Draft a document from chat
Describe the document in chat and read the draft it opens on in the Document editor.
✦ Course · Intermediate
Draft, cite and merge in the Document editor
Draft a document from chat, give it structure, rewrite and translate it, look up and cite sources, run a mail merge, comment on it, export to Word and review a stack of contracts in a grid.
Start courseYOUR OUTCOME
By the end you will have drafted, cited, merged and commented on a document, checked its Word export, and read a contract review grid against its sources.
Draft and restructure a document with the assistant Cite your sources, then merge letters without losing the template Export to Word and review contracts with their limits in view
6 min
Change the draft with the editing chip
Point the assistant at a section by its heading and let it make the change in place.
Structure the page with styles, page numbers and cross-references
Style the headings, then add page numbers and cross-references that keep up as the brief changes.
Rewrite and translate a passage or the whole document
Select a passage before you choose AI rewrite or Translate, or leave nothing selected to work on the whole document.
Look up terms, cite sources and build a bibliography
Check a term with Smart lookup before you rely on it, and credit your sources with citations and a References list.
Personalise letters with Mail merge
Write one letter with fields, preview each record without touching the template, then merge one letter per page.
Comment on the brief and export it to Word
Leave notes that others can answer, then save a Word file and check what it leaves out.
Review a stack of contracts in the Document review grid
Turn several attached contracts into one grid of answers, each linked to the words it came from.
What each lesson covers
The course, lesson by lesson.
Draft a document from chat
Describe the document in chat and read the draft it opens on in the Document editor.
This course uses the Document editor in the desktop workspace on a computer. The phone has its own Doc Editor, which isn't covered here. Ask for the document in chat with who it is for, the sections you want and the facts it must include, and the draft opens in the Document editor on an A4 page. Oppermind picks the wording and may add sections of its own, so read it through before anyone else sees it. The document saves itself a few seconds after each change, and the line under the page shows the word count, the reading time and Saved. While the document is open, the composer carries an editing chip with its name, so your next message changes this document instead of starting another. Click × on the chip to start fresh. To begin with a blank page instead, press + on the dock and choose Document. The page opens empty, with a grey hint that goes as soon as you type.
Practice. Ask for a one-page brief about something you are organising, with three or four sections and the names of the people involved. When it opens, type a sentence of your own and watch the line under the page go from Saving… back to Saved.
Draft a one-page supplier onboarding brief for Wattle & Co. Four new makers join our spring range. Sections: Timeline (agreements out Mon 12 October, signed back Fri 23 October, first orders Mon 2 November), Freight and packaging (freight is booked through our Dandenong warehouse), Contacts (Nadia Rahman handles orders, Tom Reid signs the agreements).
Change the draft with the editing chip
Point the assistant at a section by its heading and let it make the change in place.
Name the part you want changed. The assistant sees the whole document, so it can find a section by its heading, add a section before or after one, rewrite or delete one, bold or colour a word, and fix the grammar. Describe the change the way you would to a colleague. The edit lands on the page and saves like your own typing, and Undo on the toolbar, or Ctrl+Z, takes it back. When the editor can't make a change the assistant sent, for example because the heading it names isn't there, you see This change could not be applied in the editor, followed by the reason, in the reply or as a notice if the reply has finished. The page is left alone. A request that would shrink a long document to a fraction of its length doesn't delete anything. The editor adds the new text at the end instead. After a big change, scroll to the bottom and remove any copy you don't need.
Practice. With the chip showing, ask for a new section after one of your headings, then ask for one word to be made bold. Press Undo and check what it took back. Then ask it to delete a section that doesn't exist and read the reply.
Add a Risks section after Freight and packaging with two points: late samples from Otway Timber, and breakage in transit. Then make every mention of Dandenong bold.
Structure the page with styles, page numbers and cross-references
Style the headings, then add page numbers and cross-references that keep up as the brief changes.
Style each section title as a heading instead of making the text bigger. Styles on the toolbar lists named styles such as Title, Heading 1, Heading 2 and Quote. Put the caret in a line and pick one, and the whole line takes it. Character styles such as Strong need text selected first. TOC, in the Insert group of the More menu, adds a Contents list linked to every H1, H2 and H3 heading, and it catches up a moment after you rename or add one. Turn on Page numbers from the Layout group and every page footer reads Page N of M until you choose it again. To send readers to another section, choose Cross-reference and pick the heading as the Reference target. Under Insert as, Hyperlink shows the heading's words as a link, and Page reference writes it out as see Freight and packaging on page 1. After you rename or move that heading, choose Update fields and each cross-reference follows it.
Practice. Put the caret in each section title and choose Heading 2 from Styles, then turn on Page numbers. Add a Hyperlink cross-reference from the Risks section to Freight and packaging and a Page reference to Contacts, rename both headings and choose Update fields.
Choose Page numbers in the More menu. In a new paragraph under the Risks list, type "For carton sizes, read", choose Cross-reference, pick Freight and packaging as the Reference target and press Insert. Later, rename that heading to Freight and cartons and choose Update fields.
Rewrite and translate a passage or the whole document
Select a passage before you choose AI rewrite or Translate, or leave nothing selected to work on the whole document.
Select the passage first. ◆ Rewrite on the toolbar, AI rewrite on the right-click menu and Translate in the More menu or on the right-click menu all work on your selection. Before anything runs, the rewrite window reads Rewriting selection with a character count, and Translate reads Will translate the selected text. When the pane is narrow, for example beside the chat, ◆ Rewrite sits in the More menu under From toolbar as AI rewrite selection or whole document. With nothing selected, both work on the whole document. Pick a Tone, a Length and any instructions, then press Rewrite. A whole-document rewrite keeps each heading, list item and table cell in its place, and Undo puts the original back. Bold and italic inside rewritten text are lost, and a paragraph that holds a link, image, field, footnote, citation or comment is left as it was. In Translate, Append at end of document adds the translation under its own heading, while Replace text in place swaps your text for plain text.
Practice. Select the Contacts paragraph, run ◆ Rewrite with Tone set to Friendly, and press Undo to compare. Then click on the page without selecting anything, open ◆ Rewrite again and read the line above the buttons before you press Cancel.
Select the Freight and packaging paragraph, right-click and choose Translate. Set Translate to Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt) and Mode to Insert translation alongside (side-by-side), then press Translate.
Look up terms, cite sources and build a bibliography
Check a term with Smart lookup before you rely on it, and credit your sources with citations and a References list.
Select a word or short phrase, or click inside a word, then right-click and choose Smart lookup. It is also under Tools in the More menu. The window shows the Wikipedia summary for the term with a Read on Wikipedia link, and Insert as footnote adds a footnote straight after the word, ending with Source: Wikipedia and the page address. A Wikipedia summary is a starting point, so check it before the brief relies on it. Define shows dictionary meanings grouped by part of speech. Lookups need you to be signed in, and a quick run of them can ask you to wait a minute. For your own sources, put the caret after the claim and choose Citation in the Insert group. Author is the only required field. Pick one Style, APA, MLA, Chicago or Numeric, and keep it for the whole document. Bibliography adds a References list that refreshes with each new citation. To cite a source again, choose it from Re-use existing source.
Practice. Look up one term with Smart lookup and another with Define. Cite one source in APA and add a Bibliography at the end. Cite the same source again from Re-use existing source and check the References list still has one entry for it.
Click inside the word Freight at the start of the freight paragraph, right-click, choose Smart lookup and press Insert as footnote. Then put the caret after "rose 11 per cent last year", choose Citation and enter Author Chen, L., Year 2025, Title Freight cost review and Source / Publisher Harbour Logistics, with Style APA - (Author, Year).
Personalise letters with Mail merge
Write one letter with fields, preview each record without touching the template, then merge one letter per page.
Write the letter once, with a field wherever the details change. Insert merge field in the More menu asks for a field name and shows it as «FirstName», or you can type {{FirstName}} yourself. Choose Mail merge in the Tools group and paste a CSV or TSV with the column names in the first row. The line under the box counts records and matched fields and names any field it can't match. Preview first draws record 1 inside the dialog, and Previous and Next step through the others under a label such as Record 2 of 4 (preview only, your document is unchanged). Merge all replaces the letter in the open document with one copy per record, each on its own page. The document keeps saving, so export or print the merged letters straight away, then press Undo to bring the template back. Press Snapshot now in Version history before you merge for a second way back.
Practice. Put two merge fields in a short letter and paste three rows of test data. Step through them with Preview first, Previous and Next, and check the letter behind the dialog still shows its fields. Run Merge all, choose Export Doc from the More menu, then press Undo.
Paste this into Mail merge, press Preview first, then Next: FirstName,Company Linh,Bluegum Ceramics Aroha,Riverbend Linen Dev,Otway Timber Mia,Saltbush Candles
Comment on the brief and export it to Word
Leave notes that others can answer, then save a Word file and check what it leaves out.
Select the words a note is about, right-click, choose New comment, type the note and press Add. The Comments panel shows each comment under its writer's name, with the date, the words it belongs to and any replies. Can view people can read comments but not add them. Resolve hides a settled thread, and Show resolved in the panel lists it again with Reopen. Delete asks first and removes a comment and its replies but keeps the words. Export Doc, under Files & Export in the More menu, saves a .docx for Microsoft Word and other apps that open Word files. It keeps the page size, orientation, margins, header and footer text, Page N of M numbers, page breaks, footnotes and Two columns blocks. Open comments go across with their replies inside them. Resolved comments and the header logo are left out. Word lays the pages out itself, so page through the file before you send it. Export PDF prints the header and footer once, not on every page.
Practice. Add two comments to your brief and reply to one. Resolve the other, then export with Export Doc and open the file in Word or another word processor. Check the page size, the header, the page numbers and the footnote, and that only the open comment came across. To share a document first, see the Share your work and edit it live together course.
The brief is shared with Tom as Can edit. Select Dandenong warehouse, right-click, choose New comment, type "Tom, who is our contact at the warehouse?" and press Add. When Tom has replied, open the More menu, type export in its search box and choose Export Doc.
Review a stack of contracts in the Document review grid
Turn several attached contracts into one grid of answers, each linked to the words it came from.
Attach two or more contracts to one chat message and ask for a review, triage or comparison, and Oppermind builds a Document review grid in the Review pane. It proposes three to six columns from your request, so name the ones you want, such as term, governing law or a Green, Yellow or Red triage. Each document gets a row, and each value shows its page, such as p.2. Click a value to see the exact words behind it. Verified in source means those words were found in the document, which is not the same as the value being right. Unverified means they weren't found, so read that clause yourself. Not found means the document doesn't address the question. Export as CSV saves the grid with each page number beside its value. A file with no readable text is left out, and if fewer than two remain, or the grid can't be built, you get a written answer instead. The grid is a reading aid, not legal advice.
Practice. Attach three short agreements you already know well and ask for a triage with four named columns. Click one value in each column and compare its quote with the page it cites.
Attach the four supplier NDAs and type: Triage these NDAs. Columns: agreement type, term, triage Green, Yellow or Red, and the key risk.
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