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Product Guide: Formstack Documents + Documents for Salesforce

Ryan J.
Updated

This document walks you through a typical Formstack Documents for Salesforce (sections 1-2 – skip if Salesforce not involved) and Formstack Documents (sections 3-5) end-to-end process and configuration, with supporting documentation in 5 sections:

 

  1. Salesforce Configuration - Installation, Salesforce Objects, Permissions, Files 
  2. Generating a Document - via a button or automation 
  3. Document Setup - approach to building templates & merge fields; data routing is used for more advanced business logic 
  4. Formstack Sign - optional for routing for digital signature
  5. Deliveries - options for delivering merged documents, including back to Salesforce 

 

For orientation, the red circles highlight where this content focuses:

 

 

The below is intended to be a starting point and not an exhaustive list.

The overall concepts here are:

  • You can setup Document Templates, with a variety of template options (our own builder, Fillable PDF, Word, PPTX, Excel)
  • You use Merge Fields in the templates to define data-driven elements
  • You can use Modifiers or Rules in the templates to control conditional logic and formatting; you can also setup Looping to loop through child records e.g. to build dynamic tables 
  • Advanced functionality is Data Routing when you want to have logic to control which document template will be used (based on a data-driven choice)
  • You Map your merge fields to Salesforce fields, using interface to map from primary & child objects (for whatever fields we can pull back via Salesforce API) and SOQL for more complex data structures 
  • Merges can be triggered via a button on any object; via Flow; or via a form-fill 
  • Document Deliveries are integrations for the destination for a document after it’s merged 
  1. Salesforce Configuration 
    1. Setup: 
      1. Includes installation, settings, mappings and document generation
      2. Add Custom Objects
      3. Parent/Related Records for Mappings
      4. For Advanced Mapping Configuration
    2. Permissions
    3. Port Mappings
    4. If Files Are Needed
    5. Could also be from a list view or report
    6. Common Errors / Basic Troubleshooting
  2. Triggering a Merge
    1. The two most common methods are:
      1. Button (Manually) - Standard Objects included by default
      2. Flow - via automation 
      3. Merge Using Apex (Advanced Option)
    2. If receiving data from Forms for Salesforce, the Flow option is the most likely config for sending data to Documents (e.g., upon record creation or upon record update)
  3. Document Template Setup
    1. Field Map
      1. Think of the Field Map like a “preprocessing tool” → it always occurs before the merge happens, which allows you to apply field modifiers, include logic outside of the template, encode/decode JSON data, build your own arrays, include default values, etc… 
    2. Template Configuration
        1. Merges:
        2. Merge Fields
        3. Counting Merges
      2. Choosing Template Type
      3. Customize Templates:
        1. Merge Field Modifiers
        2. Conditional Logic
        3. Looping
        4. Embed Image / Signature: 
          1. Note: different for PDF
      4. Debug / Troubleshooting
      5. Video walkthrough:
        1. How to setup Formstack Documents on Salesforce
        2. Documents 101 
        3. Tips for Creating Your Very First Document (3rd party video)
        4. Data Routing in Formstack (3rd party video)
    3. Data Routing (if multiple templates or combining remote files)
      1. Combine documents or other files: 
        1. Can select to combine (for a single file/packet) or not combine to send separate files together
        2. Can use logic to determine which templates are triggered → e.g., can have a “Texas” vs. “California” document with state-specific language
        3. If integrating with Forms, can create a merge field in a data route rule that maps to a file upload field (e.g., photo of driver’s license) to send that/those files along with the same output
  4. Formstack Sign Delivery (optional)
    1. Formstack Sign & Salesforce - setting up the delivery 
      1. NOTE: when using Sign, ensure that the Sign tags’ font color is changed to white, otherwise you’ll see the tag underneath the signature
  5. Additional Deliveries
    1. In addition to eSign, you can send merged documents to dozens of native integrations (e.g., DropBox, Google Drive, email, SFTP, etc…) as well as a host of other integrations available via Zapier (which requires a separate subscription) and webhooks (for custom integrations, like a database). 
      1. NOTE: Documents, by itself, never stores merged outputs and only temporarily stores data if debug mode is enabled. If a file is lost or deleted, it will need to be re-merged.
      2. NOTE: when combining other deliveries with an eSign product, you will likely want to go to the +More Options tab in the eSign delivery and select the “delay other deliveries” option to ensure that the signed copy is what’s stored
        1. If this isn’t done, then because of the order of operations, an unsigned copy will be sent immediately and may cause compliance or legal headaches

 

This guide was created in collaboration with the Formstack Partner Team. To learn more about our team, click here. 

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