Every business using Bigin needs to provide invoices, quotes, and other types of business documents, but providing them manually every time is a tedious process. Instead, Bigin users can create personalized business-related documents using Zoho Writer's merge templates to avoid having to re-create documents every time they're needed.
Availability
- Available for all Bigin editions.
- All users in the Bigin account can create Merge Templates in Zoho Writer.
- Merge Templates are available in Zoho Writer's Free Edition.
- If you are using Zoho Writer (Free edition) you will have 200 free credits/month/org. If you are using Zoho Writer (Paid edition) you will have 1000 free credits/month /org.
Components of Merge Templates
Select Data Source
With this component, you can choose other applications to integrate with Zoho Writer. Here, we'll select Bigin. Choose the organization account you want and its corresponding modules/pipelines.
You can also create filters for customers in case if you want to send the document only to certain customers.
Manage Fields
Here, you can choose the fields you need to add to the business document. The fields available here can also be modified, if required. Fields are classified into two categories :
- Main Fields: All the fields available in the Pipelines, Contacts, and Companies modules are available here and also you can include information related to organisations and their users.
- Subforms: All fields in the Product or Service module are available in the subform tab, as well as details about related lists.
Apart from the fields mentioned above, you can also include some advanced fields.
Preview Document
With this component, you can get a quick preview of the document you've created, as well as a dynamic view of customer details.
Here, you can not only preview the document, but also download it or email it directly from the preview page.
When to Merge
Merges can be triggered or scheduled to occur at a certain time.
Choose Output
With this component, you can define your output method. Zoho Writer provides six different kinds of output :
- Merge as a new document: The merge is run on the first matching record.
- Merge and save as an individual file: Created documents are saved as individual files in a Work Drive folder. If you don't have a Work Drive folder, you can create one on the go. File names can be made dynamic based on the fields selected.
Merge and send email:
This will send emails to all relevant email addresses. Emails can be included as inline content or as an attachment.
- Merge and send for sign collection: For this to work, user must have a Zoho Sign account. This applies to circumstances where a document must be authorized (signed) before being sent. The order of signer details can be modified accordingly.
- Merge and invoke custom function: Users can also create custom functions in addition to the default configurations provided.
- Merge and send as form: The document is sent out as a form.
Once the merge is completed, you can view the log. You will also receive an email confirming completion of the merge.
Note: If you want to send the merge document only to particular customer, you can apply filters in the Data Source tab.
Creating Merge Templates
Click on the +Create New button. In the Automation Templates section, select Merge Template > Create from scratch/Create over PDF.
Create the desired document with the necessary context. You can create invoices, quotes, legal contracts, and so on.
Go to the left panel in your document, go to Automate, and in the Select the data source section, select Bigin and choose the desired module/pipeline.
In the Manage Fields section, go to the Main fields tab and click on the fields you want to add to your template. You can find fields from other modules here as well.
Go to the Subform tab to list the product's details, like Product, List Price, Quantity, Total. These fields are fetched from the Products related list in the Pipelines module.
Click Preview Merge to view how the document will appear when sent.
In the When to Merge section, choose the appropriate option.
In the Choose Output section, you will find several options. Choose the desired options.
Save the setting or click Run Merge as needed.
Scenarios
Let's say you run a company that sells cars. You can create invoices, agreements, service estimates, and certificates in Zoho Writer, and then use merge fields to include customer-specific details, such as name, address, invoice date, amount, and then map the fields in Bigin to the fields in the document. With this method, you can send personalized documents to each customer using a single standard template, without having to add new information every time manually. This not only saves you time and effort but also ensures consistency and accuracy in your documents.
Notes
- Each merge will consume one credit. For example, if you merge and send a file via email to five customers, five credits will be deducted.
- Additional merges can be purchased if you require more. Go to Zoho Writer > User Panel > Merge Limit > Buy Additional Merge Limits.