How to automate your document creation & collaboration process

Are you still manually populating your Microsoft Word templates with client details? And then emailing them back and forth using crazy filenames like ‘Contract V27_final_FINAL’ for version control?

If so, there’s a better way.

The Old Way

Does this sound familiar?

You start a new document from a template, and manually replace all the predefined merge fields with client information

You send the doc to others for feedback, they make their changes (hopefully with Track Changes on), and send back to you

You review their changes, make your own and send back to them.

This continues over and over, and you end up with many versions spread over multiple email threads or stored in shared drives with crazy filenames like 'Contract V27_final_FINAL’

Problems with this approach

Manually updating templates

You painstakingly enter the same information in multiple places, over and over again, to create a new document from a template

Missing merge fields

If you accidentally miss a merge field and send it to the client, you look unprofessional

Difficult to work simulatenously

If two people open V5 of the document and make edits at the same time, then you end up with 2 copies of V6, and then have to manually compare and merge each person's changes.

Hard to identify changes

If someone forgets to turn Track Changes on, it’s impossible to identify what they changed. Worse, they could sneak in wording and you wouldn’t know.

No history of changes

Once Track Changes are accepted or rejected, they’re gone from the document forever. This means if you need to go back and see what changed in V6, the markup is gone and it’s impossible to know what changed.

Difficult to access old content

With content spread across many files, it’s difficult to find and access old content from previous versions if you need it.

The New Way

Automate your document creation & collaboration process

By using Document Automation tools like Woodpecker, combined with version control & collaboration tools like Simul Docs, you can automate the whole process of creating, collaborating and version controlling a Microsoft Word document.

Here’s a real life example of how it might work:

You need to create a new Sales of Business agreement for a client, so you open up your template in Microsoft Word

The Woodpecker Word Add-In pops up and makes it easy to enter all the relevant information about the client and the deal

document automation interface Woodpecker

Woodpecker then automatically populates your template with the entered information, saving you from manually entering the same info over and over again

You review the merge and once happy, save it as a first draft

You upload the finished first draft to Simul

Simul automatically assigns Version 0.0.1 to your document

You invite your colleague James to collaborate on the document

James opens the latest version in 1 click, and makes some changes

Simul automatically creates Version 0.0.2 and shows you the changes James made, even if Track Changes wasn’t turned on.

You and James continue collaborating on the document, and you actually both open it and make changes at the same time

Simul automatically recognises when multiple people are editing the document at the same time, and saves each person’s changes in a separate branch so that nobodys work gets overridden

You can then merge these branches in just 1 click, and each author’s changes are marked up as tracked changes in Word, allowing you to easily identify the differences, accept or reject the changes, and fix any conflicts

In order to finish the document, you need some input from another colleague, Joel. However, Joel isn’t tech savvy and you don't want to invite him into Simul, so you need to share it with him via email instead.

Simul makes it easy to share the latest version with Joel, even if he isn’t in Simul. You simply download and email it (or you can export to cloud storage tools like Sharepoint & OneDrive and share it that way)

Joel receives the latest version of the document, adds the final section of content and sends it back.

Simul makes it easy to upload Joel’s changes as a new version even though he isn’t in Simul. You simply drag and drop the file into Simul. It then creates a new version, shows you what was changed and makes it easy to merge Joel’s edits in.

You’ve now finished the document, and it’s time to publish it and share the final version with others

Publishing a document in Simul gives it a major version (1.0.0 rather than 0.0.1) and enables you to download as PDF, share via email or link, export to file services like Dropbox and more.

You need to create a new Sales of Business agreement for a client, so you open up your template in Microsoft Word

The Woodpecker Word Add-In pops up and makes it easy to enter all the relevant information about the client and the deal

Woodpecker then automatically populates your template with the entered information, saving you from manually entering the same info over and over again

You review the merge and once happy, save it as a first draft

You upload the first draft to Simul