Document generation creates personalized Word, PowerPoint, or PDF documents from reusable templates. During an assistant conversation or workflow, the assistant fills a template with the required data and returns the finished document as an attachment.
Employees request documents naturally during a conversation, for example, "I need a letter confirming my employment." Experience designers prepare the template and configure document-generation tools that agents or workflows can use automatically.
You can generate documents such as employment verification letters, offer letters, reference letters, completed forms, and presentation decks.
What document generation helps you do
| Who you are | What you can achieve |
| Employee | Request a personalized document in a conversation and download it as an attachment. |
| Experience designer | Create templates with tokens, configure document-generation tools, and add them to agents and workflows. |
| Tenant administrator | Upload and manage template files as tenant assets. |
How document generation works
| Component | Purpose |
| Template | The Word or PowerPoint file that defines the document layout and contains tokens such as {employee_name}. |
| Template asset | The uploaded template stored in your tenant. The document-generation tool references this asset. |
| Document-generation tool | Supplies data to the template and creates the finished document. |
| Defaults | Fixed values used every time the tool runs, such as the template ID, company name, signatory, or filename pattern. |
| Input bindings | Map conversation, session, case, or workflow data to template tokens. |
| Data source | Optionally retrieves additional information, such as employee details from an HR system, before generating the document. |
| Attachment | The generated document that the employee receives. This can be the PDF, the original Office file, both, or neither, depending on the tool configuration. |
How employees receive documents
The employee requests a document in chat, email, Microsoft Teams, Slack, or another connected channel.
If more information is needed, the assistant asks follow-up questions or retrieves available information automatically.
When the document is ready, it appears as an attachment in the assistant's reply.
| Channel | What the employee receives |
| Employee portal and mobile app | A downloadable attachment, typically a PDF when PDF output is enabled. |
| Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Outlook | The same generated document as a message attachment. |
Employees can download the document, forward it, or continue the conversation. If document generation can't be completed, the assistant explains the problem, for example, missing information or an issue with the template.
Dates, numbers, and currency are formatted using the employee's language and regional settings.
How a document is generated
Every generated document follows the same process.
| Step | What happens |
| 1. Collect data | Gather values from conversation input, session context, defaults, and optional data sources. |
| 2. Load template | Load the template asset from your tenant. |
| 3. Fill template | Replace template tokens, loops, and conditional sections with formatted values. |
| 4. Convert to PDF (optional) | Convert the generated Office document to PDF if PDF output is enabled. |
| 5. Attach document | Attach the PDF, the original Office file, both, or neither, depending on the configured attachment mode. |
To validate a template, generate a document using known test data and review the output. Experience designers can also use the Document generation summary in the Trace panel to troubleshoot generation issues.
Templates and tokens
Templates are modern Microsoft Word (.docx) or PowerPoint (.pptx) files. Legacy .doc, .ppt, and .xls files aren't supported. Excel files can't be used as templates or generated output.
Place tokens wherever dynamic content should appear, for example, {employee_name} or {date_of_joining}. Each token must match the variable name provided by the document-generation tool.
Templates also support:
| Feature | Purpose |
| Loops | Repeat a section for each item in a list. |
| Conditionals | Show or hide content based on a value. |
| Formatters | Control how dates, currency, numbers, and lists are displayed. |
Keep logos, letterheads, and other static branding in the template itself.
How document generation works with other Applaud products
| Product | Relationship |
| AI assistant and agents | The primary way employees request generated documents. |
| Workflows | A workflow step can call an agent that generates a document using workflow data. |
| Cases | Case information can be mapped to template tokens through input bindings. |
| Channels | Generated documents are delivered as conversation attachments across supported channels. |
Who configures document generation
| Task | Who |
| Create templates and define tokens | Experience designer |
| Upload template assets | Tenant administrator or experience designer with asset permissions |
| Configure document-generation tools and add them to agents or workflows | Experience designer |
| Request and download generated documents | Employee |
| Review generation status and troubleshoot errors in Trace | Experience designer or conversation administrator |