Tip of the fortnight 3 - Create merged documents with form responses

Tip of the fortnight 3 - Create merged documents with form responses

Hello fellow form builders,

It's another fortnight, and I am back with an exciting new tip. In the previous post, we discussed how to deliver the PDFs of the submitted form  to your customers. To continue with this process, let's take a look at how to create dynamic documents with the responses that fall in your form.

Sending Order Receipts upon successful purchases, Interview Call Letters to chosen candidates, Invoices for your customers, Certificates on course completion, etc, is crucial for your business. Instead of the default process of manually entering in form data into an external document and dealing with the chaos of paper documents, I'll share a useful solution!



Using this tip, you can quickly integrate your document template with the form you create, and automate them as customized documents by merging the form responses. This ensures that there is no room for manual errors during the pre-filling process. Let's take a deep dive to understand how it's done!


Leave your mark 

Whether it's an Order Invoice or a Sales Contract, the scenarios require customized solutions. To satisfy this, create custom documents using Zoho Writer or WebMerge by adding your company logo, tables, etc. and design them to reflect your business. 

Here's a preview of how a document will look inside Zoho Writer (I've illustrated an Order Invoice and an Interview Invitation here). Include your form responses inside the document by clicking the field labels under INSERT FIELDS header.  






We've learned how to construct various documents as per business needs, and now let's explore the different ways it can be sent to your customers. 

Deliver to every submitter

If you want all of your customers to receive the document (say, an Order Receipt), try setting up an automated email by configuring the customer's email as the To address and include the merged document as an attachment. This configuration delivers custom documents right away when the customers make a form submission.

Deliver to specific submitters

If you want to analyze all your received form entries and send the documents to a few of the customers (say, a Course Completion Certificate), you can follow our manual workflow. For a Zoho Writer document, configure the email set up in the Merge and Send Email tab that appears. You can check the status of the document (if it is successfully merged or sent) by routing to the Mail Merge Status column under the All Entries/ Report section. You will receive a success message like this. 




That's all there is to it! Try this out and get started with the document merge for your forms by learning the set up from our help documentation. And, it's a wrap! What are the different documents you create for your business? Comment below - we'd love to hear from you!  

Until next fortnight, 
Prasana.

    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts



                                                              • Sticky Posts

                                                              • Tip #10: Automatically add tags to Zoho CRM records using form responses

                                                                You may be using tags to filter records, create reports based on specific tags, or let your sales team to know which clients to give priority to. Don't skip tagging for the crm records added via forms. The tags can be set to be automatically captured during the form submission. How it works When you set up a configuration to push form entries into CRM, you can add a tag to them automatically. The tag value can vary based on the respondent's input (captured using form fields), or you can include a
                                                              • Tip #2: Prefill forms automatically with existing Zoho CRM data

                                                                How to automatically prefill a form with existing Zoho CRM data? Prefilled forms can be useful when you want your prospects to view and confirm their data, and in a wide range of other situations. In Zoho Forms, we prefill the fields with the values from Zoho CRM using the Zoho CRM field. What is a Zoho CRM field? A Zoho CRM field acts as a two-way communication channel, by sending data to Zoho CRM from forms and fetching information from CRM into Forms. The field will look up data from your CRM
                                                              • Tip #8: Pass Adwords data (GCLID) and UTM parameters to Zoho CRM using forms

                                                                When you are using forms to capture leads, you may wonder: " How did they find me? Which marketing campaign worked best?"  You can answer this question by capturing the Google Adwords data (GCLID) or the UTM parameter details in your CRM using forms. This can be a great way to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and identify the most effective ways to capture leads.  Capturing GCLID parameters How it works If a person finds your form by clicking an ad, a GCLID gets created. When they fill out
                                                              • ZUG (Zoho User Group) In-person Meetups - Maximize Data Efficiency with Zoho Forms & Beyond

                                                                Hello Zoho Community, Join us for our upcoming meetups in ANZ, where we'll dive into seamless data handling and maximizing efficiency through Zoho Forms and beyond. Explore the potential of Zoho Forms customization and integration, from mastering the
                                                              • Tip #9: Modify deal properties in Zoho CRM using form responses

                                                                How to modify deal properties of Zoho CRM records using form responses? Deal properties in Zoho CRM records are constantly modified based on the status of the deal. You can automatically modify deal properties (like the deal closing date, or deal name) and even update the deal stage, using form inputs. This can drastically reduce the work your team would otherwise do to search and change individual record details manually. How it works This works by integrating the form with the Deals module of Zoho


                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                        Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner







                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ




                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Can I hide empty Contact fields from view?

                                                                                                                  Some contacts have a lot of empty fields, others are mostly filled. Is there a way I can hide/show empty fields without changing the actual Layout? I would like to de-clutter my view, and also be able to add information later as I am able. I would be
                                                                                                                • Zoho Cliq not working on airplanes

                                                                                                                  Hi, My team and I have been having this constant issue of cliq not working when connected to an airplane's wifi. Is there a reason for this? We have tried on different Airlines and it doesn't work on any of them. We need assistance here since we are constantly
                                                                                                                • Option in pipeline deal to select which hotel or branch or store if client has more than one local store

                                                                                                                  Hi, I would like to know if there is an option in the deal pipeline to select which hotel, branch, or store a deal is related to—if the company has more than one location. For example, I have a client that owns several hotels under the same company, and
                                                                                                                • Request to Recover Deleted Task List – Project ID: RIV-MOD-10722

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Team, I hope this message finds you well. My Zoho task list associated with Project ID: RIV-MOD-10722 appears to have been deleted. When I clicked on the task link from the email notification, I received the following message: "Task has been deleted
                                                                                                                • Is this a SCAM email or is it really Zoho?

                                                                                                                  L.S. I received the following message. Is this from Zoho? I have had a Zoho One account for many years and my website has been online for years. If it is a scam, I think you should know about it.
                                                                                                                • Is it possible to use HTML formatting in SMS messages sent from Zoho?

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I have a question regarding sending SMS from Zoho When we send emails from Zoho, we can include HTML code to format the message (like adding links, styling, etc.). Is it possible to do something similar when sending SMS messages through Zoho
                                                                                                                • an issue in Zoho CRM where the workflow rule is not triggering

                                                                                                                  H I’m currently facing an issue in Zoho CRM where the workflow rule is not triggering when a new lead is created through a webform. I’ve double-checked the criteria and field updates, everything seems fine but it still doesn’t fire. Has anyone faced this
                                                                                                                • Email Insights included in Bigin emals are marked as SPAM everywhere

                                                                                                                  Today I noticed that email recipients who use Office 365 never receive emails sent from Bigin. Further examination showed that all Email Insights links in email headers are marked as spam/phishing by Office 365. Example screen included. The problem is
                                                                                                                • Email Parser Not Extracting Fields Correctly with Certain Label Formats

                                                                                                                  I’ve been testing the Email Parser functionality in Zoho CRM to automatically extract data from incoming emails and map it to CRM fields. During testing, I noticed that parsing sometimes fails when the email contains field labels formatted like this:
                                                                                                                • How do I import Connected Records for a Deal?

                                                                                                                  Can you point me to an example of the CSV file that would add related records to an existing CRM Deal? I imported a Deal, then tried importing a connected record using a unique ID that references the Deal ID, but it doesn't attach it to the Deal rec
                                                                                                                • File Upload Field in Zoho Forms Not Updating Existing File in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand the behavior of a file upload field mapped from Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM. Scenario There is a File Upload field in a Zoho CRM module. A Zoho Form also has a File Upload field, which is mapped to that CRM field. When
                                                                                                                • Zoho Training

                                                                                                                  Greetings! I am trainer. My focus area is Project Management and MS Project. I have used Zoho CRM to a good extent. Though, I was interested in using ZOHO projects, as there were no live projects, I could not take it up for studies. Recently a client
                                                                                                                • Detailed list of scoring rules in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                                  Good morning Zoho community, warm greetings The reason for my message today is that I have a problem with my CRM, which I will explain below: Our organization has scoring rules designed to rate our potential customers or leads in the application based
                                                                                                                • How to create a summary document from Projects details

                                                                                                                  Hi, Our team is creating many projects inside Zoho Project. When closing a project, they write a summary document containing data from the projects it-self (understand project budget, customers, etc...), and editable (ie the document is either a Writer
                                                                                                                • Host in US Data Centre

                                                                                                                  I humble apply to be registered on US Data centre
                                                                                                                • convert the project to templet

                                                                                                                  i have some deployment ME product for different customer , i need to create a fixed template for use it rather then keeping creating this template every time
                                                                                                                • Best practices for managing Project Charters, Business Case and RAID logs within Zoho?

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, I’m currently refining our PMO setup within Zoho Projects and I’m curious how others are handling high-level governance documentation. We’ve been using the standardized Project Charter, Business Case and RAID frameworks from projectmanagertemplate.com
                                                                                                                • Resource Management System built using Zoho CRM, Creator, Projects, and People:

                                                                                                                  In a Resource Management System built using Zoho CRM, Creator, Projects, and People: CRM Deal Closed → Creator Allocation Engine → Zoho Projects Task Assignment What is the recommended architecture to handle dynamic reassignment when: an employee goes
                                                                                                                • Dynamic Remaining Quantity in Lookup During Allocation

                                                                                                                  Hi everyone, From what I understand in Zoho Creator, lookup fields only display the stored value from the source record and do not dynamically update while a form is being filled. Because of this, showing a real-time updated remaining quantity inside
                                                                                                                • connect zoho creator with google drive

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone, I need to connect to a folder drive. The idea, is that google drive loads a text document with some data, I must read that text document to be able to autofill a form that I have in zoho creator with that data. I also attach PDFs and place
                                                                                                                • Ability to Attach Record-Specific Files Automatically in Workflow Email Templates

                                                                                                                  Currently in Zoho CRM, email templates allow attachments to be added, but these attachments are static and remain the same for every recipient. There is no straightforward option to automatically attach a file that is stored within the specific CRM record
                                                                                                                • Uploaded files are not included when using "Include user submitted data" in Email Notification

                                                                                                                  In Send Email notification workflow in Zoho Creator, there is an option called "Include user submitted data" which allows the email to contain all the form submission details. However, when this option is enabled, files or images uploaded through File
                                                                                                                • kanban view for client portal

                                                                                                                  Are kanban views an option for client portals? Access to Kanban views in the client portals would solve some mobile-compliant issues I have with the UI. Kanban functions very nicely on mobile and would be a super asset for my clients and vendors as they
                                                                                                                • Credit Card Pre-Authorization with later Capture/Settlement

                                                                                                                  We really enjoy the convenience of being able to pay off a customer's invoice using our Auth.Net integration with Zoho Books. Unfortunately, we can only take advantage of this feature with a small percentage of our customers as it leaves a gaping hole
                                                                                                                • Zoho Sign 2025–2026: What's new and what's next

                                                                                                                  Hello! Every year at Zoho Sign, we work hard to make document signing and agreement execution easy for all users. This year we sat down with our head of product, Mr. Subramanian Thayumanasamy, to discuss what we delivered in 2025 and our goals for 2026.
                                                                                                                • Work Orders / Bundle Requests

                                                                                                                  Zoho Inventory needs a work order / bundle request system. This record would be analogous to a purchase order in the purchasing workflow or a sales order in the sales cycle. It would be non-journaling, but it would reserve the appropriate inventory of
                                                                                                                • Izettle or Sumup Integration for Zoho Books.

                                                                                                                  The Stripe & Square clearing works great in Zoho Books. Any further integrations planned in the future for Izettle or Sumup? These card processors are very common for taking payments with a card reader.
                                                                                                                • Train Zoho Answer Bot Based on Customer

                                                                                                                  Hi all, Is it currently possible to mark Help Centre articles to a specific customer, and restrict the answer bot to only use relevant information if it is either marked as "General", or tagged for the specific customer in question? We currently have
                                                                                                                • Trying to access records in a custom module in Zoho Desk and not having luck

                                                                                                                  I've built a custom module in Zoho Desk and am using a custom function to query the records in the module and I'm not having any luck. The only way I have found to retreive a record is by getting it by its recordID (the long zoho assigned one). The function
                                                                                                                • Composite items inside of composite items; bill of materials needed

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho and Everyone, I am evaluating whether Zoho Inventory will work for my small business. I grow and harvest herbs and spices but also get from wholesalers. I use all these items to make herbal teas, but also sell them as individual items on my Shopify store and Etsy. I discovered the composite item bundling and am wondering if I could get some assistance since there is no bill of materials: Our herbal company's best selling tea is a sleepytime tea. Sleepytime Tea can be purchased in three weights
                                                                                                                • ZOHO Books Smart Accounting Software for Travel Agency

                                                                                                                  Dear Travel partner, Contact for Travel Agency Accounting Setup & Training Vansh Travel (ZOHO Books Authorised partner) Email: info@vanshtravel.com Mo: +91 98984 95155 Please find PDF   
                                                                                                                • 452 Mailbox delivery restricted by policy error

                                                                                                                  We have been testing Zoho desk for about a week now and have been forwarding emails in via an Exchange Online Mail flow rule without issue until yesterday. Suddenly yesterday morning we started getting the vast majority of the emails stuck in Pending
                                                                                                                • Send Email reply on behalf of Agent

                                                                                                                  Hi, When using the send email reply via the API I can set the reply on behalf of the customer by using impersonatedUserId in the header of the API call. Is there a way to do this for Agents too? I need to be able to send an email reply on behalf of an
                                                                                                                • Sharing Tickets to a team within a department

                                                                                                                  Hi there, We have a need for one department to be able to share tickets to a specific team within a department, I'm wondering if this is possible? All the shared tickets are going into the 'Shared Tickets' view for the whole department but is there a
                                                                                                                • Removing To or CC Addresses from Desk Ticket

                                                                                                                  I was hoping i could find a way to remove unnecessary email addresses from tickets submitted via email. For example, a customer may email the support address AND others who are in the helpdesk notification group, in either the TO or CC address. This results
                                                                                                                • Do not use isnull()

                                                                                                                  Does not always return booleans. Can also return null. Never use this function. Just use var==null instead.
                                                                                                                • Organization wide Account and Contacts Visibility/Sharing Capabilities?

                                                                                                                  Has anyone figured out a way to make visibility or sharing of Accounts and Contacts to be available across the entire organization without having to have every individual user edit their Sharing permissions? For our sales folks they need to be able to
                                                                                                                • Is there a way to configure dark mode for Campaigns emails that go out to customers?

                                                                                                                  I've found a lot of information on how to configure dark mode for my (The user) personal Zoho workspace and email, but is there any way to edit dark mode settings on emails that we send out to customers via campaigns?  We sent out a test email the other
                                                                                                                • When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?

                                                                                                                  When Does WorkDrive integrate with Books?
                                                                                                                • FSM integration with Books

                                                                                                                  Hi, I have spent a few months working with FSM and have come across a critical gap in the functionality, which I find almost shocking....either that, or I am an idiot. The lack of bi-directional sync between Books and FSM on Sales Orders/ Work Orders
                                                                                                                • Next Page