Doc Assembly (FVDA)

Filevine Doc Assembly (FVDA) connects your Filevine data to Outlaw's template editor, enabling faster, more customized document generation, assembly, and automation.

Filevine's file type, .vine, creates living, editable documents that sync with your Filevine data, allowing your team to manage document creation at scale. You can pull existing data from across a Filevine project—no matter if it is in a static section, collection section, or contact card. Create documents from the point in your workflow that makes the most sense for you, whether that’s in specific sections or one centralized location.

If you are interested in Doc Assembly, read Set Up Doc Assembly to get started. For more help with creating templates, connecting variables, and document permissions, jump to the Configuring .vine Docs section. 

• Generate .vine Docs
• View .vine Docs
• Document Slideout
• Multiple Document Generation
• Configuring .vine Docs

Generate .vine Docs

Once you’ve set up and connected your Outlaw template and Filevine widget, you can view the widget in any project that uses the chosen project template. The widget will appear in the section and order that you chose in the Customs Editor. 

If you chose the template in the Customs Editor, then the template will have already been chosen. If you choose the template in the project, you can select the desired template from the dropdown.

Rename the document if desired, and click Generate to generate the .vine document. 

Once they are generated in Filevine, .vine documents are listed under the Outlaw Template widget and in the Docs section. .vine documents can also be attached to file attachment fields or in the Activity Feed, just as other types of documents can be.

.vine Documents

The .vine file format is specific to Filevine. .vine documents are living, editable documents that can contain connected variables, which sync with your Filevine data. Learn more about using .vine documents in the subsequent section.

View .vine Docs

.vine documents can be viewed and managed in the slideout. This slideout can be opened from the Outlaw Template widget or from the Docs section. 

Viewing in the Widget

All .vine documents generated by an Outlaw Template widget are listed underneath the widget. The three most recently generated documents appear initially. To view the full list, click show all. Newly generated documents appear at the top of the list.  

Each listing is marked with the date of generation and with a “Legal Filings” status.

Viewing in the Docs Section

When a .vine document is generated, it is added to the main folder of the project’s Docs section. .vine documents are marked with a yellow “V” icon, with the Legal Filings status marked. These documents are searchable in Filevine by the document’s title.

These documents can be moved as usual into different folders and projects in Filevine, but cannot be copied.

Status

Each .vine document has four possible Legal Filing statuses by default. These statuses control which actions users with different Outlaw roles can take. The status is marked on the .vine document in the Outlaw Template widget and in the Docs section. 

Additional statuses can be added and removed in Outlaw. Learn more about Outlaw statuses.

The four Legal Filing Statuses are as follows:

• Drafted: owners can edit, review, and comment
• Review: owners and editors can edit, review, and comment
• Finalizing: owners and editors can edit, review, and comment
• Filed: the document is frozen and no longer able to be edited

Document Slideout

In the slideout, you can view and edit the document and view its relevant information. Click in a section of the document to edit the text and the connected variables in that section. To learn more about connected variables, creating the template, or user permissions, read the following Configuring .vine Docs section.

Note: You can now add a page break when editing a document. Hover on a section and select the vertical ellipsis, and then select Add page break from the dropdown. 

Preview or Download

You can preview the document as a PDF, or download a PDF or DOCX file version of the existing .vine document. The PDF or DOCX file will not be added to the project’s Docs section, but you can upload the downloaded file to the Docs section if needed. 

To preview the document as a PDF, or to download it as a PDF or DOCX file, open the .vine window for the desired document and click the paper icon dropdown.

Click Preview to preview the document in PDF form. Click Download DOCX or Download PDF to download the document as the selected file. The file will be downloaded to your device. 

Document Activity

In the slideout, click the clock icon to view a list of the document’s activity. Activity events are organized by day, and each event includes the user, the action, and the time of the activity. 

Click the icon above the events to filter by:

• deal events, like the creation of a document
• sharing events, like viewing the document
• comments
• edits

By default, all events are included in the list. Click an icon to unselect it and filter out events of that type. 

Multiple Document Generation

FVDA can be used to generate more than one document at a time from the same template, such as the same document for multiple projects and clients.

Export Project Data in Filevine

First, build a report in Filevine to export the project IDs and any collection section IDs that are used in the FVDA template. This information ensures that the correct projects and collections are used when generating each document. 

Set Up Batch Operation in Outlaw

Next, ensure that Batch Operations is enabled in Outlaw. Navigate to the Batch Operations tab. (If you cannot access this tab, please reach out to your Account Executive.)

From this tab, select the batch operation for “Generate contracts from existing template,” and then select the team and template that will be used for document generation.

Click the Download boilerplate link to download a CSV file containing columns for the metadata needed by the template during document generation. Enter the required data from your Filevine report, such as project IDs and collection IDs, and re-save the CSV.

Once you’ve saved the CSV file, click the link for “Drop fully populated metadata CSV here” or drag the file onto the link to upload your CSV. Since the CSV contains Filevine-specific columns, options for pushing the resulting files back to Filevine now appear.

Select “Push generated documents back to Filevine” and then select the formats needed. 

Run Document Generation

Click Start and then confirm the mass document generation process. Once the process has completed and the documents are available, you will receive an email containing links to a summary of the process (including any errors), and links to the resulting documents in both Filevine and Outlaw. Note that documents are automatically placed in the Docs section of your projects in Filevine, within a date- and time-stamped folder. 

Configuring .vine Docs

For more information about connected variables, creating and customizing templates, and document permission and access, consult the following table and refer to the linked Outlaw Documentation for details.