Documents Management

Create a Document

  • When logged-in in Concord CRM, click the Documents menu item.
  • In the right side, click Create Document.
  • In the Details section, choose brand, type, owner and set title for the document.
  • In the Products section, add products related to the document.
  • In the Signature section, choose whether this document requires signature and add signers if needed.
  • In the Content section, add document content.
  • Click Save

When an document is created and the selected owner is different from the creator, Concord CRM automatically sends a notification to the document owner. This uses the User Assigned To Document mail template.

Edit a Document

  • When logged-in in Concord CRM, click Documents menu item.
  • From the table, click the document title.
  • The form will be shown, update any fields and data that is needed.
  • Click Save.

Adding Products to Documents

How to Add Products

  • In Concord CRM, you can add as many products as you need in the Products section of a document.
  • When you add products, the document's total amount field updates automatically.
  • You can use this total amount for filtering, displaying it in the document's table, and more.

Displaying Products in Document Content

  • The products you add can be shown directly in the document content.
  • This is useful, for example, if you're creating a proposal and want to include a list of all products in the document.
  • These products will be visible both on the document's public view and in the PDF version.

Embedding a Products Table

  • To have Concord CRM automatically insert a products table into your document:
    1. Open the document in the editor.
    2. Add the Products section where you want the table to appear.

Learn more about using products.

Collecting E-Signatures in Documents

  • In Concord CRM, you can gather multiple e-signatures for each document.
  • The system records the signer's IP address, signing date and time, email, and full name.

Document Status and Signatures

  • Single Signer: If there's only one signer, the document is marked as Accepted once signed.
  • Multiple Signers: For documents with several signers, it's marked as Accepted only after the last signer has signed.

Notifications

  • Concord CRM sends notifications to the document owner each time a signer signs, keeping them updated.

How to Add Signers

  1. While creating or editing a document, go to the Signature section on the top navigation bar.
  2. Ensure Use e-signature is selected.
  3. Click Add new signer.
  4. Enter the signer's full name and email address.
  5. Click Save.

How to Remove Signers

  1. In the Signature section, find the signer you want to remove.
  2. Click the X icon next to their name.
  3. Click Save.

Removing signers from an Accepted document changes its status to Draft.

How to Sign a Document

The signer can sign the document via its public URL.

Steps for the Signer

  1. Click the Sign button at the top right of the document's public page.
  2. Enter the email address used by the sales rep when adding the signer (for confirmation).
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. In the To accept, type your name below field, enter the full name.
  5. Click Sign.

The signer needs to confirm their email address before signing.

After Signing

  • When a document is signed, the document owner gets a bell notification in Concord CRM.
  • A Signer Signed Document email is sent using the corresponding mail template.

Accepting a Document

When you decide that a document does not need a signature, customers can accept the document without having to sign it. Remember, if a document does require signatures, it will be marked as accepted automatically once all the required signatures are collected.

  • Once a document is accepted, its status updates to Accepted automatically.
  • The person who created the document gets a bell notification.
  • A Document Accepted email notification is sent out.

This option is great for when you need to create documents that don't need a digital signature. It's useful for a variety of documents and makes things easier for a wider range of customers.

Please note: Once a document is marked as accepted, it cannot be changed back. It can only be deleted if needed.

Generating Document PDF

You can create a PDF from the content you add in the Content tab when you make or edit a document.

  • To make a PDF, click the PDF button at the top right while editing.
  • You can either view the PDF in your browser or download it to your computer.

  • Customers can download the PDF from the public HTML view of the document.
  • The download button is on the top right of the navigation bar.

The PDF might not look exactly like the HTML version. There might be some small differences.

Choosing the Right Font for Your PDF

  • For each brand you set up, you can pick a default font for your PDFs.
  • This font will be used for all text unless you choose a different one in the editor.
  • To use a different font than your brand's default, change it in the editor. Just make sure your chosen font supports any special characters you use.

Select the right font! If the font doesn't support certain characters you use, they won't show up right in the PDF. DejaVu Sans is a good choice for many characters.

Using Placeholders in Documents

What are Placeholders?

Placeholders are special tags in your document or document template that automatically fill in with real data when you view the document in HTML or PDF format.

When to Use Placeholders

  • You can add placeholders to any part of your document.
  • They are most commonly used in document templates.

Types of Placeholders

  • Branding: Add placeholders related to your brand settings.
  • Associations: Use placeholders for the first linked deal, company, or contact.
  • General: Include general information like company name.

How to Add Placeholders

  1. In the document editor, click where you want to add a placeholder or select text to replace.
  2. Click the code icon in the top toolbar of the editor.
  3. Choose the placeholder you want to insert.

If you use placeholders for a deal, contact, or company and your document is linked to multiple records, the placeholder will pull data from the first linked record. More details on this can be found in the associations section.

How to Send a Document

Note: Only users with the right permissions can use the 'Send Document' feature. You need permission to edit documents you own or all documents.

Steps to Send a Document

  1. Open the Document: While creating or editing a document, go to the top navigation bar and click on the Send section.

  2. Check Signers:

    • If you have added signers before, they will be automatically chosen for sending.
    • If you do not want to send the document to certain signers, uncheck the box next to their name.

  3. Add More Recipients: To include additional people, click Add new recipient.

  4. Choose an Email Account: Select an email account from which to send the document.

  5. Set the Message Subject:

    • Enter the subject of your message.
    • You can change the default subject in the document brand settings.

  6. Write the Message Text:

    • Type in your message.
    • The default text can be altered in the brand settings.

  7. Send the Document: Once everything is set, click Send.

This feature requires working cron job, the document will be sent at the specified date and time only if the cron job is configured properly.

Tracking Document Views

How It Works

Concord CRM keeps track every time a customer looks at the HTML page of a document. When this happens, the owner of the the document gets notified.

Benefits for Sales Reps

  • Sales reps can stay informed about whether or not a customer has seen the document they sent. This is really helpful for following up and understanding customer engagement.

Notifications and Logs

  • When a document is viewed, the document owner gets a bell notification.
  • A Document Viewed email notification is also sent out.

Activity Log

  • Concord CRM records an activity each time the document is viewed.
  • To see how this looks, check out the image below.

Document views are not tracked when a logged-in user views the document.

Concord CRM intelligently tracks when a customer views the HTML version of a document. However, it's designed to recognize and ignore multiple page reloads in a short time to avoid redundant notifications.

  • Document views are tracked hourly.
  • This means if a customer refreshes or reloads the page several times within an hour, it won't log each reload as a new view.
  • Concord CRM won't log a new activity or notify the owner for each reload.
  • If the customer comes back and views the document again after an hour from their first visit, this will be counted as a new view.
  • In such cases, a notification will be sent again to the document owner.

Using Document Templates

Why Use Templates?

Using templates in Concord CRM can save you a lot of time. Imagine sending 10 proposals a day to potential customers. Without templates, you'd have to create each one from scratch. But with templates, you can have pre-made content sets that you can quickly add to your documents.

Managing Your Templates

  • Click the Manage Templates link below the template selector to go to the templates page.
  • You can also access all available templates from the documents index view.
  • Here, you can create, edit, or delete templates.

How to Save a Document as a Template

  • In the document's Content section, click Save Template.
  • Give your template a clear name.
  • If you want to share it with your team, tick the Share this template with other team members? box.
  • Hit Save.

How to Insert a Template into a Document

  • Go to the Content tab.
  • Use the Insert Template dropdown on the top right to pick a template.
  • Once you select a template, it automatically updates the document content.