Quick & Easy Tips to Help with Your DEAR System Templates
One of the biggest advantages of DEAR Systems is the range of document templates that are available which can save you time and streamline your internal processes. In this blog we’re going to take you through some of the templates you can use, including some tips when editing your documents within Word and how to upload and download templates from DEAR.
Downloading a template & editing templates in Word
Once you’re logged into your DEAR system, head over to the Settings section of your account. Within Settings you’ll see the option for Document & Email Templates.
From here you have access to all of the printable templates within the system including;
- Purchase templates
- Sales templates
- Inventory docs
- Point of Sale (POS)
- Production
- CRM
- Financial docs
Once you find the template you need, simply select it and from the top left and select the ‘Download’ button – this will download the Word version of the template.
When you open the template in Word it will look as it does within the DEAR dashboard and will be formatted exactly how it will look when printed. These templates are quite basic but they are easy enough to edit and merge with your own data.
The most important tip we’re going to give to you in this blog is how to get your template in the right view so that you edit your merge fields. Your merge fields are displayed by the content within the arrows (<). This is essentially a reference field that you put into your document and when it’s printed from DEAR, the customer details will have been inputted from the sales quote (for example, customer name, etc.).
In the current view as shown above, you cannot edit these merge fields. To change this into an editable format, select Alt and F9 on your keypad. What this will do is allow you access the ‘backend’ of the template, which will look a little like this:
You’re now in a position to edit these merge fields. These merge fields all exist within the DEAR Support Page so if you’re unsure what a merge field is for a certain field within DEAR, you can check in this location.
Adding a new merge field into your DEAR template
Now you’ve made your fields editable, we’re going to show you how to add a new merge field or change an existing field. For example, if you don’t want MyFax to be in your template you can simply delete it.
If you want to add a new field into the template, select the field you want to change and edit the second part of the text – this is what appears after MERGEFIELD. Before adding any new field names, double check these on the DEAR Support Page.
Once you have the correct field name, this will pull through from the same field data input that exists on your account. So, when it comes to printing, adding Company will pull through the customers company name, Phone will pull through the customers phone number, and so on.
Editing data in the tables that appear with your order details can be tricky as you cannot see the lines that make up the table – but we have a handy tip for you. If you click on the table itself, this will select the whole element and will allow you to go to the Layout option and click View Grid Lines:
This will make your editing easier as you’ll be able to see every single line within the table and easily move them. Now we’ve gone over some of the simpler aspects of merge fields, we’re going to take a look at some of the tricker tasks.
Printing your edited template
In order to print data such as Customer Name, Billing Address, etc you need to add a reference of where it will be printed from. At the top of the template. you’ll see a reference: TableStartSale.
This is placed at the top of document as most of the sales related data will follow afterwards. For this to work, the TableStart also needs a TableEnd. Most of the templates within DEAR come with these as a default but if you’re ever going to make any changes to a template, it’s good to know that all templates must include a TableStart and TableEnd in order to work. If you edit your table data, you’ll also note that there is a TableStart for every table within your document template, this will appear as TableQuoteStart and TableQuoteEnd.
These are elements of the DEAR management system that you’ll need to learn in order to get the most out of the system but again, there’s loads of helpful guides on the DEAR Support Page.
When using merge fields on your tables, for example with stock quote lines, in the event you make any changes to the merge fields in a table you must update the fields. To do this select Ctrl and A which will select the whole document:
Once the data is selected, right click in the table, and select Update Field. This will update any changes to the merge fields or anything else you have added to the backend of the template. Once that’s done, don’t forget to save your document!
Reuploading your document into DEAR
With your template saved, go back into your DEAR dashboard, and return to the location of all templates in the system. Select the template that you edited and from the option on the dialogue box and select ‘Choose a document template’. This will open up your File Explorer where you can select the template you saved earlier and select ‘Save’. The saved version will then appear within your available templates. Your document is now ready to be printed from the system.
Printing templates from DEAR
From your DEAR systems dashboard, from the top menu select ‘Sale’ and then ‘Sales’:
As the example we’ve developed was for a sales quote, you will need to go to the quote stage of the sale and select ‘Print’. And you’re done!
We hope you’ve found this blog useful in using and navigation around your DEAR system. For more help on getting the most from DEAR, view more of our blogs or check out our YouTube channel.
Need help getting started? Get in touch with us to help you troubleshoot your system.