Template Library: Entry Templates, Note Templates, Email, Document and Word Templates, and Default User Templates
User Guide (the Default User Templates section is for administrators). The Template Library is where you set what a new client entry and a new note start out with, and (if you are a global administrator) where you see and adjust those starting points for every user. A global administrator is your own CRM database's administrator: the MASTER login, or a login with Modify on user administration (the source CRM's Users right). It is not a TechieCRM cloud workspace administrator. See A4, Who counts as an administrator here.
Source-CRM ancestry. This replaces three things in the source CRM's Setup ribbon: the Template Library ▾ drop-down and the Default Entry / Default Note buttons. TechieCRM uses its own words for all of them: the drop-down is Strategy Library, Project Plan Library (the source CRM calls those action plans), Automated / Traditional Marketing Templates and Quota Templates; the two buttons are Entry Template and Note Template. The templates themselves are the same records the source CRM uses: set one here and the source CRM's desktop client sees it too.
In this chapter
- Opening the Template Library
- Entry Template
- Note Template
- The Template Library window
- Email templates
- Document templates
- Word templates
- Default User Templates (administrators)
- Change History and Undo
- Where the templates are stored
- Not yet available
Opening the Template Library
From the ribbon, Setup tab:
| Button | What opens |
|---|---|
| File Management ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Template Library | The Template Library window on your Entry Template. |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Default User Templates | The window on the administrators' page (falls back to your Entry Template if you are not an administrator). |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Strategy Library / Project Plan Library | The window on that library. |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Word Templates | The window on the Word Templates page (see Word templates). |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Email Templates | The window on the Email Templates page: the email templates you share with the source CRM (see Email templates). |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Letter Templates | The window on the Document Templates page: TechieCRM's own letter templates (see Document templates). |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Automated / Traditional Marketing Templates, Quota Templates | The Template Library window, open on that page: a status page saying these are planned (see Not yet available), reachable from the same navigator as the working pages instead of a stand-alone message. |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Entry Template | The Entry Template for <you> dialog (OK · Cancel · Apply). |
| Template Library ▾ ▸ Note Template | The Note Template for <you> dialog (OK · Cancel · Apply). |
Opening any of these changes nothing. A template is written only when you click OK, Apply or Save.
Entry Template
Your Entry Template holds the values a new client entry starts with: the company, city and country you usually enter, your phone-number descriptions, your account manager, and the mailing options. It is the source CRM's Default Entry for <user>, tab for tab.
Edit Basic Information
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Mr/Ms, First name, Middle name | Free text. |
| Last name | Fixed to "Default Entry" and cannot be edited. That exact value is how the template row is kept out of every client list and search, so it is not yours to change. |
| Position, Salutation, Department, Division | Free text (up to 80 characters each). |
| Company, Address 1 / 2, City/Town, St/Co/Prov, Zip/Postal, Country | Free text (up to 80 characters each). |
| Phone numbers | Four rows of description · number · extension (22 characters each). |
| Email descriptions | The labels for Email 1–3 (16 characters each). The addresses themselves belong to each client entry, not to the template. |
| Account Manager | Pick a user, or leave blank. |
User-Defined Fields
The template's own UDF tree ("Fields for Default Entry"). Double-click a field to set the value new entries start with, exactly as on a client entry. The tab is empty until the template has been saved once (the values attach to the template row, which OK / Apply creates).
Administrators editing another user's template see this tab read-only; see Default User Templates for why.
Mailing Rules
- Receives mail sent to Company and Use Company's name in mailing address: the two options for contacts of companies.
- New Contact inherits user-defined fields.
To set your Entry Template
- Setup ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Entry Template.
- Fill in the values you want new entries to start with.
- Apply to save and keep the dialog open, or OK to save and close. Cancel discards.
If a value is too long for its field you are told which field and the limit, and nothing is written.
Note Template
Your Note Template is the starting content, formatting and properties of a new note: the source CRM's Default Note. There is one per module: Clients, Service, Sales and Marketing notes (the Template Library window lets you switch between them; the ribbon button opens the Clients one).
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| The editor | The full rich-text editor (font, size, bold/italic/underline, lists, colours). What you put here is what a new note opens with. |
| Creator | You (read-only). |
| Source CRM font | The font name/size the source CRM recorded for this template, if any (shown for reference; the font travels inside the note text). |
| Full access | Public, or one user / security group. |
| Read access | Public, or one user / security group. |
| Category | Type a category or pick one that existing notes already use. Up to 20 characters. |
To set your Note Template: Setup ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Note Template, write the note, set the access and category, OK (or Apply).
The Template Library window
Setup ▸ File Management ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Template Library: a navigator down the left, one page per library on the right, Save (only on the two editable pages) and Close at the bottom. Closing with unsaved changes on the Entry or Note page asks whether to save them.
| Page | What it is |
|---|---|
| Entry Template | Your entry template, the same editor as the dialog above. |
| Note Template | Your note templates, with a Template for: switch (Clients / Service / Sales / Marketing). |
| Email Templates | The email templates shared with the source CRM: open, preview for the selected client, use or copy. Read-only in this release; see Email templates. |
| Document Templates | TechieCRM's own letter templates for the Document Editor: New, Edit, Delete; see Document templates. |
| Word Templates | Word letters with fields: the shared Word templates (read only) and TechieCRM's own list. Use, Open in Word, Add Word File, Remove; see Word templates. |
| Default User Templates | Administrators only; see below. Not shown to other users. |
| Strategy Library | The source CRM's sales strategies: pick a strategy to see its description, cost, duration and effort, and the steps / success factors / roles that make it up, in order. Read-only in this release (the type codes are shown as numbers). |
| Project Plan Library | The source CRM's action-plan templates (TechieCRM's Project Plans), with each template's activities (Activity · From start date · Assigned to). Open Project Plans… jumps to the Project Plans window, where Add / Copy / Modify / Delete live. |
| Automated Marketing Templates, Traditional Marketing Templates, Quota Templates | Status pages, planned; see Not yet available. |
Email templates
One list, shared with the source CRM. The email templates your team made in the source CRM are the same templates TechieCRM shows here: there is no copy and nothing to import. A template added in the source CRM appears in TechieCRM the next time you open the page (or click Refresh).
Open it from Setup ▸ File Management ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Email Templates (or open the Template Library and click Email Templates in the navigator on the left).
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| The list | Every email template you may read, by name, with the count underneath. A template is listed when it is shared with everyone, or when you (or a security group you belong to) have its full access or its read access, the same rule the source CRM applies. |
| The template | Click a name to open it. Its name, whether it is formatted (HTML) or plain text, and who has access are shown above the text. |
| Fields | Each field appears in square brackets with a coloured background, in TechieCRM's words: for example [First Name], [Company], or a user-defined field with its folder, [Accounting\Invoice #]. (Inside the template the source CRM's own names are kept, so it still reads the template exactly as before.) A field whose name TechieCRM cannot find, for example a user-defined field that was renamed or deleted, is shown as it was typed with a wavy red underline. Text in square brackets that is not a field name, such as [see attached], is left as typed. |
The field colour follows your theme: it is a light tint of the Accent colour chosen in Settings ▸ Theme, and it changes as soon as you change the Theme, Primary or Accent colour.
Previewing a template for a client
Select a client in Clients first, then click Preview (or double-click the template). The preview shows the template filled in with that client's details. On the right is a list of the fields that will be left blank:
- This field has no value for this client: the client has nothing in that field, so it is left blank (the same as the source CRM does).
- Not available from this database yet: TechieCRM does not read that field yet, so it is left blank.
- Unknown field (left as typed): not a field name; the text stays as it is.
If no client is selected, Preview says so.
Using a template
- Use puts the template into the email you are writing. It appears when the Template Library was opened from an email window to choose a template; the template is filled in for the selected client, and the fields stay in place for anyone else you send to. The email's subject is yours to type: these shared templates do not carry a subject.
- Copy puts the template on the clipboard, filled in for the selected client when a client is selected (with the fields in place when not), so you can paste it into any email. The status line says which, and lists any field that was left blank.
What you cannot do here yet
This release only reads the shared list. Adding, changing and deleting email templates, and choosing your default template, come in a later update. They will need the "modify email templates" right (the same right the source CRM uses); everyone may use the templates.
Document templates
Letter templates for the Document Editor, kept in TechieCRM's own template list (the source CRM has no list of this kind, so nothing is shared with it). How to write, use and fill in a template for one client or many is in Chapter 17, Document templates. Open the list from Setup ▸ File Management ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Letter Templates, or click Document Templates in the Template Library's navigator.
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| The list | Every document template, by name (with its category when it has one). |
| The template | Who made it and when it last changed, and its text with each field in square brackets and a coloured background, as in the editor. |
| New | Opens the Document Editor to write a new template; Save asks for its name. |
| Edit | Opens the selected template in the Document Editor; Save replaces it (the description is its name). |
| Delete | Deletes the selected template after asking. Documents already made from it are not affected. Only the person who made it, or a global administrator, can delete it; for anyone else the button is greyed out and the page says why. |
| Refresh | Re-reads the list. |
Document templates are kept in this computer's TechieCRM database (MongoDB) and, when this computer is connected to a TechieCRM cloud workspace whose cloud supports template lists, synced with the cloud (until it does, they stay on this computer, and every one of them goes up the first time the cloud accepts them): a template saved, changed or deleted on one computer is saved, changed or deleted on every other computer in the workspace at its next sync. If the local database is not available the page says so and the buttons are greyed out.
Word templates
Word letters with fields. Open them from Setup ▸ File Management ▸ Template Library ▾ ▸ Word Templates (or open the Template Library and click Word Templates in the navigator). How fields work in a Word template, the preview and what happens to empty fields are in Chapter 17, Word templates.
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| The list | Two groups. Shared templates (read only): the Word templates already in your database, the same ones the source CRM uses. TechieCRM templates: Word files added in TechieCRM. |
| The template | Its file name, size and date, which list it is in, and the fields it uses, by TechieCRM's names. A sale field is marked (from a sale) and a ticket field (from a ticket): they are filled in only when the letter is made from a sale or a ticket. A name TechieCRM cannot find is marked (unknown field). |
| Use | Makes one document from the template for each client selected or marked in Clients: the Create Documents window opens with this template chosen (preview, document title, category, Create Documents). If no client is selected, Use says so. You need the right to add records in Clients. |
| Open in Word | Opens a copy of the template in Word (or whatever program opens Word files on this computer). Changes you make to that copy are not saved back to the list: to change a template in TechieCRM's list, save it from Word, Remove the old one and Add Word File again. |
| Add Word File | Adds a Word file (.docx, .dotx, .docm, .dotm) to TechieCRM's list. The file is read first; a damaged file is refused. |
| Remove | Removes the selected template from TechieCRM's list after asking. Documents already made from it are not affected. Shared templates cannot be removed: the button is greyed out for them. |
| Refresh | Re-reads both lists. |
If the shared list cannot be read (no database connection) or TechieCRM's own list is not available (no local database), the status line under the list says which, and the other list is still shown.
TechieCRM's own Word templates are synced with the cloud when this computer is connected to a TechieCRM cloud workspace whose cloud supports template lists (until it does, they stay on this computer and all go up the first time the cloud accepts them): a Word file added or removed on one computer is added or removed on every other computer in the workspace at its next sync, and the Word file itself travels with it, so every computer can make documents from it. One Word template can be up to about 15 MB.
Default User Templates (administrators)
Who sees it: the MASTER login, or any login whose source-CRM rights allow managing users (the same right that gates Manage Users). Everyone else does not get the page.
One table, one row per login, pulled straight from the source CRM's database:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| User, Login | The user. Logins with no template yet still appear (so you can create one); template rows whose login no longer exists appear as <id> (login not found). |
| Entry Template | The template's company / city / province / country, or – when the user has none. |
| Clients / Service / Sales / Marketing note | The first line of that note template, or –. |
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Modify Entry Template… | Opens Entry Template for <user> (administrator edit): the same dialog the user would see, with a banner saying whose template you are editing. |
| Modify Note Template… | Likewise for the note templates (switch the module with Template for:). |
| Change History… | The audit log for the selected user (or everyone when nothing is selected), with Undo. |
| Refresh | Re-read the table. |
What makes an administrator edit safe
Editing another user's template is a change to their data, so it is never silent:
- It asks first. Clicking OK / Apply in an administrator edit shows Change another user's template: the user's name, and that the change will be recorded and can be undone. No writes nothing.
- It is attributable. The template row's Updated by is you; its owner stays the user. The Change History records who, whose, when, and on behalf = yes.
- It is reversible. The history keeps what the template looked like before, and Undo puts it back. A template you created for a user is removed by Undo.
- It cannot happen unrecorded. If the audit table is missing on this database (it is created automatically at first connect by a login that can create tables), an on-behalf save is refused with an explanation. Your own template can still be saved.
- UDF values are read-only in an administrator edit. They are written field by field with no before-image, so they could not be undone; the user sets those themselves.
Change History and Undo
Default User Templates ▸ Change History… lists every change made through the Template Library, newest first: number, when, which template, whose, changed by, on behalf, action (create / update / undo) and status (current, undone …, or undo of #n). Select a row to see a summary of the values before and after.
Undo selected change restores the template to what it was before that change:
- Only the latest un-reverted change to a template can be undone; undo later ones first.
- An undo is itself recorded, and cannot be undone; make the change again instead.
- Undoing a change to someone else's template needs administrator rights; a user may undo a change to their own.
Where the templates are stored
For administrators and support. TechieCRM reads and writes the source CRM's own template rows: there is no second copy:
| Template | Source-CRM row |
|---|---|
| A user's Entry Template | AMGR_Client_Tbl: Client_Id = '@' + login, Contact_Number = 0, Record_Type = '5', Name = 'Default Entry'; its UDF values in AMGR_User_Fields_Tbl under the same Client_Id. |
| A user's Note Template | AMGR_Notes_Tbl: Client_Id = '@' + login + '/ABNOTE' (Clients), /CSNOTE (Service), /OPPNOTE (Sales), /CMPNOTE (Marketing), Contact_Number = 0. |
| The change history | TechieCRM's own TCRM_TemplateAudit (see docs/db/templates/01_schema.sql). |
| Document templates | TechieCRM's own list: the comm_templates collection in TechieCRM's MongoDB database, rows with channel and kind set to document. Fields are stored as {First Name?}. Synced with the cloud's comm_templates collection once the cloud supports it; the cloud sends a computer only the rows whose kind is document (the web portal's own email templates stay on the web) and refuses a sync change to any other row. |
| The shared Word templates | AMGR_Letters_Tbl rows with Table_Id = 17 (the Word file is TextCol). Read only: TechieCRM never writes them. |
| TechieCRM's Word templates | The word_templates collection in TechieCRM's MongoDB database (the Word file, its name and the fields it uses). Synced with the cloud's word_templates collection once the cloud supports it; the Word file travels inside the record (as base64 text on the way). A removed template leaves a note in sync_tombstones so the other computers remove it too. |
| Private templates | A template marked private reaches only its owner's devices, administrators included (parity rule P-48). No screen marks a TechieCRM template private yet; until one does, every template in TechieCRM's lists is shared with the workspace. |
| Word documents made from a template | Filed on each client like any other document: AMGR_Letters_Tbl, Table_Id = 7, type .docx. |
| The shared email templates | AMGR_Letters_Tbl rows with Table_Id = 99: the name is Description, the text is TextCol (UTF-8), the type is Ole_Doc_Type (.html or .txt), and access is Private / Owner_Id (full access) and ReadPriv / ReadOnly_Id (read access). Read only in this release. |
These key rules were taken from the source CRM's own data layer, not inferred from data.
Not yet available
- Changing email templates: adding, saving, renaming and deleting shared email templates, and a default template per user. The list is read-only in this release.
- Document and Word templates on the web portal: both lists sync to the cloud and to every computer in the workspace once the cloud supports them, but the web portal does not list them yet. Editing a Word template's layout happens in Word, not in TechieCRM.
- Marking a template private: the cloud already keeps a private template to its owner, but no screen offers the choice yet.
- Choosing a template from the email window: the Template Library's Use button is ready for it; the email window's Template button comes in the next update. Until then, use Copy and paste.
- Applying the templates automatically when you create a client entry or a note. The templates are stored where the source CRM reads them (so its desktop client applies them); TechieCRM's own Add Client and Add Note dialogs do not pre-fill from them yet.
- Automated / Traditional Marketing Templates and Quota Templates: the source CRM's storage for these is not verified for this release; the ribbon items say so.
- Editing strategies: the Strategy Library is read-only.
- Email addresses and website on the Entry Template (the descriptions are there; the addresses are per-entry fields).
- The source CRM's Preferred Partner mailing options, and a full/read access picker on the entry template itself.
- Writing the source CRM's note font setting (it is shown when present; the font you choose in the editor is saved inside the note text).