All Collections
Application Integration
Integrating Pipeliner to Microsoft
Microsoft 365 (Office 365) — Using Templates with Word and Excel
Microsoft 365 (Office 365) — Using Templates with Word and Excel

Using the Pipeliner Templates Add-in for Office 365 to pull your Pipeliner data directly into Word/Excel & saving files to the Documents tab

Updated over a week ago

This article covers:

Overview

The Pipeliner Templates add-in for Microsoft Office 365 Word and Excel allows you to embed Pipeliner fields within templates and then pull in the data from Pipeliner to complete the template outputting the result to Word, Excel or PDF. You might create a letter or form template using Word or order or quote templates using Excel.

You launch the template from the Documents tab of a record in Pipeliner and the add-in lets you save the completed file directly back to the Documents tab. You can preview templates and edit them directly within the “Use Template” screen. Users need to have either the OneDrive or Sharepoint Pipeliner integrations enabled in order to use “on-the-fly” editing.

This article details creating and using a template in O365 Word but there’s a short Excel example which follows and the methods used are the same.

How to enable the Office 365 Pipeliner Templates add-in

Login to your Microsoft Office 365 account and open up a new document using Word.

You first need to find and enable the Add-in so click on the Insert menu and then choose "Add-ins". Search for “Pipeliner Templates” and select the add-in.

NOTE: If Add-ins are managed by your IT team, ask one of your Admins to enable the "Pipeliner Templates” Add-in via the Admin Managed section.

Now on the menu bar, you’ll see a “Pipeliner” button on the right hand side after the “Help” button. Click on the button to open up the menu options

Create or Update Template - this is the option you choose to begin setting up a new template to use within Pipeliner or to edit an existing template

Save Document from Template - use this to select a record from Pipeliner to fill your template with data and then save it to that record’s Documents tab

Save Document - this allows you to save the currently open document to a record in Pipeliner (whether or not it was originally started from a template)

Open add-in - opens up the right hand panel so you can select options for a template

The first time, if you select any of the buttons, you’ll be prompted to login to your Pipeliner user account. Sign in to start building your template ⤵

NOTE: If you have access to more than one, select your Pipeliner space.

Select the Entity to use for your Template

The next step is to select the main Entity you want to work with. Choose:

  • Account — if you only want to use company information in your template (no contact or other details)

  • Contact — if you want to include details of an individual person. You can also access details of the primary Account that the Contact is linked to. This is the option to choose for Letter Templates or Forms that include Contact and Company details.

  • Opportunity — you’ll be able to select fields from an Opportunity AND the primary Account AND the primary Contact that is linked to the Opportunity. This is the one to go for for Quote Templates or Order Confirmations.

  • Lead — this option works like Opportunity. You’ll be able to insert fields from a Lead, its primary Account and primary Contact.

NOTE: If you select an entity and begin creating your template, if you then decide to use a different entity, your template will be reset and you’ll need to start again

Example of creating a Quote Template using Word

This is a quote template which will pull in data from fields about an Opportunity and also the Primary Contact and Primary Account that the Opportunity is linked to.

NOTE: You don’t have to start from scratch, you can turn an existing document into a template very easily.

Open up your document (or start a New one) and select Opportunity as your entity from the Template builder ⤵

The first tab lists all the Opportunity fields, the second tab all the Primary Account fields, the third is all the Primary Contact fields, the fourth User fields and the final tab contains Miscellaneous fields ⤵

Let's start with Primary Account and Primary Contact fields. In your document, click where you want to place the field, click on the "Primary Account" tab and then select the field from the field list in the right hand panel (remember you can search for your field by name/partial name) and click again to insert the field into your template ⤵

Repeat for all your Primary Account fields and then click on the "Primary Contact" tab and do the same for your Primary Contact fields.

You can scroll through your field list or search by name but if you search instead, you'll see how all fields for each different entity that match your Search criteria will display. This makes it really easy to select and insert names, for example ⤵

Add your User fields next ⤵

Then you need to add in the details you need from your Opportunity. If you're using the Products & Services section within your Opportunities, you can include the grid of products by selecting the "Product Table" field from the Opportunities tab in your template ⤵

Configuring the Product Table

Click on the Configure link to update the Product Table so it contains the fields you need to include in your Quote (for example). If you want to add a field, insert a new column and add the Title (I’ve added “Warranty” as an example) ⤵

Next click into the empty cell in the row containing all the field placeholders and then select the field you want to insert from the right hand panel

Adjust your column widths, change font sizes etc until your table looks exactly how you want it.

NOTE: if you use Sections within the Products & Services section in Pipeliner, you can also insert those same sections into your template - this is “ON” by default but you can switch it off using the toggle in the right hand panel for "Product Sections".

Completing your Template

Carry on inserting fields until you have selected each one that you want to use in your template and then click on "Next".

You can now “Save as new template into Pipeliner” which saves your template for accessing from records inside of the Pipeliner App or “Map Opportunity from Pipeliner” to select a contact from within your Pipeliner space immediately.

NOTE: The "Edit Fields" button takes you back to your field lists

If you choose “Save as new template into Pipeliner”, you’ll then be prompted to enter a name for your template.

Enter your name and then click on “Save to Pipeliner” ⤵

You’ll get a message that your template has been successfully saved and a reminder that, in order to access it, you’ll need to open up an Opportunity in Pipeliner and then click on the "Documents" tab ⤵

Once saved, when you click on the back arrow, you’ll now have an option to “Save Changes in Template into Pipeliner” which you’ll use to make changes to a template that you’ve already saved ⤵

NOTE: you also have options to "Rename Template in Pipeliner"; "Save as new template into Pipeliner" and "Map Opportunity from Pipeliner".

Using an open template from within Word

To use your template immediately, click on “Map Opportunity from Pipeliner”. The panel on the right will now display a list of all Opportunities from Pipeliner. Search for the Opportunity you want to use using the search bar or scroll through the list; select your Opportunity and click on Finish ⤵

You’ll then have the option to download either as a pdf or as a DOCX file. Pick the one you need and you’ll see your file in your browser download bar at the bottom of the screen in the format you chose ⤵

Click on the file to open it and you’ll see that all fields where there was data filled in on the Opportunity, Contact and Account record in Pipeliner have been filled in on your template ⤵

You can attach your completed document (or pdf) to the record in Pipeliner as normal.

NOTE: Unless you’ve moved it, you’ll find it in your "Downloads" folder.

Using a saved template from inside Pipeliner

To access your templates, you need to open up the right sort of record — for example, if it’s a Quote template, open up an Opportunity then click on the Documents tab and select "Use Template" ⤵

You’ll be able to select from All Active {Opportunity} templates ⤵

Click on the dropdown to select the right template to use ⤵

Choose whether you want the file generated to be a pdf or a docx and also decide if all currency fields should be converted to values in your system’s base currency ⤵

Click on the “Preview” button - or the “Create Preview” link to see a preview of the completed file once the data has been populated from the Opportunity record you have open ⤵

Once your preview is loaded, you’ll be able to review it to make sure everything is correct before sending it out. If you need to make any changes, click on the “Edit” button ⤵

If you haven’t already done so, you’ll be prompted to activate either the OneDrive or Sharepoint integration - either of these is required in order to use the on-the-fly editing ⤵

This will launch the populated file in Word so you can make any necessary changes ⤵

Click on “Reload” to see an updated preview incorporating the changes you have made ⤵

NOTE: it may take a little while to launch the preview and to view any changes that you make

When your changes are complete, you can choose to “Attach” the completed file to the Documents tab, “Attach & Download” to both attach it and download a copy via your browser, “Attach & Send” to attach it and to launch an email with the file attached so you can send it to your Opportunity’s Primary Contact (for example) or “Download” to download via your browser only ⤵

Once your file is attached to the Documents tab, you can double click on it to preview again ⤵

NOTE: click the x in the top right corner to close the preview window.

Once your file is attached, you can click on the dropdown arrow on the right to “Create Email”, “Download” the file or “Delete” it from the Documents tab.

NOTE: you don’t have to preview a template - you can just Attach, Attach & Download, Attach & Send or Download without using either Preview option first.

Example of an Excel Template

This is a simple form which will pull in data from fields about an Opportunity and the Primary Account and Primary Contact linked to it. Make sure the "Pipeliner CRM Template Add-in" is enabled as detailed earlier in this article.

Open your Excel file or begin with a new blank worksheet and click on "Start Pipeliner Templates" ⤵

Select your Entity. This example uses Opportunity. Add in your Opportunity fields from the first tab and then click on the "Primary Account" tab to access "Account" fields (or search for your fields by name). Finally, do the same with your fields from the "Primary Contact" tab ⤵

NOTE: You can access the current date from the Miscellaneous tab.

When you’re finished, click on “Save as new template into Pipeliner” and add your template name. You’ll then be able to access it from an open Opportunity (as it’s an Opportunity template) within the Pipeliner app. To fill it with details of an Opportunity right now, click on “Map Opportunity from Pipeliner”, search for your Opportunity and click "Finish".

To use from an Opportunity, click on the "Documents" tab of an open Opportunity, select your template and then choose "Save" or "Save and Download".

Accessing Templates from the List View

If you’re using the List View and you select a record, the "Use Template" button will become available. Click on it and select your template as before ⤵

Managing Templates

Click on “Manage Templates” to see a list of templates ⤵

Click on the dropdown to select the templates you need to manage ⤵

Select a template and click on the dropdown arrow on the right to “Download” a copy of the template via your browser, “Deactivate” the template so it will no longer be available for your users to select when they click on “Use Template” from the Documents tab of a record or “Delete” the template entirely ⤵

Did this answer your question?