Documents
You can manage all of your Documents from within CommitCRM, either by saving them as local copies in the CommitCRM Account Documents Folder, or by linking to external files on your local disk or network. By allowing CommitCRM to manage your documents, you can easily access relevant documents without searching for them on your server. In addition, you can file them within related CommitCRM sections such as Accounts, Tickets, Assets, etc. Each Document record within CommitCRM contains details about the document, its category, links to related objects such as Accounts and Tickets, etc.
CommitCRM can manage any of the following document types: Word®, Excel®, PDF, email, scanned documents, images, videos and basically any other format. You can view Documents in CommitCRM in the documents window, which you can access by clicking the documents icon on the left pane, or from Accounts, Tickets, etc. in the related Docs tab.
In addition to filing documents under CommitCRM sections, you can also organize your documents according to category. By using categories you can easily group your documents and find them later.
You can add, remove and change categories in the Category Tree which is at Settings > Documents > Category Tree.
Setting the Default Document folder
All documents copied into CommitCRM are stored in the Default Document Folder, in the related Account sub-folder. The default folder is set up during the initial CommitCRM installation. You can change your default folder in Tools > Options > Documents tab > Default Document Folder.
When adding a document to any Account for the first time, you will be prompted to set the document folder for that Account. The system will suggest creating a folder under the Default Documents Folder, or set the Account's folder to be anywhere on your network. Setting the default folder for the Account can be done via the Account's Details tab.
To view a document stored in CommitCRM, simply double-click it within CommitCRM and the file will open.
Document Download and Upload Settings
Using the Commit Web Interface, employees can download and upload CommitCRM documents which are located on your server, directly from the browser. You can also set up the system to allow customers to download documents which are linked to their account, or which are linked to public Knowledge Base articles, via the Web Interface.
In order to allow file downloads and uploads, you should first map the folder locations for the download, so that the Web Interface Service will be able to access them for download. You can also define folders which will deny download, in case you need to protect sensitive information from being accessed via the web interface.
To setup the documents download settings, please refer to Document Download and Upload Settings under Web Interface Installation Instructions.
Importing Existing Documents
To add an existing document to an Account, open the relevant Account window and drag-and-drop the file into CommitCRM. This will automatically link the relevant Account to the newly created document. All documents managed within CommitCRM can be opened by double-clicking on them in CommitCRM.
In some cases, you may want to import a whole folder of documents and link it to a CommitCRM Account. You can import multiple documents into CommitCRM using one of the following Import Documents Folder options:
- In the main menu, go to Tools > Import > Import Documents Folder.
- In the Accounts/Tickets/Contracts/Opportunities window, go to the Docs tab, right-click, and select Import Documents Folder.
A window will open. Select the folder and files to be imported and confirm.
Important Note: When importing multiple documents (or folders), CommitCRM stores links to the original files rather than copying the files to the Account documents folder in CommitCRM. If you want the files to be copied to the CommitCRM documents folder, copy the folder with all the files in the CommitCRM folder, and then import them into CommitCRM.
Files linked into CommitCRM rather than copied will remain in the jurisdiction of the Windows File Security system. In order to view these linked files from different computers, the security settings & sharing settings for that folder must include permissions for the rest of your domain users on other computers that need to access them.
More information on setting user permissions for linked files can be found here.
Managing Outlook Emails within CommitCRM
Email plays an important role in tracking customer activity. You can file Outlook® and Outlook Express® emails in CommitCRM and link them to Accounts, Tickets etc. by dragging them from Outlook and dropping them into CommitCRM. To open and view any emails, simply double-click the document within CommitCRM. The email message will be displayed in Outlook® together with any attached files.
Note that when using Outlook to send email via the CommitCRM Email icon (i.e. from the Ticket window or from the Account window), this email will automatically be filed as a CommitCRM Document under the relevant Account/Ticket.
CommitCRM also offers advanced email correspondence tracking when using Commit Email Connector. For more details see Email Distribution via Commit Email Connector.
Using Word Merge Templates
You can merge CommitCRM Account data in Word Merge templates. This is useful for ensuring that all addressed envelopes and letters have the correct and most up-to-date contact information. To create a Word Merge template, you need to use Word's merge documents feature. You can manage Word templates in CommitCRM from Settings > Documents > Template Management.
To use CommitCRM Templates, in the New Document window select Create Based on a CommitCRM Template then select one of your predefined templates. CommitCRM data fields will automatically be populated in the new Word document based on the most updated information in CommitCRM.
Creating new Word Merge Templates in CommitCRM
To create new CommitCRM Word Templates:
- Go to Settings > Documents > Template Manager.
- Create a new Template. (The Base template may contain your default office template; you can leave it empty.)
- Confirm the pop-up message in the new Word document window.
- Edit the template. You may add your own text and CommitCRM database fields from the Insert Merge Fields option (it usually appears as a button on the Word's Mail Merge toolbar).
- Save the template.
- Create a new document in CommitCRM and select Based on CommitCRM Template in the Create From field. Then select your template file. The word document should open and the data from CommitCRM should be merged within the document.