This article goes through the key principles, how-to's, and best practices for automating documents and building fully automated templates with user interfaces suitable for self-service by colleagues.
Document automation in O&D differs in key ways from other applications. These guidelines will help you get started quickly and simply. Some of these are expanded upon in their own linked articles. Always remember -- start simple and improve over time!
Document automation guidelines
Use Merge workstreams to automate documents.
Think of your Merge turnsheet like a replace-all in Word: the text in the column headings (whatever it may be) is found in the documents and replaced with the text in the body row.
Use unique, descriptive, square-bracketed [placeholders] in your documents. (Learn more)
In addition to inserting text, the most important things to know are how to delete text, and how to keep text, but remove the square brackets around it.
Always have the document preview open and test your results frequently. When you need to make changes to your template document, download it, edit it in Word, then upload a new version using the Manage Versions feature. Use the Extract Placeholder function afterward to automatically add any new placeholders you've created to your turnsheet.
Office & Dragons can do A LOT with your documents. (Learn more)
All of the logic lives in the turnsheet, not in the document. (Learn more)
The content can live either in the turnsheet or in the document. (Learn more)
Remove any unwanted formatting, bubble comments, or footnotes before automating the document. (Learn more)
Save your work as a template on your Templates page so others can use it. You can control the sharing permissions of the template to make sure the right people have access at the right time.
Start simple. Before anything else, make sure that all of your placeholders are correctly identified in your turnsheet. (Learn more)
Use column types and the hide-columns feature to build user interfaces in the table. Use tab and column descriptions (instead of traditional drafting notes within documents) to let other users know what this turnsheet is for and how to fill out individual columns. Use the Forms feature to turn your table into a questionnaire form with one click, then customize the UI further with question prompts, sample responses, descriptions, and more. (Learn more)