Automatic Mail-Merge Document Creation Using Zoho CRM APIs

Efficient communication and personalized document generation are crucial for maintaining strong customer relationships in your business. Manual document generation can be time-consuming, repetitive and error-prone, decreasing productivity and customer satisfaction. You can solve this with automatic document generation by creating merged documents from predefined mail merge templates.

With Zoho CRM's mail merge templates you can create personalized documents, including forms, envelopes, and letters, by utilizing variables also known as merge fields. These templates enable you to merge data from variables, ensuring accurate information is incorporated into the documents without the need for manual data entry for each record. For additional information, please consult the guidelines on Managing Mail Merge Templates.

In Zoho CRM, you can automate document generation using its mail merge template APIs. You can send, sign, and download customized documents automatically.

Send Mail Merge API : To send emails to users using mail merge template. You can also attach files either as inline images or separate attachments with the email through the API.

Sign Mail Merge API : To sign and approve a merged document.

Download Mail Merge API: To download a mail merged document.

Let us discuss two use cases where these APIs are used. Assume you manage your business for a technological company, Zylker Technologies, using Zoho CRM.

Prerequisites

Create a connector with required scopes. For the below use cases a connector with the below scopes was created -ZohoSign.documents.ALL, ZohoCRM.modules.ALL, ZohoWriter.documentEditor.ALL, ZohoWriter.Merge.ALL, ZohoCRM.settings.mailmerge.CREATE

For using sign mail merge API, you must initially access the Merge and Sign dialogue from the Writer UI.

Use Case 1: Using Mail Merge APIs for sending Letter of Intent for customers

Let us consider a scenario where you want to send a LOI (Letter of Intent) to be signed by your customer. A Letter of Intent is a formal document that contains a preliminary agreement and commitment to move forward with the deal, outlining key terms and conditions. You can create a mail merge template for your LOI with merge fields from your Customer module. You can find mail merge templates in Zoho CRM UI under Setup > Customization > Templates > Mail Merge. Refer the below image for a sample LOI mail merge template.

Sample Mail Merge Template for Letter of Intent

Note that the merge fields given in the mail merge template are fields from Accounts module (renamed as Customers) with additional custom fields.

You can automate sending the LOI to your customer using a custom button with an associated function for the Customers module. In this case, a custom button "send LOI" is added as shown in the screenshot below.

Screenshot of Customer module showing sendLOI button

The below function calls sign mail merge API which sends the merged letter of intent document to your customer for signing. The customer will receive an email notification containing the document which can be signed using Zoho Sign. Sign mail merge API's response includes a Zoho Writer document link that can be used to track the signing status. In the below function, the system will send mail to the customer along with the mail-merged document for them to sign, and it will store the link to track the sign status in a custom URL field named Document Sign Details. This field allows you to access and review the document from your record conveniently.

customerMap = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Accounts",customerId.toLong());

name = customerMap.get("Account_Name");

to_email = customerMap.get("customer_Email");

merge_template_name = "LOI";

//Replace with your mail merge template name

info name;

info to_email;

input_json = "{'sign_mail_merge':[{'mail_merge_template':{'name':'" + merge_template_name + "'},'file_name':'letterofintent','sign_in_order':false,'signers':[{'recipient_name':'" + name + "','action_type':'sign','recipient':{'type':'email','value':'" + to_email + "'}}]}]}";

header_data = Map();

header_data.put("Content-Type","application/json");

response = invokeurl

[

url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/Accounts/" + customerId.toLong() + "/actions/sign_mail_merge"

type :POST

parameters:input_json

connection:"zylkercrm"

];

//Replace above connection name with your connection name

info response;

details = response.getJSON("sign_mail_merge").toJSONList();

link = "";

for each detail in details

{

link = detail.get("details").get("report_link");

info link;

}

mp = Map();

mp.put("Document_Sign_Details",link);

update = zoho.crm.updateRecord("Accounts",customerId.toLong(),mp);

return "";

The system sends a merged document, as shown in the screenshot below, to the customer.

Final Merged Document sent to Customer

Use case 2: Using mail merge API for sending different types of SLA

Assume that in Zylker Technologies, when you sell a product, your customer can opt for different types of after sales support . A check list field - Support Type - indicates type of support - Standard or Premium. SLA document(Service Level Agreement) is a contract between you and your customer that defines level of service and the metrics used to measure the service.The service level provided to different customers will be different based on the kind of support they opted for and you need to send different SLA document based on this. This can be achieved by maintaining two SLA mail merge templates.

Similar to use case 1, a custom button can invoke the below function and in the function, a mail merge template is selected based on the type of service provided. The support_Type fields gets the value of the "Support Type" check list. Merge mail template is decided based on this field and send mail merge API is called to send the merged document. After sending the mail with appropriate mail merge template document, the function downloads the merged document and uploads it to the Attachments related list.

Using download mail merge API, the merged document is obtained and then attached to the Contacts module with the attachFile function.

customerMap = zoho.crm.getRecordById("Accounts",customerId.toLong());

to_email = customerMap.get("customer_Email");

from_email = customerMap.get("Owner").get("email");

support_Type = customerMap.get("Support_Type");

if (support_Type == "Premium" )

{

merge_template_name = "SLA_Premium";

}

else

{

merge_template_name = "SLA_Std";

}

//Replace above merge template names with your merge template names

input_json = "{'send_mail_merge':[{'mail_merge_template':{'name':'" + merge_template_name + "'},'from_address':{'type':'email','value':'" + from_email + "'},'to_address':[{'type':'email','value':'" + to_email + "'}],'subject':'Hi there','type':'attachment','attachment_name':'testdocument','message':'Big Deal'}]}";

header_data = Map();

header_data.put("Content-Type","application/json");

response = invokeurl

[

url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/Accounts/" + customerId + "/actions/send_mail_merge"

type :POST

parameters:input_json

connection:"zylkercrm"

];

//Replace above connection name with your connection name

input_json = "{'download_mail_merge':[{'mail_merge_template':{'name':'" + merge_template_name + "'},'output_format':'pdf'}]}";

header_data = Map();

header_data.put("Content-Type","application/json");

//The merged document is stored to file_object

file_object = invokeurl

[

url :"https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v5/Accounts/" + customerId.toLong() + "/actions/download_mail_merge"

type :POST

parameters:input_json

connection:"zylkercrm"

];

//Replace above connection name with your connection name

response = zoho.crm.attachFile("Accounts",customerId,file_object);

return "";

The benefits of using the mail merge template APIs from Zoho CRM, which enable automated document generation, are highlighted in this article. These APIs enable the easy customization of the documents like Letters of Intent (LOIs), Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Request for Proposal (RFPs), etc. Businesses can increase efficiency, accuracy, and customer happiness by automating this procedure.

We hope you found this article useful. We will be back next week with another interesting topic. If you have any questions, write to us at support@zohocrm.com or let us know in the comment section.

New to Zoho LandingPage?

Access Zoho LandingPage

Zoho LandingPage Resources

New to Zoho Survey?

Access Zoho Survey

Latest Feature Updates

Explore our Pricing & Plans

Zoho Survey Resources

Android Mobile Surveys

Insurvey Blogs

Insight Blogs

Tips & Tricks

New to Zoho CRM Plus?

Deliver unforgettable customer experiences

ACCESS ZOHO CRM PLUS

New to Zoho CRM Plus?

Deliver unforgettable customer experiences

ACCESS ZOHO CRM PLUS

New to Zoho Marketing Plus?

Everything you need to run your marketing

ACCESS ZOHO MARKETING PLUS

New to Zoho Marketing Plus?

Everything you need to run your marketing

ACCESS ZOHO MARKETING PLUS

New to Bigin?

Signup Now

Access Bigin

Latest Feature Updates

Zoho Desk Resources

Desk Community Learning Series
Digest
Functions
Meetups
Kbase
Resources
Glossary
Desk Marketplace
MVP Corner
Word of the Day

Tout forum

France ZUGs

Zoho SalesIQ Resources

Sticky Posts
Extension pointers for integrating Zoho CRM with Zoho products #8: Upload and manage Zoho Workdrive folders and files from within Zoho CRM
Keeping records on your customers and business prospects is essential for tracking data, conducting follow-ups, and running a business smoothly. When you use two separate applications, and store relevant data in each, checking and tracking data becomes
Extension pointers: Handle cases with personalized solutions using custom actions
In our last post, we detailed the steps involved in creating a custom action and the workflow from the developer and end user's side. Now let's look at a working example of how we can create a custom action and implement it in a Zoho CRM account to make
Extension pointers - Simple yet significant pointers #13: On change of field value for CRM variables
CRM variables provide global access to a variable across an entire extension. They also help in the storage of user-specific data provided by the user at the time of installation, which can later be fetched to perform data functionalities. Additionally,
Extension pointers: Extend end-user benefits and allow personalization by implementing extensions with custom actions
From our earlier post on custom actions, we know that we can create templated actions, share them with end users, and allow them to reuse those actions to achieve personalized outcomes. In this post, we'll look at how custom actions make it easy for users
Extension pointers - Simple yet significant pointers #12: Functions for Zoho CRM extensions
Functions are essential in achieving logical functionality for an extension. You can easily code your functions in Deluge using drag-and-drop tools to meet your requirements. How to create functions for Zoho CRM extensions in Sigma Go to Sigma and select