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How to add a macro button to the document macro bar
How to add a macro button to the document macro bar
Martin avatar
Written by Martin
Updated over a week ago

Set-up

  • Tudodesk Back-office

  • Mac or PC

What's this for?

Macros are an easy way to create touchpoints and action buttons your team follow to help move projects along the customer journey. They allow you to build a workflow that fits the way you work.

With Macros, you can combine multiple actions into one single button click. They work like automated events, but macros are different because they are activated when you click a button.

What you need to know

  • You can only add macros if you are an admin user.

  • Macro bars are unique for each status of your boards workflow. When you add a macro it will only appear when a document is on that status/tab.

  • Macros can combine multiple actions into one click.

How to add a macro button from the macro bar

You can edit the macro bar when looking at documents. Remember the document must be on the status where you require the action button. For example if you wanted to add a Send button for an Estimate you would open an estimate on the Draft status. The macro would then move the Estimate to the Sent status.

  1. Open a document

  2. Click + Add buttons to run multiple actions in the top macro bar. This switches the bar into edit mode.
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  3. Click Add button

  4. This will open the macro editor (see below).

How to create a macro button using the editor

First: design your button

  1. Select an icon from the drop-down (optional).

  2. Enter some text for your button name.

Note: As you set the options from your button a 'preview' updates in the left column.

Next: Set the access rights for your button

You can give all your team to access to your button, or just your admin users. Checking this box will hide the button from agents and technicians. You can learn more about user roles in Tudodesk here.

Next: Program your button to run actions

Use steps 3-8 to choose what actions your button we will. You can choose one option or multiple options from the list below:

3. Run a command

4. Update the customers lifecycle

5. Update the status of the document

6. Assign an agent to the document

7. Change the documents archive status

8. Copy the document to a new document (cloning)

Finally publish your macro

Once you are happy with your macro settings click the publish button in step 8 to save the macro.

Testing

It's advisable to create at least one test document to test your macro and the observe the results.

What can actions can a macro perform?


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​Macro commands (STEP 3).

The command menu has more that 5 in-built automated functions, including automation's into third-party API's such as Vend POS and Print Node:

  1. Send a canned email.
    If you select this option you can choose a pre-defined canned email from the selection list. This will send the defined email to the customer of the document. Any template tags will be inserted from the underlying document.

  2. Create a task. If you select this option you can enter a title for your task and select who the task is assigned to. If you use auto assignment the task is assigned to the agent running the macro.

  3. Send a canned SMS. If you select this option, have SMS enabled on your account, and the customer has a mobile phone number on their account. This will send a canned SMS text message. Any template tags will be inserted from the underlying document.

  4. Silent print Ticket (Star WEBPRNT). This option requires an installed Star (WEBPRNT compatible) printer and the IP address configured under settings. This will trigger automatic printing of the underlying document to the receipt printer. For set-up instructions read this article: https://help.tudodesk.com/en/articles/2617357-setting-up-your-star-tsp654ii-or-mc-print3-webprnt-compatible-printer

  5. Integrations API. This option will trigger third-party integrations such as sending tickets to Vend POS and automatic printing of documents to any printer using Print Node. Please read the following articles for help:
    ​https://help.tudodesk.com/en/articles/3193633-using-print-node-remote-printing-with-tudodesk

Printing documents and labels with PrintNode:

The PrintNode integration makes printing a breeze from Tudodesk offering instant silent printing from any device connected to the internet.

You can learn more about printing with macros and print node in the article below:

https://help.tudodesk.com/en/articles/4576047-print-using-a-custom-template-from-a-macro

Update the document status (STEP 4)

You can automatically set the status of the current (source) document by selecting any of the allowed status's from the drop-down list. Note you can not mark a document as draft or paid.
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Assign an agent to the source document (STEP 5)

Sometimes you need to re-assign documents at certain times of your workflow for example you might want to assign all new estimates to your sales person. You can do this with the assign command.

You can choose to assign a specific agent or auto assign the acting agent who runs the macro (the session user).
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Change the source document archive status (STEP 6)

Setting archive policies (closing of documents) is an important aspect of managing your paper-work. When a document is finished with, it's good practice to archive it. You can automatically set the archive status of the source document using this option.

You can learn more about archiving here
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Create a new document (STEP 7).

One of the more powerful functions of a macro is it's ability to automate the creation of new documents. Tasks such as sending an invoice after an estimate has been accepted can be rolled into a single button click. You can also mark the document as archived helping you "enforce" well designed processes that not only get the job done quickly, but do all the tidying up at the same time. This removes all the process
from your agents and rolls it into one single process.

Setting the type of document you want to create:

Select the board (document) you want to create from the drop-down.
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The copy function has a number of options.

  1. Open the document create dialog in copy mode.
    ​    This options places the most control in the hands of the acting agent as it opens the document create view and allows the agent to edit the details before the document is created. It even allows the agent to cancel the operation.

  2. Open in edit mode (most poplar)
    ​    This creates the document as a direct copy of the source document but opens the document in edit mode into view so the acting agent can edit it in "draft mode"

  3. Auto status set
    ​    This allows you to set the status of the document after it is created and is useful as you can mark a document as "sent". This options should be used with caution since it allows no agent intervention and can fire automated events such as document sends. Sending invoices that are direct copies of estimates, queuing jobs, sending shipping notes and review requests are some of the best use cases for this option.


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