Generating Documents

Once you have a matter set up with client details, you can generate documents. Certum Draft fills in the placeholders automatically — no more copy-paste.

Two Ways to Generate

From Matter Workspace

The recommended workflow when you have a matter open:

1. Open the matter in the Matter Workspace
2. Click New Document in the toolbar (or press ⌘ + N)
3. Select templates and generate

From Finder

Quick access without opening the app:

1. Right-click a matter folder in Finder
2. Select Services → New Certum Document
3. Select templates and generate

The Document Wizard

Step 1: Choose Templates

The template selection screen shows all available document templates for your matter type.

Template Organisation:

• Templates are organised in numbered folders (e.g., “010 Getting Started”, “020 Searches”)
• Click a folder to expand it and see the documents inside
• Use the search field to filter templates by name

Selecting Templates:

• Click a template to select it
• Click again to deselect
• Use ⌘ + click to select multiple templates
• Selected templates show a checkmark

Tip

Precedent Presets: Save your commonly-used template selections as presets. Select your templates, click Save Preset, and give it a name. Next time, load the preset to select all those templates at once.

Step 2: Review Missing Fields

Before generating, Certum Draft scans the selected templates for any placeholders that don’t have a value in the matter. This reflects Certum Draft’s “empty is better than bogus” policy — required fields are not enforced at matter creation, so the missing-fields step is where the gaps surface.

Field labels in the wizard:

Label	Meaning
(no label)	A registered field from the template — fill in or leave blank
Optional	Marked optional in the template — can be left blank without prompting
One-off	The field isn’t part of the matter form, so what you type is used for this document run only — if it should be remembered on the matter, ask whoever maintains your templates to add it

Any field you leave blank renders as [MISSING: field_name] in the generated document (highlighted in Word and Excel alike), so it’s obvious what still needs attention when you review the file.

Note

The wizard never blocks generation on a missing field — even fields you’d consider mandatory render as [MISSING:] markers, which is exactly how you spot the gap on review. If you want a placeholder instead of an empty marker, type “TBC” or “To be confirmed” before generating.

Step 3: Preview & Inline Editing

The preview step shows each selected document with its placeholders and the values Certum Draft will substitute in. Missing fields are highlighted, and the counts update live as you fill fields in — the same field appearing in two documents is filled once, for both.

Editing in the preview: Click any field to fill it in directly, with the right control for the job — dates use the calendar chip, yes/no fields offer Yes / No / Not set, long text gets a multi-line box, and obvious format slips (like an email without an @) are flagged as you type. Values save back to the matter automatically; clearing a field back to empty works too.

Field context: Each field shows its block name and label (e.g., “Executor 1 > Full Name (CAPS)”) so you know what the data relates to.

Skip preview option: Enable “Skip preview and generate immediately” on the precedents step to bypass the preview and go straight to generation.

Step 4: Generate

Click Generate Documents to render the files.

What Happens:

1. Each selected template is rendered in turn — a progress line shows “Rendering X (3 of 12)…” so you can see exactly where the batch is up to
2. All placeholders are replaced with your matter data
3. Documents are saved to the matter’s Working Documents folder

Changed your mind? A Cancel button is available throughout the render. Anything already rendered stays in Working Documents — the wizard tells you “Cancelled — N documents already rendered were kept” and returns to the selection step.

Step 5: Completion

The completion screen is honest about how the batch went:

• All clean — “Documents generated successfully. N documents created.”
• Needs review — “Documents generated — N need review”: the documents rendered, but the post-generation check found unfilled [MISSING:] markers or leftover template tags (this check covers Excel spreadsheets as well as Word documents). Flagged documents carry an amber “needs review” marker instead of a success tick, and warnings name the field’s label, not a raw template key.
• Partial failure — “Completed with errors. N succeeded, M failed.” Each failure shows what went wrong in plain language, and a Retry Failed (N) button re-renders just the failures — no need to re-pick them from the template list. (Failures from another matter type’s pack aren’t retryable this way — re-pick those from the cross-pack browser.)

Actions:

• Open Document — Open the first generated document
• Show in Finder — Reveal the documents in Finder
• Generate More — Generate additional documents for the same matter

Institution Letters

For estate matters with institutions, generate notification letters from the Institutions section:

• Click “Generate Notice of Death” for individual institutions
• Or use “Generate All Grant Letters” when the grant has been recorded
• Letters are named with the institution (e.g., “Notice of Death - Commonwealth Bank.docx”)
• Templates are resolved per institution type (bank, super fund, aged care, etc.)

Tip

See Institution Notifications for the full institution workflow.

Cross-Pack Templates

You can use templates from a different matter type:

1. In the template selection, expand Templates from other packs
2. Browse templates from other matter types
3. Select the templates you need
4. Fill in any ad-hoc fields specific to that pack
5. Generate as normal

Tip

Templates using universal fields (like client.full_name) work seamlessly across packs. Only pack-specific fields (like deceased.name in Estates) require ad-hoc entry.

Generated Document Location

Documents are saved to the matter’s Working Documents folder (or another location based on template settings):

000108 - SCHRUTE Dwight - Estate of Mose Schrute/
└── Working Documents/
    └── 010 Getting Started/
        └── Letter to Client - 2026-02-05.docx

The subfolder structure mirrors the template organisation.

Managing Generated Documents

In the Matter Workspace

The Documents section of the Matter Workspace shows all generated documents:

• Search — Filter documents by name
• Sort — By name, date created, or file type
• QuickLook Preview — Click the eye icon to preview without opening
• Open — Click the document row to open in the default application
• Drag and Drop — Drag documents to other apps or Finder locations

Batch Operations

To work with multiple documents:

1. Click the selection toggle in the Documents toolbar
2. Check the documents you want
3. Use batch actions:
   • Open All — Open selected documents
   • Email All — Attach to an email
   • Show in Finder — Reveal in Finder

QuickLook Preview

Preview documents without leaving Certum Draft:

1. Find the document in the Documents section
2. Click the eye icon on the row
3. A preview sheet appears
4. Close to continue working

Works with Word documents, PDFs, images, and most common file types.

Regenerating Documents

The fast path: in the matter’s Documents section, right-click the rendered document and choose Regenerate…. The document wizard opens with the template that produced it already selected — just click through.

The long way still works too:

1. Update the matter details in the Details section
2. Click New Document in the toolbar
3. Select the same template
4. Generate

Note

Regenerating creates a new document file — it won’t overwrite existing documents. This preserves your document history.

Field Types

Fields are formatted based on their type:

Type	Format	Example
Text	Plain text	John Smith
Date	DD/MM/YYYY	15/01/2026
Currency	$X,XXX.XX	$150,000.00
Phone	Phone number	0412 345 678
Email	Email address	[email protected]
Bool	Yes/No	Yes

PDF Documents

PDF files in precedent folders are copied as-is to the output directory. They’re not processed for placeholders — useful for including standard forms or reference documents.

Troubleshooting

”No templates found”

This means the template folder is empty or not configured. Check:

• The Templates folder location in Preferences
• That templates are properly set up for your matter type
• That the template folder contains a matter.json file

”Missing required field”

Fields the template marks required are flagged in red in the wizard, but generation never actually blocks on them — an empty field renders as a [MISSING:] marker. If you don’t have the information:

• Enter a placeholder like “TBC” or “To be confirmed”
• Update the matter details later and regenerate

Document shows [MISSING: field_name]

This means a placeholder in the template didn’t have a matching value. Word documents show the marker in orange; Excel spreadsheets show it highlighted in yellow (a blank cell never silently stands in for a missing figure). Either:

• The field wasn’t entered when creating the matter
• The template uses a field that isn’t configured

Check the matter details or contact your administrator. Documents containing markers are flagged “needs review” on the completion screen, so they’re easy to catch before anything goes out.

”Unsupported template format”

Certum Draft supports:

• Word documents (.docx)
• Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx)
• PDF files (copied as-is)

Other formats are not supported for template processing.

Generated document in wrong location

Check the template’s folder configuration in matter.json. The precedents_path setting determines where generated documents are saved.