# Quick Start Guide

This guide walks you through generating your first document in under 5 minutes.

## Step 1: Connect QuickBooks Online

1. Go to **Team > Integrations**
2. Click the **Connect to QuickBooks** button
3. Authorize Missing Toolkit: Templates in the QuickBooks window
4. You'll be redirected back with a "Connected" status

## Step 2: Your templates are designed for you

While you connect, Missing Toolkit: Templates designs a starter set of templates from your company details — an invoice, an estimate, a statement, and a purchase order. This takes a few minutes; the dashboard shows progress, and your most recent invoice is generated as a PDF so you can see a finished document right away.

The starter templates appear on the **Templates** page with a **Made for you** badge. Use them as they are, or click **Edit design** on any of them and describe changes in plain words — see [Designed Templates](/docs/features/designed-templates).

**Prefer your own template?** That works exactly as it always has:

1. Go to **Templates** in the sidebar
2. Click **Upload Template** and choose a `.docx` or `.csv` file from your computer
3. Confirm the name and what it's used for
4. Fix anything the review step finds, preview it with one of your records, then click **Save template**

Your template should contain placeholder tokens like ${INVOICE_NUMBER}, ${CUSTOMER_NAME}, and ${TOTAL_AMOUNT}. See the [Placeholders](/docs/features/placeholders) guide for the full list, or click the **Available Placeholders** button on the Templates page.

## Step 3: Browse and select an entity

1. Click **Connections** in the sidebar and click your QuickBooks connection
2. Choose an entity type (e.g., **Invoices**)
3. Use the search and filter bar to find a specific invoice
4. Click **View** on the invoice you want

## Step 4: Generate a document

1. On the entity detail page, click **Generate Document**
2. Select your template from the dropdown
3. Choose your output format — **Word (.docx)** or **PDF** (designed templates always produce PDF, and CSV templates always produce CSV)
4. Click **Generate**
5. You'll be taken to the document detail page — click **Download** to get your file

That's it! Open the downloaded file and you'll see your template with all the placeholders replaced by live QuickBooks data. Choose Word if you need to make further edits, or PDF for a finalized document ready to share.

## What's next?

- Learn about all [available placeholders](/docs/features/placeholders)
- Explore [template tips](/docs/features/templates) for best results
- Read about [QuickBooks Online integration](/docs/integrations/quickbooks) details