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Learn to build Docassemble interviews

If you have never used Docassemble before, you are on the right page! This is how the LIT Lab teaches people to turn their first court form into a Docassemble guided interview.

If you follow this guide you will be learning by doing. We want you to get started building your first interview as quickly as possible, and then the Document Assembly Line community can help you keep moving forward.

Here are the steps:

  1. Do the Hello, World exercise for a friendly introduction to Docassemble
  2. Watch a demonstration of the Weaver, a Document Assembly Line tool for quickly turning prepared forms into draft Docassemble interviews
  3. Review the interview project management page
  4. Join the Document Assembly Line community
  5. Start building your first interview!
tip

In order to build interviews you will need access to a Docassemble playground. But if you don't have one you can use ours! Register an account on the LIT Lab Docassemble development server, then email us and ask for developer privileges.

Do the Hello, World exercise​

In his Legal Tech Class, Quinten Steenhuis introduces Docassemble with a short "Hello, World" exercise. This introductory exercise is a great way to demystify Docassemble and see what it's like to build a simple interview—by actually doing it.

➡️ Go to the Hello, World exercise.

Once you have successfully completed the Hello, World exercise you might want to continue with the next few lessons in the Legal Tech Class to learn more about building interviews in Docassemble.

When you have finished the Hello, World exercise, move on to the next step: learning about the Weaver.

Watch a demonstration of the Weaver​

The Weaver is a Document Assembly Line tool that generates a draft Docassemble interview from a prepared PDF or DOCX form so you don't have to start from scratch. The best way to explain it is to see it in action:

(The video should start playing from 26:35, which is when the demo starts.)

The interview generated by the Weaver is not a finished interview. It is a starting point intended for further editing.

Now you are probably itching to start building your first interview! But before you do, take a moment to review the interview-building workflow and join the Document Assembly Line community.

Review the interview project management guide​

Building a successful interview involves more than just coding in the Docassemble playground. You'll also need to consider things like project management, working with a team, requirements, usability, testing, etc.

➡️ Review the interview project management guide.

Join the Document Assembly Line community​

You know enough to get started, but you will need help. The Document Assembly Line community meets weekly on Zoom for live support, and coding help is available 24/7 in our Microsoft Teams forum.

➡️ Email us to join the Document Assembly Line community.

You can also take advantage of other interview building resources and documentation.

Start building your first interview!​

You probably already have an idea of the first form you want to work on, so pull up the project management guide and get started!

Learn more​

If you've completed the above you are ready to get started building your first interview. But if you want a more in-depth beginner training, check out this 3.5–hour beginner training from Docacon 2020: