Word template generation and processing

Template generation automates document creation — separating content from design, ensuring consistency, scaling efficiently, reducing errors, and enabling dynamic content based on data.

How Nutrient helps you achieve this

Nutrient Python SDK handles template processing. With the SDK, you don’t need to worry about:

  • Parsing Word document internals
  • Managing XML structures
  • Handling style preservation
  • Complex placeholder replacement logic

Instead, Nutrient provides an API that handles all the complexity behind the scenes, letting you focus on your business logic.

Complete implementation

Below is a complete working example that demonstrates Nutrient’s template processing. These lines set up the Python application. The import statements bring in all necessary classes from the Nutrient SDK:

from nutrient_sdk import Document
from nutrient_sdk import WordEditor
from nutrient_sdk import NutrientException

This line opens the Word template file. The context manager(opens in a new tab) syntax ensures the document is automatically closed when you’re done, preventing resource leaks:

def main():
    try:
        with Document.open("input_template.docx") as document:

Here, you create a WordEditor instance that will enable you to manipulate the document. This editor provides all the methods needed for template processing:

            editor = WordEditor.edit(document)

This block reads the JSON data model. The try-except block handles potential file reading errors gracefully:

            try:
                with open("input_template_model.json", "r") as f:
                    model = f.read()
            except IOError:
                print("Failed to read template model file")
                return

This single line is where the processing occurs. It takes the JSON model and applies it to the template, replacing all placeholders with actual data while preserving all formatting:

            editor.apply_template_model(model)

This saves the processed document with all template replacements completed to a new file. The try-except block handles potential errors using NutrientException:

            editor.save_with_model_as("output.docx")
            print("Successfully generated document from template")
    except NutrientException as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Conclusion

The template processing logic consists of four steps:

  1. Open the document.
  2. Create an editor.
  3. Apply the template model.
  4. Save the result.

Nutrient handles complex document processing so you don’t need to understand Word’s internal structure, XML manipulation, or style management.

You can download this ready-to-use sample package that’s fully configured to help you get started with the Python SDK.