Understanding Doc Merge vs wDocs
Overview
The Doc Merge feature was introduced in version 11.2 of Sugar Sell and Sugar Serve and 12.0 for Sugar Enterprise. This feature was developed from the wDocs add-on package from W-Systems. While Doc Merge incorporates most of the functionality that existed in the wDocs package, there are some differences that are important to understand. This article describes the differences between the add-on product and the Doc Merge functionality in Sugar.
To learn more about Doc Merge in Sugar, please refer to the Doc Merge documentation in the Application Guide.
Summary of Differences
Most of the functionality from wDocs has been preserved in the Doc Merge feature, but there are minor differences in workflow, terminology, and user interface. Doc Merge is actively being developed and more features will be added in future releases.
Comparison Table
The following table identifies the differences between the Doc Merge feature in Sugar and the wDocs product.
| Feature | Doc Merge | wDocs |
| Compatibility | Sugar 12.0 and higher (all editions); Sugar Sell and Serve 11.2 |
Sugar Enterprise, Ultimate, and Professional |
| Separate purchase required | ✔ | |
| Configuration required1 | ✔ | |
| Accessible merge history | ✔ | |
| Template module | Document Templates module | Documents module |
| DocuSign integration2 |
Using the W-Systems DocuSign Connector along with Doc Merge lets users sign and send a merged document from the Documents subpanel of the merged record (11.2-11.3). Using the Sugar DocuSign Integration along with Doc Merge lets users sign and send a merged document from the Documents subpanel of the merged record (12.0+). |
Using the W-Systems DocuSign Connector along with wDocs also includes additional shortcuts to sign a document via the wDocs widget and the "Merge and Sign" record action. |
| Label merging | Initiate from Merge to Doc or Merge to PDF action. | Initiate from Generate Labels action. |
| Conditionals | Manually construct conditional statements in the template as explained in the Conditionals in Doc Merge article. | Use the Template Builder's Conditionals tab to construct conditional statements. |
| Initiate document merge from SugarBPM process | ✔ (11.3+) | ✔ |
| Email merged document via SugarBPM | ✔ | |
| Terminology | ||
| Template tool | Template Assistant | Template Builder |
| Action labels |
|
|
1 While there is no configuration required for Doc Merge, there are some recommended setup steps for a better user experience.
2 This feature was available with the W-Systems DocuSign Connector, which was a paid add-on product for 11.3 and lower. Starting with 12.0, this feature is available as the Sugar DocuSign integration, which is only compatible with Doc Merge.
Moving from wDocs to Doc Merge
If you have wDocs installed and enabled for your Sugar instance, you must complete the following migration steps immediately upon upgrading from an instance running wDocs to an instance with Doc Merge to avoid conflicts:
- In the Documents module list view, sort by the "Is a Template" field to locate all wDocs templates.
- One-by-one, open each record and save the source file attachment to your computer.
- Upload each downloaded file as a new template in the Document Templates module. If the Document Templates module is not visible, you or your administrator may need to add it to your navigation bar. Please refer to the Doc Merge page in the Application Guide for more information.
- In the wDocsMergeRequests module list view, export any merge requests you want to preserve.
- Uninstall the wDocs package.