The Prospect CRM Add-in only works on documents and templates that are stored and managed within Prospect CRM. Importantly, you cannot use this Add-in with documents stored outside of Prospect CRM - not even documents that you've downloaded from the CRM to edit locally. The app uses "internet magic" to know the context of your document, where it came from and what CRM records it's connected to. Without your document being loaded directly from the CRM, it just can't do its magic!

So, let's start by configuring a template Word document. Navigate to the Template Configuration in the System Settings by searching 'template' in the search bar, or go to direct to this setting directly here.

Then, select a template to edit, but make sure it's a Word template! For example, in your list you might see one of our standard templates such as the "Blank Letter" or the "Quote Document".

Of course, you can also create a new template too if you prefer.

Click on the pencil icon to configure the chosen template. Then, in the side-panel, click "Edit" to open it in Word.

This will automatically open the template in Word. Click "Enable Editing" or similar in Word.

If you're using Word for Windows, and have installed the Prospect CRM Add-in, you should see the App in your ribbon bar:

Click on "Prospect CRM" to open the Add-in. This should open a sidebar, allowing you to log in to your CRM account.

Click the 'Log in button', and, if you have more than one CRM account or multiple data profiles, please make sure you log into the same one as you used to open the document.

Once logged in, you can begin using the app to manage merge fields within your template.

Simply click into the Word document - wherever you want to place a merge field - and then search for the merge field in the search bar in the app and click. Your merge field will be added to the document.

Depending on the set up of your template in the CRM, the merge fields will vary accordingly. For example, a document template that's defined as a Quote template will have access to Quote tables and Quote values; whereas a document that's set up against Problem records will have access to fields such as Problem ID and Problem Description.

Virtually all templates will have access to more generic fields for entities like Contacts and Companies.

You'll also find other fields at the bottom of the list for user information e.g. today's date etc:

Once you're finished editing your template, simply close and save the Word document.

You can then use it just like any other template in the CRM. For more information on doing that, try this article.

Of course, you've started by using the Add-in to set up your template. But did you know you can also the same Add-in when creating and editing a document in the CRM? Create or open a document against a CRM record (Contact, Opportunity, Problem or Quote for example), and all the pre-existing merge fields are already populated with data. But, if there's some other CRM field that you want to include that isn't part of the template, you can just quickly open the same Add-in and use it to populate data inside your Word document - straight from any related CRM field. For example, let's say your Quote document is pre-populated with the Quote table, but in the middle of a paragraph of text, you want to include the Quote reference, or the total value of the Quote, or confirm the contact's email address...then just go ahead, find those fields in the Add-in and click the field to add the information straight into your paragraph of text!