How to Guide: Make Document Generation Effortless with Documint

Manual document creation is not just slow—it introduces severe operational friction. According to a study by IDC, knowledge workers spend over four hours per week manually drafting and formatting routine documents. Across sales, HR, and legal operations, this manual effort leads to delayed deal cycles, broken formatting, and costly copy-paste errors.

Automating your document workflows eliminates these bottlenecks. By connecting structured data sources directly to automated document creation software, you can generate accurate, brand-compliant documents in seconds.

This guide breaks down how to set up scalable low-code document generation using Documint and Make.com, transforming your manual repetitive paperwork into fully automated workflows.

What Is Document Generation Software?

Document generation software is a technology category that automates the creation of structured business documents—such as contracts, invoices, proposals, and reports—by merging dynamic data from external databases into pre-designed templates.

Unlike word processing software designed for manual, single-document editing, document generation software operates programmatically or via automated workflows. It replaces manual data entry with business rules, data binding, and conditional rendering.

Key Components of an Automated Document Workflow

• Templates: Pre-designed blueprints that define formatting, static branding, and structural layouts.
• Dynamic Field Tokens: Visual placeholders mapped directly to data fields in external platforms like Airtable, HubSpot, or custom databases.
• Display Rules: Logic conditions that show or hide specific sections, terms, or clauses based on incoming record data.
• Triggering Events: Automated signals (such as a deal status change or form submission) that initiate document creation.

Research from AIIM indicates that organizations adopting automated document workflows reduce overall document processing times by up to 80%. Real estate operators and legal teams report dropping document preparation timelines from hours down to minutes.

Primary Use Cases: Contracts, NDAs, and HR Automation

While document generation applies across operational functions, high-volume and high-risk workflows deliver the highest return on investment.

1. Customer Contracts and Agreements

Sales teams often lose momentum waiting for custom sales agreements. Manually drafting agreements risks outdated pricing models or incorrect legal disclaimers.

Automating contract generation pulls deal values, customer names, payment terms, and custom line items directly from your CRM into a verified contract template. Thomson Reuters reports that legal teams save up to 82% of drafting time when using document automation for contracts and legal agreements.

2. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

NDAs are highly standardized yet frequent friction points in business development. Using low-code document generation, an NDA can be generated automatically when a prospect submits an intake form or reaches a specific CRM stage. The system populates party information, effective dates, and jurisdiction clauses without requiring staff intervention.

3. HR Automation and Offer Letters

HR operations involve heavy administrative routines. Document automation for HR streamlines talent acquisition by instantly generating personalized offer letters, employment agreements, and onboarding packets. 

Through HR automation, candidate details entered into an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or form populate role-specific terms, compensation tiers, equity schedules, and local benefits clauses. This accelerates candidate response times and eliminates manual record handling.

How Low-Code Document Generation Works

Modern document automation relies on a low-code architecture that connects your database to a document engine through visual integration platforms like Make.com or Zapier.

1. Trigger Event: A specific event occurs in your business tool—such as a Google Form response, an updated record in Airtable, or a pipeline stage change in HubSpot.
2. Data Payload: The source application sends a JSON data payload containing variable information to the automation middleware.
3. Template Processing: Make passes the payload to Documint. Documint maps the incoming data values to visual Field Tokens, evaluates Display Rules, and calculates dynamic variables.
4. Rendering and Delivery: Documint builds a pixel-perfect PDF and returns it to your workflow to be emailed, stored in cloud storage, or routed for signature.

Step-by-Step Guide: Make Document Generation with Documint

Setting up automated document creation software does not require complex backend development. Below is a complete step-by-step walkthrough for configuring make document generation workflows using Documint and Make.com.

Step 1: Design Your Template with Documint’s Template Builder

1. Log in to your Documint account and navigate to the dashboard.
2. Click New Template and choose a blank layout or select a pre-designed template from the gallery.
3. Set your target page layout, orientation (Portrait/Landscape), and standard margins under template settings.
4. Use the drag-and-drop block editor to construct your layout using rows, columns, headers, text blocks, and image elements.

Step 2: Set Up Data Sources and Field Mapping

Documint eliminates manual Handlebars coding through visual token management.

1. Open the Sources panel on the right-hand side of the template builder screen.
2. Select your data source setup method:
3. • Direct Connection: If using Airtable, select the Airtable Connection to automatically import field names and schema directly into your builder.
   • Custom Data Source: For Make.com, HubSpot, or API connections, define your custom schema fields inside the visual Fields Editor.
3. Drag the generated Field Tokens directly from the right pane into your canvas text blocks. For fields with spaces, Documint automatically handles character formatting safely.

Step 3: Configure the Make.com Automation Scenario

To make document generation trigger automatically, set up a scenario in Make.com:

1. Open Make.com and create a New Scenario.
2. Add your trigger module (e.g., Google Forms - Watch Responses or Airtable - Watch Records).
3. Add a secondary module and search for Documint.
4. Select the Generate Document action.
5. Authenticate the connection by creating an API key inside Documint under Integration Settings and pasting it into Make.
6. Choose your target Documint template from the dropdown menu.
7. Map the output fields from your trigger module directly to the matching Documint field tokens.
8. Add a downstream module (such as Google Drive - Upload a File or Gmail - Send an Email) using the PDF URL returned by Documint.

Step 4: Implement Display Rules and Dynamic Looping

Advanced business documents require dynamic structure based on incoming data.

Conditional Content with Display Rules

Instead of maintaining multiple individual templates for different edge cases, use Display Rules:

• Select any row or content block in your template.
• Open the Display Rule tab in the logic editor.
• Define a condition using the visual builder (e.g., Show block only if State equals California or Deal_Value > 50000).

Dynamic Lists and Line Items

When generating invoices, proposals, or order summaries, your document must render variable numbers of rows.

• Select the table row or element block designed for repeated items.
• Go to the Repeat/Loop tab in the logic editor.
• Select the array token from your mapped fields. Documint automatically iterates through the dataset at render time without manual loop coding

Step 5: Add Native E-Signatures with Documint Sign

Sending generated contracts for execution traditionally required integrating third-party signature tools. Documint streamlines this with native e-signatures.

1. In your template designer, drag a Documint Sign element into your document footer or signature area.
2. Configure signer details (Name, Email, Signing Order) dynamically using field tokens mapped from your Make scenario.
3. When the document is generated, Documint automatically creates a secure, legally binding signature link and routes it to recipients with complete digital audit trails.

Why Modern Teams Choose Documint

Selecting the right document template builder and generation engine directly impacts your platform agility and operating costs.

Documint delivers an accessible, product-led solution that bridges non-technical usability with developer-grade API capabilities. Whether powering internal operational workflows in Airtable or embedding document generation into SaaS products, teams scale faster without administrative overhead.

Streamline Your Document Workflows Today

Manual paperwork costs growing companies valuable time, introduces risk, and slows down revenue operations. By combining structured data, low-code integration, and flexible template design, you can eliminate manual drafting from your operations permanently.

Ready to eliminate manual document creation?

Start Automating your Documents and build your first template in under five minutes. Or Start Free Trial to explore Documint's native e-signatures, integrations, and visual builder with zero commitment.