Overview
Custom Merge Tags are how you can personalize your project invitations and task instructions! This empowers you to expand the injection of dynamic values into messages and emails beyond GUIDEcx's default merge tags.
The information it pulls will be entered in during project or task Custom Field updates.
Read more about Custom Fields HERE.
User Access
Admin: Create labels & edit values
Manager: Create labels & edit values
Guide: Edit values
ALL: View values
Benefits of the Unification with Custom Fields
Engineering invested months of improvement into Custom Fields in 2024. This included:
Granularity expansion beyond project level to task level
Data types beyond text to number, url, email, date, toggle, single select, etc
Validation rules for min/max, length, population at task creation, etc
In-line edit in the global projects and tasks tables as custom columns
API properties for more flexible integration recipes and custom reports
And much more...
Now merge tags have inherited all these improvements!
User Interface Changes
The Legacy Merge Tag workflows below are still valid. Only a few minor labels and headings were updated to clarify values are injected from Custom Fields from now on.
The global merge tag management screen has been removed. Now all merge tag creation and editing will be done from the unified global Custom Fields page.
The visibility setting is the only true difference between internal private custom fields that are meant to be used only by your own team and external public custom fields which are shown to external customers in project plans and email messages. That is highlighted by the lock icon above and the "internal only" toggle in the edit pane below:
API Changes
Since recipes and integrations are mission critical, we are committed to backwards compatibility. That means the merge tag endpoints and webhooks will continue to operate even though they are deprecated. Many months in the future we will explore fully sunsetting merge tags in the API. Still, that will only be considered we have confirmed they are no longer used by anyone.
Until then, any legacy IDs will continue to pass along any endpoint requests to the new custom field IDs that all merge tags have been migrated to. Then any recipe triggers will continue to receive webhook events for merge tags even though the changes are actually being applied to custom fields. That means no recipe changes are needed.
The best practice is just to use custom field webhooks and endpoints from now on to skip those extra mapping steps we are taking for the converted IDs.
How to Create Custom Merge Tags (Legacy)
Click on “Company Details” in the upper-left corner of GUIDEcx.
Click on the “Custom Fields” tab
Click the "+ Add Custom Field" button.
Enter the Merge Tag Name
Select “Make Merge Tag”.
Click Save Custom Field
The new merge tag will now appear in the Merge Tag dropdown for all task instructions on the template and project level! Make sure you populate it before the task sends out!
How to Populate Custom Merge Tags (Legacy)
Click into a project
Select the 3 dots on the top right
Click on "Project Details"
Scroll to the bottom of the "Edit Project" tab.
Populate the custom merge tag field. The task using this custom merge tag will now send with information!
Save it!
How to use a Custom Merge Field in Task Instructions (Legacy)
After following the Instructions for How to Populate Custom Merge Tags, you can now use the Custom Merge Tag in your Task Instructions.
Navigate to the Project
Select the 3 dots on the top right of the Task you would like to edit.
Click on "Details"
Scroll to the Task Instructions field.
Select the Custom Merge Tag from the Merge Tags dropdown. The Task Instructions now include the Custom Merge Tag.
Save it!
Best Practices
You should create custom merge tags when there are pieces of information that are unique to each customer!
We've seen our partners use custom merge tags for shipping numbers, tracking links, SFTP credentials, Google Drive URLs, and more! The sky's the limit!
ALWAYS populate the custom merge tag field:
This way, when the task assignment email sends it sends with the right information! You can do this by following the steps above. (Ideally through a recipe which could automate this for you.)
FAQs
Why do I want to add a custom merge tag to my task instructions?
Why do I want to add a custom merge tag to my task instructions?
Use these in case you have unique information to share with customers (i.e. dropbox link, tracking numbers, etc)
Where are these custom merge tags pulling info to populate with?
Where are these custom merge tags pulling info to populate with?
Custom merge tags pull info from fields found in the Project Details. Remember that custom merge tags must be populated for EVERY. SINGLE. PROJECT.
Why didn't my custom merge tag populate with any info?
Why didn't my custom merge tag populate with any info?
If you notice that a task assignment email sent, but the custom merge tag didn't populate then you need to make sure that the info is populated. For example, if the custom merge tag used was "SHIPPING ID". You'll need to check the project details and ensure that the custom merge tag is populated!