Responding to the needs of one of our partners, we have created a new API to read and populate fields in documents without the need to open the document. This means that certain fields can either be automatically detected and extracted from a document for an end user to fill in, or multiple documents can be quickly created and filled from a database.
Integrated into Nextcloud Office for example, users may now create a template which can be prefilled with values from a popup window.
Similar to a mail merge for email, but with far more power and flexibility, this new API will streamline document creation or form filling across a variety of use cases. Some possible use cases might be:
Use Case A: A parts manufacturer has a database listing thousands of items, but would like to produce professional looking PDF data sheets for each part that could be sent to customers. Rather than copying and pasting from their database into thousands of documents, both taking time and introducing the possibility of errors, the new API allows them to write a script that connects their database to a document template and automatically populate fields for each part before export to PDF.
Use Case B: A company wants to produce project reports for customers, which include not only a table of time spent, but also an attractive pie-chart breaking down how that time was spent, generating a beautiful output with a few clicks either as a PDF to send unmodified, or as a DOCX document that can be collaboratively edited to produce a bespoke version that can then be archived and sent as a PDF.
Use Case C: A legal team, or department manager frequently has to fill in the same document. For example risk assessments, employee contracts, rental contracts, or other document with set text, and custom fields. The new API integrated with a Collabora Online partner, makes this job as simple as filling out the fields in a pop up window. This eliminates the possibility of accidentally editing other parts of the document, or leaving fields blank that should be filled in.
Easily create editable docs or PDFs from templates
Collate data centrally and create custom reports
Fields that can be extracted/filled by the API include plain text, check boxes, combo boxes, dropdown lists, and a date picker. For more technical information please check our sdk here, or get in contact with us to find out how we can help you free your documents.
