Check, approve and generate your first document

Last updated 26 October 2026.

By the end your template is approved and active, and your first document is saved on a record as PDF and editable Word. This guide is for template authors and approvers.

Before you start

  • A template is open in Edit: the letter from the last guide will do.
  • A second person holds Docable Activate Template and Docable Lifecycle Reviewer. By default an author cannot approve their own template.
  • An administrator has added the Docable Generate Document panel to the record page.

Steps

  1. Choose Save.

  2. Choose Validate, and fix each problem it lists until it is clean.

  3. Choose Preview, then pick a real record: here the contact Helen Achebe.

  4. Choose Make PDF and Word proofs under Proofs in the right panel.

    Docable Studio previewing a Ternbrook delivery note on order TB-DN-55821 for Ashby Garden Centres Ltd: the filled-in page with the delivery address, ordered, delivered and outstanding quantities and an Outstanding items section, and a panel with the record, the answer asked at generation and the proof checks with a Make PDF and Word proofs button.
    Preview with a record chosen, here a delivery note. The panel on the right holds the proof checks and Make PDF and Word proofs.
    The Preview panel with a record chosen: the preview notes, the Answers box, and the Proofs section's three steps, two still to do.
    The Preview panel with a record chosen: the preview notes, the Answers box, and the Proofs section's three steps, two still to do.

  5. Choose Open the PDF proof and Open the Word proof. Check the values, the layout and every warning.

  6. Ask the second person to approve. They open the template and choose Approve…. For each proof that lists warnings they choose I’ve checked these warnings, then Approve v1.

  7. They choose Activate…, then Activate v1. The badge by the version reads Active.

  8. Open the contact Helen Achebe.

  9. In Generate a document, choose the template, leave Make on PDF and Word (DOCX), and choose Make PDF and Word.

  10. Choose Open on each file. Open the Word file in Word, change a line, save and reopen it: it is a real Word document.

  1. PreviewIn the editor

    Approximate values from one test record. Proves nothing about the output files.

  2. ValidateIn the editor

    Lists what is wrong with the template, one problem per block.

  3. ProofReal record

    The exact PDF and Word files for a real record, with any warnings.

  4. ApprovalA person, if used

    Optional. A person accepts one exact version. By default not its author.

    Approval does not activate

  5. ActivationA person

    Makes that version available to generate. Checks the Brand Kit, access, validation and a fresh proof.

Each check has its own name and button. None implies another.

Example

Step Value
Template Formal customer letter on Contact, with the Cindervale Brand Kit
Proof record The contact Helen Achebe
Approved by A second person with Docable Activate Template
Generated from The same contact, as PDF and Word (DOCX), kept on the record as Files

Check it worked

Both files are saved on the contact, and the Generation Runs tab lists the run as Made. The two files hold the same values in the same order. Page breaks can differ: see Choose PDF, Word or both.

The Generation runs tab in Docable, every generation in the org newest first: a Statement of account run, 3 of 3 made, and a Ternbrook delivery note run, 30 of 30 made, each in user mode with the template's Brand Kit choice and the time submitted.
The Generation Runs tab, newest first, with how many documents each run made.

If it doesn’t work

What you see What to do
Make PDF and Word proofs is greyed out. One of the three steps above it is not done. Save, then Validate, and choose a record.
Approve… says someone else has to approve. Ask a colleague with Docable Activate Template. An administrator can switch the rule off in Docable Setup › Approval.
Generate a document lists no template. A template appears once it is approved, activated and shared with you.

Next

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