Which is a Better Document Automation Solution?

If you are looking for document automation software to streamline your ever-growing documentation needs, you might have heard about Windward and Nintex by now. While Windward is known to revolutionize the document generation process for individuals and even large enterprises, Nintex is a robust DocGen tool for Salesforce.

Though both aim to simplify your document generation and automation needs, they have several key differences.

Nintex DocGen helps you build and share documents with just a few clicks within Salesforce or Office 365 environment, thus eliminating the hassles of copying and pasting data from one tool to another. But, what if you are operating in a setting other than Salesforce or Office 365? Well, Windward comes into the role, then. With its ability to integrate with any of your CRM or custom apps, it helps you automate documents, spreadsheets, reports, and even presentations.

Finding it hard to decide which is better – Nintex or Windward? Let’s have a side-by-side comparison of both based on the top-notch features you must look for while buying Document Generation and Automation software.

Side-by-Side Comparison: Windward vs. Nintex

1. No Code Behind

Windward and Nintex let you automate your document generation process without any code. Yes, you heard it right! Both are equally capable of creating templates with no code. However, Windward does provide a sample code to help you learn how to connect your application with their engine, which is not the case with Nintex.

2. Applications

Both of these DocGen solutions work flawlessly with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications. But if you need to work with PDF, sadly, Windward does not support it, whereas Nintex does! Moreover, Nintex has no differentiation for Windows or Web-based applications, but Windward only functions with Windows-based applications, which might be a consideration for many.

3. Conditional Formatting

If you work with Word and PowerPoint, you might be aware that they do not provide conditional formatting in table cells. So, if you require it, you must ensure that your tool provides it. In this case, Windward endows you with this ability, but unfortunately, Nintex doesn’t.

4. Drag & Drop Doclets

While you are looking for document generation software, one of the reasons behind it is that it should reduce the time taken in designing templates. Isn’t it? What we mean here is that your DocGen tool must enable you to use the previously created doclets in any of the templates to eliminate repetitive tasks. This is one of the USPs of Windward, but on the other hand, Nintex lacks it.

5. Query Wizards

One of the most common activities for creating templates is creating queries to select the data. While Windward masters the arena with its Query Wizards, Nintex is nowhere close to it. Though Nintex is no code behind solution, it will require developers to dive into template creation as it comes with no wizards. This, in turn, makes the process slower.

6. Datasources

Windward’s datasources comprise a range of CRM solutions and other apps, including Salesforce, SQL, XML, OData, and more. On the contrary, Nintex only demonstrates the ability to fetch data from Salesforce.

7. Tags

Tags play a pivotal role in helping you showcase the data most effectively. Thus, there should be no limitations to where it should start or end. This functionality pretty differentiates between Nintex and Windward. On the one hand, where Windward offers 16 tags with no limitations, Nintex provides only 6 tags with major limitations.

Windward vs. Nintex: The Ultimate Comparison

Features
Code Behind	No Code Behind	No Code Behind
Generate Code	No	Yes
Applications	Excel, Word, PDF & PowerPoint for Web and Windows-based applications	Only supports Word, Excel & PowerPoint for Windows. It neither supports PDF nor any Web-based applications.
Conditional Formatting	No	Yes
Drag & Drop Doclets	No	Yes
Query Wizards	No	Yes
Multiple Datasources	No	Yes
Supported Datasources	Salesforce	Salesforce MS Dynamics JSON OData SQL XML
Tag Start & End Locations	No	Yes
Tags	out import bitmap forEach if chart	out import bitmap set query forEach if else else if switch link bookmark chart
Imported Templates	Basic	Advanced
Document Locking	No	Yes
Validation, Error & Warning Handling	No	Yes
Data Count	No	Yes
Pros & Cons	Scalable and adaptable to a wide variety of use cases Responsive customer support department Handling error is a trouble Not everyone on your team will be comfortable using it as it is an IT piece of software	Easily integrates with your existing applications Great for beginners and people with no computer tech experience Only works with MS Office Lacks feature like Digital Signature
Pricing	Drawloop DocGen: $20 per user/month Drawloop DocAutomation: Request a Quote	Visit their pricing page for detailed price list

Summing it up

While Windward and Nintex offer an easy-to-use interface, each has a competitive edge over the other. By letting you create forms seamlessly and access them on any of your devices, Nintex comes as a boon for the on-site workforce who do not necessarily use mail due to poor or no internet connectivity. On the other hand, Windward’s plethora of datasources, tags, and drag-and-drop doclets makes document generation effortless.

Without any doubt, Nintex is the best tool to use if you operate in Salesforce environment, but if you are seeking for a solution that runs with your MS Office, you must consider other DocGen options like Windward that comes with such abilities.

For more information, you can check out the detailed reviews of Windward and Nintex.