Mail merge is a function that helps you to simplify repetitive tasks to create personalized documents (Forms, Letters, Address Labels, Envelopes, etc.). You can create a mail merge template that would contain the variables (merge fields) in it. Using the template, you can merge data from Zoho CRM and create the merged documents with accurate values for the variables.

Suppose you have to send personalized letters to numerous leads or create templates for service level agreements or other legal documents. In such cases, you need not manually type the details of each lead in the letters to personalize them. Instead, you can simply create a template with the merge fields from the leads module and later merge the data to get all the personalized letters.

There are two ways in which you can create a mail merge template:

1. Create a template from the scratch.
2. Choose any template from the predesigned list of templates.

Create Mail Merge Templates

Zoho Writer is an online word processor that allows you to create and share documents online. You can create mail merge templates in Zoho Writer and use CRM data (Leads, Accounts, Contacts and Potentials) to create mail merge documents.

To create template in Zoho Writer

1. Go to Setup > Customization > Templates > Mail Merge.
2. Click + New Template.
3. In the Create New Template popup, specify the following details:
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   • Select the Module for which you want to create the template.
     The merge fields in the template will be based on the module that you select. You can create mail merge templates for both system-generated modules as well as custom modules.
   • Enter the Template Name.
   • Select the Folder from the drop-down list. The template will be stored in the folder that you select.
   • Enter the Description for the template.
4. Click Create.
   You will be redirected to the Mail Merge Template Gallery, where you can proceed to create the template in two ways.

I. Create Mail Merge Template From Scratch

Building a mail merge template from the scratch makes template creation easier. The merge fields from the module you have chosen in the above step will be displayed under Insert Fields section. All you need to do is click on the required fields, that will get added to the new template.

To create a template from scratch

1. Choose Blank template from the Mail Merge Template Gallery.
   A document will be opened in Zoho Writer.
2. Select the Merge Fields from the Insert Fields section.
3. Click Done.

II. Create Template from Predesigned Template

An alternate approach to creating a template is to choose a template from the template gallery. The gallery displays predesigned templates from various categories such as Resumes, Posters and Invitations, Letters and Covers and Creative Writing. You can select a template from any of these categories based on your business requirement.

To create a template from the gallery

1. Choose a template from the Mail Merge Template Gallery.
2. Click Select.
   A document will be opened in Zoho Writer.
3. Select the Merge Fields from the Insert Fields section.
   The fields will be inserted in the specified place in Writer template.
4. Click Done.

Add Subforms in Templates

Certain business scenarios raise the need to include a subform which say for example, contains additional information of a main product such as warranty, guarantee details, or accessories purchased, etc. You can add the subform in your template and send it to your customers instead of manually adding that information. Choose the appropriate subform merge fields, which will be added to your template automatically.
To know more about subforms, click here.

To add subforms in a template

1. Go to Insert Dynamic Table in Zoho Writer document.
2. Select the subform that you would like to add in the template.
   A pop-up displays the list of fields in the subform.
3. Select the fields that you want to add in your template.
4. Click Select all to select all the fields at once.
5. Click Create Table.
   

Add Related List Items in Templates

At times, you may want to include information from a module's related list like open activities or open campaigns or say related lists fields like product code, voucher number etc. in the template. So, instead of entering these details manually, you can simply select the desired related list merge fields that will automatically get added into the template. Every related list item that is added into the template is displayed in the form of dynamic tables.

Below are few examples of the related list items that you can add to a template:

• You can create a template for the Accounts module and include the list of contacts that are associated to any particular account by choosing the Contacts module from the related list.
• You can create a template for the Contacts module and include the list of open activities of each contact by selecting the Open Activities from the related list.
• You can create a template for the Deals module and insert the associated products of each deal by simply selecting the Products module from the related list item.

To add related list modules to a template

1. Go to Insert Dynamic Table, in the Zoho Writer document.
2. Choose a related list Module and click the Arrow.
3. Select the Fields that you want to include in the template.
4. Click Create Table.
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Organize Mail Merge Templates

When you have created numerous templates for different business requirements, it is the best practice to keep the templates organized and stacked under appropriate folders for easy identification. In the following section we will discuss about organizing the templates.

Preview Templates

You can preview each template that you have created right from the templates list page. The preview option gives you a closer look at how the template will appear in its final form.

Sort and Search Templates

Sorting lets you reorder and arrange the templates by bringing them to the top of the list for easier access. By default the templates are listed by the "modified time". The recently created or modified template is listed on the top.

Also, instead of browsing through the entire list of templates you can search for the required template in two ways:

• You can search by entering the template name in the search bar provided.
• You can use the module filter and choose to view the templates that are related to a particular module.
  

Clone Templates

There can be chances when you want to make slight modifications to a particular template before sending it to a customer. In such a case, rather than creating a whole new template, you can clone the old template, make the necessary changes and send it. In the preview section, you can select the template and click the clone button to duplicate the existing template.

Mark Templates as Favorites

You may have a bunch of templates that you frequently use and might want to highlight them for easy identification. For this purpose you have the option of setting templates as favorite by clicking on the star before the template name.

Move or Delete Templates

There may be instances when you no longer wish to use a particular template, you can simply select the template and click on the Delete button.

Similarly, you can move a template from one folder to another based on requirement. This will be helpful in instances where you have to share a few templates with someone. You can move the needed templates to a folder and share. You can select the template(s) and click on the Move to Folder button and choose the appropriate folder form the drop-down list. You can also create a new folder and move the template to it if you want.

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Create Template Folder

You can group similar templates under a template folder. Template folders are useful when you have many templates, you can easily categorize to manage the different mail merge templates that you have created.

To create a template folder

1. Create a New Template.
2. Click Save.
3. You will be asked to save it to a folder. To create a folder, click Create New Folder.
4. Enter the name of the folder and with whom you want to share it.
   You can either share it with all the users or specific users or just yourself.
   
5. A new folder will be created and the template will get added to it automatically.

Import MS Word Templates

Mail Merge templates can also be created in Microsoft Word and you can import those templates in Zoho CRM. To use this functionality, you need to purchase the Zoho CRM plug-in for Microsoft Office. Note that, for merging the data, this feature is only supported in Internet Explorer 6 and above. See AlsoZoho CRM Plug-in for MS Office
Here is a Sample Template.

To import MS Word template

1. Go to Setup > Customization > Templates > Mail Merge Templates.
2. In the Mail Merge Templates page, click Import Template.
3. In the Import Template window, specify the following details:
   
   • Click Browse to choose the Microsoft word file that you want to import.
   • Enter the Description for the template.
   • Select the Folder from the drop-down list. The template will be stored in the folder that you select.
   • Select the Module for which you want to create the template.
     The merge fields in the template will be based on the module that you select.
4. Click Import Template.

Send Mail Merge Documents via Email

Once you have created and saved your mail merge templates in Zoho CRM, you can merge the documents with CRM records and email them to the desired customer/s at any time.

To send mail merge documents via email

1. Go to the required module (Leads/Contacts/Accounts/Deals/Custom modules)
2. Select the record.
   If you wish to send the document to a bunch of customers select the desired records in the Module List View.
3. Click the More icon and click Mail Merge.
4. In the Mail Merge popup, select the required document and click Merge.
   
   You will be redirected to the template in Zoho Writer. You can edit the template if required.
5. On the left, under the Complete Merge section, click Email.
   
6. In the Email Merged Document popup, select the email ID that the document should be sent to.
7. Enter the details required to send the document as mentioned below.
   • From Address/Reply To: Zoho CRM offers you the flexibility of choosing different email addresses for the From/Reply To email fields.
     Which means, you can have emails sent from your personal email ID, but have the responses sent to your organization email ID, if you so wish. Simply select the appropriate email IDs in the From/Reply To email fields. You can choose from the following options:
     • your account email address
     • organization email address
     • email address of the record owner
   • Email field: Choose which email ID you want to send the mail merge document to - the person's primary or secondary address or an associated CRM user's email as well as any other custom email field. 
   • Subject: Enter a desired Subject line for the email.
   • Send (Email) As: You have the option of sending this mail merge document inline or as an attachment. 
     • Inline: The template content will be part of the email body
     • Attachment: The mail merge document will be sent as an attachment with the email.
   • Message: Enter a message to the recipient. This will be displayed in the body section of the email.
   • Attachment Name: If you choose to send the email as an attachment, enter a name for the attachment.
   • Additional Attachment: If you have additional attachments to send, you can browse for the required files and attach them here.
     
   
   Note that the subject can also contain a merge field of the desired module. Simply click the + icon to insert the merge field as shown in the image below.
   
8. Click Send.
   The merged document will be sent to the chosen email IDs.

Track Sent Mail Merge Emails

Once you have sent your mail merge documents via email, they can be tracked under the Emails Related List of the associated records (leads, contacts etc). You will check this related list to see the list of emails you have sent to a particular lead/contact and their status. Mail Merge Emails will also feature under this related list.

To view the Emails related list

1. Go to the respective module, say Leads.
2. Click the record in question.
3. Scroll down to the Emails related list.
4. Make sure to select "Emails Sent from CRM".
5. You will find the list of emails, the source type and the status.
   

View Mail Merge Logs

At any point, you can track status of the sent mail merge documents using the Mail Merge Logs. The logs will give you details such as the "job" in progress, who is sending the email, document version and so on.

To view mail merge logs

1. Go to the mail merge document/template in Zoho Writer.
2. Click Tools > Mail Merge.
3. Click View Mail Merge Logs found right under the Complete Merge section.
   
   Click the Filter to sort the templates based on their status - such as In Progress, Completed and Failed.
   

What's the difference between tracking mail merge template status under Emails Related List and Mail Merge Logs?

In the Detail page of a record, under the Emails related list, you will see the status and details of all sent emails associated to that particular record. They could be mails sent individually, mass mail, workflows or mail merge templates. For example, you can see all emails sent to James under the Email Related Lists. Mail Merge templates sent to him will also be listed here and you can track the status.

Whereas, in the Mail Merge Logs, you will see the status a particular mail merge template that's been sent to one person or many people. Example, you have sent a template called Service Level Agreement to 5 people. Mail Merge Logs will show the status of that particular template and its delivery status with respect to each recipient it is sent to.

• Email Related List is recipient-based.
• Mail Merge Logs is template-based.

Delete Mail Merge Template

To import MS Word template

1. Go to Setup > Customization > Templates > Mail Merge Templates.
2. In the Mail Merge Templates page, move the mouse pointer over the template.
   
3. Click the Delete icon.