Word template processing-to-PDF/UA conversion

Template-based document generation combined with PDF/UA compliance — whether for accessible invoices, compliant legal documents, or personalized educational materials — enables organizations to produce accessible, personalized documents at scale.

How Nutrient helps you achieve this

Nutrient Python SDK handles template processing with PDF/UA compliance. With the SDK, you don’t need to worry about:

  • Parsing Word document internals
  • Managing XML structures
  • Handling style preservation
  • Complex placeholder replacement logic
  • PDF/UA tagging and accessibility compliance

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 with PDF/UA output. 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 PdfConformance
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 block applies the template model, replacing all placeholders with actual data while preserving all formatting. It then saves and closes the editor:

            editor.apply_template_model(model)
            editor.save()
            editor.close()

This block configures PDF/UA conformance and exports the document as an accessible PDF. The PdfConformance.PDF_UA_1 setting ensures the output meets ISO 14289 accessibility standards. The try-except block handles potential errors using NutrientException:

            pdf_settings = document.settings.pdf_settings
            pdf_settings.set_conformance(PdfConformance.PDF_UA_1)


            document.export_as_pdf("output.pdf")
            print("Successfully generated accessible PDF from template")
    except NutrientException as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Conclusion

The template processing logic with PDF/UA output consists of five steps:

  1. Open the document.
  2. Create an editor.
  3. Apply the template model.
  4. Configure PDF/UA conformance.
  5. Export as PDF.

Nutrient handles complex document processing and accessibility compliance so you don’t need to understand Word’s internal structure, XML manipulation, or manual PDF tagging.

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