> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.senseloaf.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.senseloaf.ai/sia-connectors/sia-for-microsoft-word.md).
# SIA for Microsoft Word
Use your own approved templates — SIA fills them in, you send them
Most teams already have the documents they need — offer letters, interview briefs, panel scorecards — with wording that's been reviewed and signed off. Connecting MS Word means SIA works with those existing templates rather than generating something from scratch. Your formatting stays intact, your approved language stays in place, and the only thing that changes is who fills in the fields.
{% hint style="warning" %}
**Note:** The templates you want SIA to use need to be stored in OneDrive or SharePoint before connecting. MS Word access is granted through those — make sure your files are there before you begin.
{% endhint %}
### Connecting MS Word
Connecting MS Word
1. In Chat, open [**Connectors**](https://sia.senseloaf.ai/settings/connectors) from the sidebar
2. Find the **Word** card and click **Connect Word**
3. A Microsoft sign-in tab opens — sign in with the Microsoft 365 account that has access to your templates
4. Review the permissions shown and click **Allow**
5. You're redirected back to Chat and the card now reads **Connected**
{% hint style="warning" %}
MS Word is its own separate Microsoft connection — connecting it does not connect OneDrive or MS Excel, and each needs its own approval even though all three are part of Microsoft 365.
{% endhint %}
### What you can do once connected
Once MS Word is connected, SIA can read and produce real MS Word documents on your behalf:
* **Fill in your own template with a candidate's details** — using `{{token}}` or `<>` placeholders, SIA replaces each field with real data and produces a new document without touching the original
* **Write a candidate brief or interview summary as a .docx** — an actual file you can forward directly, not text pasted into chat
* **Read a document's content** — a scorecard, job description, or a set of interview notes. If it looks like a template, SIA also identifies which `{{placeholders}}` it contains
* **List your MS Word documents** — so you can point SIA at the right file by name rather than describing it
### Try it in chat
{% prompt description="Review Pre-existing Templates" icon="square-check" openInAIProviders="false" %}
```markdown
What placeholders does my offer letter template use?
```
{% endprompt %}
{% prompt description="Fill Details" icon="memo-pad" openInAIProviders="false" %}
```markdown
Fill in my offer letter template for Priya — Senior Backend Engineer, starting 1 Sept
```
{% endprompt %}
{% prompt description="Add Notes" icon="memo-pad" openInAIProviders="false" %}
```markdown
Append today's interview notes to our Backend panel doc.
```
{% endprompt %}
Try it with SIA Chat
### A few things to note
* **Tables and headings don't come through when reading -** Microsoft's Word API returns document content as flat, paragraph-by-paragraph text — so a table arrives as plain text rather than rows and columns. If the structure of a document matters, Google Docs handles it more accurately.
* **Documents SIA writes are plain text -** For the same reason, anything SIA creates — a candidate brief, a summary — comes out as unstyled paragraphs with no bold, headings, or tables.
* **Updating a document replaces it entirely -** Microsoft's Word API cannot edit just a portion of a file — it rewrites the whole thing, which means any existing formatting, images, or tables are lost. Only ask SIA to update documents it generated itself, not ones that have been carefully formatted by hand.
* **Placeholders need to be intact for SIA to find them -** If someone hand-edited a template and Word split a placeholder across separate text runs in the process, SIA won't recognise it. Ask SIA to read the template and confirm which placeholders it can see before filling anything in.
* **Nothing is created without your approval -** SIA always shows you what it's about to write before producing the file — you confirm before anything is saved.
### Disconnecting MS Word
1. Go to [**Connectors**](https://sia.senseloaf.ai/settings/connectors) in the sidebar
2. On the Word card, click **Disconnect**
This revokes access to MS Word only — your OneDrive and MS Excel connections, if you have them, are unaffected.
---
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