How to generate a handbook

Decide what the handbook needs to do:

The type of handbook determines who will use it and what information belongs in it. An employee handbook covers company-wide policies such as conduct, benefits and leave, and usually sits with people ops. A process handbook documents how a team does its work. A customer handbook walks clients through onboarding, product use and support. A brand handbook gives anyone creating materials the rules for using the logo, colors, fonts and voice.

Decide how readers will use it:

Most handbooks work well as PDFs because they're easy to share, attach to onboarding materials and keep as a reference. A slide-style format can work better for short, visual material such as a brand guide.

Whatever the format, a usable handbook should make information easy to find. Start with a table of contents, organize information under clear headings, and put the document owner and last-updated date on the first page. These details become especially important once the handbook starts getting updated by different people.

Gridset can handle both the writing and design work, so the process starts with the information rather than a blank document. Add the topics the handbook needs to cover, or provide the process notes, policies and reference material already collected.

If there is an existing draft, upload it as a Word, PDF or Markdown file, or bring content in from Notion or Google Drive. For the design, provide a website address or brand guidelines PDF. Gridset uses that information to establish the logo, colors and fonts, so the handbook starts with an on-brand visual system instead of requiring each page to be formatted manually.

Here is the step-by-step process:

1. 1.
   Log in or sign up for a free Gridset account.
2. 2.
   Generate a handbook by clicking the upload box.
3. 3.
   From there, you can add handbook details by entering the topic, instructions and key information, or upload files and connect sources such as Google Drive, Notion, Claude or a ChatGPT folder. After that, click “Write as draft” to generate the initial handbook.
4. 4.
   Answer any follow-up questions that appear to provide additional details or clarify the handbook.
5. 5.
   Add brand details by entering a website URL or uploading brand guidelines.
6. 6.
   Choose the handbook length (brief, standard, detailed) and spelling (US or UK English).
7. 7.
   Click “Generate” to create the handbook. If Gridset asks additional questions while generating the content, answer them.
8. 8.
   Click “Design this document” to apply the layout. Hover over the top-right corner and click the arrow to change the layout, images, background, text or page order.
9. 9.
   Export the finished handbook as a PDF to save and share.

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Once the first draft is generated, review the content and make changes before sharing it. Text, images, charts and layouts are editable, so sections can be rewritten manually or changed by describing what needs to be different. The finished handbook can be exported as a PDF or PowerPoint, or shared through a link that opens without an account.

PDF exports are limited to 40 pages, so a long operations manual may work better when split into separate handbooks by department or process. Try the demo with existing notes before signing up.

An LLM such as Claude or ChatGPT can handle the writing stage quickly. Give it a list of topics, existing notes and the intended audience, and it can turn that material into a structured first draft.

The work doesn't stop when the draft is generated. LLMs don't know which policies are current or which details are missing, so every factual claim, contact, process and policy needs to be checked. The output also arrives as text rather than a finished document, which means the formatting and visual design still need to be handled separately.

A practical workflow looks like this:

1. 1.
   Define the handbook type, intended readers and sections it needs to cover.
2. 2.
   Give the LLM existing notes, policies, processes or reference documents.
3. 3.
   Ask for clear sections, descriptive headings and a table of contents.
4. 4.
   Review every fact, contact, process and policy against the source material.
5. 5.
   Move the approved copy into Word or Google Docs and handle the branding and layout manually.

Writing and formatting a handbook manually gives the most direct control, but it also puts every part of the production process on the author. The work includes planning the structure, writing the content, applying styles, creating the table of contents, adding branding and keeping the document consistent as it grows.

A typical workflow goes like this:

1. 1.
   Plan the sections and decide what information belongs in each one.
2. 2.
   Set up heading styles before writing so the table of contents can be generated automatically.
3. 3.
   Write one section per topic and break long sections into smaller, easy-to-scan parts.
4. 4.
   Add the logo, brand colors and fonts to the cover and document styles.
5. 5.
   Add page numbers, the document owner and last-updated date.
6. 6.
   Review the complete handbook, update the table of contents and export it as a PDF.

This approach works well for straightforward internal documents, especially when the content is already written and design requirements are minimal. The tradeoff is that every future update brings more formatting work.