VTiger Blog – News, Common Errors & Helpful Tips

VTiger’s Multiplex Project Management App Leaves No Stone Un-turned

July 25, 2016
Article
Project Management is a special discipline. In a well-run project, there is a constant array of management issues to deal with, as well as a challenging routine of project management processes. A survey conducted by Carnegie Mellon suggests that when organizations focus on their project management system, key performance significantly increases. Scheduling adherence rises 50%. Productivity can improve by over 60%. For the modern organization, the success of any project management initiative will be tied to tools they use. For financial and data heavy positions, spreadsheets still have a tremendous amount of value. But for centralizing and sharing information, fostering collaboration, and tracking productivity, spreadsheets are quite limited. That’s why you will need ‘’Vtiger’s Project Management App’’ to supplement your operations and reporting with intuitive tools. With the right combination of protocols and software tools, project management can engender significant cultural and operational changes that can propel your business forward.

Custom VTiger Widget to Add Phone Numbers & Comments

July 25, 2016
Article
VTiger is loaded with predefined widgets to make the system more efficient and user friendly. Standard widgets are “Recently Modified”, “Dashboard”, “Google Maps”, “Tag Cloud”, and many more.. The widgets can be found on the left bar of the screen, which can be expanded or collapsed. One of our customers was in need of a custom VTiger widget which would provide the functionality to quickly add phone numbers & comments to leads, contacts, or debt records. The system had few custom modules such as “Phone Numbers” ( which allows to store unlimited number of phone numbers), “Debts” ( that enables to store debt information). If you are familiar with collection industry, you would be aware that tracking phone numbers and quickly going through them is critical. The Widget we designed allows the cold caller to pull up the record, select the claim/debt and add new phone numbers or comments without leaving the contact/lead/debt screen. The

3 VTiger Extensions For Your Company’s Sales Men & Managers

July 23, 2016
Article
Sales team of a company plays chief role in its success, there is no doubt about that. But what if I tell you that they need your help to do so? There are a lot of steps you can take to achieve the purpose, and one of those is configuring the automations for the team. We decided to gather a list of 3 extremely helpful extensions of VTiger your sales team can surely find handy to boost the sales of a company.   VTiger Kanban View [dt_highlight color=”green”]Click here for pricing, additional screenshots, video & live demo.[/dt_highlight] [dt_fancy_image type=”” style=”1″ lightbox=”1″ align=”right” padding=”0″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ margin_right=”0″ margin_left=”0″ width=”” animation=”none” media=”” image_alt=”” hd_image=”” image=”https://www.vtexperts.com/gifs/vtigerkanbannew.gif”][/dt_fancy_image] When looking for sales tools, one searches for software or extension that provide proper visibility throughout the sales pipeline, warn about potential hurdles, and suggest ways to close deals within the estimated time. That is exactly what

Control Summary View Field Sequence/Order In VTiger

July 23, 2016
Article
VTiger record view consists of two unique layouts – one is “Summary View” and the other is “Detail View”. Both views can display the fields configured. However, the two views are quite different when it comes to fields & columns. The Detail View comprises of 2 columns while Summary View has only one column. The limitation most users face is that for both views there’s only one way to organize the field sequence. Given that there’s a 2 column view where fields go Left to Right, versus in the one column view – it goes down. This is where the conflict in field sequence kicks in. If you are using both views, you would likely want to be able to separate the two and order the fields differently. Well, we’ve done it for you! One of our customers asked us to add a “Summary Field Seq” option in the “Field Editor” which overrides the standard field sequence

Synchronize Marketing Campaigns And Relevant Data With Vtiger’s MailChimp Extension

July 20, 2016
Article
Mailchimp is a powerful email marketing service that makes it easy to connect with prospects and customers. You can use it to run your business campaigns, featured documents, to send e-mails in bulk, blogs, online sellers and more. Use Vtiger 7 Mailchimp integration to collect e-mail marketing leads from any online form and add them to your Mailchimp subscriber list. Eliminate the manual process of adding subscribers individually and jumpstart your e-mail marketing campaign. When you sync the application you use to run your business and breakdown data between platforms, your work-flow becomes more efficient and that extra time lets you focus on increasing engagement and revenue. In the event you’d like to take in more about Vtiger 7 inherent Email Campaigns module, which gives you a chance to construct and fabricate records, outline and dispatch battles, analysis attack performance, launch campaigns and audit campaign execution,  and additionally see singular

View Record Address On Google Earth within VTiger

July 20, 2016
Article
VTiger CRM comes with pre-designed Google Maps widget which enables to view the addresses while looking for lead or contact records. The feature is great! However, its practical application has not much been observed since the zoom is not adjustable and you can’t see much more than a pin and surrounding area. We took the integration with Google Maps a step further and added functionality for users to view addresses on Google Earth. What we coded was basically a simple button “View on Google Earth” (at least it looks simple enough) next to each address block, which opens a modal popup (without leaving VTiger) and shows the zoomed picture of the house and the area. The tool is very helpful for businesses dealing with Solar Systems, Fences or any other exterior work that requires a glance of the property to do the quote or evaluate the conditions. Please send us an email or give us a call if you need

Receiving Purchase Order & Creating Assets in VTiger

July 19, 2016
Article
Out of the box VTiger has a built-in Purchase Order handling tool that allows users to create Purchase Orders, print or email them to the Vendor as well as link them back to Sales Order or an Invoice. In addition, there’s logic behind each Status, e.g when the Purchase Order status is changed to “Received”, it will ‘receive’ the items and update the “Qty. On Hand” for each item/product. All of the functionality is great. However, it is missing one of the most important features – keeping track of received items/assets. We came up with a solution that not only allows users to update the “Qty. On Hand”, but also enables to enter the serial number for each item and create it as an asset. It also supports a bar code scanner, all the user has to do is to put the cursor on the first item box and start scanning – the serial numbers will be

VTiger Rich Text/HTML Comments

July 18, 2016
Article
One of the productive features of VTiger includes the running comments/notes tab for each record. It’s mostly used to post notes, record details from calls/meetings, or any information related to the record which does not belong in fields. We were asked to customize the VTiger comments section to make it even more useful! First, we added a date & time fields, meaning that before posting each comment, you can backdate or post it in the future data. It is very useful for the businesses who want to keep their notes intact and who can’t necessarily post the notes at the time the action is being taken place. Our customization allows the user to change the comment date/time as needed. Secondly, we added the ability to format the text, meaning that the comments posted are in “Rich Text” format, which allows users to add bullet points, images, underline, highlight the text and much more! We used CLKEditor which

7 Extensions To Boost Productivity Within vTiger

July 18, 2016
Article
Although hundreds of vTiger extensions are available on vTiger Marketplace, selection of suitable ones may require some time and careful thoughts. So we gathered a list of 7 vTiger extensions that can help you a great deal in enhancing the productivity and efficiency within vTiger CRM. These extensions make some very simple changes like adding buttons, displays etc. to standard and custom views. So you can avail the same interface while saving time and spare efforts.   vTiger Quick Edit   Automation is about everything at your fingertips, isn’t it? Or at least it should be. That is what vTiger Quick Edit provides. The extension leads the list by enabling a very simple “Pencil” icon beside every relevant field, pressing which triggers the Edit function. The sole purpose of vTiger Quick Edit is to allow modification of related records (1:m, 1:1), while working in a record’s Edit/Create view. For more

Develop And Design Attractive Documents With vTiger Proposal & Document Designer

July 17, 2016
Article
A number of tools are available in market to write a couple of pages, few chapters, or even books with basic to professional formats. But when it comes to craft versatile content like extensive proposals, sales orders, quotes, invoices, or executive subject matter in a style, selection of the right tool can be tricky. Searching for the perfect software is itself a tiring task, let alone the additional processes including email integration with the desired customizations. The problem was addressed at vTiger’s and the team came up with the ultimate solution in the form of vTiger Proposal & Document Designer, along with the capability of Electronic Signature. The powerful vTiger extension has the potential to nimbly design professional, mobile friendly documents and proposals right from the vTiger CRM in minimum time. You can create highly striking executive documents, pamphlets, proposal, etc. that are more anticipated to convince leads and opportunities.

VTiger Filters: “Assigned To” Equals To “Current/Logged In User”

July 15, 2016
Article
Filters in VTiger is one of the most commonly used feature and often system admins are required to create filters that require condition “Assigned To”, which can cause a potential problem when there are too many users. The way VTiger works now is, if you were to create filters for each user in the system (with the Assigned To condition), you would have to create as many filters as there are users., and sometimes more (if multiple filters are needed). We came up with the special “Assigned To” condition “Is Current User”. It means: you can create one filter, set it as public and select the condition to be “Assigned To is Current User” instead of using the “Assigned To equals UserXXX”. This eliminates the need of creating duplicate filters – the condition will filter only the records that are assigned to “the Logged In user”. This is just one of the many customizations

New Widget in VTiger Calendar View (Additional Filters)

July 14, 2016
Article
VTiger Calendar is great, but not perfect. As every software, there’s always room for improvement. One of the customers requested to add a special widget on the calendar view, so their managers could easily filter only the activities they need to see. If you look at the screenshot, you will see that the widget is embedded in the calendar view and allows a detailed search of events. Search fields are as follows: Organization Name (it’s an ajax/type ahead field, once you start typing – it will show possible matches) Status (activity status) Activity Type Assigned To (group/user assigned to activity) Such detailed search allows the customer to exclude the unnecessary activities/events/tasks from the calendar view and prioritize the day. This is one of the many customizations that we did – if you have an idea for implementation or need assistance with VTiger – please shoot as an email or give us

VTiger CRM 6.5.0 (hotfix – 20160714) Released

July 14, 2016
Article
VTiger 6.5 Hotfix (20160714)   There were few critical issues reported, right after the release of VTiger 6.5 which have been addressed in the latest hotfix. Detailed hotfix release notes below. Related to Currency Formatting which was troubling re-editing of records on UI. Third-party library fixes for PHP 7 compatibility – for the modules below Mail Manager “Add Action” section is missing/unusable Failure to load email folders Importing Module Customer Portal (non functional) Quotes/Invoices/SO (line item popup doesn’t show any products) Custom Modules (can’t properly install custom modules(including PDF Maker) Calendar (relabeled “Activity Types” widget) You can find more details on this milestone.   How to Apply the hotfix   Hotfix does not require going through the upgrade process, see the steps below. Download hotfix: vtigercrm-650-hotfix-20160714.zip Extract the hotfix and overwrite VTiger 6.5 files If you are upgrading to to VTiger 6.5 – you don’t need to apply this hotfix as

3 vTiger Extensions To Keep The Database Clean, Tidy, And Perfect

July 9, 2016
Article
As business expands, amount of information in CRM increases. Although, the databases are computerized, it doesn’t mean they don’t require orderly setup. For instance, if proper channels are not followed, there might be overlapping or duplication of submitted information for number of reasons. vTiger presents several extensions that will aid you in data management and keep the information and looks neat and well-ordered. Even one of the useful extensions is free to download and install.   vTiger Duplicate Check & Merge   The first tool for neat and tidy database from our selection is the vTiger Duplicate Check & Merge. The aim of the Duplicate Check & Merge is to auto-detect and deal with any of the duplicate records in the database, plus to avoid the addition of any potential identical entries to the system. The extension set up a check point at every possible spot counting Quick Create, Summary View,

4 vTiger Extensions To Customize Your CRM’s Screen Layout

July 5, 2016
Article
There must be many tools in the market to customize CRM layouts, so we put our best efforts in to make layout extensions unique and different. In addition to switching and swapping the positions of fields, vTiger’s extensions do lot more. We are presenting the catalogue of four vTiger extensions that will really boost up your team’s performance while polishing the CRM into a more user friendly software.   vTiger Conditional Layouts   This is a very distinctive extension from vTiger developers. With vTiger Conditional Layouts, adding unique layouts becomes possible. The system  administrator will configure secondary fields or blocks, that will appear after choosing an option from the primary fields. The executed option will lead to more specific and detailed information about the original subject. The extension carries vTiger Workflow capabilities with intuitive interface to configure conditions as well as fields to be shown, hidden, and made mandatory. Distinguishing Features:

VTiger 6.5 GA Released with 40+ Issues & 45+ Merge Requests Included!

July 5, 2016
Article
VTiger 6.5 GA Is now Available!   VTiger is happy to announce GA release of Vtiger CRM 6.5.0. In this version, there were 40+ issues & bugs fixed as well as 45+ merge requests accommodated. Most of the changes were to make VTiger more stable, secure & bug free. The credit goes to the community who contributed to the release the most.   VTiger 6.5 Release Highlights (Major) Customer Portal password encryption PHP 7 compatibility MySQL (STRICT_TRANS_TABLE) compatibility (default in 5.6.x) URLs in workflow emails are now clickable ($(general : (VtigerMeta) crmdetailviewurl)) Report Date formats (mm-dd-yyyy and yyyy-mm-dd) User Preferences (Only authorized user can change other preferences) Default Grouping Separator (causing currency fields to save with extra 00s.) Emails (minor fixes in formatting and emailing) Lead Convert Custom Action (Execute custom functions when lead is being converted) Improved Logging Minor Layout Improvements (cache, icons, header support) Default sorting order on

3 Vtiger Extensions To Fortify CRM Data Security

June 30, 2016
Article
  Vtiger’s aims and objectives have never been lesser than providing the best possible outcome to users. And when you rely upon us with your valuable information, we make sure to keep it secure and safe from every possible threat out there. That’s why we designed some really effective tools to keep the security at best. In this article, we summoned up a list of three security extensions by Vtiger that can eliminate and avoid any potential threats to your data.   Enhanced User Security   There is a renowned quote, “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar”. Likewise, the sensitive information in your CRM attracts more threats as your business grow. Vtiger’s Enhanced User Security is the extension that ensures a strong defense against any potential invasions. With carefully designed and professionally employed features of this extension, the possibilities of getting hacked are eliminated. The login security extension

Upgrade Guide: VTiger 6.2 To VTiger 6.3

June 23, 2016
Article
This guide will walk you step by step through the procedure of migration of VTiger 6.2 to VTiger 6.3. As the process is known to be pretty technical and quite complicated, you might want to get an expert for the procedure. We, here at VTExperts, provide all VTiger related services including Upgrading CRM from any to any version. But considering that you may feel to give a go at it by yourself, we are glad to explain the procedure in thorough details here. The following step-by-step guide is applicable only for the Upgrade from VTiger 6.2 to VTiger 6.3.   Create a Backup of VTiger Database It’s very important for the obvious reasons; you’d not lose your important data in case things go south.   Acquire the Patch File for VTiger 6.3 Upgrade Now you’ll need the Patch that contains the necessary files. You can download the patch from VTiger’s official page or here’s

Explore The New Opportunities With Vtiger Extension For Thunderbird

June 23, 2016
Article
If you and your organization use one of the best email manager Mozilla’s Thunderbird, there is a great deal of options in Vtiger 7 for you. Vtiger 7 Thunderbird extension allows attaching emails to leads & contacts, import/export contacts and create records in Vtiger CRM from thunderbird. Limelight Features The information between Vtiger CRM and Thunderbird can be easily harmonized with Thunderbird extension of Vtiger. With this extension, you can: Attach Emails Create new contacts Create new leads Import/Export contacts Add new contacts or leads from thunderbird address book to Vtiger database And lot more. And all of these features can be availed without even the necessity to log in to your Vtiger 7 account. Learn more: Our new extension Corrensa is available with same features for Gmail, Outlook, and Office365. Thunderbird Extension’s Services The extension is designed for high tech business email administration and its features are not limited

Integrate Twilio With Vtiger And Avail Its Complete Functions In The CRM

June 21, 2016
Article
Twilio is a cloud communications tool that allows software developers to programmatically make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages using its web service APIs. But if you have opened this article specifically because of the name of the tool, you’d probably know it. In this guide, we’ll take you through the tour of setting up phone calls with Twilio in your Vtiger 7 CRM account. Note! This feature is available in Sales Professional, Support Professional and Ultimate Edition of Vtiger CRM. Setting up Phone Calls with Twilio Twilio Account First things first; visit the Twilio website to get an ID for your company. All the necessary documentation about the Twilio sign-up has been provided. Install Phone Calls Module in Vtiger 7 The Phone Calls module is not installed in Vtiger 7 by default to avoid complexity. The process to get the module from Vtiger Extension Store and install is quite simple:

“My Preferences”; The Pack Of Customizations For Vtiger 7’s Users

June 17, 2016
Article
We all can agree that versatility is the future. But it’s present too. Your CRM users would surely appreciate some control and customizations, and with Vtiger 7 that is exactly what you can provide. The CRM is not merely customizable for you, but the users can update their personal information using My Preferences. We designed this tutorial to give you better understanding. The customer information can be updated by: Clicking on the User Namein the top right corner and selecting My Preferences Then by pressing Edit, will allow to update the details (the fields are discussed later in the article) Do press the Save button in the end. Note! Shift the view to narrow (or wide view): Switch to compact listings to see more rows and reduce scrolling. You can now configure the width by clicking on drop-down in the upper right of My Preferences page. This setting is available for all list views and details

Vtiger’s Subscription Module Covers The Entire Client-Company Payment Process

June 15, 2016
Article
The Subscription module has broad compatibility range. Consider a cellular company that bills customers on daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. The final bill is generated after the inclusion of calls, SMS, data usage, value added services, and tax for the whole month. Now, that is a very complex task, as call charges are to be calculated every call, and same goes for all other services. Calculating the bill for the whole month usage of one customer is itself tough enough, let alone managing millions of subscribers. Vtiger 7’s Subscriptions module is an exceptional tool to manage invoice relevant and payment processing problems. With this tool, the whole process including invoice generation to payment management can be automated, saving thousands of precious hours per month. Note! This feature is available only in Ultimate Edition of Vtiger CRM. Installation of Subscription Module First of all, Subscription module is needed to be installed from the

Your Email Conversations Can Be Mirrored Into Vtiger With These Simple Plugins

June 10, 2016
Article
Online markets are flooded with email clients, and we cannot deny their necessity. Also, every client is fulfilling the needs of a fair amount of organizations. You’ll have one too. But there is more to Vtiger’s email manager. With Vtiger 7’s email manager, communications with customers, from basic to elite level, are handled more efficiently. Keeping track of sales and support groups gets way easier, as all of the emails your team send or receive are channeled through your CRM’s own client. Moreover, it is the simplest way to bring all of the communication to a single showcase. It is undebatably an essential requirement of a firm to observe all of the email conversations of sales and support teams. Vtiger’s email plugins let you archive all the emails in conversation stature, so the discussions about deals and services are open to anyone with the access. All of the emails can

VTiger CRM 6.4.0 – Security Patch (20160610) Release

June 10, 2016
Article
VTiger CRM 6.4.0 – Security Patch Release   Security patch has just been released addressing multiple vulnerabilities within VTiger, patch covers minor xss and non-admin access control issues shared by security advisories (Sebastian Haas & Tomotaka – JPCERT/CC). This is a security release for all previous versions and we strongly encourage you to update your instance immediately.   How to apply the patch?   Backup your VTiger files & database (recommended but not needed assuming you know your way around the system). Download patch from here Overwrite the files from the patch to the VTiger file system /include/utils/VtlibUtils.php /modules/Users/actions/Save.php vtigerversion.php   Assistance   Not sure or comfortable applying the patch yourself? Please email us at support@vtexperts.com and we’ll have one of our experienced developers apply it for you.

Paypal Merchant Account Configuration In Vtiger 7

June 5, 2016
Article
Vtiger 7 is fully customizable and comes with many extensions and integration options. Now our think tank is exactly aware of users’ demands, and we are not forgetting the need of Paypal merchant account integration. So we designed this guide to describe how to configure a Paypal merchant account in the Payments module. The Paypal Digital Goods Checkout payment method is the solution that enables a user to accept payments via secure Paypal gateway. To receive payments online, you will have to own a functional Paypal Business Account. Paypal merchant account configuration in Vtiger 7 CRM is not a rocket science: First of all, click on the Menu icon Then browse the Settings and look for Inventory Then select Subscriptions There you can add a new gateway with the help of +Add Gateway button A popup named “Configure Merchant Account” will appear demanding the basic details and credentials required for the login.