Document Generation
Intra AI can produce finished files – Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF – instead of text you copy out of a chat and reformat yourself. Ask an agent for an offer, a report or a costing, and what comes back is a document you can download, preview and revise.
At a glance: Document generation is an agent capability. An agent whose author added the Generate document action can build files; a plain chat without an agent cannot. The finished file appears as a card in the conversation and opens in the artifact panel.
What it can produce
| Format | Typical use | How the agent builds it |
|---|---|---|
| Reports, letters, one-pagers, anything for sending on | From Markdown or HTML, or from a program | |
| Word (DOCX) | Offers, contracts, minutes – anything the recipient will edit | From Markdown, from a fill template, or from a program |
| Excel (XLSX) | Costings, price lists, tabular analyses with live formulas | From a spreadsheet specification, or from a program |
| PowerPoint (PPTX) | Slide decks | From a program only |
Not every format is reachable from free prose. Markdown produces PDF and Word; a spreadsheet specification produces Excel; PowerPoint is produced only through the code lane, where the agent writes a short program that builds the deck. If you ask for a combination the agent cannot serve, it will say so rather than produce something unexpected.
Excel formulas are written into the workbook rather than pre-calculated. The panel notes this as Computed when the file is opened in Excel or LibreOffice – the numbers appear when you open the file.
Working with a generated document
When the agent finishes, a document card appears in the conversation. Open it to get the artifact panel, which offers:
- Preview – the document rendered in place. Word and Excel files are converted to a PDF rendition for the preview; the file you download is the real DOCX or XLSX.
- Download and Download as – the file in its own format, or converted to another.
- Versions – every revision of this document, with the current one marked Current.
- Edit document source – the Markdown, the placeholder values or the program the document was built from, so you can adjust it directly instead of asking again.
Revisions never overwrite
Asking for a change – "make the introduction shorter", "add a row for the second site" – produces a new version linked to the one before it. Nothing is overwritten and no earlier version is lost. Use the Versions list to compare or to go back.
The most recent version is the one the agent searches when you ask a follow-up question about the document. Superseded versions stay downloadable but drop out of search, so an old draft cannot resurface in an answer.
Who can download it
Everyone who can see the conversation or the project can download the documents generated in it. There is no separate sharing step.
Using your own template
A generated document can carry your corporate design instead of the default layout. Two kinds of template are supported:
- Fill templates – your Word document with named placeholders. The agent supplies the values and the layout stays exactly as your template defines it. This is the right choice for contracts, forms and standard letters.
- Style templates – your Word document used as the styling for freely written content: letterhead, fonts, heading styles, footer.
Templates are set up for you by Intra AI when your instance or the agent is configured; there is no self-service upload in the Agent Builder. Send us the Word file you want used and which of the two modes it should serve.
What the agent checks before handing the file over
While the document is being built, the conversation shows the stage it has reached: writing → rendering → converting → validating → ready.
The validation stage runs deterministic checks – for example that a spreadsheet holds no broken formula references. Where the instance has a vision-capable model available, the agent additionally looks at the rendered pages and fixes obvious layout faults before giving you the file. An instance without such a model still gets the deterministic checks, just not the visual pass.
Availability
Document generation is controlled by an instance-level toggle (docGeneration) and is on by default. PDF output and the in-panel preview additionally need the rendering service; where that service is not deployed, Word and Excel files are still generated and PDF and preview report a clear error rather than failing silently.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The agent replies in prose instead of producing a file | The agent has no Generate document action | Its author adds the action in the Agent Builder, in the Tools step |
| "Document generation is disabled for this workspace" | The instance toggle is off | Ask your administrator to enable document generation |
| PDF fails but Word still works | The rendering service is not available on this instance | Ask your administrator; download the Word file in the meantime |
| The agent refuses a PowerPoint built from prose | PowerPoint is only produced through the code lane | Ask for the deck explicitly, or ask for Word or PDF instead |
A formula cell shows 0 in the preview | Formulas are calculated by Excel, not by the preview | Download the file and open it in Excel or LibreOffice |
| A revision seems to have lost earlier text | Nothing is lost – a revision creates a new version | Open Versions in the artifact panel and select the earlier one |
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the document leave our instance while it is being built? A: No. The file is rendered by services running inside your instance and stored there, encrypted like any other file. Content only leaves the instance if the agent was separately asked to search the web while writing it – see Web search.
Q: Can I edit the finished Word file and have the agent continue from my edits? A: Not from the file itself. The agent revises the source the document was built from – its Markdown, placeholder values or program – which you can also edit yourself in the artifact panel. Edits you make in Word outside Intra AI are not read back in.
Q: Are generated documents counted against my file storage? A: Yes. They are stored like uploaded files and are subject to the same limits and the same deletion rules.
Related: AI Agents · Tools & MCP · Files & Knowledge · Chatting