction Ltd*);
* whether the legal form is **VAT liable**, **Not liable to VAT** or **Exempt**. This does not change the VAT calculation on your documents. If you use the [Exact Online integration](https://support.robaws.com/en/article/how-does-the-exact-online-integration-work-prtq03/), this choice is passed on.

1. Go to **Settings > General** and click **Title & Legal forms**.
2. Click **Add** and fill in the fields above in the new card. You remove a legal form with the red bin.
3. Click **Activate settings**.

## Step 3 – Add to a customer or supplier

1. Open a **customer** or **supplier file**.
2. On the customer, choose the **Title** and/or **Legal form** you want.
   * On a **supplier** you can only choose a **Legal form**; a title is not available there.
3. Save the file.

## Use in documents and e-mails

On your documents (quotations, orders, invoices, delivery notes, work orders, letters, ...) Robaws automatically shows the name as **title + name + suffix customer name**, e.g. *Mr. Janssens* or *Peeters Construction Ltd*.

In your own texts you can show the chosen values with [replacement codes](https://support.robaws.com/en/article/replacement-codes-1omjlni/):

* Title of the customer: **${clientTitle}**
* Legal form (name) of the customer or supplier: **${legalForm}**

This way you don't have to type the salutation and the legal form by hand every time in your letters, quotations and e-mails.

## Worked example

Installation company **Aqua Comfort** sends documents to both private individuals and companies. They set it up as follows:

* Titles: **Mr.**, **Mrs.** and **Family** (for households).
* Legal forms: **Ltd** (suffix customer name: *Ltd*, VAT liable) and **Sole trader** (no suffix, VAT liable).

For their customer *Peeters Construction* they choose the legal form **Ltd** on the file; the quotation then shows *Peeters Construction Ltd*. For their private customer *Janssens* they choose the title **Mr.** and leave the legal form empty; in the accompanying e-mail they use the greeting "Dear ${clientTitle} Janssens". This way every customer automatically gets the right salutation, without typing it by hand.

## Good to know

* The settings under **Settings > General** are only available to users with **administrator rights** (admin).
* A **supplier** has no title field, only a legal form. A **customer** has both.
* On the file, the field for the title is called **Title**: you choose one value from the list you built in the settings.
* If you change the list of titles later, the value on existing customer files stays the same.