Getting Started With VtigerCRM

Getting started with Vtiger CRM
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Table of contents
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Introduction
Vtiger CRM is a well-known Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application which features include
sales-force automation, marketing campaigns, customer support, collaboration, and reporting.
At VGS Global we have been working with vtiger since late 2011 and over the year have identified the key
seven task that needs to be done to take the most out Vtiger CRM
This tutorial will help you get started with your Vtiger CRM application. Even if this tutorial was written
using the Community Edition, you could easily follow this steps in the on-demand version too.
We will start by setting up your company information; this will allow uploading your logo among other
things.
The second step is to customize your CRM views. Filters are a powerful tool to manage and display the
data inside our CRM. By using filters, we can quickly follow up on orders, contacts, tasks, etc.
In the module manager section, you will learn how to enable, disable and import third party modules.
If you are running a small company, you probably work with other people, so why not bring them on board?
Now it's the time to create your users, profiles, and roles within the CRM
Finally, we will walk you through importing your data using a simple Excel file.
After going through this tutorial, you will successfully set up Vtiger CRM in your business. Now it's time to
take your CRM one step further by adding new modules, and extensions for Vtiger CRM. Check out
https://www.vgsglobal.com/extensions for a complete list
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ABOUT VGS GLOBAL
As one of the top contributors to Vtiger Extensions Marketplace, Vtiger forums and Vtiger developers list
you can be sure you are dealing with a company that know Vtiger CRM all around.
VGS Global is a Vtiger CRM Consultancy company that was founded and run by Conrado Maggi and
Jeremias Maggi. We’ve started VGS in 2011 and have been growing organically even since.
With the goal to be the #1 Vtiger Consultant provider. We offer consulting, customization and integration
Services to medium size enterprises
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COMPANY DETAILS
As a CRM user, you will need to upload your company information from time to time. This might be needed when
sending mails, or creating Invoices with your company logo/address etc. Vtiger provides a way to do this from
under the CRM settings. You need to be logged in as an admin user to make any of these changes.
Click the Settings icon located at the top right-hand corner and select “CRM Settings” in the menu.
This will take you to the Settings page.
Click on the Templates link on the left hand bar and then click on the Company Details link.
Click on the Templates link on the left hand bar and then click on the Company Details link.
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COMPANY DETAILS
To update your company logo, click Choose File button, browse and select desired file from your
computer.
Update the company details in the fields provided and click the Save button once done.
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Creating custom filters

In vtiger modules, you can see the list of records with some predefined fields in each module. This comes as a
default feature.
Note - In this guide, we will use the Leads module as an example, but the features remain constant across other modules.
If you refer to the above image, you can see the fields First Name, Last Name, Company etc. shown in the list view.
This is the default filter for the Leads module.
As the name suggests, Custom Filters in vtiger lets you refine the records in a module according to a custom
criteria. Additionally, you can select the fields to be shown in the list.
To create a new filter in the Leads module, click on the All Leads dropdown and select the “Create New Filter”
option there.
In the page that opens, you need to provide a name for the new filter, and then select the fields you want
to show in the filter. Please note that the order of selected fields is followed in the list view.
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Additionally, you can also define some filter criteria to refine the records. Only the records matching these
criteria(s) would be shown in the list view when you select this filter.
There are two types of filter conditions (All and Any conditions) which you can use to create any complex set of
conditions for a filter.
Other than these features, vtiger also provides 3 special conditions –

1. Set as default – You can choose to set the new filter as your default when you come to the Leads module.
2. List in metrics – This is a quick way to see the number of records in your filter on the home page Key
Metrics widget.
3. Set as public – This option allows you to share your filter with other users. Please note that the admin user
needs to approve this after you have set a filter as public. Only after the admin approves, other users would
be able to see your filters.
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Once you have configured the filter to your needs, click on the save button and you will be taken to the Leads
list view with the new filter on.
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Module manager
Vtiger is written with extendibility in mind. The object oriented design breaks the CRM into small sections called
“Modules” which are a way to segregate data. Vtiger also allows you to create new modules and/or update the
existing ones easily using the “Module Manager” interface.
You can perform different actions like importing new modules, upgrading existing modules; enable/disable the
existing modules in vtiger. All these actions are only available to an admin user.
Importing modules and extensions

You can import new modules/extensions in vtiger to extend the existing functionality. We have already written
an extensive guide or this which you can refer at https://www.vgsglobal.com/blog/vtiger-custom-modules-
import
Enable / disable modules

The modular structure of vtiger allows you to pick and choose the modules you need for your organization. Follow
the steps below to enable/disable any module in vtiger.
Click gear icon in upper right corner and click the CRM Settings icon.
Click the Studio drop down button on the left and then click on Module Manager.
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Module manager
Under the page that opens, you would see a list of modules that are present in the CRM. There
would be a checkbox next to each module to show if it is enabled. You can uncheck that to disable the module
or check it (in case the module is disabled) to enable it.
Please note that disabling a module from module manager will remove it for all users and can be only activated back by the admin
user.
Module manager
configuring modules
You can configure individual module settings from under module manager. To do this, hover on the module you
want to configure and click on the settings menu link next to it, as shown in the image below.
The different configuration options are -

1. Edit Fields – You can create new fields, remove existing ones, and change the field positions for the
fields here. We have written an extensive documentation on this at LINK_TO_LAYOUT_EDITOR
2. Edit Workflows – You can set up workflows for the module here. We will be coming up with a post on
this soon.
3. Edit Picklist Values – We have a wiki post about the picklist editor at LINK_TO_PICKLIST_EDITOR
4. Module Sequence Numbering – Almost all vtiger modules come with a unique identifier field. You can
configure the prefix and start values for the identifier here.
Setup Webforms – Some modules in vtiger allow you to create webforms. We will be coming up with a blog on
this soon
Module manager
Outgoing server
Every business needs to send out mails to its customer. Vtiger allows you to send mails directly from the CRM to
your Contacts (Leads, Accounts etc.) to make this process streamlined.
To send mails from vtiger, you first need to configure the Outgoing Server section with your SMTP details. To do
this, click on the settings icon on the top right and click on the CRM Settings in the menu there.
In the settings page that comes up, click on the Other Settings option on the left hand bar and then click on the
Outgoing Server link.
The outgoing server page will be blank by default. Click on the Edit button on top right corner of the page.
Module manager
On the page that loads, you can configure your SMTP details. In the screenshot below, we are including an
example configuration of a Gmail id. This will enable vtiger to send mails as john.doe@gmail.com
Hit save once you have entered all the details. If everything is correct, you will receive an email configured on
your admin user mail id saying that the set up was successful.
users
Vtiger has two types of users – admin (or super users) who have access to everything and can create other users
– other is standard users who have limited access and whose access rights can be decided by the admin users.
There is a Manage Users section in vtiger where you can view/create/edit/delete users. You can access this
section only as an admin user.
Here you can perform the following actions –
1. View existing users – You can see the list of existing users for vtiger and also see their details by clicking
on the user name.
users
2. Add new user – You can add a new user for vtiger here. Just click on the Add User button, fill the form
that comes up and hit the Save button.
4. Edit existing user – You can edit the details for an existing user by clicking on the edit user link in the list
of users.
3. Delete existing user – You can delete an existing user by clicking on the delete user link in the list of users.
Once you delete a user, you would need to assign his records in the CRM to some other user.
Layout editor
The modules in Vtiger come with a default minimal set of fields, but each business is different and requires
custom fields for their individual workflows. Vtiger provides you the option to create new fields/blocks and also
to change the placements for the fields/blocks so that you can customize the module UI to your business needs.
Note – This tutorial expects you to be logged in as the admin user. Please note that some of the options like (remove blocks)
could be irreversible in nature.
Understanding views, blocks, and fields in vtiger

Before you make any changes to the vtiger field layout, you should understand the Blocks and Fields structure
in vtiger.
Note – If you already understand these concepts, feel free to skip this section
If you go to the Leads module and click on an existing lead, you would be able to see the details of the lead in a
view similar to the following image.
Layout editor
This is called the Summary View of a module, and shows some selected fields for a record. As the name suggests,
it is the summary of a record (Lead in our case). If you click on the Show Full Details button, you will be directed
to a page similar to the following image:
This is the Detail View of a module and shows all the fields. If you notice the image, the blocks have been marked
in RED, and the fields have been marked in GREEN. Please note that we have only marked a few fields to give you
an idea.
Layout editor
Getting started
2. To go to Layout Editor, click on the gear icon on the top right corner and click on the CRM Settings
option. On the settings page that opens, click on the Studio drop down on the left and click the Edit
Fields option.
1. On the top right of the Layout Editor page, you would see a dropdown with a list of modules in vtiger.
Select the module for which you want to edit the fields.
For this tutorial, we will be using the Leads module as reference, but the concepts explained apply to all
modules in vtiger.
Layout editor
Adding a new block
Blocks are simply a group of fields. You can create a new block by clicking on the Add Custom Block button.
Note that empty blocks (which have no fields) are hidden in the module views.
In the popup that comes, provide a block name and position (optional) and hit the save button. This would
create a new block for you in the Leads module.
Adding a new field

This is one of the most basic needs when setting up a CRM initially. You need new fields according to your business
workflow and logic. To create a new field in the Leads module, click on the Add Custom Field button on the right
of the block name. Please note that each block has an Add Custom Field button so make sure to select the right
block.
Layout editor
This would open a popup with the create field options. Now, vtiger provides a lot of different field types (like
currency, text, phone, etc). Select the type of field you want and provide a field label for it. Depending on the
field type selected, you might need to provide other values like the length of field. Complete the details and hit
the save button once done. This should create the new field.
Note – The list of custom field types in vtiger is quite extensive, and we will be covering them pretty soon in another post.
Modifying field properties

For any field in vtiger (existing or custom created ones), you can modify the field properties – for example, make
it a mandatory field. To do this, hover over the field in layout editor and click on the pencil icon on the right of
the field name.
Layout editor
You should get a popup with a list of options. You can select the checkboxes to make the field –
1. Mandatory field – As the name suggests, this will make sure that the user has to input a value for the
field when creating/editing a record.
2. Active – If you uncheck this box, the field will be hidden from all views and users. Please note that the
field is not deleted and can be re-activated from other options which we would shortly discuss.
3. Quick Create – Checking this box ensures that the field shows up in the quick create popup. Note that
mandatory fields are automatically set as quick create.
4. Summary View – You can decide if a field appears in the summary view using this
5. Mass Edit – If you do not want the field to appear when mass editing records, uncheck this option
Default Value – You can set a default value for the field using this option. Please note that it is just a default start
value, and the user can override this while editing.
Reactivating fields
You can re-activate the deactivated fields by clicking on the Actions dropdown option on extreme right of the
block name and then selecting the Inactive Fields option.
This would show you all the currently inactive fields and you can select the ones you want to activate.
Layout editor
Rearranging fields/blocks
The Layout Editor page is a drag and drop type editor which makes it really simple to rearrange the fields/blocks.
Just click and hold on the field/block you want to move and it will allow you to drag and place it anywhere you
want.
Once you have reordered the UI, you will see a Save Field Sequence button on the top right of the page.
Click this to save the new page order. Please note that this action is irreversible and any changes you make will
take effect on all the views in vtiger.
Layout editor
Deleting fields
The default fields in vtiger are undeletable, but you can delete the non-required custom fields/blocks if you want.
To delete a custom field, hover over it and select the delete icon.
To delete a custom block, click on the actions dropdown to the right of the block name and select the Delete
Custom Block option. Please note that the custom block must be empty (all fields moved or deleted) before you
can delete it.
Note – the delete actions for field/block are irreversible.
Arrange related tabs

When you go to the detail view of a lead record, you can see the modules related to the lead as shown in the
following image.
Layout editor
These are the modules related to the lead, and you can click on them to see the related records (for example
related emails) for the lead.
You can order this list of the related modules. To do this, click on the Arrange Related Tabs tab in the layout
editor.
You can drag and drop the modules to order them or click on the x icon to hide it from the list. You can also add
the hidden modules back by clicking on the select module to add area. Click the save button once you have
completed the configurations.
Import existing data

In CRM systems, there are various modules like Leads, Contacts, etc for which the data comes from outside
sources. Inserting this data into the CRM manually can be a very tedious task. Vtiger offers an Import action which
lets you upload bulk data into the system from CSV or VCF files.
Note: For this tutorial, we will demonstrate the import from a csv file into the Leads module. The concepts are however similar across
formats and modules.
How to import
Go to the Leads module. Click on the actions dropdown and select the Import action there.
Click on the Choose File button, browse and select the CSV file with the Leads data. Then select the File Type
(CSV in this case), Character Encoding (UTF-8 would suffice in most cases), Delimiter (CSVs can be comma or
semicolon separated) and the Has Header checkbox (based on if your CSV has a header of fields).

There is also a duplicate record handling section on this page. You can use this option to trace out duplicate
records. You can select the following different actions to be performed in case duplicate records are found.
1. Skip – this option means that if a duplicate record is found, it will be skipped altogether and not added to
the CRM.
2. Overwrite – selecting this option means that if a duplicate record is found in the CRM, it will be
overwritten with the data in the csv.
3. Merge – this option works similar to the overwrite option but if a field is blank in the CSV and a value is
present on the CRM side, it will not be altered in the CRM.
Once you have selected the options on this page, click on the Next button. This will take you to a page where you
can map the CSV headers to the fields in the Leads module. If the header names in the CSV match the field labels,
they are automatically selected. For instance, the Salutation header in the CSV matched the Salutation field in
the Leads module and hence was auto selected. On the other hand, the Firstname header in our CSV does not
match the field “First Name” in the CRM (notice the space and spelling difference), and hence we need to
manually map the field. You can also provide a Default Value for fields which will be used in case they do not
have a value in the CSV.

Once you have mapped the fields, hit the Import button. This will start the import process. Once done, it will
show a report of the imported Leads.
Note how the report says one record was merged. This is because we selected the Merge option for handling
duplicate records. On this page, you can select the Last Imported Records button to see the records those were
imported. Click the Finish button to end the import process.
Picklist editor
Picklist fields in vtiger are nothing but dropdown fields. They can be single select dropdowns or multi selects.
Additionally, vtiger allows you to restrict the picklist values by role, making it very flexible.
Creating a custom picklist field

To create a new custom picklist field, you need to go to the layout editor and create a new field. This is described
in detail in our extensive blog post on layout editor at <<LINK_TO_LAYOUT_EDITOR>>
When creating a new field, select the field type as Picklist, and provide a name for the field in the Label Name
section. You also need to provide some (at least one) values for the picklist options.
If you want all of your users to have the same picklist values, leave the Role Based Picklist option unchecked. If
however, you want to have users access to different picklist values based on their roles in the organization, you
need to check this option. We will explain it in detail going forward.
Picklist editor
Getting started
2. Once you have a picklist field in the system, you can perform various operations on it; (for example, adding
new values to it) using the Picklist Editor. To go to the Picklist Editor, click on the gear icon on the top
right corner and click on the CRM Settings option. On the settings page that opens, click on the Studio
drop down on the left and click the Picklist Editor option.
1. In the Picklist editor, click on the select module option, and pick the module for which you want to modify
the picklist. For our post, we would be using the Leads module, but the concepts are same across all
modules.
Picklist editor
3. In the Picklist editor, click on the select module option, and pick the module for which you want to modify
the picklist. For our post, we would be using the Leads module, but the concepts are same across all
modules.
Possible actions
The picklist editor allows you to add new values to the selected picklist field, reorder the picklist values, rename
the existing values, delete any values you do not need, and to assign specific values to specific roles in the CRM
(role based picklist). We will describe each of these actions in detail.
Add value
You can add a new picklist value by clicking on the Add Value button. This opens up a popup where you can enter
the value and then select the role(s) to which to assign the values to.
Picklist editor
Please note that you can select multiple roles to assign. If you want to assign to all the roles, select the All Roles
option. Hit the save button once you have entered the desired value.
Reordering the picklist

You can select the order in which the values of the picklist occur to your user. This is a simple drag and drop
action. Drag the values to achieve your desired order and hit the Save Order button once you are satisfied.
Picklist editor
Rename value
You can rename a value in the picklist by selecting it and then clicking on the Rename Value button. This will
bring up a popup where you can enter the new label.
Hit save once you have made the required changes.
Picklist editor
Assign value
You can use this option to reassign specific picklist values to roles. To do this, select the picklist values you want
to reassign (you can select multiple values by holding the ctrl button while clicking on them), and then click on
the Assign Value button. This will bring up a popup with the picklist values selected, and an option to select the
roles to which to assign these to.
Select the roles which you want to assign to the values and then hit the save button once you are done.
delete value
To delete an existing picklist value, select the value and click on the Delete Value button. Note that you can select
multiple values by holding the ctrl button and clicking on them. Clicking the Delete Value button will bring up a
popup where the selected items will be shown. Before you delete the value(s), you need to provide a replacement
value for it using the Replace it with dropdown.
Picklist editor
Select the appropriate replacement value and then hit the Delete button to replace them.
Note – Delete is an irreversible action.
Picklist editor
Values assigned to a role
You can view all the picklist values assigned to role by clicking on the Values assigned to a role tab. This will show
the role name and the values for it. The assigned values are shown in a grey background to identify things faster.
You can assign any required values (or remove the unnecessary ones) for a role from here and hit the save button.
All in all, picklists in vtiger are a very helpful tool for inputting a predetermined controlled set of values. Vtiger
also comes up with a dependant picklist option which lets you create your picklist values which change
dynamically based on the selection of another picklist. We will be covering it soon in another blog post.

Getting Started With VtigerCRM

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Getting started with Vtiger CRM

ABOUT VGS GLOBAL

Creating custom filters

Creating custom filters

Other than these features, vtiger also provides 3 special conditions –

Creating custom filters

Importing modules and extensions

Enable / disable modules

The different configuration options are -

Here you can perform the following actions –

Understanding views, blocks, and fields in vtiger

Adding a new field

Modifying field properties

Arrange related tabs

Import existing data

Import existing data

Import existing data

Creating a custom picklist field

Reordering the picklist

Hit save once you have made the required changes.

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