How to Fill Word Documents from Excel with Content Controls
Turn a Word template with Content Controls into one finished .docx per Excel row — text, charts, tables, and images included.
Contracts, offer letters, certificates, account statements — the wording stays the same while a few details change for each person. When those details live in a spreadsheet, you can fill Word documents from Excel instead of editing a template by hand. ExForms reads a .docx built with Content Controls and produces one finished Word file per row of your data.
The short version
Add Content Controls to a Word template where the data should land, upload it to a set, map each control to an Excel column, and generate. You get one .docx per parent row, zipped together.
What you can do
- One document per record. Every parent-table row becomes its own filled .docx.
- Map more than text. Named ranges, Excel tables, charts, pivot tables, and images can all flow into the document.
- Mix static and per-record content. Keep a logo or a summary chart identical across every file, or let a value change from one document to the next.
- Name files automatically from field values plus your own text.
- Download everything as one ZIP.
Step by step
1. Turn on the Developer tab
Content Controls live on Word’s Developer tab. If you do not see it, go to File → Options → Customize Ribbon and tick Developer.
2. Insert Content Controls
Put your cursor where a value belongs and click Rich Text Content Control in the Controls group. A placeholder box appears. Repeat for every field you want filled.
3. Upload the template
In the ExForms add-in, create a set and upload your .docx. ExForms reads the Content Controls you added.
4. Map and generate
Connect each control to its Excel column, choose a naming pattern, and generate. ExForms fills one document per row and returns the ZIP.
Static vs per-record content
Not everything should change. A company logo, a standard terms paragraph, or a summary chart usually stays the same in every file, so you mark it as static. Fields like name, date, or amount are per-record, filled fresh for each row. Deciding this up front keeps large runs predictable.
Where people use this
- Employment contracts and offer letters from an HR sheet.
- Certificates and award letters from a list of names.
- Client statements and account summaries with per-record charts.
- Any letter you currently copy, paste, and edit one at a time.
Common questions
Fill your first Word document from Excel
Add a few Content Controls to a document you already send, map it to a sheet you already keep, and let ExForms handle the rest. Full details are in the Word Documents guide.
About the Author: Catalin
