In this article, users can find a quick guide to start automating. We recommend to get started by watching the video below and then use the article to review and refresh any of the key concepts covered.
More information about automating a template is available by visiting our collection "automating a template" here.
As a next step you can review our Advanced automation collection or this article that highlights common templating errors and best-practice workarounds to help you create reliable, consistent, and easy-to-maintain templates in Avvoka. If you have any questions, remember you can always get in touch with your Customer Success Manager.
Uploading a template
Before you automate the first step is to upload your precedent into the system, to do this follow these steps:
Go to the Templates page and click on the "Add new" button to create a new template.
Select the relevant profile you wish for the template to be created in (only the users in this profile will be able to see the template once you make it public).
From here there are 3 ways a user can create a template: From a Blank Template, By Uploading a "Docx" file, or by using Smart Automation (if the AI features are turned on).
Uploading from a "Docx" file, is importing your existing Microsoft Word "Docx" file into Avvoka. Please note that the uploaded document should be in a "Docx" format and not "Doc" as this is not compatible to Avvoka's system. The template will inherit the name of the docx file
Creating from a blank template is as straight-forward as it sounds, all the user has to do is to give the template a name and description (optional).
Smart Automation AI starts from a simple .docx upload. Using AI, it transforms your precedent document into a fully automated template by automatically detecting placeholders and conditional logic, with no manual tagging required. This gives you an immediate first draft of a working template. From there, you can easily fine-tune the automation to reflect your firm’s preferred logic. More information about Smart Automation can be found on this article: Here.
We recommend to ensure the document styles and formatting are in a good place before you start automating. But if you need to change anything at a later stage you can always download the docx, change directly in MS Word and reupload it without losing the automation.
Automating
To start automating the template, click on the "Document" tab in the left-hand bar of the Template settings tab after the user has added a new template.
Users can also use our different AI features to streamline the process of automation.
Placeholders
A way of marking an input field in the document, indicating that an answer from the questionnaire will be inserted into the relevant location. In an ordinary legal document, this would normally be where square brackets would be located.
E.g: If you wish to populate the name of the borrower into the document, you might use the placeholder “Borrower Name”
You will be able to identify placeholders in Avvoka because they will highlight the text in the colour yellow.
To create input fields in the Template, highlight the text with the cursor that will become an input field and then click the Placeholder icon in the toolbar. A question with the label of the relevant highlighted text will appear in the "Questionnaire" tab, the answer to this question will replace the highlighted text in a created document. Here is a more detailed explanation about placeholders here.
Additionally, the user can use shortcut keys by highlighting the text then press "Alt+P" (Windows) or "Option+P" (Mac) on the keyboard to create a placeholder.
Copy and paste the highlighted yellow text elsewhere in the template to create the same input field in other locations within the template.
Each time a Placeholder or a new attribute for a Condition is created in the Template, it will generate a question in the Questionnaire. Learn more about the Questionnaire here.
Placeholder Transformations
For an advanced customisation of placeholders you can also use placeholder transformations.
Placeholder transformations let you control how placeholder values appear throughout your document, directly from the editor.
They make it easy to apply simple formatting rules. For example you can use transformations if you want a party’s name to appear in UPPERCASE in the title, but Capitalized in the rest of the document. Or, you might choose to display a number as words instead of digits.
To use them:
Click into your placeholder in the document.
In the sidebar on the right, expand the Transform value dropdown.
Choose the transformation(s) you'd like to apply:
The chosen transformation will only apply to that instance of the placeholder selected (e.g: only in the title or signature page).
Conditions
Conditions let you show or hide text in a document based on questionnaire answers. To add one, highlight the text you want to control and click either Block Condition (for full clauses or paragraphs) or Inline Condition (for individual words or sentences). The text will only appear when the condition you set is met.
Here is a more detailed explanation about conditions here (including the two types of conditions "block" and "in-line" conditions).
Clicking on either the Block or Inline Condition icons will load the “Condition Builder”, where you define the logic that controls when the text appears:
The Condition Builder has three parts:
Attribute: what you are checking (for example, “Company Name” or a new attribute like “Security”).
Evaluator: how you are checking the logic for the attribute (for example, equals, contains, present).
Value: what must be true for the text to appear (for example, “Yes”).
If the condition is satisfied, the text appears in the document; if not, it stays hidden.be satisfied (so that the relevant text in the Block or Inline Condition appears).
Example: In a loan agreement, users may want a clause to appear only if there is a guarantor. Set the Attribute to “Guarantor”, the Method to “equals”, and the Value to “Yes”.
This automatically creates a question in the questionnaire, such as “Is there a guarantor?”.
If the user answers Yes, the guarantor-related text appears in the document. If they answer No, it stays hidden. The relevant condition logic can be applied to different areas of the template (e.g: title, recitals, definition, a clause about the guarantee and signature page)
Copying and Pasting Conditions
Users also have the option to copy and paste their conditions over to other unrelated conditions. On the condition block on the right panel, users can click on the "Copy" button and paste on new conditions or existing conditions.
Advanced automation
Advanced automation tools help you handle more complex drafting scenarios at scale. Some commonly used ones includes:
Loops repeat sections of text based on multiple answers
Autolist keeps lists grammatically correct as items are added or removed
Operations transform or calculate answers
Workflows control approvals, signing, and document flow. Used together, these tools reduce manual edits and ensure documents stay accurate and consistent
Template packs bundles multiple templates together and generate them via a single questionnaire, streamlining the process of generating documents for greater efficiency.
You can also review our Advanced automation collection
Questionnaire
The questionnaire is where users provide the answers that drive the user's document. Each placeholder, condition, and automation tool creates or connects to a question, ensuring the right information is captured at the right time.
Users can control who answers each question, add guidance text, set defaults, and apply validations to reduce errors. A well-designed questionnaire keeps the drafting experience intuitive for users while ensuring the document is generated accurately and consistently every time.
Toggle the document view to see the template alongside the questionnaire in split-screen. Useful for live editing and checking placeholder links in context.
Here is more information about how a user can edit and modify the questionnaire.
Organising the questionnaire
The questionnaire can be sorted based on how it will look in the final output. There are multiple ways to sort the questionnaire.
The most common and effective way is by dragging the "drag" icon on the question to put exactly where it is needed, using the toggle to "Compress" the questionnaire can be very useful.
Another way, is to simply click on the "Sort" icon which sorts the questionnaire based on how the conditions and placeholders are placed in the document.
Drafting the questionnaire with AI
As name suggests, the questionnaire can be built with AI assistance, clicking on this will open a modal that allows a user to enter prompts/hints for the AI to create questions within the questionnaire.
Save and publish
Saving and publishing the document, allows the document to be officially used but with a few key differences. In both options, users are able to add release notes. All saved and published versions are available in the History tab, and if needed, users can consult or restore previous versions of the template.
Saving the template only saves a "minor" version, which is not available in the create area (this will move the version number by one decimal point 0.1 --> 0.2).
When the template is published, then it will be available to be used for document generation by end users in the "Create" tab (this will move the version number by one integrer 0.1-->1.0).
Learn more about publishing a document here.
Testing the template
Live demo
Live Demo is a feature that allows the user to test their document without generating a copy. On the left navbar, users can click on Live Demo, and they will be able to test the last saved version of the template.
Create Document
Generating a document has the same concept of a live demo, in terms of testing, but with more accessibility for counterparties and permission to download the document once the user is finished answering the questionnaire. To generate a document, simply click on the Create Document on the top right section of the page. Note that the button will be greyed out if the document has not been saved.
