Prerequisites
Before issuing bonus letters, ensure the following are in place:
You have Admin access on Asanify.
You have run and processed payroll for the relevant month. The run must have a Processed status — draft or in-progress runs cannot be used.
You have a Bonus Letter template set up in Documents with the context type set to Payroll run. See Step 1 below if you haven't created one yet.
Step 1 - Create a Bonus Letter Template (one-time setup)
You need a document template linked to payroll runs before the wizard will work. If you already have one, skip to Step 2.
Navigate to Documents in the left sidebar, then click the Templates tab.
Click + Create new template in the top-right corner.
Enter a Template Name (e.g., Bonus Letter — FY 2025-26) and an optional description.
Under Context Type, select Payroll run — this links the template to processed payroll runs.
Write your letter body in the editor, or upload a Word (.docx) document instead.
Insert placeholders where you want run-specific values to appear. Common placeholders include:
{{salary_bonus}}— the bonus amount from the run{{payroll_run_month}}— the payroll month{{payroll_run_period}}— the full payroll period label{{rating}},{{payout_percent}},{{proration_factor}}— if you need to include derivation fields (these are uploaded in the supplementary data step later)
Click Create to save the template.
Note: For more guidance on creating and managing HR letter templates, see how to create HR letters for your employees.
Step 2 - Open the Generate Letters Wizard
In the left sidebar, click Payroll, then select Run Payroll (or navigate to Past Payruns for a prior month).
Open the processed payroll run for the month you want to issue bonus letters for.
In the top-right corner of the payroll run page, click the ⋮ actions menu.
Select Generate letters from the dropdown.
This opens the Generate letters wizard, automatically bound to that specific payroll run.
Step 3 - Select a Template
In Step 1 of the wizard, click the Choose a template… dropdown.
Select the bonus letter template you created in Step 1.
If no templates appear, click Create a template to set one up (refer to Step 1 above).
Click Continue.
Step 4 - Select the Payroll Component
In Step 2 of the wizard, click the Choose a component… dropdown.
Select the payroll component you want the letter to reference — for example, Bonus.
This determines which component's amount is pulled from the run for each employee.
Click Continue.
Step 5 - Review and Select Employees
Step 3 of the wizard shows all employees included in the payroll run, split into Eligible and Excluded groups.
Eligible employees had a non-zero amount for the selected component in this run.
Excluded employees (e.g., those with a zero component amount, or who joined after the cutoff) cannot receive letters — hover over the status indicator to see the reason.
Use the checkboxes to select which eligible employees should receive a letter. All eligible employees are selected by default.
The summary bar shows counts of Selected, Eligible, and Excluded employees.
Click Continue.
Step 6 - Upload Supplementary Data (Optional)
Step 4 is optional. Skip it if your template only uses standard payroll placeholders (like {{salary_bonus}} or {{payroll_run_month}}).
If your letter template references derivation fields such as {{rating}}, {{payout_percent}}, or {{proration_factor}}, this step lets you supply those values per employee for this run:
Click Download the sheet — a pre-filled CSV is downloaded with the selected employees already listed.
Open the sheet, fill in the values for each employee (e.g., rating, payout percentage), and save.
Upload the completed sheet back using the upload button.
Once uploaded, the registered fields appear as chips. If you need to add these placeholders to your template, click Edit template to open the inline template editor and insert them.
Click Continue (or Skip if you don't need to upload any data).
Step 7 - Preview the Letter
Step 5 shows a rendered preview of the bonus letter for the first selected employee.
Use the Preview for dropdown to switch between employees and verify the letter looks correct for each person.
Click Refresh preview to reload the preview, or Open in a new tab to view the full-size PDF.
Once satisfied, click Continue.
Step 8 - Generate Letters
Step 6 is the final wizard step.
A summary confirms how many letters will be generated.
Click Generate letters to create the document batch. Asanify will queue PDF generation for all selected employees in the background.
A confirmation banner appears showing how many letters were queued.
Click Go to batch to open the batch detail page in Documents → Bulk.
Step 9 - Issue Letters to Employees
Once on the batch detail page, letters must be issued before employees can see them.
Wait for the Completion Status of each letter to update to Generated · not visible. PDF generation runs in the background and may take a few moments. Refresh the page to check the latest status.
Once ready, click Issue selected ({count}) to issue letters for specific employees (use the row checkboxes to select them), or Issue all generated ({count}) to issue all at once.
A confirmation dialog will appear. Review the details, then check the box "I understand issuing is permanent" — issuing cannot be undone.
Click Issue now.
Employees can now view and download their bonus letter from Documents → Individual in their Asanify account.
Additional Information
Can I re-issue a letter?
Issuing letters is a one-way action and cannot be reversed. If you need to issue a corrected letter, generate a new batch from the same payroll run — the older letter will be marked as Superseded.
What if letter generation fails for some employees?
On the batch detail page, failed letters will show a Failed status. Check the failure reason shown for that row. You may retry generation from the batch page, or go back to the wizard to address the root cause (e.g., a missing placeholder value).
Can I issue bonus letters before the payroll is marked as paid?
Yes — you can issue letters even if the run status is Processed, not paid yet. However, a warning will appear in the confirmation dialog noting that amounts may not yet have been disbursed. Employees will see the letter before the money reaches their accounts, so consider this before issuing early.
Where can employees find their bonus letter?
After issuing, employees can navigate to Documents → Individual in their Asanify account and download the letter as a PDF.
Can I generate letters for only some employees in the run?
Yes. In Step 5 (the People step), uncheck any employees you do not want to include. Only the selected employees will receive a letter in this batch.