4) Capabilities of Doc Gen
Document Generation Podcast Series
Episode 4 of 4: Document Generation Features and Capabilities
Watch the Video on YouTube:
00:00 About Us (here)
00:25 Introduction (here)
02:10 Template Capabilities (here)
03:26 Vendor Template Options (here)
08:08 Out-of-the-Box Features (here)
11:31 Vendor Feature Options (here)
14:35 Conclusion (here)
Read the Article Version:
Introduction:
In this fourth and final chapter of the Document Generation series, your host, Preston Hurd, dives even deeper into the features and capabilities that define modern Doc Gen solutions. We’ve also created a complete Buyers Guide to Document Generation for Salesforce (here), available on our website for those who want to explore the details further.
In this episode, we’ll cover template capabilities and the out-of-the-box features offered by leading Doc Gen automation tools. Preston compares how platforms like Conga Composer, S-Docs, MergeUp, Nintex, and Templafy handle template formats, dynamic content, and AI—highlighting the trade-offs between simplicity, flexibility, and personalization.
This discussion unpacks why choosing the right template framework is essential for scaling document creation, emphasizing key factors such as supported file types (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML), logic controls, and automation depth. The episode wraps up by connecting Document Generation to the broader Document Management ecosystem, underscoring how integration and automation are critical for modern Salesforce-driven organizations.
So for this chapter, you might need a refill—grab another cup of coffee, and let’s see how this technology can help you stir up some revenue!
Body:
So to start, how about the topic of Template Capabilities?
Yeah, that’s the next thing we want to look at—Template Capabilities. This is a really important component, especially when we talk about which template file types are supported by each solution. Doc Gen tools vary quite a bit in the formats they support—such as Microsoft Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, or HTML—and in how they integrate with familiar editing tools. Most non-technical users work with Microsoft Word every day, which covers the vast majority of document generation use cases. More technical formats like HTML or JSON, on the other hand, are typically used by developers for complex styling or highly customized layouts.
It’s crucial for companies to understand which formats each solution supports natively, and how each handles layout controls and dynamic content. This helps ensure the tool fits their specific needs and output requirements. To illustrate the differences, let’s look at a few of the major vendors in this space.
Starting with the big player, Conga Composer—they make building templates in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint easy and familiar, preserving brand styles, custom fonts, and layouts, while still allowing for deep customization. Their templates are standard Microsoft Office files, which makes ongoing maintenance straightforward for non-technical users. In contrast, S-Docs takes a different approach. Its templates are HTML-driven, so users don’t get that same familiar Microsoft Office editing experience.
Conga also handles dynamic visibility through multiple Salesforce queries—what they call “row burners.” This determines which rows appear based on query conditions. While Conga supports basic “if statements” for simple dynamic text swaps, it lacks nested “ifs” and full block conditionals, which limits complex personalization. In simpler terms, it can handle basic logic, but not highly tailored or conditional document scenarios.
By comparison, MergeUp offers much greater flexibility. Its JavaScript-based dynamic engine allows for virtually unlimited control over formatting, layout, and logic. MergeUp also includes AI template generation, which, combined with its JavaScript support, unlocks advanced use cases that many other tools simply can’t handle. This makes it ideal for organizations that need deeply personalized or technically complex document automation.
Then there’s Nintex, which also focuses heavily on the Microsoft Suite—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint templates. Nintex supports basic branding preservation and simple “if” logic within Word field codes for true/false outputs. However, it doesn’t offer broader section visibility control or nested logic. This means it works well for straightforward use cases but can feel constrained when compared to more dynamic solutions.
All of this technical detail matters because once the CRM administrator sets up a template—whether using AI tools, JavaScript, or a standard Word file—that template becomes the foundation for all users in the organization. Every proposal, contract, or report will follow that structure. So it’s essential to get it right the first time. That’s why understanding the technical limitations and capabilities of each platform is so important—it directly impacts efficiency, consistency, and scalability across the entire organization.
What about the Out-of-the-Box Features?
Yeah, that’s really the last piece we should look at before wrapping up all this technical talk. Out of the box, some of the more advanced Doc Gen solutions offer intelligent or “smart” features—things like conditional content rendering, dynamic tables, and auto-generated charts based on real-time Salesforce data. These are the bells and whistles that can make a huge difference in document presentation and personalization. Some tools also incorporate AI-assisted features or adaptive templates that automatically adjust based on the user, region, or record context, further streamlining and enhancing document quality.
Ultimately, it all comes down to personalization—making sure the content feels relevant, accurate, and high-quality. When evaluating solutions, companies should look closely at which smart features come standard versus which require custom configuration. It’s also important to assess whether the AI capabilities are explainable, trainable, and practical for their use case. While these features aren’t always essential for every organization, they can significantly improve the overall quality and consistency of generated documents. Of course, there’s also a learning curve, particularly for the admin who sets up the templates and automations behind the scenes—not just for the end users clicking “generate document.”
AI and smart features can be incredibly valuable depending on a company’s goals. For many, they add meaningful efficiency and flexibility; for others—especially more traditional or less tech-driven organizations—they might just feel like extra flair. Still, in most modern use cases, these capabilities provide significant advantages in both performance and user experience.
Looking at vendors again, Conga supports batch document generation from list views and reports, though that functionality requires an add-on purchase. You’ll need to consider costs tied to Conga Composer, Conga Batch, and Conga Trigger licensing. Conga allows workflow automation through Salesforce Flow and API integrations, and documents can be generated in Salesforce Experience Cloud portals for authenticated users. However, guest-user generation isn’t supported, which can limit public-site use or heavy customizations. Conga also supports advanced JSON manipulations for dynamic data injection, allowing for more complex merges—but these require Apex or middleware, which can make them less accessible for non-technical teams.
Meanwhile, Templafy—along with MergeUp—offers built-in dynamic functions and AI capabilities. Both are strong options for organizations exploring cutting-edge automation and adaptive content tools. These solutions represent the evolving frontier of Doc Gen, where smart automation and AI are becoming more deeply embedded into everyday document workflows.
Finally, there’s the natural next step beyond Document Generation—Document Management. While we didn’t dive deeply into that topic here, it’s closely related. Think of it like a Venn diagram: Doc Gen on one side, Document Management on the other, with integration as the overlap. Managing that handoff between generating and storing documents is vital. It’s what connects automated document creation with broader business processes like approvals, collaboration, and compliance.
So hopefully, this gives you a clear, high-level picture of Doc Gen—its subcategories, how it integrates with adjacent technologies like Document Management, and why it’s such a powerful tool for modern organizations. It’s complex, but when done right, it saves time, boosts efficiency, and delivers real business value.
Conclusion:
Definitely helpful — really diving deep into the Features and Capabilities of Doc Gen. And I’m sure that our listeners will take away a lot from this entire series, especially as they explore the different software solutions available to them… So that wraps up our four-part series on Doc Gen.
Thanks so much for listening to The Filtered Brew Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and took away some insights you can apply to your own Doc Gen strategy. Be sure to visit thefilteredbrew.com — it’s the place to go for all your digital sales and marketing consulting needs, and where you can find more episodes, resources, and updates from the team.
If you liked what you heard, don’t forget to follow, rate, and share the show — it really helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. This has been The Filtered Brew Podcast — where conversations are crafted, refined, and brewed to perfection. Until next time, keep those ideas brewing — and visit TheFilteredBrew.com
Transcript Timestamps:
00:00 About Us (here)
[Music]
00:25 Introduction (here)
0:25 Hello. Get ready for some tech talk over coffee where we filter through the latest digital tech one sip at a time. Welcome to the filtered brew, a tech podcast all about software. Your host is digital consultant Preston Herd. So join us for a cup of coffee and let's get into what's brewing on today's menu. In this fourth and final chapter within the document generation series, your host Preston Hurd dives even deeper into the document generation features and capabilities. We'll cover template capabilities ans the out-of-the-box features of leading doc generation tools. We compare how platforms like Conga Composer, S-Docs, MergeUp, NTEX, and Templify handle template formats, dynamic content, and AI, highlighting the trade-offs between simplicity, flexibility, and personalization. This discussion explains why choosing the right template framework is critical for scaling document creation, emphasizing factors like supported file types like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML, as well as logic controls and automation depth. This episode wraps up by connecting document generation to the broader document management ecosystem, underscoring how integration and automation are critical for modern Salesforce driven organizations. For this chapter, you're going to need a refill. So, grab another cup of coffee and let's figure out how we can use this tech to stir up some revenue.
02:10 Template Capabilities (here)
2:10 So, to start, how about the topic of template capabilities? Yeah, that's the next thing we want to look at. Template capabilities is very important and specifically this component template capabilities. We're talking about, you know, what supported template file types with each one of these solutions. Docjen tools really vary in their support for template formats such as Microsoft Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint or HTML and compatibility with familiar editing tools. These tools like Word that non-technical users use every day covers really the the vast majority of the use cases. while HTML or JSON formats might need to be more for like a developer for like the complex styling to really make something quote unquote fancy. But it's just important to understand which formats are supportive natively with each of the solutions and whether there's, you know, layout controls or dynamic content behavior that's different across the different types.
03:26 Vendor Template Options (here)
3:26 So customers should really understand what for their company's use case. There's a lot of different varying use cases. What file outputs are needed. So let's look at a handful of these vendors. Let's start out with the big player in the space, Conga Composer. They make building templates in Word, Excel, PowerPoint easy and familiar. preserving things like brand styles, custom fonts, layouts with some deep technical customization. Templates themselves are standard office, Microsoft Office files, making maintenance pretty straightforward for non-technical users.
4:09 Now, let's compare that to the other vendor that we talked about earlier, S-Docs. It's a different scenario with S-Docs because S-Docs, we talked about their integration type. They have HTML driven templates. So, you're not going to get as much of that familiar, you know, Microsoft Office file experience.
4:34 Let's also look at Conga and how they handle dynamic visibility by defining multiple Salesforce queries.
4:48 And then we call these row burners. I don't know if you're familiar with that term. It's which rows appear by query condition. We're getting a little technical here, but what what that gets into is if statements. And if if statements are supported inside templates for simple dynamic text swaps, there's an absence of nested ifs and fullblock conditionals. So that limits complex personalization. I just said a bunch of technical stuff. And what doesthat really mean? It means personalization.
5:23 So if you compare that to the capabilities of MergeUp for example, dynamic JavaScriptbased flexibility which provides virtually unlimited flexibility to create any type of format look and feel that you want.
5:44 So you know there's some different variations there. And then I also want to talk about AI here. uh with MergeUp in particular, they have an AI template generation and and they also support JavaScript as I said earlier. So that enables this very complex template creation. And on the technical side, their JavaScript capabilities really unlock the advanced use cases that are challenging or even impossible for a lot of the other solutions to handle. So incorporating that JavaScript template having the AI template generation capability built in really provides a lot more flexibility and a lot more breadth of what can be done. So again consider if that's important to you for for your use case.
6:36 But there are options out there that do leverage tech like that. So wanted to talk about them in this podcast.
6:45 Nintex - wanted to talk about Ninex as it relates to template capabilities specifically because they really have a focus on the Microsoft suite of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Docs, and template creation with those document types.
7:08 It it allows for basic branding preservation, but want to talk about them as it relates to things that are a little bit more complex or dynamic because it really has simple if logic and constrained dynamic document control. I'm specifically talking about if statements. So if you're using a word doc in the field code syntax that goes with that which can show true false outputs but it lacks broader section visibility control and it lacks nested logic. So this approach while it's good for straightforward use cases it feels fairly constrained and since those features are available in other solutions wanted to really kind of highlight the difference of something that's simple versus being able to add that dynamic component to.
08:08 Out-of-the-Box Features (here)
8:08 It makes sense that this would be very important because once the admin sets up the template, then all of the users are going to be using that same template.
8:24 Yeah, that's exactly right. And that's why it's so important. We got a little technical there, but that's why it's so important that you look at what technically can and can't be done because once the CRM admin sets up that template, maybe they use AI to do it,, but whatever they do to build that template, maybe they just use a standard Word doc, but that doesn't have as much flexibility like we talked about.
8:47 That’s really important to get right because that's what all the users in the org are going to be using on a daily basis. So
8:56 That template has got to be perfect and why it's so important why we wanted to cover that.
9:00 What about the out of the box features?
9:06 Yeah, that's really the last thing I think that we should look at. And then we'll move on from all this technical stuff. But you know, out of the box, there are some advanced solutions that offer different intelligent features or smart features.
9:23 You've probably heard the term that enable conditional content rendering.
9:31 They can enable dynamic tables. They can autogenerate charts based on real time Salesforce data. So think about all those bells and whistles that you can leverage like having a chart, having a table within your document.
9:48 Some tools like I mentioned also incorporate AI assisted features or adaptive templates that adjust based on the user, the region or the record context. So these features really make it personalize and streamline the personalization.
10:06 That's really what it's all about is personalization and really improving the overall quality of the documents that are generated. So customers when you're looking at a solution, they should explore what smart features come out of the box versus requiring custom configuration and whether AI capabilities are explainable and trainable. It makes sense. While not always a must-have for for every company, these features can, you know, generally offer a lot of improvement for the overall quality and then the final results and there's a learning curve. There's overall experience needed in interacting with the tool and for the admin in particular that not just the user who's clicking generate document and bring in all the Salesforce data, but for the admin as well that's setting all this up. So, you know, these smart features and AI as a component of that, I think is is really important for most companies depending upon their use case to determine, you know, if they really need that. And I think in most cases, it makes a lot of sense versus for some maybe more traditional historic companies, maybe it's just a flashy add-on that they that they wouldn't use. But I think in general, it it's something that offers significant value to the overall process.
11:31 Vendor Feature Options (here)
11:31 So that's really, you know, what we're talking about when we talk about features. If we break down the vendors, again, Conga supports batch docgen ersus list views and reports. And this functionality requires an add-on purchase. You got to consider cost. It's not only Conga, it's Conga Composer, Conga batch, Conga trigger licensing. To the best of my understanding, that's how it works as an add-on. But workflow automation is possible in flow integrations with Salesforce is is possible by setting this up with patterns and APIs. But the solutions are really generating documents in the Salesforce experience cloud portals for authenticated users.
12:23 However, the guest user generation is not supported. And so inside public sites, it might be limiting as far as the heavy customizations that you can do. They also support smart features permitting advanced JSON manipulations for dynamic data injection allowing more custom merges, but that requires Apex or middleware - middleware to unlock these features effectively. So that offers less immediate usability compared to the other vendors in this space.
12:58 Another one that I looked at that does have some components of AI as well is Templify and both MergeUp and Templify have some built-in dynamic functions.
13:10 So, Templify, another one that I think you should look at with some a different type of AI capabilities, but also built-in dynamic functions. Another one to consider as far as cutting edge companies in this space.
13:28 There's also the next step in all this that is document management. Why was this topic not included?
13:38 Yeah, that's a good question. We really dove deep into the doc automation. We talked about integrations in particular and one thing you got to consider when you're talking about integrations is how are you going to integrate with that next step. Integration plays a vital role. I view them really as a Venn diagram where you have Doc Gen one side and you have Doc Management on the other side. Right?
14:09 Hopefully that gives you a good high level of Doc Gen, the subcategories within Doc Gen, how it relates to other categories that are adjacent or overlapping with a vin diagram like Document Management software. It's complex stuff, but it saves time. It makes teams more efficient and more effective, and it makes a lot of sense for most companies to bring on a solution like this. Hope it's helpful.
14:35 Conclusion (here)
14:35 Definitely helpful, really diving into the features and capabilities of Doc Gen and I'm sure that our listeners will take away a lot from this entire series especially as they explore the different software solutions available to them. So that wraps up our four-part series on Doc Gen. Thanks so much for listening to The Filtered Brew Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation and took away some insights that you could apply to your own Doc Gen strategy. Be sure to visit the filteredbreww.com. It's the place to go for all your digital sales and marketing consulting needs and where you can find more episodes, resources, and updates from the team. If you liked what you heard, don't forget to follow, rate, and share the show. It really helps us grow and reach more listeners like you. This has been the Filtered Brew Podcast, where conversations are crafted, refined, and brewed to perfection. Until next time, keep those ideas brewing and visit the filteredbreww.com.
