The Word add-in

Sliick Docs for Microsoft Word lets you build Sliick Docs templates inside Word. You write the document the way you want it to look, add merge fields from a list of your org’s objects and fields, and save it to Salesforce as a Word-file template. Sliick Docs then uses it to create finished documents from a record, a Flow or a batch, with each merge field filled in with real data.

This section is for the person who writes templates. No coding is needed.

Before anyone can connect, a Salesforce admin does a one-time setup: install the package, assign the right permission set, and turn on Enable CORS for OAuth endpoints. See Org setup for admins. Authors can still try the add-in in demo mode before that is done.

What you can build

A template is an ordinary Word document with merge fields in it. A merge field is a placeholder such as {{Account.Name}} that is replaced with the real value when the document is generated. You can insert:

• Fields: a single value from the record (account name, amount, close date), or from a related parent (the account owner’s email).
• Repeating tables: one table row per related record, such as every contact on an account or every line item on an opportunity.
• Conditions: content that only appears when a rule is true, such as “show the premium clause only when revenue is over $50,000”.
• Built-ins: today’s date, the current user’s name, and similar.
• Images and barcodes: a picture from a field that holds a Salesforce File, or a Code 128 barcode or QR code made from a field’s value.

Everything else in the document stays exactly as you wrote it: fonts, logos, tables, headers, footers and page layout.

Install the add-in

The add-in is in Microsoft’s add-in store (AppSource), so most people install it themselves in under a minute:

• From the store: in Word, go to the Home tab, click Add-ins, search for Sliick Docs, and click Add. This works the same in Word on Windows, Mac and the web.
• Deployed by your admin: larger organisations often roll the add-in out to everyone. If so, it is already on your ribbon.

Either way, you get a Sliick Docs group on the Home tab with a Template Builder button. Click it to open the task pane on the right-hand side of Word. You can work in the document and the pane at the same time.

The task pane at a glance

Three tabs: Build, Check and Save. They sit under the pane’s header once you are connected. Switching between them does not lose anything you have set.

• Build: the field browser, and everything you insert into the document.
• Check: checks every tag in the document, headers and footers included.
• Save: saves the document to Salesforce, and lets you generate a test document from a real record.

The header, above the tabs, shows:

• A coloured dot and a context line with the org you are connected to and the template’s base object, for example acme.my.salesforce.com · Opportunity. An amber dot means demo mode (sample data, no org). A green dot means you are connected.
• ▤ My templates: the templates already saved in Salesforce for this base object.
• ⚙ Settings: demo or connected mode, the connection itself, and Diagnostics.

The bar at the bottom of each tab holds that tab’s buttons. Status messages such as “Generating…”, “Saved” or “Pick a template first” also appear there, so you never need to scroll up to see what happened.

A count on the Check tab appears after you run a check. A red number is how many things need attention. A grey number is how many tags were checked and are fine. No count means the document has not been checked yet, which is not the same as “no problems”.

The Build tab

• Object selector (the top dropdown): the Salesforce object the template is for. Pick this first, because the field list below depends on it. A template for Accounts is generated from an Account record, a template for Opportunities from an Opportunity. You set it only here; the Check and Save tabs just show it. Changing it clears the last tag check.
• Search box: type to filter the fields by name. Press Enter to insert the top match.
• Field groups, each one collapsible: Fields (the object’s own), Parent fields (reached through a lookup), Running user (whoever generates the document), Built-ins (today’s date, the current date and time) and Related lists (repeating tables).
• The bar at the bottom stays in place while the list scrolls: + Condition, + Table, and More ▾ for + If blank, + Image and + Barcode. If your org’s Sliick Docs version does not support a button, it is not shown.
• Smart cursor: put your cursor inside a repeating list and the pane switches to that list’s fields. Select a tag that is already in the document and an Edit card appears so you can change it.

Where to next

1. An admin completes Org setup for admins.
2. You connect the add-in to Salesforce.
3. You insert merge fields, tables and conditions, then check and save.
4. You generate a test document and publish.

For what the add-in does with your data, see the Word add-in privacy policy.