DOCX Templates Overview

A DOCX template is a HotDocs template you create in Microsoft Word using the Author tab that appears on the Word ribbon.

A DOCX template differs from a plain text template from which HotDocs assembles a final document that lacks any textual formatting. You create and edit a plain text template with HotDocs Composer.

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Overview
Common Tasks
Workflow
Assembly Order for DOCX Templates
Instruction Fields in Word Tables

Overview

A DOCX template is a word processor file that contains "boiler plate" text that does not change, as well as HotDocs fields that act as placeholders for the information you want to collect from your template's end users. You can use most of Word's formatting and document features within your HotDocs template. The documents HotDocs generates from a DOCX template are native Word documents; no conversion or reformatting is necessary.

Common Tasks

Among others, you perform the following common tasks with a DOCX template:

Creating and adding a placeholder field
Creating a conditional region
Creating a repeated region

Workflow

Although you can create a DOCX template "from scratch," it is best practice to base a template on an existing document. This enables you to use HotDocs to replace the changeable text in the document with placeholders that mark the locations to place the information your users provide when they complete the interview HotDocs generates from your template.

Assembly Order for DOCX Templates

When you create a template in Word you can place HotDocs fields in the main body of the text, headers, footers, text boxes, comments, footnotes and endnotes. When HotDocs uses the template to assemble a document, it processes the fields in the main body top to bottom and left to right (just as you would read a page of text). If you include HotDocs fields in any other areas HotDocs processes them in the following order:

First section header, then footer.
Main body of first section until HotDocs encounters a text box, comment, footnote, or endnote. HotDocs processes each item and then returns to the main body.
Second section header, then footer.
Main body of second section until HotDocs encounters a text box, comment, footnote, or endnote. HotDocs processes each item and then returns to the main body.
Third section, header then footer.
And so on...

If headers and footers are defined separately then HotDocs processes them in the following order:

First page
Odd page
Even page

Instruction Fields in Word Tables

Before you add HotDocs instruction fields within a table, you should be aware of the following differences from what you see in the main body of the template:

Insert instructions – You cannot Insert Another Template or File within a table cell
REPEAT instructions – When you select Create a Repeated Region from the HotDocs Field Editor, you see two options:
- Selected Text – Enables you to repeat selected content within a cell (just as you can repeat selected content outside of a table)
- Table Row – Enables you to repeat an entire row of a table in order to create a table with multiple rows as your users answer questions during the interview; to repeat an entire row, you need to add one placeholder field per column, then select the first row after the header row before you create the repeated region

The HotDocs Field Editor does not display the Create a Repeated Region option If you select content across more than one cell in a table.