Merge Info Center Records to Create a Document Using an Adobe InDesign Merge Template

Use the merge feature to create a document that contains data from one or more Info Center records.

This topic applies only when you use a merge template that was created with Adobe InDesign to create a merged document.

There are two parts to creating a merged document:

• You select specific Info Center records (for example, employees), to include in the document.
• You select the merge template to use. This determines the data from the Info Center records to include in the document and the document's formatting.

Prerequisites:

• The merge feature is available only if the Vision CRM module is activated.
• Before you can create a merged document, you must create a merge template in InDesign from within Vision when you add the template to the appropriate Info Center in Configuration > General > Merge Templates.
• The CRM check box in the Type of Role section on the General tab in Configuration > Security > Roles must be selected for your security role.

To create a merged document in an Info Center using an Adobe InDesign merge template, complete the following steps:

1. From the Vision Navigation menu, click Info Center, and open the Info Center that contains the data that you want to include in the merged document.
2. On the Info Center form, use the Search field to open one or more records that you want to include in the merged document.
3. On the Info Center form toolbar, click Merge and select one of the following actions:

   Option	Description
   Merge Current <record>	Select this option to merge data from the current record that is displayed on the Info Center form.
   Merge Active Group	Select this option to merge data from all the Info Center records that are currently active. These are the multiple Info Center records that you selected in the Lookup dialog box from the Search field on the Info Center form.
   Select <record> to Merge	Select this option to ignore any records that you selected in the Lookup dialog box from the Search field on the Info Center form. Instead, you can select the specific records to merge on the Merging dialog box when you continue with the next steps.

4. On the Merging dialog box, complete the following actions to select a merge template to use:
   1. Click the down-arrow in the field to the left of the Add Favorites button, and from the drop-down list select a different group of merge templates to display in the Merge Templates grid.
   2. Click a row in the Merge Templates grid to select a merge template to use to create the merged document. InDesign merge templates have Adobe InDesign (.indt) in the Type column.
5. To select or change records that are specified for the merge, click in the Selection field in the grid on the Merging dialog box for the selected merge template, then click Search to open the Lookup dialog box and select records.
6. Optional. To create a Vision activity for the merge, select the Create Activity check box. The merge activity will be added to the Activities grid in the Info Center for all the records that are included in the merged document.
7. Click the Merge button. You receive a message that says Please wait while Adobe InDesign merges the selected <Info Center records>. When the merge process completes, InDesign opens and displays the merged document.
8. In InDesign, do whatever you need to do to the document. You can print it, make changes to it, email it, save it, and so on.
9. When you finish, close InDesign. You are returned to the Vision Merging dialog box. On the Merging dialog box, if you merge again using the same InDesign merge template without first closing the open InDesign output file, when Vision produces the new merged document in InDesign, the file name assigned is the same as the name previously used, but it is appended to include incremented numbers.
10. If you selected the Create Activity check box on the Merging dialog box, complete the following actions:
    1. Complete the fields in the Activity dialog box that displays. The activity Type field prefills with Merge.
    2. When you finish, click OK. The merge is added to the Activities grid in the Info Center for each record that is included in the merge.
11. When you finish creating merged documents, click Close on the Merging dialog box.