Have you ever logged into a new platform and thought, ‘where do I start?’ I have experienced that many times and, over the years, have found that taking some time in the beginning to get comfortable with the tool helps to learn how to use it to the fullest.

PandaDoc wants to make things easy for you, and the Dashboard on the Home page provides everything you need to know about your documents. To make things easy, we have a great, short video available in our PandaDoc 101 series: PandaDoc 101: Navigation & Settings. You’ll learn plenty more in the short seven-minute video, but I’ll provide a preview. Expect to learn how to:

• Filter documents in the dashboard
• Track documents that each team member has sent
• Add contacts 
• Navigate between different areas of the dashboard and the function of each area

Now let’s look at some of the essential capabilities to get you started!

Creating a Document

Need to send a document out quickly? Perhaps you have a last-minute meeting and need to draft a contract for a customer to close a high-profile deal. Luckily, you can create a document directly from the dashboard by selecting the drop-down in the upper right-hand side of the screen (below).

There are a few ways you can create a document in PandaDoc. You can choose to start with a blank document or upload a file into PandaDoc.

If you want to create a document from scratch, then start with a blank document (first option in the dropdown):

When uploading a document (second option in the dropdown), you can either drag the file right to the upload section or search for the file on your computer. If you choose to upload a document, make sure it is a PDF, Word, PowerPoint, JPG, or PNG file.

If you have templates in your account, as I do in this example, you can use one to create a document.

Finding Stored Documents

If you need to locate an uploaded document or a document started from scratch, just go to the Documents Tab on the left navigation panel or go to your Dashboard and use the available filters to locate the document.

Once in the Documents Tab, you may filter by date, status, document owner, or recipient:

On the Dashboard, you can filter by newest or oldest documents.

Recap & What’s Next

For more information regarding the Dashboard, check out this article on the Help Center.

Don’t forget – we have a great video available for you where you will learn everything about navigating the Dashboard. Also, we have a great video that will help you learn more about the Home page and how to view Document and Workspace activity. 

Next week, we will highlight a recent podcast from our Customer Engagement Lab that talks about navigating the current economic environment. But between now and then, we want to hear from you!  

What feature do you use to help create your documents quickly?

Join in the conversation below!