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Getting Started with Templify

Welcome! This guide will help you create your first Word document template with Templify. No programming experience required - if you can use Microsoft Word and edit a simple text file, you can create templates.

What is Templify?

Templify is a tool that takes a Word document template with placeholders (like {{CompanyName}}) and fills them in with your data to create personalized documents. Think of it like mail merge, but more powerful.

What You'll Need

  1. Microsoft Word (or any app that can edit .docx files). LibreOffice Writer works too, see LibreOffice / OpenDocument Templates
  2. A text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, VS Code, or any editor for JSON files)
  3. Templify - the Templify GUI application, or an application that uses the Templify library (developers can also use the demo console app, see below)

Your First Template in 5 Minutes

Step 1: Create a Word Template

  1. Open Microsoft Word
  2. Create a new document
  3. Type some text with placeholders in double curly braces:
Hello {{Name}}!

Welcome to {{CompanyName}}. We're excited to have you on board.

Your account has been created with the email: {{Email}}
  1. Save the document as welcome-letter.docx

That's it! You've created your first template. The text inside {{...}} are placeholders that will be replaced with actual data.

Step 2: Prepare Your Data (JSON)

Now you need to provide the data to fill in those placeholders. We use a format called JSON (don't worry, it's simple!).

Create a file called data.json with this content:

{
  "Name": "Alice Johnson",
  "CompanyName": "Acme Corporation",
  "Email": "alice.johnson@acme.com"
}

Understanding the structure: - The whole thing is wrapped in { } (curly braces) - Each piece of data is written as "PlaceholderName": "Value" - Separate each piece with a comma - Text values need double quotes around them

Step 3: Process Your Template

Now you'll combine the template with the data to create the final document.

Option A: Using the GUI Application

  1. Open the Templify GUI application
  2. Next to Template File, click Browse... and choose welcome-letter.docx
  3. Next to JSON Data, click Browse... and choose data.json
  4. Check or change the Output File path (for example welcome-letter-final.docx)
  5. Click Process Template

Option B: Using the Command Line (from the source code)

Templify has no installable templify command. If you have the .NET SDK and a copy of the Templify repository, the demo app processes your own files:

dotnet run --project samples/TriasDev.Templify.Demo -- --template welcome-letter.docx --data data.json --output welcome-letter-final.docx

In most setups, a developer integrates Templify into an application, and you only provide the template and the data.

Step 4: View the Result

Open welcome-letter-final.docx in Word. You should see:

Hello Alice Johnson!

Welcome to Acme Corporation. We're excited to have you on board.

Your account has been created with the email: alice.johnson@acme.com

Congratulations! You've created and processed your first template! 🎉

What You Can Do With Templates

Simple Placeholders

Replace any text with data from your JSON file:

Template: 

Customer: {{CustomerName}}
Order Number: {{OrderNumber}}
Date: {{OrderDate}}

Data (data.json): 

{
  "CustomerName": "Bob Smith",
  "OrderNumber": "ORD-12345",
  "OrderDate": "2024-01-15"
}

Nested Data

Access data within data using dots (.):

Template: 

Name: {{Customer.Name}}
City: {{Customer.Address.City}}
Country: {{Customer.Address.Country}}

Data (data.json): 

{
  "Customer": {
    "Name": "Sarah Connor",
    "Address": {
      "City": "Los Angeles",
      "Country": "USA"
    }
  }
}

Conditional Content

Show or hide content based on conditions:

Template: 

{{#if IsPremium}}
Thank you for being a Premium member!
{{/if}}

{{#if Status = "Active"}}
Your account is active.
{{#else}}
Your account needs activation.
{{/if}}

Data (data.json): 

{
  "IsPremium": true,
  "Status": "Active"
}

Repeating Content (Loops)

Repeat content for each item in a list:

Template: 

Your order contains:

{{#foreach Items}}
- {{Name}}: ${{Price}}
{{/foreach}}

Data (data.json): 

{
  "Items": [
    { "Name": "Widget", "Price": "10.00" },
    { "Name": "Gadget", "Price": "25.00" },
    { "Name": "Doohickey", "Price": "15.00" }
  ]
}

Result: 

Your order contains:

- Widget: $10.00
- Gadget: $25.00
- Doohickey: $15.00

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Wrong Placeholder Syntax

{Name}           ← Only one curly brace (needs two)
{{Name}          ← Missing closing braces
{{ Name }}       ← Spaces inside (remove them; it is not replaced)
{{First Name}}   ← Spaces or hyphens in the name are not allowed

✅ Correct Placeholder Syntax

{{Name}}         ← Perfect!

❌ Invalid JSON

{
  Name: "Alice"          ← Missing quotes around the key
  "Email": alice@...     ← Missing quotes around the value
  "Age": 25,             ← Extra comma at the end
}

✅ Valid JSON

{
  "Name": "Alice",
  "Email": "alice@email.com",
  "Age": 25
}

Tip: Use a JSON validator website (like jsonlint.com) to check your JSON files if you get errors.

Next Steps

Now that you've created your first template, explore more advanced features:

Need Help?

  • Can't find your placeholder? Make sure the name in {{...}} exactly matches the name in your JSON (including uppercase/lowercase)
  • Getting an error? Check that your JSON is valid using a JSON validator
  • Template not changing? Make sure you're opening the output file, not the original template

For more help, check out our Examples Gallery with downloadable templates you can study and modify.