How to create a Filevine DocGen template (step by step)

Filevine DocGen · practical guide

Filevine DocGen generates documents by merging data from a project into a Word template. The template is an ordinary .docx with special merge codes where the data should go. This guide walks through building one from scratch and testing it on a real project.

1. Understand how a merge code is structured

Every Filevine merge code is the section name followed by the field name, joined by a dot and wrapped in double braces:

{{client.email1}}      → the Client section's Email field
{{casesummary.paralegal.name}}  → Case Summary → Paralegal's Name

When you're hunting for the right code, think section first ("whose data is this?"), then the field. That mental model makes a long field list much easier to navigate.

2. Get your project's Field List

The Field List is the master list of every merge code available for a specific DocGen button. You need it to know exactly what codes exist. To export it:

1. In Filevine, open Menu → Advanced → DocGen Setup.
2. Drill to the Project Type → Section → Doc Generation button your template is for.
3. Open that button's Field List and save/export it.

3. How to convert an existing Word document into a DocGen template

Start from the document your firm already sends. Everywhere a value should be filled in — client name, date of loss, matter number — replace the typed-in text with the matching merge code from your Field List:

Dear {{client.fullname}},

Re: Matter No. {{project.projectnumber}}

Firm letterhead fields like {{orgName}} and {{orgAddress1Line1}} pull from your Filevine org record — an Org Admin fills those under Main Menu → Setup → Org.

4. Upload and test on a real project

1. Back in DocGen Setup, upload your .docx to the correct Doc Generation button.
2. Open a project of that type (or a sandbox) with representative data and click the button to generate.
3. Proofread the output: confirm every field populated, there are no leftover codes, and formatting is intact.

How to check your template before uploading it

Most failed templates fail for reasons you can catch in Word, before Filevine ever sees the file. Run this list first:

1. Every code exists in this button's Field List. Search the list for each one rather than trusting memory or another template.
2. Braces are doubled and unbroken — {{client.fullname}}, not {client.fullname}, and no stray spaces inside the braces.
3. No leftover legacy placeholders. Search the document for «, <<, and [ to catch anything the conversion missed.
4. No merge code is styled as all caps — see the next section, because this one is invisible on screen.
5. Headers, footers, tables, and text boxes are checked too. Both your eye and Word's find-and-replace skip these easily.

Why Filevine rejects a DocGen template — and how to fix it

Rejection is nearly always about a code's syntax or scope, not the document itself.

• All-caps formatting applied to a merge code. If a code sits in text carrying Word's All caps or Small caps effect, the code reaches Filevine rendered in capitals and is rejected. The code looks perfectly correct on your screen, which is what makes this so easy to miss — the caps are a formatting effect, not the actual characters. Remove the effect from the code itself and apply caps only to the literal text around it.
• A code that isn't in this button's Field List. Codes copied from another template, another project type, or a different DocGen button have nothing to resolve against. Re-export the Field List from the exact button this template targets.
• Broken braces. Single braces, a missing closing brace, or a space that splits the code.
• A code split across Word runs. Editing a code a character at a time can leave Word storing it internally as several separate pieces. It reads correctly to you, but a parser reading the file may not stitch it back together. Retype the whole code in one pass, or paste it as plain text.
• Renamed or deleted Filevine fields. A code that worked last quarter may no longer exist — re-export a fresh Field List and re-map.

Why Filevine merge fields don't populate

A template that uploads cleanly but generates blanks is a different problem: the code is valid, but it resolves to nothing.

• The project has no value for that field. The most common cause by far — test on a project with representative data before concluding the template is broken.
• Collection data needs a collection-scoped button. Medicals, insurances, and expenses only pull when the Doc Generation widget lives inside that collection section. A button on a static project section can't reach them.
• Org and letterhead fields aren't filled in. {{orgName}} and the {{orgAddress1Line1}} family come from your Filevine org record, which only an Org Admin can populate under Main Menu → Setup → Org. See letterhead best practices for the full setup.
• The code points at the wrong section. Two sections can each have a "Name" field — check the section prefix, not just the field name.

Formatting problems are a category of their own: if merged text arrives in the wrong font or capitalization, the cause is usually the formatting of the code's own text in your template. Dates are the most common version of this — see formatting dates and ordinals.