> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://learn.nexudus.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Document Templates

> Create and edit reusable Word, HTML and RTF document templates with merge fields, then use them to generate contracts, proposals and customer documents.

## Overview

**Document templates** are reusable documents that Nexudus fills in with customer and contract data when it generates a document. Instead of creating each membership agreement, licence or proposal from scratch, build the template once with **merge fields** where the personal details go, then generate finished documents from it for any customer.

Templates come in three formats:

| Format | How you edit it | Best for |
| - | - | - |
| **Microsoft Word (recommended)** | A Word-based online editor | Most documents — keeps normal Word formatting |
| **HTML (Liquid syntax)** | Plain HTML with Liquid tags | Documents generated programmatically or embedded elsewhere |
| **RTF (Liquid syntax)** | Plain RTF with Liquid tags | Legacy documents; requires familiarity with RTF |

## How to access

Go to **CRM → Tasks & documents → Document templates**. The list shows each template's **Name**, **Format**, and the location it belongs to.

## Create a template

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the form">
    In **CRM → Document templates**, select **Add template**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the format">
    Pick the **Document format**. **Microsoft Word (recommended)** is the default.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start from a document (Word only)">
    If you already have a Microsoft Word document you'd like to use as a starting point, upload it under **Your document**. The template name is filled in from the file name. You can also leave this empty and type the content directly in the editor.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it">
    Enter a **Template name** your team will recognise, for example "Private office licence".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Save the template. For Word templates you can now open the editor (below); for HTML and RTF templates, enter the content in the **Contents** field and save.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>For Word templates, copy/paste your document's content into the editor rather than uploading a heavily formatted file — it avoids formatting errors and saves time in the long run.</Tip>

## Edit a template

### Word templates

1. Open the template and click **Launch editor**. The template editor opens in another browser tab and can take a few seconds to load.
2. Edit the document as needed.
3. Under **File**, click **Save**.

When you close the editor tab, the Admin Panel picks up the changes automatically.

### HTML and RTF templates

Open the template and edit the **Contents** field directly, then save. You need to be comfortable with HTML or RTF syntax respectively.

<Note>Documents generated before you edit a template remain unchanged. Your edits apply to all new documents generated from it.</Note>

## Merge fields

**Merge fields** (also called dynamic fields) pull customer-specific information into the document each time it's generated — for example, the customer's salutation, company name, plan details or contract dates.

To add one in a Word template:

1. In the editor, click where you want the field to appear.
2. Open the **Data** tab and click **Insert Merge Field**.
3. Choose the master table (for customer documents this is **Coworkers**) and pick the field you want.

A few things to know:

* **Master table.** For customer-facing documents the master table should always be **Coworkers**.
* **Custom fields.** Any internal custom field on the customer is available as a merge field, so you can include data Nexudus doesn't track by default.
* **Blank values.** If there's no data for a field on a given customer, the merge field stays blank in the generated document.
* **Virtual office data.** On virtual office contracts you can also merge in **Beneficiaries** and **Nominated recipients** blocks, which pull in each person's details as a list. See [Onboarding and compliance](/platform/virtual-offices/onboarding-and-compliance#the-contracts-virtual-office-tabs).

## Test and preview

Generate a test document before you send a template to customers: pick a real customer and generate the document from the template, then check every merge field displays the right value. You can preview a document before saving it when you attach one to a customer from [Documents](/platform/crm/documents).

## Use a template

Templates generate documents in three places:

* **Customer documents.** When you add a document to a customer **by contract**, choose the contract and a **Document template to use** — Nexudus generates the document with the contract's details filled in. See [Documents](/platform/crm/documents).
* **Proposals.** A proposal can include a document generated from a template for the customer to review or sign. See [Proposals](/platform/crm/proposals).
* **Contracts.** Contract documents are generated from templates when a contract is created. See [Contracts](/platform/finance/contracts).

## Delete a template

Select the template in the list and use the delete action. Deleting a template doesn't affect documents that were already generated from it — only future generation stops working until you reassign a different template.

## Troubleshooting

* **Formatting looks wrong after generating.** Re-check the template in the editor — most issues come from pasting richly formatted content. Rebuild the affected section with plain text and re-add styling.
* **A merge field is blank in the generated document.** The customer has no value for that field. Add the data to the customer's record, or make the field optional in your wording.
* **I edited the template but old documents didn't change.** Expected — edits only apply to documents generated afterwards.

## Related

* [Documents](/platform/crm/documents) — attaching, sharing and signing customer documents
* [Message macros](/platform/crm/message-macros) — reusable message text with dynamic tokens
* [Proposals](/platform/crm/proposals) — offers that can include templated documents
* [Contracts](/platform/finance/contracts) — the contracts documents are generated from


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