Using File Templates
A practical guide to generating high-quality documents and presentations from your own templates, including how to prompt, iterate, and share.
File templates are the fastest way to get AI-generated documents that already look like your team's own work. Upload a polished example once, and ajan reuses its structure, layout, and styling every time you generate something new — no rebuilding of the master slide, no reformatting, no starting from a blank canvas.
For the full Library and Templates reference, see Introduction to Library and File Templates.
How ajan builds your files
A bit of context on what happens behind the scenes goes a long way toward getting great results. Generating a slide deck or a Word document is a different kind of task than answering a chat question: it's a visual output, and ajan produces it by writing the underlying file code (for example, XML for PowerPoint), rendering it, reviewing the rendered result, and refining it in a loop. Think of it like a designer sketching a slide, stepping back to check it, and polishing — just much faster.
Three principles make this process shine:
- Iteration is the superpower. ajan builds, renders, and improves in passes. You can join that loop at any point: a short nudge like "use the two-column layout here" is usually all it takes to lock in the final version.
- Focus beats volume. A handful of slides built with care produce dramatically better results than asking for a full deck in one go. Break long decks into sections and give each one the attention it deserves.
- Your template is the north star. The clearer your template — clean master slides, meaningful layouts, a good description — the more closely ajan can match your style. Investing a few minutes in the template pays off every time it's used.
The six-step framework
The best workflow breaks into three phases and six steps. This is the same sequence we use internally to generate the webinar decks shown in our own presentations.
Phase 1: Build
- Start from the template. Open a new chat from your template — either click Use this template in the Library, or use the Create document / Create presentation button in a new chat and pick a template there. This gives ajan the structure and styling to work with from the start.
- Add context and generate. In the same chat, provide the content the file should contain. Reference your Folders, upload documents, or use Web Search and Deep Research to gather what's needed. You can even ask ajan to research best practices first ("how should a product launch deck be structured?"). Then ask for the first draft.
Phase 2: Refine
- Iterate slide by slide. Do not try to fix everything in one prompt. Go through individual slides and point out issues: "this slide has too much text, move the detail to speaker notes", "use the comparison layout with two columns", "the chart title is cut off".
- Add visuals intentionally. Visuals rarely appear on the first try. Ask for specific charts, diagrams, or timelines slide by slide. A useful trick: ask the image generation tool to mock up a slide layout as an image, then feed that image back and ask for the PowerPoint version of it.
Phase 3: Polish
- Do a full-deck review. Once individual slides are right, ask for a consistency pass across titles, fonts, and layouts. The model will catch alignment and branding issues it missed during per-slide edits.
- Download and sanity-check. Open the file outside ajan. If something still looks wrong, tell ajan exactly what's broken. Errors opening the file are almost always recoverable with one more pass.
What works well vs. what needs iteration
Word documents are ajan's strongest format today — filling structured templates, inserting content, and matching formatting all work very well with minimal iteration. Presentations have more visual variables, so some slide types come out great out of the box while others benefit from a quick iteration pass.
For presentations specifically:
| Works well out of the box | Needs iteration |
|---|---|
| Matching your team's template, brand, and master layouts | Complex data charts and tables |
| Structured comparisons (two columns, before/after) | Image placement and custom illustrations |
| Title slides, chapter dividers, section separators | Timelines, process diagrams, and flowcharts |
| Short decks (up to \~10 slides) | Long decks in a single generation |
| Filling placeholder text in existing layouts | Highly custom template masters with many layouts |
Worked example: an invoice template
This is the same workflow used in the webinar demo. It shows the full loop from first upload to a reliable, reusable template.
Upload the template
To upload a new template, your workspace role needs the Create skills permission. Upload your existing invoice .docx to the Library. ajan analyzes the file and suggests instructions. The template name is taken from the filename. Check those fields, then save.
Try it with a real input
In a new chat, click Create document, pick the invoice template, and paste in the source data (for example, a customer email requesting an invoice). ajan reads the email, fills the structured fields from unstructured content, and generates a new .docx.
Spot what's missing
On the first try, some fields may still contain placeholders. Open the file, note what's wrong ("subtotal and total weren't calculated"), and tell ajan directly.
Update the template instructions
Open the template in the Library and sharpen its instructions to cover what was missed (for example: "always calculate Subtotal and Total from the line items before filling them in"). Save the change — the next generation picks up the updated instructions automatically.
Verify in a fresh chat
Open a new chat with the same template and paste a different input email. The totals should calculate, and the output should match your expectations without extra prompting.
The same pattern works for any recurring document: offers, contracts, one-pagers, case studies, or status reports.
Iterating on a template
Templates aren't set in stone. If the same mistake keeps happening (for example, "field X is always empty"), open the template in the Library and sharpen its instructions directly. Future generations pick up the updated instructions automatically.
Things to know
- Results vary by document complexity. Simple layouts and text-filled documents usually come out great on the first try. Custom charts, detailed illustrations, and very intricate template masters may need a pass or two of specific feedback.
- Runs aren't perfectly deterministic. Two generations from the same template and prompt can differ slightly. Test a template on realistic inputs before rolling it out workspace-wide.
- You can edit template name and instructions from chat. Open Edit in Create document or Create presentation when you have Editor or Owner access. You can also edit from the Library. To replace the source file, download it, edit it locally, and upload it again with the Create skills permission.
- Agents can use templates too. In the Agent editor, open Instructions, then More, then File templates, and click Add template. The Agent uses a matching attached template when someone asks for a document or presentation. See file templates.
Sharing across your workspace
Once a template reliably produces good output, share it. Two permissions control what users can do:
- Share templates: any user can share by default.
- Share templates with workspace: admin-only by default.
Both defaults are configurable under User Management → Roles. For admins rolling out templates broadly, see File Templates → Managing templates.
Have more questions? See the Library & Templates FAQ.
FAQ
Templates work best when they have a clear structure and predictable sections. Documents with simple headings, tables, and placeholders are usually easier to generate reliably than highly complex layouts or presentation decks with many visual constraints.
Work in smaller iterations. First generate the structure, then refine content, then check formatting. For strict templates, review the output after each major change instead of asking for many formatting and content changes in one prompt.
Clarify which parts of the template must remain unchanged, reduce the amount of content generated at once, and try a more focused prompt. If exact formatting is critical, treat generated files as a draft and review them before sharing externally.