Generate and publish

Generate a test document

Both steps are on the Save tab:

1. Save template or Save new version puts the open document into Salesforce.
2. Generate, in the Generate a document section, fills the version saved in Salesforce with data from a record you pick, and downloads the finished file.

Generate always uses the saved version. If you have edited the document since you last saved, save first. Otherwise you get a file built from the older version. Generating never changes your document and never creates a new version.

The Generate a document section appears once there is a template to use: when you pick one under Save to, or as soon as you save a new one. It is hidden while New template… is chosen, because nothing has been saved yet.

Generate needs a live Salesforce connection, so it is not available in demo mode.

Pick the record to merge

Record to merge is the first box in the section. Pick a record of the base object, search for one, or paste a record Id. Type one character to filter the recent records already shown. Type two or more to search the whole org, including matches in the middle of a name, so “pl” finds “Sample Account”.

PDF or Word

If your org’s Sliick Docs version supports it, a Generate as: PDF / Word choice appears beside the button. PDF is the default, and it is the one worth checking: the PDF your customers receive is produced differently from the Word file, so a template can look perfect in Word and still lose something in the PDF. If the last save found the template cannot be a PDF yet, the choice starts on Word and says why. You can still pick PDF to see the exact reason from your org. On an older version the choice does not appear, and you get a Word file.

The downloaded file

The file is named Generate-<template name>-<date>-<time>, for example Generate-Mutual-NDA-2026-09-24-182837.pdf. The extension matches the format you got back (.pdf or .docx). Because the time is in the name, a new file never replaces an earlier one. Word asks where to save it and lets you change the name.

Publish the template

Saving puts the template into Salesforce as a draft. From there, you finish it in Salesforce rather than in Word:

1. Proof and publish it, which makes it available to users. Click Open in Salesforce, click Generate proof to check the result, then click Publish. A proof is a good habit but not required: Sliick Docs checks the document when you publish and makes a proof for you afterwards. An admin or template author usually does this. See Word-file templates.
2. Generate finished documents from a record, in bulk with Doc Batches, or from a Flow.

Generated documents are saved to Files on the record, and can be emailed automatically if your admin has set that up.

PDF readiness

Each version of a template says which formats it makes: PDF, Word (.docx) or both. You tick these in Salesforce, on the template’s Output tab, not in Word. When there is a choice, the format is picked when the document is generated. See Word output.

After you save, the results panel tells you before you publish whether the document can be a PDF, and if not, what to change in Word. Some Word features do not carry over into a PDF: text boxes, custom fonts, floating images, and SmartArt or shapes. Fix those in Word. Or, if you want to send the Word version as it is, untick PDF on the draft in Salesforce. Sticking to tables, inline images and standard fonts keeps a template PDF-ready.