Generate word documents(.docx) from a template using Node.js

1. Install Dependencies
2. Create a template DOCX file
3. Write the Node.js code

To generate a .docx file based on a template docx file using Node.js, I would recommend the docxtemplater library, which allows you to fill in placeholders in a DOCX template.

Install Dependencies

We need to install docxtemplater and pizzip packages. docxtemplater is used to handle the DOCX tempalte, pizzip is used to handle ZIP archives(which DOCX files are).

npm install docxtemplater pizzip

Create a template DOCX file

Create a DOCX template with placeholders. For example, create a file named template.docx with placeholders like {name} and {date}. You can use Microsoft Word or Google Docs to create this template.

Write the Node.js code

Here is an example of how to generate a DOCX file based on the template:

const fs = require("fs");
const path = require("path");
const PizZip = require("pizzip");
const Docxtemplater = require("docxtemplater");

// Function to generate DOCX file based on the template
function generateDocx(data, templatePath, outputPath) {
  // Read the template file
  const templateContent = fs.readFileSync(templatePath, "binary");

  // Load the template content into PizZip
  const zip = new PizZip(templateContent);

  // Create a Docxtemplater instance
  const doc = new Docxtemplater(zip, { paragraphLoop: true, linebreaks: true });

  // Set the data for placeholders
  doc.setData(data);

  try {
    // Render the document with the data
    doc.render();

    // Get the generated document as a buffer
    const buf = doc.getZip().generate({ type: "nodebuffer" });

    // Write the buffer to a file
    fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, buf);
    console.log(`Document generated: ${outputPath}`);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error generating document:", error);
  }
}

// Example data to replace in the template
const data = {
  name: "John Doe",
  date: "August 8, 2024",
};

// Paths to the template and output files
const templatePath = path.join(__dirname, "template.docx");
const outputPath = path.join(__dirname, "generated.docx");

// Generate the DOCX file
generateDocx(data, templatePath, outputPath);