AdvisorEngine CRM features an online Document Editor for use in creating emails, letters, envelopes, labels, or just general documents. Though the features vary slightly depending on the purpose for which you are using the Editor, the functionality remains largely the same throughout its uses.

In most ways, the interface is designed to resemble and function like Microsoft Word, albeit in a more limited capacity. Your standard Word Processing features should be easily recognized and function as you expect. The features unique to the Online Editor are covered below:

Merge & Save/Save

From the Home tab, Merge & Save completes document creation and replaces any Merge Fields (covered below) with the corresponding data from the Record(s) selected.

If you are editing an existing document that has already been merged or are creating/editing a Document Template, this will simply be a Save button.

Load Template

This allows you to select one of your existing Templates to fill in the document. Your available Template Types will vary based on the function for which you’re using the Editor (for example, only Email Template Types will be available when creating an Email Correspondence). When creating a generic Document, you will have access to the Letter Template Types.

You may also select a file from your PC to load as a Template from the allowed document types: docx, doc, pdf, tx, rtf, txt, html, or htm.

This function will not be available when editing an existing document.

Cut, Copy, and Paste

The document editor has its own internal clipboard that can be used through the buttons on the menu ribbon or by right-clicking within a document.

If you need to cut, copy, or paste something to or from another source using the local clipboard, click Use Local Clipboard on the menu and then use the Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, or Ctrl+V key combinations to cut, copy, or paste, respectively.

Insert, Format, and Delete Merge Fields

The Mailings tab contains the features that allow you to automatically pull in data from Records when creating documents. This is especially powerful in mass correspondence, allowing each document to be personalized for the recipient.

You can add merge fields using the Merge Field drop-down, including searching for a particular field:

Some of the more common useful fields are described in our Common and Helpful Merge Fields Glossary.

The formatting of the final merge can be controlled by right-clicking on an inserted merge field and choosing Field Properties.

To remove a field you’ve added, select the field and click Delete Field on the menu ribbon, or right-click and select Delete Field (Backspace or Del on the keyboard won’t work).

Preview Merge

To see if you’ve used the correct merge fields and correctly formatted around them, you can click Preview Merge Results to populate your document with actual Record data.

You’ll be prompted for how many Records worth of data to pull in. The actual results will not exceed the number of Records you are working with. For example if you’re creating a document for a single Record, it will only pull in that Record’s data no matter what you set this number to. The same is true if you are creating a Document Template. Only one result of sample data will be used regardless of the setting here.

The results will preview. If you have more than one preview result, you can use the Navigation buttons to page through the results. To return to editing the document, click Exit to toggle the preview off. You cannot save, close, or finish a document while Preview Merge Results is active.