There are a few options when it comes to mail merging documents in Salesforce. Refer to my preview post on the subject. The suite of tools from Conga (formerly Appextremes) stand out however. If you can’t get the job done with the free options Salesforce provides the next logical step is to have a look at Conga. Here are 6 reasons to take a look at Conga for your next documentation requirement:
- For the SMB community is makes the most sense as it works with Salesforce Professional Edition (other 3rd party apps work only with EE and above). This makes it a cost effective add-on to Salesforce.
- It offers non-profit pricing of 1/3 off. So even a small non-profit with 10 free Salesforce licenses can take on the 5 user minimum that Conga requires given the discount. It’s by far the best tool for handling complex merge requirements like tax receipts and can easily handle all the thank you letters and any other merge that you can throw at it. As long as the data is related in Salesforce, you can merge it.
- If you have a complex merge that needs to grab data from not only the master object but also data from a number of related lists, a Conga merge button can be setup to grab this. On a recent client project, I was able to use 4 specific Salesforce reports to bring in data for a complicated tax receipt merge that would have been very costly with any other method. In fact, we were able to leverage Conga Conductor to handle mass creation of these tax receipts.
- It integrates with other 3rd party eSignature apps like Docusign. If you already have an account with a cloud eSignature app, why not leverage it? For example, Conga can take your Salesforce data, merge it onto a custom template then send over to Docusign for signatures to be gathered, all from a single button click in Salesforce.
- The new V8 (coming soon) will work with Google Drive (and native Google docs). Since we work with Google Apps for Business and the growth in Google is massive in the last few years, the feature is very welcome addition as it reduces the reliance on having the MS Office suite. Here’s a few of the specifics;Conga has a phenomenal support team. I can’t emphasize that enough. On several occasions I got stuck on a given task and their team was able to quickly set me straight and on my way. With the new user interface and template builder in V8, I suspect their team will be called upon less but it’s nice to know that they’re there when you need them.
- Files can be saved directly to a specific Google Drive folder and folders can even be created from Conga as part of the process.
- Although the templates must be MS Office format, those formats could actually be created from a Google doc, sheet or slide by using the Save As feature in Google Drive
- Since MS Word mail merge fields are no longer an absolute requirement, simple text based merge fields can be used instead and this allows a Google doc to be used to create the template and then saved out as an MS Office file to upload into the Salesforce template record.
- If you’re an admin, simply click on the C8 link in the bottom right of the Conga Composer window to test out the new functionality.
The sixth reason is that Conga has a phenomenal support team. I can’t emphasize that enough. On several occasions I got stuck on a given task and their team was able to quickly set me straight and on my way. With the new user interface and template builder in V8, I suspect their team will be called upon less but it’s nice to know that they’re there when you need them.
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Need help with getting Conga Composer or any other tool in the Conga suite setup in your Salesforce Org? Need help with your Conga merge buttons, mass merges or template files? We are Salesforce experts and well versed in Conga so we can help you with your custom requirements. For more information contact Perpetual West at 1 (877) 388-6400.