This article explains how to add documents to an employee profile. You can choose to: create a document using a template that you have stored in Personio, or upload an existing file to a profile in Personio.

Create documents from a template

By storing document templates in Personio, you can create customized employee documents more efficiently. When you include placeholders in the templates, the documents you create automatically generate based on employee information stored in Personio. See Manage Document Categories and Templates for info about creating and storing templates, or upgrade your plan.

Pre-requisites 

To create documents from a template and store them in an employee profile, ensure you have the following:

• The Core Plan. To get these features, upgrade your plan or contact your Account Manager.
• Access rights to Documents.

For a single employee

Templates can contain placeholders which use an employee's data in Personio to generate personalized documents. To create a document for a specific employee by using a template, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee Profile > Documents > Create new.
2. Select one of the templates you've created and stored. If the template contains:
   • Multiple choice text blocks: choose the correct one under Options.
   • Placeholders: enter any missing variables and review the pre-populated variables.
3. Click Preview changes at any point to view the most up-to-date version of the file.
4. Once the document is complete, enter a name for the document and select the format to save it as from the File type dropdown menu.
5. Click Create.

The generated document appears in the employee's Documents tab under the assigned category, and they receive a notification in their Personio Inbox. Depending on your access rights, you'll be able to access the document and have the following options:

• Request a signature and check the status of signature request.
• Click the document name to see a preview.
• Download or delete the document.
• Edit the document category, title, date, or comments.

Consider creating a document upload notification workflow to alert an employee's Supervisor when their reports have documents uploaded to their profiles.

Tip
Templates uploaded to the Work Contracts system category automatically display in the Recruiting section when creating a job offer.

For multiple employees

To create a personalized document for multiple employees at one time using a template, follow these steps:

1. If you're not an administrator, ensure you have Edit access rights for all the relevant document categories, then open the Employee List. Activate the checkbox next to all the employees you want to create a document for.
2. To the right of the search bar, click Actions > Create documents.
3. Select a template from the template list. You can filter the list by category or language, or use the search bar. 
4. Review and adjust the Editable variables. The information you enter applies to the document for all selected employees. 
5. Enter the document details to adjust the Name, File type, and Document date. 
6. Optionally, request a signature by selecting a document signer, the signature notification language, and entering an email message. Or, click Skip signature request.
7. Select an employee from the dropdown menu to preview how the document will appear and ensure accuracy. 
8. Opt to Notify employees about the created document by selecting the checkbox. The notification appears for recipients in their Personio Inbox. Consider creating a document upload notification workflow to alert an employee's Supervisor when their reports have documents uploaded to their profiles.
9. Review the signature request if necessary, then click Create documents. 

The generated document appears in the employee's Documents tab under the relevant category, and each placeholder is filled using information saved in their employee profile or inputted during step 4 above. If the document includes a signature request, the employees will receive an email. 

Accounts with the Core Plan have a defined number of e-signature requests per month. Upgrade your plan to add unlimited e-signature requests.

Upload existing documents

Manage and store all important employee documents directly in their profile. This helps maintain records for things like Absence certificates, Application documents, Development plans, and more. To upload multiple files at once via the Imports feature, see this article instead.

Upload a document

To upload a pre-existing document to an employee's profile, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee Profile > Documents > Upload.
2. Add the document by uploading the file, or drag and drop it into the window.
3. Enter a name and select the category for the document.
4. Optionally, add a date and a comment.
5. Activate the Notify employee about this document box to notify the recipient of the uploaded document via Inbox (Global Task Management) and e-mail. 
   • Consider creating a document upload notification workflow to alert an employee's Supervisor when their reports have documents uploaded to their profiles.
6. Click Upload to complete the process.
7. You can request an e-signature on the document.

Personio runs a virus scan on the document and a 🔄 icon appears. If the document is secure, it will be available for download. If the document is not deemed secure, a ⚠️ icon appears, and you will only be able to delete it.

Tip
Your IT department can create an API integration that will automatically upload a document to the respective employee profile. They can find technical documentation in our Developer Hub.

Supported file types

Personio supports uploading files in the following formats:

Edit the document

Uploaded documents are stored under their assigned category. To access and edit documents, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Employee Profile > Documents.
2. Select the category where the document is stored.
3. A list of all documents within the selected category appears. Click a document name to preview it. While previewing, you can:
   • Find additional information about the size, file type, and creation date of the file.
   • Edit the document name, date, comments or category, by clicking Edit at the bottom.
   • Download, delete, or print the document.