Start with where the document goes next.
A proposal sent to a customer serves a different purpose from the version your team is working on. The first needs a stable layout; the second needs editable content. For a record passed to an application, the meaning of the fields matters more than their appearance.
So the first question is not “Which file should we generate?” but “What will this document be used for?”
PDF, Word or JSON?
A document to review and share, with a layout that stays in place.
An editable document for further work on the text.
Structured data whose fields will be processed by another application.
JSON is not a page view. PDF and Word also handle layout differently. Using shared content does not mean every output behaves the same way technically.
Reuse the content, adapt its purpose.
When the company name, services and amounts come from one source, there is less content to update separately for each format. Design decisions can then follow the intended use of each output.
The same information, used differently. Choosing the right format is part of the design.
Test your template with both short and long content. Make the final check in the output you will deliver, not just in the preview.
