Article Summary
Export completed projects in the customer's original file format, in your organisation's default style, or in a custom branded template you've set up. Export a single file at a time or several at once, including project attachments, and choose the output language for each export. Admins can also enforce a sign-off step before any export leaves the platform.
Estimated Time
Exporting a project: 1–3 minutes
Setting up a custom template: 10–20 minutes (one-time)
Setting up Export Approval: 2–3 minutes (one-time, admin)
Excel Backup: under a minute
Prerequisites
A project with at least one response
Permission to export projects (granted per role by your administrator)
For custom templates and Export Approval: Admin permissions
For multi-language exports: the project's working language and additional language already enabled on the project
Step-by-Step Instructions
Exporting Projects
Step 1: Access Export Options
Open the project you want to export.
Click the green Export button in the top-right corner of the project editor.
The Project Export panel opens.
🗒️ Note: If the button shows a 🔒 lock icon, the project can't currently be exported. See Export locking
Step 2: Select Export Format
The panel lists every source file in your project as its own row, plus a row for project attachments (if any).
Tick the checkbox next to each file you want to include.
Tick All Attachments to include every project-level and response-level attachment in a single zipped folder.
The Export button label updates to show how many items are selected
💡 Tip: If only one item is selected, AutoRFP downloads it as a single file. If two or more items are selected, AutoRFP bundles them into a single ZIP.
Step 3: Choose a format per file
For each selected file, use the Template to use dropdown on its row to pick the output format:
← Original File — Round-trips your responses back into the customer's original document.
[Your custom template] — Any custom export templates your admin has uploaded to Settings → Organization → Export → Export Templates.
See Next section for setup.
Step 4: Choose the export language
The Language to Export dropdown shows the project's working language and additional language already enabled on the project.
Pick the language you want responses in.
The default is the project's working language.
Step 5: Review warnings
A yellow warning banner appears in the panel if any responses aren't yet approved. For example, "This project has 14 responses that are not yet approved".
Approving outstanding responses before exporting ensures you ship only finalised content.
If you proceed anyway, the export uses whatever's currently in the editor (drafts included).
Step 6: Export
Click the green EXPORT (n) button at the bottom of the panel.
AutoRFP processes the export. This typically takes a few seconds for a single file, longer for multi-file ZIPs.
Your file (or ZIP) downloads automatically when ready.
🙋🏽 What should I do if my export fails?
If your export fails or encounters errors that prevent you from continuing your work, use the “Excel Backup” export options to generate a backup file. You can then copy and paste your final answers from that file in the meantime.
Please contact Support for assistance with any export errors or issues. Be sure to include your Project Details, Export Type, and any relevant screenshots so our team can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
Creating Custom Export Templates
Custom templates let you produce branded Word documents: your fonts, your headers/footers, your table of contents, with AutoRFP's responses inserted into the right places.
Step 1: Prepare Your Template Document
Open your existing proposal or response template in Microsoft Word.
Keep your branding, fonts, headers/footers, page numbering and styling intact.
Decide where you want AutoRFP to insert content: sections, requirements, responses..
Step 2: Add Placeholders
AutoRFP looks for the following placeholders (square brackets included) and replaces them with project content on export.
Content Placeholders (populated for every requirement in the project):
[Section]— section name[Subsection]— subsection name[Requirement]— requirement text[Response]— the response answer[Response Heading 1],[Response Heading 2],[Response Heading 3]- pre-format heading levels inside responses
Project Information Placeholders:
[Customer Name]— issuer / customer name[Project Name]— current project name[Date]— date the export was generated
Step 3: Format Placeholders
Apply the formatting you want for each content type to the placeholder itself.
Example: Format
[Section]with Heading 1 style.Example: Format
[Response]with Normal body text style.The same goes for paragraph spacing, indentation, font, colour... all formatting applied to placeholders carries through to exported content.
Step 4: (Optional) Add Table of Contents
Insert a Table of Contents in your document if desired.
Ensure each placeholder is formatted using the appropriate paragraph style:
[Section]→ Heading 1[Subsection]→ Heading 2[Requirement]→ Heading 3 (if needed)
3. After exporting, right-click the Table of Contents and select Update Field to refresh it.
Step 5: Upload Template to AutoRFP
Save your finished template as a Word document (
.docx).Navigate to Settings → Organization → Export.
Under Export Templates, click Create New.
Enter a clear Name (e.g. Standard Proposal — 2026 Brand) and an optional Description explaining when to use it.
Click Upload File and pick your .docx.
Click Create.
💡Tips & Best Practices
Before you export:
Approve outstanding responses first — AutoRFP shows a count of unapproved responses but won't block you. Anything still in draft will export as-is.
For multi-language deliverables, configure the project's languages once during setup, then use the Language to Export dropdown rather than re-typing responses.
Run an Excel Backup at major milestones — it's the fastest format-agnostic snapshot.
Custom templates:
Always format your placeholders — AutoRFP applies the placeholder's style (font, size, spacing, bullet/list type) to the inserted content.
Use
[Response Heading 1]–[Response Heading 3]if your responses contain heading-styled paragraphs you want to control centrally.Insert a Word Table of Contents — it picks up the heading styles applied to your placeholders.
Test your template on a small project first before rolling it out org-wide.
Multi-file and multi-language:
Selecting more than one file → single ZIP download. Selecting one → single file download.
The Language to Export setting applies to all selected files in that export.
Set Up Export Approval (Admins)
Export Approval gates every project export behind sign-off from a designated approver. It's an org-wide policy controlled by Admins.
Step 1: Enable the gate
Navigate to Settings → Organization → Export.
Toggle Require Export Approval ON.
Once enabled, the green Export button on every project displays a 🔒 lock icon until that project has been approved.
Step 2: Assign approvers
In the Export Approvers card that appears, add the users who can sign off on exports.
Approvers must already be users in your organisation.
You can add or remove approvers at any time.
Step 3: How project members request approval
On a locked project, the project member opens the export menu.
They select an approver from the configured list.
The approver receives an email notification.
The approver opens the project, reviews the responses, and clicks Approve (or revokes existing approval).
Once approved, the export button unlocks for that project.
Step 4: Admin overrides
Admins can revoke any existing approval, regardless of who approved it.
Admins can also reassign approvers or approve themselves.
Excel Backup
Excel Backup downloads one Excel file containing every requirement and response in the project. It's a quick, format-independent snapshot, useful as a recurring safety copy or as a fallback when something goes wrong with a regular export.
To run an Excel Backup:
Open the project.
Click Edit Project in the top toolbar.
Open the Advanced tab.
Under Project Backup, click Backup all responses (n) — where
nis the number of responses in the project.The Excel file downloads.
✋🏼 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Forgetting to format the placeholders — an unstyled [Response] placeholder produces unstyled response text.
Uploading a non-.docx template — only .docx is supported. .doc, Google Docs exports, and PDFs are rejected.
Using [Response Heading N] placeholders without styling them — they need the matching heading style applied for inheritance to work.
Forgetting to refresh the Table of Contents in the exported document — right-click → Update Field.
Trying to export a locked project without checking the tooltip — the lock tooltip tells you exactly what's blocking the export.
Submitting a multi-language proposal in the wrong language — the Language to Export dropdown defaults to the project's working language, not the customer's language. Double-check before clicking EXPORT.
Need Help?
💬 Live Chat: Available in-app
📚 Learning Centre: learn.autorfp.ai/en