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 plus symbol.
   

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.
   
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.
   
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.
   
   

Document Types and Categories

In Membrain, documents are classified using document types and document categories, which serve different purposes.

A Document Type defines what kind of business document it is, such as a Quote or an Order. Document types determine how a document behaves in the system, including how it is numbered, filtered, and reported on.

A Document Category is an optional way to further organize documents within a document type based on your own needs. Categories do not change how a document behaves in the system; they are used to support organization, filtering, and reporting.

For more details on how to create and manage document categories, see the Document Categories section below.

Document Keys

Each document uploaded to Membrain is assigned a unique Document Key. This key is automatically generated when the document is created and follows a sequential numbering system, starting at 1 for each document type and increasing by one with every new document of that type.

If desired, you can define a custom starting point for a document type by setting a new Base Key. This can be useful for aligning document numbering with internal systems or conventions. The new Base Key must be higher than the current highest key value for that document type.

To update the Base Key for a document type:

1. Go to System Setup

2. Scroll down to Settings > CRM > Document Keys.

3. Select the relevant document type and enter the new Base Key value.

4. Press Save to apply the change.
   

Once set, all newly created documents of that type will follow the updated numbering sequence.

Document Keys can be used in the Documents List to quickly locate specific files using the search bar or the Global Search feature.

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.
   
3. Choose one of the appropriate and available Documents to connect it to the Process Step.
   

Document Categories

Document categories allow you to further organize documents within a document type without changing how the document behaves in the system. 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.

Or you could even categorize documents based on their purpose, such as: Contracts, Proposals, Invoices, Reports, or Presentations.

To create document categories, follow these steps:

1. From the vertical menu bar to your left, go to System Setup
2. Scroll down to Settings > CRM > Document Categories.
3. Click on the button, type the name of the Document Category and press Save.

Document Settings

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

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

2. Select the Sort By, Direction, and Group By settings you prefer then click Save. 
   

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. Hover over the document title and click the Manage Document button.
   
2. Click on the Document Name and type a new name.
3. Click on Save.

Download a Document

• Right-click on the document and then select Download
  or
• Click on the three dots that appear on hover then select Download
  or
• Hover over the document title and click on the Download button.

Replace a Document

1. Hover over the document title and click the Manage Document button then select Replace.
2. Select a different Document from your computer to upload and click Open.

Delete a Document

1. Hover over the document title and click the Manage Document button then select Delete.
2. Confirm you want to delete the document by clicking Delete again.

Move a Document

1. Hover over the document title and click the Manage Document button then select Move.
2. Search for or select the location where you would like to move the document.

Add or Change the Document Category

Option 1

1. Navigate to the Documents section within the project or company page.
2. In the Document Category field below the document name, select or change to the desired category.
   Note: If your documents section is currently grouped by Document Category, the Document Category field will not be displayed below the document name. To make it appear you will need to adjust the Group By setting first.

   
   
   

Option 2

1. Hover over the Document title and click on +Add next to Document Category.
   
2. Select the Document Category you would like to change to.

Option 3

1. Hover over the Document title and click Manage Document.
   
2. Click on +Add next to Document Category.
   
3. Select the  the Document Category you would like to change to.

Add a Comment on a Document

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

The Documents 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.

This list gives you a full picture of all the documents uploaded in your Membrain instance and allows you to manage them from one single location.

Some of the actions you can do from there are, search, sort by, group by and filter by as well as the source of the document, i.e. what place in Membrain it is saved in and related to. Additionally, you may manage your documents in bulk, e.g. mass delete them or mass assign a category to them.

The Documents List can be found by clicking on the CRM icon from the vertical menu bar to the left.

Search for a Document

1. Go to the Documents List.
2. Type F or click the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner and search for the Document key.

You can also search for a document by using the document key in the Global Search. 

Filter your Documents List

1. Go to the Documents List.
2. Click View Settings. The filter box will be  shown to the right
   
3. From the filter box you will be able to adjust View Settings and add Filters to customize your view.
   

Sort By In List View

You can adjust your Sort By settings in the filter box or click the header name of the Field you want to sort by directly in the list view.

View the Source of your Documents

1. Go to the Documents List.
2. Add a column for Related and Related Type.
   The Related Type field will tell you what type of object the document is related to (e.g. Company, Contact, Prospect, Sales Project, Account Growth Project, Ticket, Activity or Email Template) and the Related field will show which specific project or activity the document is saved in and related to.
   
   

Mass Changes

1. Go to the Documents List.
2. Select all documents, or a section of these, by checking the boxes to the left of each document.
3. Press Delete, to delete these in bulk.
   
   
   OR
   Press Change, to mass assign/change the document category on these.
   
   

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

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.