Document Builder

Document Builder: Generate documents from row data

max.furukawa — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 22:40:38 +0000

Document Builder: Generate documents from row data

Prerequisites:

Prepare your sheet.
Create a fillable PDF.
Map rows in your sheet to your fillable PDF.

Once you’ve created your mapping, you can use it any time to generate custom documents.

Use filters to find rows that are ready for document generation. See Create a Filter to Show or Hide Data for more information.

Generate documents:

Select the rows you want to generate documents with. Each row is a single document.
Right-click a highlighted row and then select Generate Documents… The document builder window will open in the same browser tab. Saved mappings appear on the right.
Drag your Filename column to the Output Document Name field at the top of the screen. If you leave this field blank, your documents will inherit the name of the PDF template and it will be difficult to tell them apart.
On any of the saved mappings, select the Generate dropdown list.
If you're generating your documents from a sheet, you can select either Download or Attach to Rows; if you're generating from a report, select Download.
Review your documents to make sure the data appears as expected. You may need to edit the mapping if the data isn’t populated correctly. Select the Pencil icon next to the mapping to review and edit it as needed.

Additional information

If you generate a new document for a row using the same mapping that was used previously, the new document will be uploaded as a new version of the existing attachment. For more information, see Keep file attachments current over time for information about attachment versions.
The name of the generated PDF will inherit the name of the uploaded document, not the mapping name. You can generate a unique filename for each document.
You can generate documents for up to 100 rows at a time.
If your document has multiple fields that use the same data, link the fields in the PDF and map the first instance. The remaining fields will be filled out automatically when you generate the document.
If possible, don’t restrict the data types in your PDF. For example, text fields allow people to enter dates in any format. If you restrict the field and someone enters their data in the wrong format, the data won’t sync between the PDF and Smartsheet.

max.furukawa Wed, 03/11/2020 - 15:40

Did not get all the rows you wanted to use?

Select Back to Sheet in the upper-left corner of the builder window, then complete the document builder process.

Can I map images to a PDF?

You can map images in cells to image fields in a PDF, but make sure the field on the PDF is an image field, otherwise you’ll get the image filename when you generate the document.

Permissions

Licensed users can use the document builder.

Owners, Admins, and Editors can attach generated documents to rows in the sheet.

Viewers can generate documents and download the documents to their device.

PLANS

Business
Enterprise

Document builder generates documents using data from Smartsheet and a fillable PDF.

Document builder: Map sheet columns to a fillable PDF

max.furukawa — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 22:06:00 +0000

Document builder: Map sheet columns to a fillable PDF

Prerequisites:

Prepare your sheet.
Create a fillable PDF. There are lots of ways to create a fillable PDF template. Here’s how to create a fillable PDF in Adobe Acrobat, for example, but you can use any tool that works for you.

To create a mapping and send out documents for signatures from DocuSign, see Create and Edit a DocuSign Mapping or Configuration.

Create a mapping

Right-click any row containing data in your sheet to open the row menu, and select Generate Documents. The document builder opens. The columns in your sheet appear as fields on the left of the document builder.
To upload your fillable PDF, select the PDF icon (or use the drag-and-drop PDF upload option). The PDF appears on the right of the document builder.
Drag and drop sheet column titles on the left to the DocuSign fields on the right.
Type into any fillable field to enter a static value. The entered value will appear in the field for all generated documents.
When you’re done mapping your fields, name your mapping and select Save or Generate.

Now you can generate documents using your row data. You can download the documents to your device in a .zip file or attach each document to its associated row in the sheet.

Tips for working with column mapping

To discard changes to your mapping, refresh the page or press the back button in your browser.
Make sure the fields on your template are empty. Any fillable fields or values in the PDF template will be overwritten with new values when you create your mapping.
Smart remapping reuses existing document mappings. When you make a change to an existing document template and use the Document Generation feature to edit the mapping, it will recognize previously mapped fields; you only need to map new or changed fields.
By default, mappings are named after the file name of the fillable PDF used in the mapping. To change the name of a mapping, select the pencil icon to open the mapping editor, and type the desired name into the Output document name field at the top of the page.
Create a filename column, when you create your mapping, use that column to name your documents. You can use formulas to generate custom filenames that, for example, combine a last name and an account number.

max.furukawa Wed, 09/02/2020 - 15:06

Permissions

Licensed users can use the document builder.

Owners and Admins can edit all mappings on the sheet, including mappings created by others.

Owners, Editors and Admins can create mappings and edit their own mappings.

Viewers can see the mappings and build documents for download, but cannot attach documents to rows.

PLANS

Smartsheet
Business
Enterprise

Document builder generates documents using data from Smartsheet and a fillable PDF.

Create and send documents for DocuSign signatures

max.furukawa — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 20:29:28 +0000

Create and send documents for DocuSign signatures

Prerequisites:

You need access to a DocuSign account.
You need a fillable PDF template.
You must have created a DocuSign template using the fillable template and have assigned roles for your users.

Map DocuSign templates to your sheet

Right-click the row(s) you want to work with.
Select Generate documents. You might be prompted to log in to Document Builder.
In the Mappings page, select Create a document mapping.
In the dialog that appears, choose E-sign.
Select Next.
If you haven’t yet signed in to DocuSign, select Log in to DocuSign.
Follow the login prompts.
Select a DocuSign template to use for the mapping. Learn more about DocuSign templates.
Select the columns to map with DocuSign roles.
- You must have a name and email address for each person who will sign the document. You can use either two text/number fields or a contact column that contains a name and email address.
Optional: Enable status tracking on your sheet. Enter a name for the tracking column.
- After this, Smartsheet will add the tracking column to your sheet.
Optional: Enable data syncing. Select the columns you want to sync.
- When your e-sign recipients update the matching DocuSign fields, your Smartsheet columns will update.
Review your configuration.
- You can return to the wizard to edit the role assignments and enable tracking, but you cannot change your template or disable tracking.To access the Edit button, hover over a step. Then, make changes as needed.
Select Done.
Drag the sheet column names to the DocuSign fields. Don’t worry about the signature fields; you configured them in the Assign Roles section. You need to set the Manage PDF form field data option to Assign to: Placeholder. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to drag the Document Builder fields in Smartsheet.
At the top of the screen, select Save.

Now, you can access this mapping any time you want to generate this particular document.

Generate the document for circulation via DocuSign

Go to the mapping you want to use.
To the right of the mapping name, select Generate.
Do one of the following:
- Send with DocuSign: Send out the rows you selected in the sheet before you started the mapping process.
- Save as Draft in DocuSign: Store draft documents in your DocuSign account.

See the status of a DocuSign document

If you enabled status tracking when you created your mapping, your sheet will have a new column. The status of each document is updated with a link to the DocuSign status page for that item.

When the document is complete, Smartsheet attaches the document to the correct row in your sheet.

Edit a mapping

Hover your cursor over the mapping.
Select Edit.
In the mapping screen, add, remove, or modify columns mapped to the DocuSign template.

Edit DocuSign role assignments

In the mapping screen, select Settings.
Edit the role assignments as you deem necessary.
To return to the mapping, select Done.
Select Save.

Track progress via email

You can CC team members and other non-signing users on DocuSign emails so they can track a document’s progress.

You can also set custom email subject lines and body messages using mapped data from Smartsheet when sending a document out for electronic signatures through the DocuSign integration. Use placeholders {{ }} to reference the Smartsheet column name(s) in your email as follows:

{{first name}} {{last name}}

This feature is limited to "Send via DocuSign" and does not yet work with "Save as a Draft in DocuSign"

max.furukawa Mon, 02/01/2021 - 12:29

Permissions

Owners and Admins can create and edit DocuSign mappings on that sheet after they have logged in to their DocuSign account. Editors can send documents for signature.

In DocuSign, you must be able to Allow users to send envelopes and Create templates. Learn more about DocuSign permissions here.

PLANS

Smartsheet
Enterprise

With DocuSign integration, you can map a DocuSign template to a sheet, then use that mapping to create and send customized documents to specific recipients for their signature. You can also synchronize data between DocuSign and Smartsheet and track the progress of your documents.

Custom filenames for documents created with document builder

Pam Mandel — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 19:20:58 +0000

Custom filenames for documents created with document builder

When you generate lots of documents and don’t use custom filenames, it can be hard to tell your documents apart, especially if they get detached from the sheet. To avoid confusion, you can use column formulas to generate a unique filename for each document.

Create a column for the filename, then use a column formula in that column. For example, use an account number column plus a last name column to generate the filename as follows:
```
 =[column1]+[column2]
```
In the mapping screen, drag the filename onto the Output document name field.

Pam Mandel Mon, 01/31/2022 - 11:20

PLANS

Business
Enterprise

Customize emails sent in the DocuSign process

Pam Mandel — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 19:11:19 +0000

Customize emails sent in the DocuSign process

Log in to DocuSign.
Select your template, and select Edit.
Scroll down to Message to All Recipients.
Use Smartsheet column values to customize the email subject and body message. Type the Smartsheet column names inside double curly braces and then type in the rest of the message.

For example: Contract for: {{First Name}} {{Last Name}}

To preview the custom email message and body of the email from Smartsheet:

Go to Smartsheet, right-click on a row, and select Generate Documents.
Locate your DocuSign mapping.
Hover your cursor over the mapping, and select the edit icon.
Select Settings and then select Custom Email Messages.
Preview your customized message.

This feature is limited to Send via DocuSign and doesn't work yet with Save as Draft in Docusign

Pam Mandel Mon, 01/31/2022 - 11:11

Permissions

You need a DocuSign account to create mappings.

You need to be an admin on the sheet to create new mappings.

You need editor permissions on the sheet to use the mapping and send out envelopes.

PLANS

Business
Enterprise

Use values from your sheet to customize the email subject and/or message.

Track the status of DocuSign signature requests

max.furukawa — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 19:04:34 +0000

Track the status of DocuSign signature requests

During the initial mapping process, you can decide whether to enable tracking. You can also enable tracking later on.

Select the edit icon next to your saved mapping.
Select Settings to reopen the mapping wizard.
Navigate to the Add a tracking column step in the wizard.
Turn the toggle button for Status Tracking on, and enter a name for the new column.

When you enable tracking, a status column is automatically added to your sheet. Any time the status of a document changes in DocuSign, the change is reflected immediately in the associated row of the tracking column.

When you click the link in a status cell in Smartsheet, you are redirected to DocuSign to see more in-depth status info for that particular document.

See the table below to understand the different status options.

Status	Description
Draft	The document is saved in the DocuSign drafts folder.
Sent	At least one of the recipients — but not all of them — received an email notification regarding the signature request.
Delivered	All recipients viewed the document.
Declined	At least one recipient declined to sign.
Voided	The sender canceled the envelope before it was complete.
Completed	All of the recipients signed the document, and the signing workflow is complete.

Once you save a mapping with tracking enabled, you can't disable tracking in the wizard. However, if you have admin or owner permissions on the sheet, you can delete the tracking column.

max.furukawa Mon, 03/08/2021 - 11:04

Permissions

The Owner and Admins can create and edit DocuSign mappings on that sheet after they have logged in to their Docusign account. Editors can send documents for signature.

PLANS

Smartsheet
Enterprise

Track in real time the status in your sheet for any document you generate using a DocuSign template.

Send documents for signature using a mapping

max.furukawa — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 18:59:31 +0000

Send documents for signature using a mapping

If you aren’t already in the document builder, select up to 100 rows you’d like to create documents for and send for signature. With those rows selected, right click to open the Row Menu and select Generate Documents to open the builder.

To send a document using an existing mapping:

Find and hover your cursor over the mapping you’d like to use in the Saved Mappings list.
Select Generate.
Choose Save as Draft to save the generated documents in your DocuSign Drafts folder for further review or modifications
-or-
Choose Send with DocuSign to send the documents to the recipients in the columns you specified in the mapping wizard.
When the progress bar is full, all of your documents are saved as drafts or sent for signature.

You can include non-signing recipients that have a static name and email to receive a Carbon Copy of DocuSign emails.

If you run into any errors, double-check that all of your recipient roles have valid names and email addresses assigned in your configuration and in the rows you’ve selected.

If you enabled tracking in your sheet during the mapping process, the tracking column displays the real-time status for any row containing a document generated with that mapping.

Once a document has been signed by all parties, a copy of the signed document is uploaded back to the row in the attachment column.

max.furukawa Mon, 03/08/2021 - 10:59

Permissions

The Owner and Admins can create and edit DocuSign mappings on that sheet after they logged into their DocuSign account.

Editors can send documents for signature.

PLANS

Smartsheet
Enterprise

Send a document for signature using a mapping.

Troubleshoot document automation workflows

Pam Mandel — Mon, 23 May 2022 18:31:44 +0000

Troubleshoot document automation workflows Pam Mandel Mon, 05/23/2022 - 11:31

Why do I have duplicate attachments?

You'll want to avoid generating duplicate attachments, they might cost you money. Add criteria and conditions when you set up your automation trigger, For example, when generating PDFs, set a trigger criteria of When Ready for eSignature is checked and a condition of Where signatory fields aren’t blank. This is especially important for workflows with eSignature requests, as each new request may have a licensing fee associated with it.

I created a new mapping, where is it? How can I see it?

When you create a new document mapping from the create workflow screen, the document generation screen appears as a new tab. To see your new mapping, go back in your browser and then select the refresh icon in the mapping selector dropdown.

The person who created the mapping is no longer shared to the sheet. Now the mapping won’t run.

Workflows containing the Generate document action only work as long as the person who created the mapping has access to the sheet and the mapping. If the user who created the mapping is unshared from the sheet, the workflow will no longer run and an automated notification will be sent to the sheet’s admin. If the admin does not have access, the mapping (and workflow) will stop working. To correct this issue, create a new mapping and update the automated workflow so that the Generate document action is using the new mapping, then save the workflow.

The mapping is no longer valid. Now what?

If a mapping becomes invalid any automated workflows using the mapping will no longer run. The sheet admin will receive notification that they need to correct the workflow.

The most common scenario is when a column used in a mapping was deleted from the sheet. Open the mapping and remove the deleted column or select another column in the mapping. Then, open the workflow manager, select the More menu next to any workflows which reference that mapping, and select Activate.

I need to generate more than 100 eSignature requests.

Only 100 eSignature requests can be generated by one workflow trigger. If a workflow is triggered which would cause more than 100 eSignature requests to be generated, the entire workflow action will fail for all rows. Run your workflow in batches of no more than 100 at a time. You can add a checkbox and select no more than 100 records, then run the workflow again. Select the More menu next to any workflows which reference that mapping, and select Activate.

Permissions

To use workflow to automatically generate documents, at least one member of your team must have a DocuSign license.

PLANS

Business
Enterprise

Tips for document generation

Pam Mandel — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 18:36:45 +0000

Tips for document generation

Smartsheet has additional features that enhance document generation. Here are a few tips that will enable you to streamline and add efficiency to the process.

Use a form to capture your data.
Want to be sure the data in your sheet is captured correctly every time? Build a form for data entry.
Create custom file names for each document.
By default, Smartsheet uses the name of the PDF to create a filename for each document you generate. If you have a lot of documents, it can be difficult to differentiate between them. You can create a formula to customize those filenames, making them more meaningful.
Customize the email sent when you route a DocuSign item for signature.
You can customize the subject and message fields, making it easier for your recipients to identify the message.
Flag the rows that are ready for document creation.
Once you’ve set the flag, you can filter on rows that are ready and generate documents for only those rows. Take it one step further and use automation to flag the rows and generate your documents.

Pam Mandel Mon, 01/31/2022 - 10:36

Permissions

Licensed users can use the document builder. Owners, Admins, and Editors can attach generated documents to rows in the sheet. Anyone with access to the sheet can generate documents and download the documents to their device.

PLANS

Business
Enterprise