Creating a document can be a time-consuming task, especially when it requires gathering information from different sources. One way to streamline the process is by using an online form to populate a Word document. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using an online form to populate a Word document and how to do it.

Benefits of Using an Online Form to Populate a Word Document

Using an online form to populate a Word document offers numerous benefits, including:

  1. Efficiency - An online form allows you to gather information from multiple sources quickly and accurately. This means you can populate your Word document with the necessary information in a matter of minutes.
  2. Accuracy - Online forms are designed to capture accurate data. This means you can be confident that the information you collect is reliable and error-free.
  3. Consistency - Online forms can be customized to ensure that the data collected is consistent. This means you can be sure that the data in your Word document is accurate and consistent.
  4. Organization - Online forms can be used to collect data in a structured manner, making it easier to organize and analyze the information.

Step 1: Create Document Template

You can start creating your document templates in any editor (Microsoft Word / LibreOffice ) or using online tools (Google Docs) that supports docx format. You need to replace all fields that you are expecting to fill automatically with special tags sourrended by special “curly” brackets.

Step 2: Upload your document template to Document Automation Service

Upload your document template into Document Automation Service. It will verify if it does not contain errors and list down all detected fields/

Step 3: Decide on document output format

Decide if you want to generate docx. (Word) or PDF documents as output. It’s better generate docx if you are going to edit them further.

Step 4: Configure an Online Form

Once you upload your template, application automatically prepare easy to use web form based on fields and sections detected in your document template

You can customize it by changing each field/section representation (textfield, datepicker, selectbox, radio select, checkbox…), order, description, label. Feel free to re-order fields, divide them into groups, and set them as “required fields”. Once you have created the form, you can customize it to capture the information you need.

Step 5: Share & configure your form to public link

When you have your document template and form ready time to save even more time by sharing your form to others. You can share your document form that will generate public link and configure that all data and documents created using form is being sent to specified email address. Please remember about adding hints before/after form submission to make it clear for user what happens after document is generated.

Step 6: Test Your Online Form and Word Document

Before you start using your online form to populate your Word document, it’s important to test the process to ensure that it works correctly. Test your online form to ensure that it captures the data you need and test your Word document to ensure that it displays the data correctly.

Conclusion

Populating a Word document using an online form can save you time and improve the accuracy and consistency of your data. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create an online form that captures the information you need and link it to your Word document to automate the process of populating the document with the data collected in the form.