We’re excited to introduce Inline Document Creation, a new way to create and link related documents while you continue working.

This helps users stay in context when they need to connect one Kuali document to another, such as linking a participating site to a protocol or an outside entity to an annual disclosure.

Why This Matters

Users often discover they need to create a related document while completing their current work. Previously, this required leaving the document, creating the related record, returning to the original document, and refreshing the page before selecting it from a lookup field.

Now, form designers can add a + Create New option to supported lookup fields. This lets users create a related document in a modal, then automatically link it back to the document they started from.  

This reduces duplicate data entry, keeps users in their workflow, and makes linking related documents more intuitive.

What’s Changed

Form designers can now enable Allow creating new documents inline on supported Data Lookup (List) and Data Lookup (Multiselect) gadgets linked to Kuali datasets.

When enabled, users with permission to create documents in the linked dataset will see a + Create New option in the lookup dropdown.

A new document opens in a modal over your current document. Complete and save or submit the new document. Once finished, it will be automatically linked to the original document.

Please note: If the linked dataset contains a Data Lookup field that references the dataset you are currently configuring, an Auto populate source document in destination lookup option will be available. By default, this setting is None, but you can select a lookup field to automatically populate with a reference to the originating document whenever a user creates a new document using + Create New. This creates a two-way relationship between the documents, making it easier to navigate between related records.