Manual Generation

While automatic generation is ideal for real-time delivery, manual generation provides full control when you want to review, correct, or batch-process data on your own schedule.

When to Use Manual Generation

Manual generation is best suited for workflows where documents should only be created after responses are reviewed or finalized.

• Post-Event Processing: Collect all responses first, then generate certificates in one batch after the event ends.
• Correction & Re-issuing: Correct data in your spreadsheet and re-generate documents for specific respondents.
• Bulk Migration: Generate documents for existing spreadsheet data created before installing the add-on.

Available Options

Generate for Selected Responses

Useful for testing templates or re-generating documents for specific individuals.

• Testing Your Design: Generate a document for a test submission to verify that all {{tags}} and image mappings appear correctly.
• Targeted Re-generation: Re-send a document to a specific respondent without processing the entire dataset.

Generate for All Responses

Designed for large-scale processing after all responses have been collected.

• Bulk Processing: Scans the entire linked spreadsheet and generates documents for rows that do not already have a successful generation status.
• Background Execution: Documents are generated in the background, allowing you to return later to review results.

Step-by-Step: Running a Manual Batch

1. Open the sidebar via Extensions → Smart Form Publisher → Open
2. Click on Bulk Generation/Logs Button
3. Navigate to the Generate tab in the sidebar.
4. Choose your processing range:
   • Select All to process every response
   • Select Selected to process specific rows only
5. Click Generate to begin processing. Progress is displayed in real time.

The Role of the Status Column

Manual generation progress is tracked directly in the linked Google Sheet.

• Duplicate Prevention: Rows already marked as generated are skipped automatically during bulk runs.
• Forced Re-generation: Clearing the value in the Document URL column allows that row to be processed again.

Best Practices

• Review spreadsheet data for missing or incorrect values before running a bulk generation.
• Keep daily Google email and document quotas in mind when generating a large number of files.
• Manual generation can be used while automatic generation remains disabled for batch-only workflows.

Video Guide

For a visual walkthrough of selective and bulk generation, refer to the Manual and Bulk Generation Guide.

Next Step: Setting Up Automatic Generation