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 IntentNote 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 buttonThe 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 CustomerUse 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.
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Mable Mary M P
Chad LeJeune
Anamika Prasanth
Blake Guilfoyle
Pheranda Nongpiur
Sticky Posts
Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint
Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post
Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQsKaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API
🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!
Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
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
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
Leverage the power of Zia (AI) to create Marketing Projects in Zoho Marketing Plus
Hey everyone, Zoho's advanced AI assistant, Zia, now works with OpenAI to offer personalized marketing activity suggestions for your marketing projects in Brand Studio. With information such as your campaign's objective, duration, marketing channel types,Use Zoho Flow to Supercharge your Zoho FSM Integrations
We are thrilled to announce that Zoho FSM is now included in Zoho Flow - Zoho’s powerful no-code integration platform. With this, you can connect Zoho FSM with your most-used applications—without requiring technical expertise. What does this offer? ZohoZoho Flow triggers not working
Hi , I have set up a flow which triggers when a new record is created in a Zoho Creator app. This flow works great when I initiate the flow with "test and debug". However the flow does not trigger in live mode. I have tested all the connections usedCan you sync your Apple Calendar with Bigin Activities/calendar?
I've searched everything I can find and nothing is coming up... I've got a number of things in my calendar for the future, and it would be easiest if I can sync between them to update my availability for my booking page (also syncing the other way wouldHow to track salesiq on google analytics without GTM
Hello! We had to move the installation of the SalesIQ widget from GTM to directly do it in our wordpress site. The SalesIQ widget was being blocked by Adblockers which caused a lot of our visitors to not be able to see it. This issue was fixed from deletingCustom Module Count
We are on Zoho One. CRM says that the three modules which support Zoho Sign integration are "custom modules." Do these count against the 200 custom modules permitted by the One access to "enterprise-level" CRM features?Marketer's Space: Bookmarks by Zoho Campaigns
Hello Marketers, In this week's Marketer's Space, we'll look at a simple yet powerful feature that makes a big difference in your workflow: Bookmarks. Bookmarks is a built-in feature in Zoho Campaigns that enables you to create a personalized libraryI need a custom AI Chatbot to be integrated with ChatGPT to Handle Customers inquiries
I need a custom AI Chatbot to be integrated with ChatGPT to handle Customer inquiries, and save the data to Zoho CRM as a Leads, Also to schedule a demo with clients and more optionsUser Management > Agents request
I have a few suggestions for the Agent page: 1) Please add a way to filter Full agents. The list currently shows Light agents as an option but sometimes it would be helpful to view only the full agent licenses or non-light agent. 2) Add the ability toMandate Assessments in Zoho Recruit's Candidate Application Form
We're excited to announce the Include Assessment option for the Candidate Application Form, which lets you display the pre-screening assessment associated with the job opening along with the application form fields. This ensures that every candidate applyingSending an email from contacts does not display the recipient's name correctly
When I select a contact or group of contacts and then click the envelope to send mail, the contacts are added to the To section of a new email. Unfortunately, their First and last names are not displayed. The part of the email address before the @ signWriting SQL Queries - After Comma Auto Suggesting Column
When writing SQL Queries, does anyone else get super annoyed that after you type a comma and try to return to a new line it is automatically suggest a new column, so hitting return just inputs this suggested column instead of going to a new line? AnyoneStop adding Default ID column to xls exports
When anything is exported to xls, Zoho adds a column with an ID. WE DO NOT WANT THIS COLUMN. We use an automated report to a team. We have our own tracking number. 1. This makes the report messy, it just pushes OUR data off to the right. 2. We have tocommunication distribution
Hello community! Request for help - how to resolve the issue of subscribing to specific content. I use ZOHO CRM and ZOHO CAMPAIGNS to send email communications to my customers. I only purchased ZOHO CAMPAIGNS after using the CRM for some time and I haveTruesync for Linux
Is Truesync available on linux ?Web access blocked
Hello, My account (chris@thewebprojects.com) has been blocked due to security reasons. Please see attached. Can you kindly please help me. Thank you in advancedHow to determine ZohoCreator organization ID
I am trying to setup an API to interface with my ZohoCreator app by following the self-client credential flow here https://www.zoho.com/accounts/protocol/oauth/self-client/client-credentials-flow.html However, it requires me to input my organization ID.Autofill Zoho form with Zoho campaign data
Hello, I send campaigns and we have set a button called "Demo" in that campaign. This button leads to a form. Since we have the data in Zoho Campaign, would it be possible that some fields of the form (first+last name, email, company) are automatically filled when our readers click on this button? If yes, how could I do that? Thanks Aurélie LeyendeckerNeed to be Amount Adjusted with same Group Comany
Dear Sir/ Madam, Good Day, Example wise i write my quire Below A B C & D E F Bothe are Same Group Companies We Paid 50000 AED to ABC Company but we received Invoice 48000 AED worth of material Balance 2000 AED invoice i received from D E F. I Need toTransfer between 2 accounts in forein currency
Hello, While abroad, I have exchanged some money in a money exchange service from a foreign currency (MYR) to another foreign currency (USD) without passing through my base currency (CHF). How do I record this transaction in Zoho Books? When I try toZoho Books Webhook in Custom Module doesn't work
I have a custom module "Purchase Request" in Zoho Books in which we're trying to convert status of the PRs to Draft and Pending Approval. We've explored different applications and custom functions but found that the status is not "writable". However,Issue with Missing Scope for Creating Service Report via Zoho FSM API
Hello @Latha Velu , I am currently working on creating a connection to create a Service Report in Zoho FSM using the API. However, while configuring the required scopes, I noticed that the scope ZohoFSM.modules.ServiceReports.CREATE whichImap Support?
Does Zoho Books support IMAP? I have enabled outlook integration from settings in Zoho Books Yet the emails I send from Zoho Books for example if I email a purchase order or an invoice I dont see them in it in my sent box in outlook Is there a problemADDING FUEL SURCHARGE & HST
Hello I need to invoice the customer showing both Fuel Surcharge & ON HST separately. The FSC should be 20% of the subtotal. The HST should be applied to sum of Subtotal + FSC So it should be like: SUBTOTAL: 100.00 FSC (20%): 20.00 HST (13%): $15.60 HowZoho Project API search?
Good day, i would like to search our entire portal for a task using the API. We have over 20k tasks so I dont to search for all tasks and then do a for each as it would take way to long and also would need to go over the limit of 200 records per query.Handling Deposits to Vendors and how to book this
Our scenario: 1. We rent equipment from a renting company for a project (Vendor "Eurorent") 2. We receive an order confirmation with a request to pay a deposit of € 1500. (this is not a Bill) 3. We pay a deposit of € 1500 for the equipment. 4. After usingTip of the Week #61– 5 easy ways to declutter your inbox!
Managing a shared inbox is easier than you think. With the right tools and a smart approach, your team can stay on top of every conversation, collaborate more effectively, and deliver timely responses without any unnecessary back-and-forth. Here are 5Vertical Solution Zoho One
Hello, is it possible to create a vertical solution for Zoho One? Just like it is possible for Zoho CRM?Multiple workspaces with in Bigin CRM
As a freelancer working as a sales representative for two companies, each with its own email address, I would like to know if it’s possible to have two separate workspaces in Bigin. This way, I could manage each company and its contacts independently,Allowing subqueries in FROM clause
When building a Query table in Zoho Reports, I encountered an error when attempting to put a subquery in the "FROM" clause of my statement. Why isn't this currently supported? Is there a plan to implement this functionality in the future?CRM for Everyone - More Actions Option to Create Record
Please consider the option create a new record for the module from the More Actions menu. I know there is an "Add New" icon further down the menu to create a record for any module, but this just seems more intuitive and could reduce the need for the "AddZoho books partners: Transferwise, Resolut
Can anyone tell me if Transferwise and/or Resolut (payment systems) are in integrated? I know PayPal and Google are, but in Europe we like Transferwise and Resolut is an up and coming multi-currency app. Xero and Transferwise are fully compatible. ThanksGetting oauth errors on bigin
Hi Support, I'm getting oauth errors on bigin even though it works fine with CRM. I created a self client which will add contacts. I gave every permission you could and it still didn't work. What should I do. I might just switch to the standard CRM sinceAssessment Field in Custom View
Zoho recruit finally added the ability to filter Job Applications by Assessment Answers This is a very valuable addition to the Recruit But this is currently missing from the custom view This should be added to the custom view as wellName Change and Delete Email ID and Alias
Hello please i require urgent assistance, 1.) I would also like to change the name that appears when people receive my emails. I have an info@spacetraiders.com but when people receive my email its say Ronma Adedeji instead of either Info or Space Traiders..Feature Requests and enhancements: Subform
By The Grace of G-D. Hi, It would make it much easier to use if we could have some more features in subforms: More Columns/Fields Set the size of a column Show the subform in Full Page Width Sorting By Column Please consider The above suggestions. TUnapplied AP Credits not showing up on AP Detail Aging
I am new to using Zoho Books. I was reconciling some accounts and found differences from the GL balance and AP Aging and it came down to unapplied vendor credits. Is there an option to include that on the report, so I can pull a matching AP Aging to theAdd Entry and Subform Record from Deluge Scripts
Hi all, I would like to know how do I add a new entry and also subform records from a deluge scripts. I can use the insert into to add a new entry to a form, but how do i insert a collection into the subform of the entry? I am using a deluge scriptFinding draft ticket replies
Is there a way to see all tickets which have draft replies?How to apply a tag to a ticket based on the to email address?
I need to assign a tag to a ticket if the ticket was sent to a specific email address. For example, we have the email accounting[at]company.com forwarding into Zoho Desk. We would like all emails that were sent to this address to be tagged with an AccountingNext Page