You can include Merge Fields in an Email Template or Email Signatures to bring in content from your practice management software and from FYI. For an overview of how Merge Fields are used, refer to Overview of Templates, Signatures and Merge Fields for Emails.
Merge Fields are added to the content of the Email Template or Signature to include, for example, the client's First Name, Last Name and to add information about the email author, the Author's Name or Phone number. These examples are added as the Merge Fields such as {{ FirstName }} {{ LastName }} {{ PostalAddress }} {{ AuthorName }} {{ AuthorPhone }}. Merge Fields added to the content of the Email Template or Signature need to be added in a specific format. The Merge Field has the correct character for the opening and closing curly brackets and it has a space after the opening curly brackets and before the closing curly brackets.
To make it easy, the FYI Merge Fields Comprehensive Guide contains a list of all standard FYI fields that can be added to Email Templates and Signatures.
Click here to download the FYI Merge Fields Comprehensive Guide.
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Merge Fields Groups in the Email Editor
At the bottom of the Email Editor for the Template or Signature, the Merge Fields are grouped into categories (for example, FYI, OTHER, XERO LEDGER, CORPORATE AFFAIRS, CUSTOM, XERO TAX).
Expand the group by clicking the arrow for the group and locate the Merge Field want to include.
You can also enter a keyword to filter the Merge Fields. For example, if you enter "Client" as the Filter merge fields, this will filter only those Merge Fields that include "Client".
The following is a summary of the Merge Fields and the groups.
FYI Group - Information from your Practice Management Software
For example, the client's First Name, Last Name as well as information such as the client's Manager is retrieved from your practice management software for the primary contact of the client, as displayed on the Client - Summary tab (refer to Client Summary).
These examples are added as the Merge Field codes {{ FirstName }}, {{ LastName }}, {{ Manager }}.
Other Group - User Roles and Qualifications from FYI and Other FYI Merge Fields
For example, the Author's Name and Author's Phone, or the Owner's Name or Owner's Phone.
These examples are added as {{ AuthorName }}, {{ AuthorPhone }}, {{ OwnerName }}, {{ OwnerPhone }}.
If user information such as the direct or mobile phone number of the author or owner needs to be added or updated, this needs to be done in the Staff profile within your practice management software and then synced to FYI.
If you have added Roles to your users and Qualifications to the User Profiles (refer to Managing Users) these can be included in the Email Templates or Signature for the Author of the document that is created. These examples are added as, {{ AuthorRole }} {{ AuthorQualifications }}.
The OTHER group also holds other Merge Fields used within FYI such as Attachment Links, Created Date, Original Filename, Reference Number, Shared Folder Link and Upload Folder Link.
Note: There is a known issue where the values are not currently populated for the Merge Fields for Manager Phone, Manager Mobile, Partner Phone and Partner Mobile.
Other Group - Author and Owner Merge Fields
When Emails are created from a Template and Signature that use certain Merge Fields, such as those that relate to Author (Author Name, Author Role Author Phone), these are only applied when the final sender of the email has been determined and these do not display when editing the email in FYI.
The Author Merge Fields relate to the 'sender' of the email.
The Owner Merge Fields take the information relating to the person who originally created the email.
If an email is edited and sent by someone after it is initially created, the Owner information does not change, but the Author information will reflect the user who sent the email.
If required, you can edit the AuthorName Merge Field so that only the First Name is added when using the Email Signature or Template.
Other Group - Reference Number from FYI
To include the unique FYI reference number, add the Reference Number Merge Field.
This adds the code {{ ReferenceNumber }}. Refer to Unique Document Reference Number.
Other Group - Other Information from FYI
You can add Merge Fields to include other information such as the Created Date and Original File.
Other Group - Collaborate Links from FYI
There are also Internal Merge Fields used to include links to Collaborate for attachments and links to Share Folder and the Upload Folder. Refer below to Setting up an Email Template to Send Shared Folder Links.
Attachment Link
The Attachment Link Merge Field is added to any templates that are used when sharing a document via Collaborate and sending a document as Co-edit with the client. This is added as {{ AttachmentLinks }} to the Template, Refer also to Sharing Documents via Collaborate and Co-editing an External Document (Co-edit with Client).
Note: The Attachment link will be generated for the email address(es) you choose in FYI when drafting the email. If the email is sent to Outlook and additional recipients are added, these additional recipients will not be able to access the link as it will be generated for the original recipient(s) in FYI.
Share Folder Link and Upload Folder Link
The Share Folder Link {{ ShareFolderLink | web_link }} and the Upload Folder Link {{ UploadFolderLink | web_link }} is added to the template that is used to send the email from the Sharing Settings in Client - Collaborate. Refer to Sharing the Share Folder with the Client and Setting up the Shared Folders Email Template and Assigning Share Settings Access.
Note: The Share Folder Link and Upload Folder Link Merge Fields are not designed to work in an Automation or if the Template is selected when an email is created directly.
Xero Ledger Group - Information from Xero Ledger
Merge Fields for Period From, Period To and Year from Xero Ledger can be added.
Custom Group - Custom Fields
If you have set up Custom Fields (in your Xero Practice Manager, UDFs in your GreatSoft, Custom Fields set up from FYI, or Custom Fields from the Generic Practice Management Software using the FYI CSV importer) these are included in the Custom group. You can include Merge Fields for these in Email Templates and Signatures.
- If the Custom Field includes any spaces, these are replaced in the Merge Field in FYI with an underscore (_).
- If the Custom Field includes any full stops or any special characters (such as , or &) these are removed in the Merge Field in FYI.
Note: In the Email Editor, regardless of how they have been synced, created or imported, all Custom Fields show with the prefix custom_.
- Custom Fields synced from Xero Practice Manager can be added directly without any changes, for example, custom_Client_Start_Date.
- Xero Practice Manager Custom Merge Fields will only retrieve data from the Client, and not the Job.
Xero Tax - Tax Merge Fields
The Tax Merge Fields are used in the FYI pre-configured processes for Tax Assessments processes which are triggered by Tax Returns from Xero Tax (refer to Xero Tax Return AutoFile (Australia Only)). If these Tax Merge Fields are used in any other processes (such as Custom Processes) or if a template with the Tax Merge Fields is used when creating a new email, they will retrieve the data from the most recent Tax Return or Assessment. Refer also to Including Advanced Tax-Related Merge Fields in Email Templates.
Tax Merge Fields are not available to use for Activity Statements.
Formatting Group
For information purposes, the FORMATTING group gives a variety of formats that can be added to Merge Fields to modify their appearance. Refer also to Formatting and Fonts using the Editor in FYI and Formatting and Fonts in Email Templates and Signatures.
Adding Merge Fields to an Email Template or Signature
To include any of the Merge Fields:
- Position the cursor in the location in the Email Template or Signature where you want the information to appear.
- Then click to open the group of Merge Fields at the bottom of the Email Editor.
- Click on the required Merge Field (for example, Salutation).
The correct code for the merge field is added for you in the body of the Email Template.
Merge Fields are added in the same way to the Email Signature for example for the Author Name, Author Phone, information from FYI - for example, the Role of the Author and a unique Reference Number for the FYI document.
Refer also to Including Advanced Tax-Related Merge Fields in Email Templates.
Adding a Merge Field for the Author's First Name
You can change the Merge Field for the Author Name so that it adds only the first name of the author to the email. This can be done in an Email Signature or in an Email Template.
- Add the Merge Field for Author Name in the usual way from the OTHER group in the Email Editor.
- Edit the Merge field to add | split: " " | first after AuthorName.
The Merge Field shows as {{ AuthorName | split: " " | first }}
Ensure you keep the space at the end of the overall Merge Field.
When the AuthorName Merge Field is populated from an Email Signature or Template this will add only the first word of the name.
Adding the Body Merge Field to Signatures
The Body Merge Field can optionally be added to Email Signatures as a placeholder for where the contents of a template will be included.
Note: The Body Content Merge Field is in the Other group in the Merge Fields and is only included if the template has already been marked as Signature.
You can apply styling to the Body Merge Field to set the style (such as fonts and paragraph spacing) for the body of the email.
You can also use the Body Merge Field to apply a salutation consistently to all emails across the practice (such as always having this as Dear …, or Hi …). By including the salutation in the Signature and adding the Body Merge Field below this as the placeholder, the email will display the salutation at the top of the email, and the formatting ready for the email content to be entered by the users.
- When an email is created with only the Signature and no template is selected, this sets up the correct styling for the email content.
Note: When applying certain styling such as fonts, this needs to be applied to the whole Signature. Use Ctrl+a to first select all the content of the Signature.
Note: If styling has been applied to the Body Merge Field and a template has been selected, an extra line will be added to the email when this is created. This can be avoided by removing the styling on the Body Merge Field using the Clear Formatting option on the Formatting toolbar.
- When an email is created with a template that does have styling, this overrides any styling set for the Body Merge Field.
Note: There are certain styling settings on the Body Merge Field that may affect a template depending on how your templates have been set up. Before adding it to any Signatures available practice-wide or to individual users, it is recommended that you set up a Signature assigned for your own use first and check the effect it has on the styling used in your templates.
Due to the way in which styling is applied to HTML, you may find that using certain keys (such as backspace) you may lose the style. If this happens, you can usually restore the styling by clicking elsewhere in the content area of the Email Editor.
Setting up an Email Template to Send via Collaborate
When sending documents by Collaborate, if the user will be selecting a template (refer to Sharing Documents via Collaborate) these template(s) must include the merge field for Attachment Links {{ AttachmentLinks }}. This Merge Field controls where FYI will insert the Collaborate links that are created for the documents. When creating the template, select Attachment Links from the OTHER group in the Merge Fields.
If this Merge Field is not included in the template, the link will not open.
Note: Ensure you use the {{ AttachmentLinks }} Merge Field.
Do not use the {{ ShareFolderLink | web_link }} and {{ UploadFolderLink | web_link }} as these are used when sharing folders via Collaborate and the ShareFolderLink and UploadFolderLink Merge Fields are not designed to work in an Automation or if the Template is selected when an email is created directly.
Setting up an Email Template to Send Shared Folder Links
The Merge Fields Share Folder Link and Update Folder Link are used when setting up a template to inform a client that they have been given access to the Collaborate shared folders in OneDrive. These include links to the client's Share Folder and Upload Folder in the email. Refer to Setting up the Shared Folders Email Template and Assigning Share Settings Access.
Note: The {{ ShareFolderLink | web_link }} and {{ UploadFolderLink | web_link }} Merge Fields are used when sharing folders via Collaborate. They are not designed to work in an Automation or if the Template is selected when an email is created directly.
Conditional Merge Fields
Email Templates and Signatures support conditional merge fields.
Note: The following example shows a Custom Field from Xero Practice Manager or created in FYI (with the prefix custom_).
For example, you can use a conditional merge field if you wanted to use a Custom Merge Field "Preferred_Name" if this was available or is this is not available use the Merge Field "Salutation". For this example (of the Custom Field "Preferred_Name" and the merge field "Salutation), you would add these Merge Fields to the Template or Signatures in FYI and then add the conditions as in the following example.
{% if custom_Preferred_Name <> '' %} {{ custom_Preferred_Name}} {% else %} {{ Salutation}} {% endif %}
Replace "custom_Preferred_Name" or "Salutation" in the example above as relevant to use different Custom Fields or Merge Fields.
Refer to Shopify help articles for information on Liquid Template Language operators.
Merge Fields for Custom Fields that are Maintained in FYI
Custom Fields and Custom User Roles that have been added in FYI are included with any other Custom Fields in the Email Editor for the Template or Signature, in the Custom group.
Note: Maintaining or adding Custom Fields in FYI does not work with GreatSoft.
The Merge Fields need to be added to the Template or Signature with the prefix "custom_". For example, for the Custom User Role "Bookkeeper" the merge field would appear as follows:
{{ custom_Bookkeeper }}
When creating an email using a Template or Signature that includes a Custom User Role, if you have selected Draft in FYI, you can check how the Custom User Role will populate in the email when sent using the Preview button in the Email Editor. Refer to Previewing the Draft in FYI Email inCreating an Email in FYI.
