Printing Externally

Printing Externally

InfoThis article is part of the External Printing section.
Find all related articles here:
External Printing

Getting Started

CPL has integrated with PHD to provide an external printing solution, allowing invoices (including budgeted ones) and other documents - such as client statements, reminders and proposed works documents - to be printed and sent directly to clients.

Some configuration is required before enabling external printing.

Alert
To activate and configure external printing, please contact Support.
Warning
  1. Ensure all templates include your company branding. Branding will not be added during the printing process, so it must be part of the template itself.

  2. PHD templates must not have the Use Header and Footer box ticked when uploading them into the system, via System > Documents > Templates:





  3. Make sure to untick the Use Header and Footer box on all existing templates as well. You can do this by opening the Document Templates window via System > Documents > Templates and clicking into the relevant box. The same template is used for both Print and Email, so the header and footer will already be present in emailed versions. Ticking this option may result in duplicate headers/footers.




Printing Documents Externally

Alert
You can only run one external print process at a time. Please open a new instance of Proptimo Core if you have other tasks to complete at the same time.

To print documents using an external printing service, first prepare your mail merge as usual by following the steps outlined here.

Then proceed as follows:
  1. Click Print/Send:



  1. A progress bar is displayed:



  1. A pop-up message appears. Do not click OK yet:


  1. The Word template opens in the background. Click its icon in the taskbar to bring it forward.

  2. Review the template and make any necessary adjustments:

    1. Add extra text and mail merge fields if needed. Learn more about adding mail merge fields here.
    1. Navigate through multiple recipients using the arrows in the Mailings tab. To search for a specific client, click Find Recipient:



  1. Once you're ready, return to the pop-up message and click OK. Click Yes on the confirmation prompt:


  1. The progress bar will show the number of prints and emails being processed. When the process is complete, a confirmation message will be displayed along with the batch number. Click OK:


 
  1. The Merge Documents and Print Externally window opens.
    1. See the Navigating the Merge Documents and Print Externally Screen section of this article for the next steps.
Info
The system will attempt to send 3 times, after which a Failure message will appear if it was unsuccessful. You can then choose to skip the file and continue, or cancel the process.
  1. When the process is completed, close the Merge Documents and Print Externally window.

  2. Clients who have opted for email, will receive their documents via email. Clients who haven't opted for email will have their documents sent to the external printer. 

  3. A copy of the document is stored in the Letters Documents tab of the recipients' accounts, prefixed with 'Merged -' .  You can also see the batch number in the pin panel on this tab.
Notes
To optimise performance, we recommend turning off the "Document Distribution Save as DOCX" System Setting to ensure merged documents are saved as a PDF.
Notes
If attachments were added, but some recipients do not use email, these attachments will only be saved in the Letters Documents tab if the system option "Document Mail Merge Save Attachments For Printed" is enabled.

Printing Invoices Externally

To print invoices externally:
  1. Go to Client Global > Process Owners Charges for Actual.

  2. Run your invoices as usual, as described here.

  3. Click Print:


  1. Double-click a batch to preview the invoices. 
    1. Ensure your branding is already included on the template.

  2. Click Print Externally:




  3. This will open the Merge Documents and Print Externally window.

  4. Edit your print pack as needed. 
    1. See the Navigating the Merge Documents and Print Externally Screen section of this article for the next steps.

  5. Click Merge and Send. You will not be able to leave the screen until the process is complete.



  6. The email and print progress bars at the bottom of the screen will update to reflect the processing status. They will remain visible until the screen is closed, allowing users to see that the process completed successfully. Prints will send first, followed by emails.

Printing Client Statements Externally

To print client statements externally:
  1. Go to Reports in the main menu > Client Reports > Client Statements.

  2. Select the relevant filter options on the left:



  3. Click the Print icon on the left:



  4. This will open the Merge Documents and Print Externally window.

  5. Edit your print pack as needed. 
    1. See the Navigating the Merge Documents and Print Externally Screen section of this article or more info.

  6. Click Merge and Send. 


Printing Locally After Enabling External Printing

Notes
If you want to prevent users from sending documents to the external print provider completely, tick the Always use local printer tick box on System > System Parameter > User Login > Amend User.


Documents

Once external printing is enabled, you will still be able to print documents locally from the Letters Documents tab within the client account.
  1. To print an individual document, go to the Letters Documents tab.
    1. Right click on the letter and select PDF Document.

Invoices

Invoices can still be printed locally from the Preview in the Process Invoice Charges for Actual screen by clicking the print icon: 


  1. To print many invoices, select the print icon and set your printer to be Microsoft Print to PDF. 
    1. All invoices will be saved into one large PDF file, which you can then print out.
    2. Make sure to select All Pages at the bottom:

  1. To print an individual invoice from the client account, go to the Transaction Activity tab. Right click on the invoice and select PDF Invoice.

Navigating the Merge Documents and Print Externally Screen


When Merge Documents and Print Externally window opens:

  1. The selected template appears in the top-left corner.

  2. You can expand this window to full screen:


  1. The screen is split into two sections:

    1. Left side: List of all documents in the print pack. 
    2. Right side: Preview of the first five documents in the batch.

  1. To change the print order, use the Move Up and Move Down arrows:

     

Alert
The first document must clearly display the recipient’s address within the envelope window, ensuring that no confidential details are visible.
  1. To add additional attachments, click  Add Attachment:

Warning
This button replaces the previous window used for adding email attachments before external printing was enabled. All attachments selected here will be included in both the emails and the print packs. Email attachments will be combined into a single merged PDF.
InfoSupported file types are: PDF, .DOC/.DOCX, JPEG/JPG, .PNG

PDFs must be A4 size and Portrait orientation.  All attachments will be scaled to A4 before sending to PHD.
  1. To add an additional template to the pack, click Add Document Template. It will be merged with the client details for each recipient receiving an invoice:

AlertYou cannot edit the template at this stage, so ensure it is finalised beforehand.
  1. To remove documents or attachments from the pack, click Remove:



  2. To print in black and white, check the Mono Print? box at the bottom left:



  3. Click Send Via Special Mail Arrangement to flag documents that require special handling by the print provider.


Documents with this flag will be appended '_SA' (Special Arrangement) so the print provider can easily identify them.

Notes
To use this feature you will need the "External Mail Enable Special Mail Arrangement" System Setting enabled.
  1. Once satisfied with your print pack, click Merge And Send:


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