How to create a legal paperwork template

Willco allows you to use the information you already have in your cast, crew and companies section, to insert it in your own word documents. This is extremely useful to create contracts, NDAs, or any other legal documents.

To do this, willco uses the mail merge feature of Word, which demands a little work of preparation, but after having it set up, you will generate documents as fast as lightning.

If you wish to create a new legal paperwork template in Microsoft Word, just follow these steps:

Locate the fields you want to update

It's a good idea to start highlighting the fields of the Cast or Crew member's details you want to automate:

Copy the first merge field code

Locate the merge field you want to update and copy its code.

In our case, we want to change the text Name for the code =name 

Insert a field

With the word "Name" selected, go to Insert > Field...

Select Category and Field name

In the Field window, you will need to select the category Mail Merge and the Field name MergeField:

Type the field name next to MERGEFIELD

Wait, don't close the window yet, you will need to type or paste the field name you just copied, next to the MERGEFIELD text (in our case =name):

Note: Remember to leave a space between MERGEFIELD and your field name.

And it's done!

After clicking the Ok button, you will see the selected text converted into a merge field:

Attention: We know it would be a lot easier to write «=name» directly, but Microsoft Word requires the field to be inserted through the dialogue window. Once you have a field inserted, you will be able to copy and paste it in the same document.

Repeat for each field

Now, you can repeat the last steps with the rest of the fields and remove the highlight colour:

The strange case of the period's fields

Period fields are special, as they can be multiple and need to be inserted in a special way.

This article explains how.

Upload the template to willco

With all the fields inserted in the document, you can upload the template in willco settings.

See how to do it here.

Available Word merge fields

You can use the following commands as merge fields in Microsoft Word: