Introduction
This page gets an invoice to the customer as a PDF, a printed copy or an email, and shows how to check whether it has been paid. There are two screens. The first is the screen headed Invoice. Across its top sit the links Attachments, PDF and, depending on the invoice, Delete, Fine, Mark as synced, Sync and Credit. Below them are a Register payment link (on an unpaid invoice with no booking), the booking and customer links, the invoice's details, its lines, the notes and the totals. At the bottom are Save and next, Save, Document, Unofficial copy and Cancel. The second screen is headed Send invoice and holds the email: Template, To, Reply to, Subject, CC, BCC, Category, Body and Attachments.
If your company uses the new invoice screen (setting Use new invoice screen), the actions sit elsewhere; see Use the new invoice screen. Its Save and next opens the same Send invoice screen.
You would be here because:
- You have just made an invoice by hand and it has to go to the customer today.
- A customer asks for a paper copy of an invoice at the desk.
- You want to see the invoice exactly as the customer will before you issue it.
- The email that went out still showed text such as ${invoiceNumber} instead of a number.
- You are going through the invoices to see which are paid and which are past their due date.
Words these screens use
| The screen says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | The invoice is still being prepared. It has no number yet and nothing has gone out |
| Send | The invoice has been issued. The app uses this word even when no email was sent |
| Template | A ready-made invoice email: subject, text and addresses. The setup screen calls them Invoice Communicator |
| Placeholder | A word in a template between ${ and }, such as ${invoiceName}. The app swaps it for the real value |
| Unofficial copy | A fresh PDF of the invoice for your own use, for example to print |
Every way an invoice reaches the customer
| Route | What happens | Covered here |
|---|---|---|
| Send on the Send invoice screen | You pick a template, check the email and send it with the PDF | Yes |
| Process (don't send) on the same screen | The invoice is issued and gets its PDF, but no email leaves | Yes |
| Create and send invoice on a booking | The booking's own invoice email is used | No, see Invoice a booking |
| Combined invoices the app makes on its own | The app picks the template itself | Only the template choice, under Key details |
| Peppol, the network for sending invoices directly between business systems | No email at all | No, see e-invoicing over Peppol |
| Sending an issued invoice again | The stored PDF goes out again | No, see finding and re-sending a document |
Use this page for an invoice you made by hand, from its draft until it is paid.
How to use
Configuration
The emails come from invoice email templates, which a company administrator sets up once.
- From the main menu open Admin, then Communicator, and click the Invoice tile. The screen headed Invoice Communicator lists the templates with their Automation type, Reply to, CC, BCC, Name and Language.
- Click New, or the edit icon at the end of a row to change a template.
- Fill in the screen headed Invoice communicator. Skim this table once; you will come back to particular rows as they come up:
| Field | Starts as | What it does | What it accepts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation type | Manual | Which invoices it is for: Manual (made by hand), Fine (a traffic fine passed on) or Aggregated Invoice (a combined invoice) | One choice; required |
| Name | Empty | The name you pick from on the Send invoice screen | Text; required |
| Language | Empty | The customer language it is written in. The screen explains the order the app uses | One language, or none |
| Number format | Empty | How amounts are written in the email | One format from the list |
| Reply to | Empty | Where the customer's answer goes | An email address; required |
| CC, BCC | Empty | Extra and hidden copies | Email addresses |
| Subject | Empty | The email's subject line | Text; required |
| Rich Text | Empty | The email text | Formatted text with placeholders |
- Type placeholders into the text exactly as the Variables list beside the form shows them. They are filled from the invoice:
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
| ${invoiceName} | The customer's invoice name |
| ${invoiceNumber} | The invoice number |
| ${dueDate} | The due date |
| ${subtotal}, ${totalDiscountExclVat}, ${totalAmountVat}, ${totalAmountInclVat} | Subtotal, discount without value-added tax (VAT), VAT, and the total including VAT |
| ${branchName}, ${branchIban} | The branch's name and bank account number |
| ${currency}, ${taxLabel} | Your company's currency sign, and your tax label: ABB, or for VAT the email language's own word, such as BTW |
| ${fineLicensePlate}, ${fineOffenceDate}, ${fineFineAmount}, ${finePayableAmount}, ${finePortalURL} | Details of a traffic fine; only on an invoice for a fine |
- Press Save. If something required is missing you see Automation type is empty, Name is empty, Reply to is empty or Subject is empty under the box. A change applies to the next email written from the template, not to emails already sent. The delete icon on a row removes a template.
Make at least one Manual template per customer language you use.
Before you start: the Financials menu, the invoice screens and the template setup are for a company administrator account only. The customer on the invoice needs an email address on their customer record.
Using the invoice screen
From the main menu open Financials and click the Invoices tile, then click the invoice's row. You can also open a customer, go to the Invoices tab and click the row.
- Look at it first. Click Unofficial copy at the bottom to download a PDF of the invoice as it stands, or Document to see it on screen. Document is only there when Invoice aggregation is Individual. A draft has no invoice number yet, so the copy does not show its real one.
- Click Save and next. The app checks the invoice first (see Raise an invoice by hand), then the Send invoice screen opens.
- Choose a Template. The email fields below fill from it. Pick the one whose type and language fit:
| The invoice is | Choose a template of type |
|---|---|
| Made by hand | Manual |
| For a traffic fine | Fine |
| A combined invoice for several bookings | Aggregated Invoice |
Of those, take the one in the customer's language; the list shows all of them. 4. Check the email. To holds the customer's Email. Check Reply to, Subject and Body, and read the text for anything still in ${ }; type over any field. In Attachments, pick the files to send; only picked files go, plus the invoice PDF (see Add your own file to a booking or an invoice). 5. Press Send. The invoice gets its number and PDF, is emailed and set to Send. The screen closes without a message. If To, Reply to, Subject or Body is empty you see Please populate all (required) fields and nothing is issued. Process (don't send) does the same without the email, and without checking those fields. 6. To print or forward the PDF, click PDF at the top of the invoice screen. The issued PDF opens in the browser; print it from there.
Checking whether it is paid. Status only says whether the invoice was issued. On the Invoices list, Payment status (such as Pending, Partially paid or Paid), Open amount and Attention show whether it is paid; each has a filter under its heading. Filter Attention on Overdue to list issued invoices past their Due date with money still open. The classic invoice screen does not show these; the new one does. Every status is explained in See which invoices are paid and open; to chase an overdue invoice, see Send reminders for overdue invoices.
Key details
When placeholders are filled. On the Send invoice screen the app fills the placeholders in the Body the moment you choose the template. It does not fill the Subject, and it does not come back to the text afterwards. Anything it cannot fill stays as typed, including a misspelt placeholder.
Worked example. A hand-made invoice for a replacement key: €250.00, plus 21% VAT of €52.50, makes €302.50. The Manual template's text reads Dear ${invoiceName}, please find invoice ${invoiceNumber} for €${totalAmountInclVat}. The customer is Bakkerij De Vries B.V. The body fills in as Dear Bakkerij De Vries B.V., please find invoice 0 for €302.5. The number is 0 because the invoice is still a draft when the template is chosen; its real number, say 418, is only given when you press Send. The amount lost a zero because the template has no Number format. Correct both in the Body before you press Send, or leave ${invoiceNumber} out of Manual templates: the attached PDF carries the number.
The three PDF buttons.
| Button | What you get |
|---|---|
| The stored PDF of the issued invoice, opened in the browser. If none is stored yet, the app makes it first | |
| Unofficial copy | A new PDF, built from the invoice and customer details as they are now, downloaded |
| Document | The invoice on screen, without a file |
Combined invoices choose their own template. When the app sends a combined invoice by itself, it takes the Aggregated Invoice template in the customer's language. If there is none, it tries your company's language, then the language of the person logged in, then a template with no language. There, unlike on the Send invoice screen, the subject is filled too.
What to do next: when the payment arrives, see Record a payment a customer has made; on an invoice with no booking, Register payment opens the payment form with the open amount filled in. If the customer says nothing came, work through when email does not arrive first.
Q&A
Why does an invoice the customer has paid still show Pending or Partially paid? The money was registered on the booking or the customer but has not been matched to this invoice yet, or it was registered for a different amount. Check the payment and match it to the invoice as described in Match payments to invoices.
Why does the customer's email say invoice 0? The template used ${invoiceNumber}, and the invoice had no number yet when you chose the template. See the worked example under Key details. The PDF attached to the email has the right number; tell the customer to go by that.
Why does the subject line say ${invoiceNumber} instead of the number? The Send invoice screen only fills placeholders in the Body. Type the subject by hand before pressing Send.
Why are ${fineLicensePlate} and the other fine placeholders still in the email? They are only filled on an invoice for a traffic fine. You chose a Fine template for an ordinary invoice; choose a Manual template instead. ${finePortalURL} also stays when the fine has no portal link.
Why did the invoice go to the customer's general email and not their invoice email? To is always filled with the customer's Email, even when a business customer has a separate Invoice email. Type the right address in To before pressing Send.
Why is there no Send button any more? The invoice is already issued: its status is Send. To email it again, see finding and re-sending a document.
Why does the PDF button show something different from what the customer received? Unofficial copy builds a new PDF from today's customer details. On an invoice made by hand, that newest copy is also what PDF opens from then on. The customer's copy is the one attached to their email.
Why did a combined invoice go out with no email? No Aggregated Invoice template matched. The invoice and its PDF were still made. Add a template of that type, with no language or in the customer's language, under Admin, Communicator, Invoice.
Why does an amount in the email read 302.5 instead of 302.50? The template has no Number format. Choose one on the template and press Save.
I pressed Send and nothing seemed to happen. Did it go? Open the invoice again: if Invoice status reads Send, it was issued. If the customer still has nothing, see when email does not arrive.
Related pages:
- Raise an invoice by hand, for making the invoice before you send it.
- Check and set invoice numbers and due dates, for where the number and due date come from.
- Take back an invoice with a credit note, when an issued invoice is wrong.
- Document language, for which language the PDF itself is written in.
- See which invoices are paid and open, for every payment status and attention flag.
- Send reminders for overdue invoices, when an invoice stays unpaid after its due date.