Template Syntax Basics

TemplateDocs uses a simple and powerful template syntax that allows you to create dynamic documents from your Word templates. To insert text in your template, use double curly braces with a tag name:

When you generate a document from the template, this tag will be replaced with the corresponding value from your data. For example:

{
  "FirstName": "John"
}

The tag {{ FirstName }} will be replaced with "John" while preserving any text formatting (bold, italic, font size, etc.) applied to the tag in the original Word document.

If you haven't already, make sure to read the Introduction guide.

Tag Rules

Tags are:

surrounded by double curly braces {{ and }}
case-sensitive
must start with a letter
can contain letters, numbers, and underscores
must not contain spaces in the tag name
can contain spaces before and after the tag name

Examples:

	Good ✓	Bad ✗
Double curly braces, not single curly braces	{{FirstName}}	{FirstName}
Double curly braces without spaces	{{ firstName }}	{ { firstName } }
No spaces in tag name	{{ FirstName }}	{{ First Name }}
No special characters except underscores	{{ last_name }}	{{ last-name }}
No underscores at the beginning	{{first_name}}	{{_first_name}}
No numbers at the beginning	{{ Item5 }}	{{ 5Item }}

Loop Tags

To repeat content (like paragraphs, table rows, or list items), use a loop structure. Loop tags consist of:

An opening tag: {{>> tag }}
Content to be repeated
A closing tag: {{<<}}

Here's an example:

Provide an array in your data to populate the loop:

{
    "HealthyFood": [
        { "FruitName": "Apple" },
        { "FruitName": "Banana" },
        { "FruitName": "Orange" }
    ]
}

The resulting document will contain the list of fruits:

Apple
Banana
Orange

Some examples to help you with the syntax:

	Good ✓	Bad ✗
Opening tag	{{>> Items }}	{{# Items }}
Closing tag	{{<<}}	{{/ Items }}
Surrounded by double curly braces	{{>> Items }} {{ ItemName }} {{<<}}	{<< Items } { ItemName } {<<}

Spaces around tag names (but not within them) are allowed and will be ignored. This means {{FirstName}} is the same as {{ FirstName }} and {{>>HealthyFood}} is the same as {{ >> HealthyFood }}.