Whether it’s sending out contracts, reports, or customer-facing documents, users often need to extract Salesforce data and convert it into shareable formats, quickly and accurately. This article explores two powerful tools, Conga Composer and OmniStudio, that streamline Salesforce Document Automation.

Written by: 

			Daniel Borrego, Salesforce Developer at Nuvolar

1. Exploring Conga to streamline Salesforce Document Automation

What is Conga Composer?

Conga Composer is a leading third-party Salesforce AppExchange product designed to dynamically generate documents using Salesforce data.

It allows users to pull information from standard or custom objects and feed it into pre-configured templates (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, or HTML). The result: fully branded, user-ready documents that can be generated on demand or automatically through flows and process automation.

As of 2024, Conga’s suite of tools was used by over 11,000 organizations globally, including enterprise-level operations in finance, legal, healthcare, and tech, making it a robust solution for Salesforce contract generation and other critical documents.

The Strengths of Conga Composer

1. Template Flexibility and Output Variety: Conga supports multiple output formats: Word for contracts, Excel for financials, PowerPoint for pitches, and PDF for just about everything else. This versatility makes it a Swiss army knife for document generation from Salesforce. It also uses familiar tools (Microsoft Office) to build templates, which lowers the barrier for users who aren’t developers but are familiar with merge fields and basic logic.
2. Data from Multiple Objects: One of Conga’s biggest advantages is the ability to pull in data from multiple, related (or unrelated) Salesforce objects. This is crucial in complex use cases, such as generating quotes that involve Opportunities, Quote Line Items, Accounts, and related Contacts.
3. Process Automation and Integration: Conga integrates seamlessly into Salesforce Flows, Apex code, and even custom buttons. Users can generate documents with a single click or trigger them based on business logic, like an Opportunity moving to a certain stage or a case being closed.
4. Strong Documentation and Community: With its long-standing presence in the ecosystem, Conga Composer is well-supported. You’ll find extensive documentation, a helpful community, and certified partners who specialize in its implementation.

The Trade-Offs of Conga Composer

1. Licensing and Cost: Conga Composer is not free and it’s not cheap. Licensing is per user, and organizations often need to purchase add-ons for full automation or advanced features. This can make it cost-prohibitive for smaller orgs or non-profit use cases.
2. Setup Complexity: While end-users may find document generation simple, the setup can be heavy. Admins must understand SOQL queries, Salesforce relationships, template design, and error handling. Even seasoned Salesforce professionals report needing some trial-and-error time before things run smoothly.
3. Performance in High-Volume Use Cases: For orgs generating thousands of documents daily, Conga can introduce processing lag. While it offers background processing via the Conga Batch add-on, that too introduces complexity and cost.
4. Not a Native Salesforce Tool: While Conga is well integrated, it’s still a third-party app. That may raise flags in highly regulated environments (e.g., finance or healthcare) where native-only tooling is preferred for data residency, compliance, or audit tracking for Salesforce document generation.

The Bottom Line: Is Conga Composer right for your Salesforce Document Automation needs?

Conga Composer excels in environments that:

• Require polished, multi-format documents.
• Demand more visual customization options, such as a WYSIWYG template editor, over editing in HTML and CSS.
• Support advanced features like conditional content, dynamic tables, and automated delivery for complex document workflows.
• Have the resources to manage and maintain it.

It may not be ideal if:

• Budget constraints are tight.
• You need simple, one-object documents.
• Your team lacks the technical skills or time to build and test templates.

That said, for many organizations, the investment is worthwhile. Conga Composer offers a level of control and presentation that few native tools can match for Salesforce document automation.

Just be prepared to spend time upfront learning the platform and to possibly justify the licensing fee to your CFO (ideally with a beautifully formatted report… built using Conga, of course).

2. Deep dive into OmniStudio for Salesforce Document Automation

What Is OmniStudio Document Generation?

OmniStudio Document Generation is part of Salesforce (formerly Vlocity), designed to streamline data gathering, processing, and presentation, especially for regulated and high-touch sectors like insurance, healthcare, and utilities.

Its Document Generation capability allows you to create documents using DataRaptors and OmniScripts, letting you assemble PDFs dynamically with minimal code and maximum control.

Unlike third-party tools, OmniStudio Document Generation is 100% native to Salesforce, built with scalability, compliance, and Salesforce-first architecture in mind, making it a powerful tool for native Salesforce PDF generation.

The Strengths of OmniStudio Document Generation

1. Fully Native to Salesforce: One of OmniStudio Document Generation’s biggest draws is that it lives entirely inside Salesforce. This means no external apps, no additional authentication, and full alignment with your Salesforce data model, security policies, and audit needs. Great for compliance-heavy environments where external tools might raise eyebrows or red flags.
2. Integrated with OmniScripts & DataRaptors: OmniStudio’s document generation leverages DataRaptors to extract and transform data, while OmniScripts guide the user through step-by-step flows to feed that data into documents. This creates a powerful, declarative, and structured document-generation pipeline; without the need to write Apex or spend days tweaking third-party templates. Perfect for guided quoting processes, policy generation, or case documentation.
3. Scalable & Automated: Document Generation is built to scale. Whether you’re creating hundreds of personalized onboarding letters or invoices per day, the system is optimized for high-volume use cases with built-in performance controls and queue-based processing.
4. Secure by Default: Being part of the Salesforce Industries stack means the data never leaves the platform. This is a major selling point for industries that are serious about GDPR, HIPAA, or financial regulatory compliance, ensuring secure Salesforce PDF generation.

The Trade-Offs of OmniStudio Document Generation

1. Steep Initial Learning Curve: OmniStudio is powerful, but it’s also complex. The learning curve for DataRaptors, Integration Procedures, and OmniScripts can be steep, especially for admins or developers who haven’t worked with Salesforce Industries before.
2. Template Design Limitations: OmniStudio Document Generation supports PDF output via Document Templates created using JSON and HTML, but lacks the rich formatting and WYSIWYG ease that tools like Conga offer with Word or Excel templates. Custom styling and layout can be time-consuming unless you’re comfortable with HTML/CSS. In other words: your inner graphic designer might get a little twitchy.
3. Industries-First Focus: While anyone can technically use OmniStudio, it’s optimized for Salesforce Industries clouds (Financial Services, Health Cloud, Communications, etc.) If you’re running standard Sales or Service Cloud without those, some features may feel overly complex or just unnecessary for your use case.
4. Limited Community Support (for Now): OmniStudio is relatively new to the broader admin/developer world. While Salesforce is pushing adoption and training hard, it doesn’t yet enjoy the community support, marketplace extensions, or plug-and-play flexibility you’ll find with older third-party apps.

The Bottom Line: Should You Go Native with Salesforce Document Generation?

OmniStudio Document Generation is a strong choice for organizations that:

• Are already invested in Salesforce Industries.
• Need highly structured, automated documents.
• Require native solutions for security and compliance.
• Have the technical capability (or support) to build and maintain OmniScripts and DataRaptors.

It might not be the best fit if:

• You need rich, visual templates like Word or Excel.
• You’re short on resources for initial setup.
• Your org doesn’t use OmniStudio for anything else.

That said, if you’re building guided, data-heavy flows that already involve OmniStudio, adding native document generation is a no-brainer. It’s fast, scalable, and keeps everything under one roof; which, in a platform as sprawling as Salesforce, is often worth its weight in saved time and reduced risk.

3. Comparative Analysis:

4. Conclusion: Choosing Your Salesforce Document Automation Solution

Both Conga Composer and Salesforce OmniStudio Document Generation offer valuable solutions for Salesforce document automation within the Salesforce ecosystem.

The best choice depends on your organization’s specific needs: whether you prioritize deep customization, a mature support community, and diverse output formats (Conga Composer), or prefer a native, highly scalable, and compliance-focused solution with streamlined integration into Salesforce Industries (OmniStudio Document Generation).

By weighing the features outlined above, stakeholders can make an informed decision that aligns with their technical requirements, budget, and long-term scalability goals for efficient Salesforce PDF generation and beyond.