Revised 08/13/2026

• Step One: Create System Views
• Step Two: Create a Word Document
• Step Three: Create Letter Template File and Letter Template in akoyaGO
• Step Four: Generate Letters
  • Generate Documents
  • Send Email (Coming in August 2026 Release)
• Step Five: Bulk Edit to Update Data in akoyaGO
• Step Six: Maintaining and Updating Your Letters

  Step One: Create System Views

Generating letters from a Letter Template in akoyaGO CRM is dependent on System Views. We encourage a System Customizer User to build a System View for each table where you will process letters.

These System Views should include:

• All fields you would like to include in your letter as columns. For example, if you want to generate letters to Donors, you will create a System View from Donors & Prospects where each view column represents the fields you want to include in your letter.
• The criteria are to display the records for which you need to run letters. For example, your criteria could be Requests where Date Notified is blank, or Gift Payments where Thank-you Date is blank. The criteria for your System Views will be specific to your organization.

For instructions on building System Views, please reference the Creating System Views Knowledge Article and/or System Views Video from System Customizer Session One: Fields, Forms, Views, Dashboards - Suggested Learning Course.

If you plan to include sub-grids in your Letter Template, those will also require System View(s). Sub-grids allow you to include a table of related records. (For example, if your Letter Template is based on Requests, but you want to include a table of related Payments or Requirements. Or if your Letter Template is based on Gifts, and you want to include a table of related Gift Payments.) For more information on Sub-Grids, please see Sub-Grids in Letter Templates.

  Step Two: Create a Word Document

1. Create a new document in Microsoft Word. This will become your Letter Template File that will be uploaded to akoyaGO. Make sure your Word Document is formatted and appears as you want it to look once the data is inserted from akoyaGO. Please note that if you are including images (such as a logo in a header or footer), images must be inserted as a .JPG in your Word Document. Other image formats are not supported.

Once you have created your language, headers, footers, etc., you are ready to begin inserting merge fields that will pull data from akoyaGO.

2. From the top toolbar in Word, choose 1) Insert, 2) Quick Parts, 3) Field

3. In the first section labeled Please choose a field, choose Merge Field.

In the second section labeled Field properties, type the Field name exactly as it appears in the header of your System View. Please note that if the Field name in the Word Document does not exactly match the field name in the akoyaGO System View, the merge will not work.




4. Click OK. The field will be inserted into your Word Document.

Once inserted, a merge field will be surrounded by chevrons and should look like this: <<Formal Default (Donor) >>

5. Repeat these steps for all merge fields that need to be inserted.

6. Apply any formatting or conditional logic as needed. This is especially important if you are including any date fields. For detailed instructions, please see Knowledge Article Letter Templates - Formatting Merge Fields and Conditional Logic.

7. Save your completed Word Document.

*If you want to include today's date in your Word Document, you can choose Insert > Date & Time and check Update automatically: 

This will insert the current date when the letter is generated. This date will not automatically update the Word Document and PDF created when letters are generated in akoyaGO CRM.

If you need the date to update after generating letters, you will need to open the individual generated Word Document in the Word Desktop app. The date will not update automatically when opening Word online. More information can be found in Step Five: Print Letters.

For optimal performance and to prevent errors, avoid using text boxes in your Letter Template file and use only standard Microsoft Word fonts.

  Step Three: Create Letter Template File and Letter Template in akoyaGO

Next, you will create two records in akoyaGO:

Letter Template File: the record where you will upload your Word Document
Letter Template: the record where you will assign this file and set additional parameters such as the table it is regarding, the View it should reference, etc.

1. From the Letter Templates table in akoyaGO (access from the side navigation bar, Mailings section), choose +New to create a new Letter Template:

2. From here, you will set up your Letter Template File. This is where you will upload your Word Document prepared in the last step.

Click into the Letter Template File field and click +New Letter Template File:


 

3. A new Letter Template File form will open. Give your Letter Template File a name. As a best practice, the Letter Template File Name should include alphanumeric characters only. Avoid using special characters in the Letter Template Name.
Click Save. This will create the Letter Template File record.

4. Upload your Word Document by clicking Choose File. Search for the Word Document that you created in the previous step.

You will not see the Choose File option until you have clicked Save.




5. Once you have uploaded your file, click Save & Close to return to the Letter Template form.

6. In the Letter Template File field, search for the Letter Template File that you just created.




7. Assign your Letter Template Name. As a best practice, the Letter Template Name should include alphanumeric characters only. Avoid using special characters in the Letter Template Name. We recommend giving your Letter Template File and Letter Template the same name to avoid confusion.

Click Save to create the Letter Template record.




8. Set the Regarding To field. This will be the table where you created your System View/where you will run your letters.

9. After you have set the Regarding To field, a list of System Views will populate in the Select a View field. Choose the System View that you have created for your letters.

10. Select Sort Order to determine the order in which your letters will be printed. Click Save.

When you are done, your Letter Template should look like this:




Before moving on, confirm all setup has been completed:

• Create System View(s)
• Create a Word Document
• Create a Letter Template File in akoyaGO (you have uploaded your Word Document to akoyaGO)
• Create a Letter Template record in akoyaGO

Please note: You do not need to complete these setup steps every time you run letters. Once you have completed this initial setup, you can start from the Generate Letters step.

  Step Four: Generate Letters

Before moving on, confirm that all setup is complete.

There are two options when generating letters: Generate Documents or Send Email.

Generate Documents

1. Open the System View you are using to run your letters. *Make sure you are running letters from the same System View that you chose when setting up your Letter Template. If you try to generate a letter for a record that is not included in the System View listed on the Letter Template, the letter will not be generated for this record.

2. Select the records from the System View for which you would like to generate letters
*Large batches of letters may appear unresponsive but are typically still processing. To optimize performance, akoyaGO recommends generating letters in batches of 250 records or fewer and avoiding large merges during peak usage times. If letters appear “stuck,” it is best to allow additional time, as they often complete successfully without further action.

3. With the records selected, click Generate Letters from the top bar:




4. Choose your Letter Template and select Generate Documents. The Batch name will be set to the Letter Template Name with the date, but it can be adjusted as needed. If you would like to format for double-sided printing, make sure to select the checkbox. When you are ready to proceed, click Generate documents
 

5. This creates a Letter Template Session. A session will be created each time you generate letters.

In the top header bar, you will see a green notification indicating that your letters are being processed. You can click Letter Template Session to check the status of your letters:




6. When the Letter Template Session is complete, you will see a Status of Succeeded. You will also receive a notification in the top toolbar by clicking the bell icon:

 

To print documents,

1. You can access the PDF of completed letters from the notification in the top toolbar or from the Letter Template Session directly. From the Notification, click View PDF.

This will open a single PDF containing all letters, ready for printing. To access the PDF from the Letter Template Session, click Related > Documents




You can also access past Letter Template Sessions from the Letter Template record directly:



Please note that if your letter template file included today's date, it is set as the date the letter was generated and will not automatically update on the merged PDF.

2. An individual letter is also saved to each record that you selected from your view under the Documents section. The letter saved in the individual records included in your View will be a Word document so it can be edited as needed.



*Depending on the record type you are running letters for, you may have to click Related to access Documents.
Please note if your letter template includes today’s date, that date set on the individual Word Document is the letter’s generation date. This is correct for the history of this letter.
However, if you need to reprint the letter and want the date to update, open the SharePoint document from the Word desktop app (not in the browser) to force the date update.
To summarize, when you click Generate Letters, a Letter Template Session is created.

When this Session is complete, the following will have occurred:

1. A PDF with all merged letters was created for printing. You can access this PDF from the Documents section of the Letter Template Session (which you can access from the Letter Template directly) or from the notification in the top toolbar – bell icon.
2. An individual letter in a Word doc. format was saved to the Documents section for each record for which you ran a letter.

Send Email

Important: This feature is scheduled for release as part of the August update on August 20, 2026. Documentation is being published in advance to help users prepare; however, the functionality will not be available in your environment until the August 20, 2026 release is deployed.

1. Open your System View from the table where you are running your letters. *Make sure you are running letters from the same System View that you chose when setting up your Letter Template. If you try to generate a letter for a record that is not included in the System View listed on the Letter Template, the letter will not be generated for this record.

2. Select the records from the System View for which you would like to generate letters
*Large batches of letters may appear unresponsive but are typically still processing. To optimize performance, akoyaGO recommends generating letters in batches of 250 records or fewer and avoiding large merges during peak usage times. If letters appear “stuck,” it is best to allow additional time, as they often complete successfully without further action.

3. With the records selected, click Generate Letters from the top bar:

4. Choose your Letter Template. The Batch name will set to the Letter Template Name with the date, but it can be adjusted as needed. If you would like to expand the Generate Letters dialog to full screen, click the icon in the top corner:

5. Under What do you want to do? select "Send email." This will display additional options related to sending the Letter Template as an email:

6. In the Send To field, select the field containing recipient email addresses. This will default to the field most frequently emailed for this table, but you can change as needed. 

The selected record in the "To" field must contain a valid email address. Records without a valid email address may fail to send.

When a Contact is selected as the recipient, both Allow Email and Allow Bulk Email must be enabled on the Contact record. If either field is set to Do Not Allow, the email will not be sent and the record will be included in the error results.

 

7. In the Send from field, select the sender (akoyaGO user) you would like to use. Begin typing the user's name to search and select them from the list. 

The sender lookup is not filtered and will display any user matching the search criteria. If the selected user is not authorized to send email, emails will fail when sending is attempted and the system will display an error message. 

Before sending, verify that the selected sender is appropriate for the communication and has granted Microsoft permission to send emails on their behalf. Without this authorization, Letter Template emails cannot be sent. For more information on enabling this setting, please see Allow Microsoft to Send Emails on My Behalf

8. Next, choose how the Letter Template should be sent.

Choices are:

• In the email body - Uses the selected Letter Template as the body of the email. If selecting this option, you can specify the Email subject; this will default to the Batch name, but it can be updated as needed
  
• As an attachment - Attaches the letter to the email. If selecting this option, you will need to choose the following:
  • Attachment file format - Select whether the letter should be attached as a Word document or PDF
     
  • Email body - Since the letter will be included as an attachment to this email, you need to choose what content will appear in the email itself.
         
          Your choices are: 
    • Use an Email Template - Select an existing Email Template to use for the body. Please note that all Email Templates will be available for selection, regardless of the table from which the bulk email is being sent. Be sure to select a template that is appropriate for the selected record type. 
            For more information on creating/editing Email Templates, please see How to Edit Email Templates in akoyaGO
    • Write it myself - Manually compose the body. With this option, dynamic content from related records cannot be included in the email. 

Here is an example of a letter that will be attached as a Word Document with the email body written manually: 

 

9. Review the selected To field. Review the selected From sender. Confirm the correct Letter Template has been selected and all settings have been set correctly. 

When you are ready to proceed, click Send emails

 

10. This creates a Letter Template Session. A session will be created each time you generate letters.

In the top header bar, you will see a green notification that your letters are processing. You can click Letter Template Session to check the status of your letters:




11. When the Letter Template Session is complete, you will see a Status of Succeeded. You will also receive a notification in the top toolbar by clicking the bell icon that notifies you of the number of emails successfully submitted for delivery, along with any errors:

12. If any emails fail to send, such as when the recipient does not have an email address or does not allow email/bulk email, a PDF will be generated for printing. This document will include only the records for which the email was not sent.

13. Emails will appear on the timeline(s) of related record(s).

  Step Five: Bulk Edit to Update Data in akoyaGO

Once you have successfully processed and printed your letters, akoyaGO's best practice is to update your data so these records no longer appear on your view as needing letters. The quickest way to do this is to bulk edit.

For example, if the criteria for your System View are that Date Acknowledged is blank, you should bulk update all records to set Date Acknowledged after letters have been sent.

These records will then no longer meet the criteria of your System View and will be removed, so you know their letters have been processed.

To bulk edit, select the records from your System View and click Edit from the top toolbar:




Update any necessary field(s). Please note that this will update data for all selected records to the value you enter:




In the example above, I have five records selected from my view. I then entered a Thank-you date of 8/6/24 from the Bulk Edit form.

It will now set that date as the Thank You Date for all five records, removing them from my Thank You Letter System View.

  Step Six: Maintaining and Updating Your Letters

If you need to make changes to your Word Document, follow the steps below.

1. Open your Letter Template.

2. Select the Letter Template File.

3. To download a copy of the Word Document, click the Template File.docx name.

4. Make changes in Microsoft Word and save your updated document.

5. When you are ready to update a new Word Document, click Delete.

6. Click Choose File to upload your updated Word Document.