Managing Documents

Documents in Membrain

Membrain has the capability to store your most important documents relating to your Companies, Prospects, Sales Projects or Account Growth projects. With Membrain, you can easily upload and store a wide range of document types, including invoices, sales contracts, and marketing materials, making it easy for your salespeople to access the information they need and efficiently organize and manage all of their important documents in one central location. Additionally, Membrain's document management features includes search and filtering options, ensuring that your sales team can quickly find the documents they need, when they need them.

How to upload your Documents

Membrain supports all types of Document files, such as PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and images. The Document size limit is 100 MB size, and very large files such as videos may need to be compressed or uploaded elsewhere.

You can upload Documents in a number of different ways. Through manual uploads at a specific location (Companies, Prospects, Sales Projects or Account Growth Projects), through Emails connected to one of their items or in Steps in a Process.

Manual Document Upload

  1. Go to the Company, Prospect, Sales Project or Account Growth Project page you want to upload the Document to and scroll down below the Company & Contacts section you can see on the right.
  2. Click on the Cloud icon.

Add a Document through an Email

  1. Create a new Email.
  2. Click on the Attach File icon, select a file from your computer, and then press on upload a file.
  3. Choose what company and/or project the Email (and therefore also the Document) should relate to in Membrain.
    Relate email to item 1b
  4. By sending the Email the Document is automatically uploaded and related to the location in Membrain you chose.

Upload Document through a Process Step

  1. Click on the Step that includes an Upload Document tool.
  2. Click on Upload and the + UPLOAD A FILE button.
    Upload document step 1c
  3. Select a file from your computer and press Open.
  4. You can also define which Document Category will be automatically assigned to the newly uploaded document. This can be configured in the Process Editor and offers a seamless way to categorize documents as they are uploaded.

Use already uploaded Documents

In addition to uploading Documents through Emails and Process Steps, as outlined above, you can also attach these to new Emails that you compose and/or connect them to a Process Step where you're supposed to upload a document.

Attach Documents In Emails

  1. From the Company or project where the Document has been uploaded, click on the Email button at the top of the page.
  2. Write your email and click the Attach File icon
  3. Select any of the available Documents related to that Company page or Project.
  4. Send.

Connect Documents to Process Steps

  1. Click on the Process Step that contains an Upload Document tool.
  2. Click on Choose Existing.
    Step - Choose Existing document 1b
  3. Choose one of the appropriate and available Documents to connect it to the Process Step.
    Step - Choose Existing document 2b

Document Categories

You can add Document categories to better segment and differentiate between multiple Document types of your choice. By organizing your documents in categories, you can improve efficiency, increase productivity, and enhance collaboration. For example, you may want to categorize Documents based on their content or purpose.

For example, if you want to categorize documents based on their content, you can create categories such as

  • Sales materials
  • Product manuals
  • Legal documents
  • Marketing collateral
  • or HR forms

If you want to categorize documents based on their purpose, you can add categories such as

  • Contracts
  • Proposals
  • Invoices
  • Reports
  • or Presentations

Create Document Categories

  1. Go to System Setup and scroll down to Settings and General.
    Document Categories 1b
  2. Click on Document Categories and New.
  3. Type the name of the Document Category and Save.

Document Settings

If you want to restructure the way Documents are shown (in a specific Company, Prospect, Sales Project or Account Growth Project) you can edit Document Settings.

  1. Click on the cog wheel in the upper right corner of the Document section of the page

    Document Settings 2
  2. Change what the list should sort by, by changing this setting.
    Document Settings - Sort by 1c
  3. Change what the list should be grouped by, by changing this setting.
    Document Settings - Group by 1c

Document Management

There are a lot of different ways to manage your uploaded Documents inside Membrain, from replacing, renaming, downloading, commenting etc.

Rename a Document

  1. Right click and click on manage document or hover on the Document.
    Documents - rename document 1b
    (hover view)
  2. Click on the Document Name and type a new name.
  3. Click on Save.

Download a Document

  1. Left-click on the Document to download it
    or
  2. Right click and click download or hover on the Document and click on Download.

Replace a Document

  1. To replace a Document with another, right click and click manage document or hover on the Document and choose Manage Document.
  2. Click on Replace.
    Manage Document - Replace 1
  3. Pick a different Document from your computer to upload and press on Open.

Delete a Document

  1. To delete a Document right click on the document and click delete or hover on the Document and choose Manage Document.
  2. Click Delete.
    Manage Document - Delete 1
  3. Confirm you want to delete the Document by clicking on Delete again.

Choose or change the Document Category

Option 1
  1. Right click and click on manage document or hover on the Document and click manage document
  2. Click on +ADD next to Document Category.
    Manage Document - Add Category 1
  3. Pick or change the Document Category.

Option 2

  1. Hover on the Document and click on Document Category.
  2. Pick or change the Document Category.
    Documents - change doc category 2b

Add a Comment on a Document

  1. Hover on the Document and click on the Comment icon in the upper right corner
    Documents - comment document 2b
  2. Make a note and (optional) tag a teammate to have them receive a notification on the Comment.
  3. Click the big blue arrow button (or Ctrl + Enter) to post it.
    Documents - comment document 3c

The Document List

You can find your Documents throughout Membrain, directly on the different pages where you have uploaded them, but you can also see a complete list of all your Documents uploaded to Membrain. In this list you can search, sort by, group by and filter the Document to find or see an overview of your Documents.

The Document List can be found in the CRM menu to the left.
Left menu - Documents 2c

Capabilities of the Document List

You can use the Document List to get the full picture of all the documentation uploaded and manage them from one single location. Search for a specific Document or maintain your available Documents by using the filtering, sorting or grouping capabilities of the Document List.

Search for a Document

  1. Go to the Document List on the left side menu.
  2. Type F or click the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner and search for the Document name.
    Document List - Search 1a

Filter your Document List

  1. Go to the Document List on the left side menu.
  2. Click on the funnel icon and More Filters and the filter box is shown to the right
    Document List - Filter 1b
  3. Click on +ADD FILTER to select or change your filtering settings
    Document List - Filter 2b

Use the Sort By setting

  1. Go to the Document List on the left side menu.
    Document List - Sort 1b
  2. Chose any of the available options
    or
    Click on the header name of the Field you want to Sort by directly in the list view
    Document List - Sort 2b

Use the Group By setting

  1. Go to the Document List on the left side menu.
    Document List - Group 1b
  2. Choose any of the available options

Documents in Graphs

You can build graphs for all your Documents uploaded to Membrain. These graphs can measure Count or Size and be used in both Dashboards and in Account Growth.

Considerations

Document Location and Access Limitations

Documents are connected to one location at a time. If you upload a document to a Company page in Membrain, that's where it stays. The same goes for Documents uploaded to specific projects. Even though the project itself is connected to a Company, you cannot access Documents uploaded to a project through the Company page.

Limitations on Bulk Downloads and Export

It is important to note that Membrain does not support bulk downloads or manual exports of documents. Users can only download documents one at a time. This limitation extends to API functionalities, where the GET/documents/id endpoint is available for exporting documents individually. Consequently, it is crucial to maintain local copies of important documents as Membrain should not be relied upon as the sole storage solution for critical files. Ensuring that original copies are stored securely on local or external storage systems will safeguard against potential data loss and provide a backup in situations where bulk access to documents is needed.

Best Practices for Document Storage

Given Membrain's focus on efficient document management rather than bulk storage, users should adopt best practices for document storage and retrieval. This involves categorizing documents appropriately within Membrain to facilitate easy access and organization. Additionally, maintaining an external backup of all significant documents is advisable to ensure data redundancy and availability outside the Membrain ecosystem. By doing so, users can leverage Membrain's capabilities for managing and accessing documents while ensuring that comprehensive storage and backup requirements are met externally.