Say hello to an improved way to merge documents!

Say hello to an improved way to merge documents!

Automating all your documents from start to finish is now easier than ever with Writer's new merge tools.
 
If you haven't seen it yet, you can read the main announcement here.
Here is the full list of the features we've rolled out:

1. Dynamic Table Headers and repeated blocks
After listening to our latest user feedback, we knew these two features were a must-have.

Subform creation
Subforms are field groups that mostly denote choices, transactions, and other activities registered under a single record. With Writer, you can now create such field groups within a record that, when merged, will dynamically grow based on the records in your data source.  
 
For example: Say you want to keep track of the products purchased by a certain customer. In this case, "Customer" is a record, and "the products they purchased" are recorded as a subform under their name.
 
Subforms can be mapped to a related subform in a data source, like Zoho Creator, Zoho CRM, and more.
 


Repeating blocks
You can now repeat blocks as a paragraph, a table row, a table cell, or a table column. For instance, if you're listing the names of books, their authors and descriptions, you can just use the Repeat option of your choice, select the merge fields that carry those details, and insert it into the document.

The selected blocks with all the information you need would then automatically be repeated for each book in your data source.




2. New field types
You can now choose from a variety of different field types to up your template-creation game.

Same field, different configurations 
In case you would want the settings of a field to be different in one or a few places alone, we added a new "change for this instance" option. This way, you can tweak format, output type, and other value settings for a particular instance of a field without affecting other parts of the document where the same field is used.



Repeated blocks? Auto-number it!
If you're working with repeated blocks using the repeat field or subform fields, you can assign auto-increment serial numbers by simply inserting the new "Auto-number" field before them.
  


Embed fields to make documents more interactive
Here's something to make your templates more personalized for each of your recipients: You can now add unique, interactive elements for each of them using an Embed field. This makes it easier to add map locations for each of your records or add contextual video links to guide them.
 


Placeholder images in templates
You can now apply custom placeholder images to image fields in Writer based on the type of document you're working with.
 
In addition to giving your template designers better layout control over the template, placeholder images also let the user know the type of image to be inserted or attached.




3. Tools to format those field types
What's the point of so many different field types if you can't adjust them to your liking? That's exactly what we did.

Shortened field names
There could be fields in your data source whose names are way too long, making your templates look untidy or unclear. Long field names could also denote that your content might look drastically different if the values those fields have are usually much shorter.
 
To tackle this, we're introducing a provision in which you can shorten the names of fields in your merged documents.




Formula that output!
Know that feeling when you have everything ready and merged in your output document except for the final cost of your products? That's why we've introduced formulas in merge fields: so you no longer have to calculate your figures manually. You can now use formulas to calculate your merged output using the desired functions.



Personalized date formats
Certain documents require dates to be written in a certain format. For instance, formal letters require the date to be written in full with the day, month, followed by a comma and the year. With Writer's new update, you can now change the format of the merged date to suit your purpose.




Display past or future dates
The date field provides an easy way to display the current date, but what about when you want to display a past or future date?
For instance, if you're sending renewal reminders and the renewal date is 3 months from the subscription date, you can simply add "3" in the months option or add the number of days for the interval in the days field, and Writer will automatically calculate and enter the renewal date in the field. Similarly, you can do the same to enter dates that are even prior to the subscription date.
  


Rich text
The fields in your data source may carry links, or even have different styles. Merge fields in Writer are now enabled with rich text to retain the style and  format of the fields from your data source after merge.




Number and currency field formatting
Just like how you can change the format of date fields, you can also do the same with number and currency fields. Legal documents, for instance, require values to be presented in the correct decimal and currency format. In such cases, all you have to do is simply change the format of the merged values by using the number formatting option.




4. Other handy merge upgrades
We didn't just stop there. Here are three more upgrades we think will enhance the way you work with your documents pre- and post-merge.

Customize merge docs with sign settings
Create sign-ready, customized documents for specific clients that your colleagues can check, change a few things if needed, and then send for sign immediately with the configuration you've set for them. This gives you that final layer of review and confirmation before sending out a contract to clients.
 


Detailed merge reports
Now, stay on top of your merged emails by tracking when they have been viewed or read by your recipients and how they are interacting with your links.


Lastly, the automation panel gets a new look!
That's right. Based on what some of you told us, we've improved the automation panel by making it easier for you to access "Prepare" and "Run Merge" steps distinctly from the panel at any time.


That's all for now. Let us know what you think of these updates in the comments below.

Read the main announcement here.

Happy merging!

    • Sticky Posts

    • Easily perform calculations using dates with the new DATEDIF function

      Hey Zoho Writer users! We've enhanced Zoho Writer's formula capabilities with the new DATEDIF function. This allows you to calculate the difference between dates in days, months, and years. Function syntax: =DATEDIF(start_date, end_date, unit) Inputs:

    • Date-based conditions and filters

      Configure conditions with date  Hi everyone! We are excited to announce that you can now compare and filter data with date-based conditions. This update lets you compare date fields in a document to a reference date and display a text or value if the

    • Introducing group by, aggregation, and repeating regions in mail merge templates

      Display data exactly the way you want and highlight key insights with Zoho Writer's enhanced merge templates. We've supercharged Zoho Writer's merge templates with the capability to dynamically group, aggregate, and repeat data as blocks. You can now

    • Say hello to an improved way to merge documents!

      Automating all your documents from start to finish is now easier than ever with Writer's new merge tools.   If you haven't seen it yet, you can read the main announcement here. Here is the full list of the features we've rolled out: 1. Dynamic Table Headers

    • Introducing Org Fonts in Zoho Writer

      Hey Zoho Writer users! We're excited to share that you can now add custom fonts (from web fonts with publicly accessible URLs) using Zoho Writer's Org Fonts. This option allows all users across your organization to use the custom font without the hassle

    • Recent Topics

    • Recurring Events Not Appearing in "My Events" and therefore not syncing with Google Apps

      We use the Google Sync functionality for our events, and it appears to have been working fine except: I've created a set of recurring events that I noticed were missing from my Google Apps calendar. Upon further research, it appears this is occurring

    • Hide Admin Only settings

      It would be nice if the setup menu items and settings weren't visible to non-admins. Seems like there is some confusion with users going through setup pages but not having permissions and getting an invalid permission error.

    • Zoho Desk - Feature Request - Add more social channels on Community user profile

      Hi Team, While updating my profile here I noticed that it is only possible to add Facebook and Twitter social links. 1. Please consider adding at least LinkedIn and if possible, other popular channels. 2. Please consider renaming Twitter field name to

    • How to identify a ticket merge through Webhooks?

      The ticket merge functionality moves all Threads and Comments from one Ticket to another. I want to identify this action to correctly apply these changes on my application end. Currently, my application only receives a Ticket_Update notification for the

    • Native SMS Integration in Zoho Desk

      I’d like to request the addition of native SMS integration within Zoho Desk. While email and chat are still widely used, SMS has become a critical channel for fast, effective customer support, especially for urgent or time-sensitive issues. At the moment,

    • need a third party to fix email authentication dns records

      at my wit's end - zoho began giving me spf, dmarc, dkim errors two weeks ago fussed with it since and now it seems dkim is the only problem and when i added the dkim record with the key from zoho mail it still wont work tired of this, need someone who

    • Announcing Early Access to "Zoho CRM for Everyone" — A new and exciting update to Zoho CRM

      We are delighted to announce an Early Access to Zoho CRM for Everyone— a truly democratic approach to managing a CRM, gift-wrapped in an exciting and intuitive user interface. Here, multiple teams across an organization can coordinate among each other

    • Share Projects with Vendor Zoho Projects Portal

      I have a vendor/reseller of my services. They private label my services. My portal is branded. Can an individual project be "shared" or the data sync with another portal? I believe that this can be done with CRM.

    • Email template for customer notification on ticket reply is not being used

      I've set up an email template for notify contact up upon receiving a reply in ticket. When I send a reply to the ticket, it is not using that email template. It just sends a normal looking email. How do I make it so that the email template is being used?

    • Zoho Books - Sales Person Information

      Hi Team, On Invoices, Quotes, etc... I can include the Sales Person, but it only shows their name and not their email or phone number. It would be great to have place on invoice templates where we can manage what sales person information should be shows

    • Feature Request – Support for Stripe Direct Debit for Canadian Customers in Zoho Books

      I’d like to request support for Stripe Direct Debit as a payment option for Canadian customers within Zoho Books. Currently, while Stripe credit card payments are supported for Canadian businesses, there is no option to enable Direct Debit (ACH/EFT) through

    • Zoho Desk blank page

      1. Click Access zoho desk on https://www.zoho.com/desk/ 2. It redirects to https://desk.zoho.com/agent?action=CreatePortal and the page is blank. Edge browser Version 131.0.2903.112 (Official build) (arm64) on MacOS

    • Timentry and Support Plan Relationship

      Timentry and Support Plan Relationship A customer can buy multiple products and request different SLAs and support plans for each product. We can enter different support plans and define the credit. The scenario I want to happen; - To reduce the credits

    • Issue with ticket replies via Slack: '+' symbols replacing spaces in emails

      Hello, support team! We're experiencing an issue when replying to tickets directly through Slack. When the reply is sent to the email, spaces are being replaced by '+' symbols. This makes the message harder to read and understand. Is there any solution

    • Allow 2 logos for Branding, one for Light Mode and one for Dark Mode?

      Our logo has a lot of black text on it. If we leave the background transparent, per recommendation of Zoho, when a user is viewing a file and turns on dark mode, our logo is not really visible and looks really weird. It would be really great if we could

    • Zoho Creator Populate radio field with values with all the created rows subfor

      I have Main Form where i have a lookup field where i get brewery names and the number of tanks as a multiline text field with a list of beer names Based Brewery selected and bbt_tanks number i create rows in the subform and now i want to populate list

    • Currency column showing $ symbol

      Hello, I'm importing data from Zoho Projects to Zoho Analytics and I was wondering why "Budget amount" column is set in dollars even if the "Currency" column = EUR: Is there a way to get the budget amount as "EUR" + nnnnnn? Thank you

    • Android notifications not working

      I've set push notifications to 'on' in ZohoMail for android settings but nothing doing. Can anyone help? I do use a VPN.

    • my clients are not receiving mails

      Hi, My clients are not receiving my mails sent . may we know the reason My dns server and imap settings are perfect

    • Múltiple Deals when converting a Lead

      Hello!!! I hope someone can help me figure out the best way to handle this scenario. I have a multi-select field named “Service” in the Leads module that captures either Service A, Service B, or both. When converting a lead, Zoho CRM currently creates

    • zoho mail and crm is very slow

      I have recently employed Zoho in our organisation. Even after taking high speed internet, mail and CRM takes many minutes to even load. Its really slow and faces lot of downtime.

    • How to use if_case with expressions other than equals

      I'm trying to define a formula column that implements logic like this case statement would: case when numfld1 is null then null when numfld2 > 0 then 100*numfld2 when numfld2 < 0 then numfld2 else 0.0 end In formula columns, the docs say you need to use

    • Zoho CRM's V8 APIs are here!

      Hello everyone!!! We hope you are all doing well. Announcing Zoho CRM's V8 APIs! Packed with powerful new features to supercharge your developer experience. Let us take a look at what's new in V8 APIs: Get Related Records Count of a Record API: Ever wondered

    • Create global project dashboard for all users

      Would like to be able to create a custom dashboard for projects with certain widgets that are default for all new projects.  right now, I have to modify each project dashboard per project per user.  This is not practical.  

    • Zoho Error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

      Hello There, l tried to verify my domain (florindagoreti.com.br) and its shows this error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details. Screenshot Given Below -  please check what went wrong. Thanks

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | January - March 2025

      Hello users, We are back with exciting new enhancements in Zoho Inventory to make managing your inventory smoother than ever! Check out the latest features for the first quarter of 2025. Watch out for this space for even more updates. Email Insights for

    • Inline images are not shown on iPhone

      When I add an image inline it gets displayed on a Zoho's computer software or web browser, but not on Zoho's iPhone app - the image appears to be broken and cannot be copied neither saved. What's the problem with displaying images inline when reading

    • Kaizen #186 : Client Script Support for Subforms

      Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post on Client Script! In this edition, we’re taking a closer look at Client Script Support for Subforms with the help of the following scenario. " Zylker, a manufacturing company, uses the "Orders"

    • Viewing Live data

      Where can I see the live data that is sent from the device?

    • "In Zoho CRM, during the Blueprint transition to the QC stage, I want to make the 'Packing Proof' image field mandatory."

      @Dr Saurabh Joshi @Haiku Technical Support @Ishwarya SG @Sparrow Hill President @Hugh Marshall "In Zoho CRM, during the Blueprint transition to the QC stage, I want to make the 'Packing Proof' image field mandatory."

    • Canvas templates can now be shared with different CRM organizations

      ----------------------------------------Moderated on 14th February, 2023------------------------------------------- Dear all, This feature is now open for all users in all DCs. To learn more about importing and exporting canvas templates, read our help

    • Formatting Mailing Labels

      I want to use the "Print Mailing Labels" function on the drop down list, but I am not seeing a way to change the formatting on the mailing labels. At the moment, the information that appears on the mailing labels ARE NOT mailing addresses, but random information.  I would also like to change be able to change the size of the labels.  At the very least I would like to know what type of labels I can get that would be the correct size.  

    • CRM to Writer Mail Merge Preview not working

      When performing a mail merge from CRM to writer the preview function does not work. I get the following error. I am a Zoho one user on a ChromeOS. I have been successfully using mail merge from CRM to Writer about 4 years. This error seemed to coincide

    • Best practice : when to convert lead to Deal

      Hello, I'm new to Zoho and run my own business. To make sure I'm using Zoho correctly, when do I press convert, from Lead to Deal, at what stage in the conversion funnel/conversation. I want to make sure I can a) monitor status of all pending lead or

    • Show Call History During a Blueprint Transition in Leads Module

      Hi all, I have a Blueprint set up in the Leads module with a transition to Reattempt Call, which updates the lead status to Attempted Contact. I’d like to know if there’s a way to show the call history or at least a summary of how many call attempts have

    • How do I filter contacts by account parameters?

      Need to filter a contact view according to account parameter, eg account type. Without this filter users are overwhelmed with irrelevant contacts. Workaround is to create a custom 'Contact Type' field but this unbearable duplicity as the information already

    • How to delete more than 100 leads at a time.

      We are a call center and we need to upload fresh leads daily.  Is there any way to delete all leads only at once.  Currently we are deleting 100 at a time. Please anyone who can help. Thank you.

    • The Next Chapter for CRM for Everyone: Moving from Early Access to Phased Rollout for Customers

      #CRM25Q1 Hello Everyone, Until now, CRM for Everyone has been available in early access mode exclusively for users who opted to try the new version. We are now transitioning to a phased release, starting with the basic edition. We are thrilled to announce

    • Canvas for related lists

      Hey, we would like to customize our related lists. For us, it would make more sense to present the data from an assigned record vertical instead of horizontal. Can we get a related list Canvas view?

    • Standalone custom function not generating logs

      Why dont't standalone custom functions generate logs when the're called from another function? I have some functions (workflow, buttons and blueprint) that have common parts, so I put that part in a standalone function which is called from the others.

    • Next Page