Document Automation: Converting PDFs to Word Documents for Use as Templates

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Converting PDF Files to Clio Templates

Clio’s document automation feature is great, but it’s not compatible with PDF files.  If we want to use a fillable PDF form with Clio’s document automation, it must first be converted to a Microsoft Word document.

Convert a PDF to a Word Document

To get started, we’ll drag the PDF we’d like to convert to the Documents tab, then to the button labeled "PDF to Template Converter".  We’ll see Microsoft Word automatically open and begin creating the fillable fields from the PDF.  This process can sometimes take a bit if we’re converting a large PDF, but we can continue using our computer normally while we wait.

Fill the Document with Merge Fields

Once the conversion is completed, we’ll find a new Word document in the same location as the original PDF.  We can open the document to begin filling in the fields with Clio merge fields or any other necessary information.