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Creating Invoice Templates

You can customize and save invoice templates to use with your customers. By creating your own invoice templates, you can have several customized invoices for your business.

Note: You can also make customized estimate templates, but be sure to not include the word 'estimate' in the custom layout. When converting an estimate to an invoice, anything on the custom estimate template will be included in the 'new' invoice.

The invoice template section is in the top half of the Invoice Template Detail dialog box. This area shows the 'containers' for customized information and, when a container is selected, its contents. You can format, adjust, and reposition any container and its content.

Brass Jacks Bookkeeper includes some information from various records in the company file. For example, the logo, the company name, and company contact information is from the Company Information dialog box. Other content fields (such as Invoice Number Data) have placeholder information that shows while you develop the template.

The Containers & Contents list in the lower-left area shows the available containers and content fields that you can use in your invoice template. When you select a container, Brass Jacks Bookkeeper activates the Positional and Other tabs on the right. When you select most content fields, Brass Jacks Bookkeeper also activates the Font tab. With date or amount fields, Brass Jacks Bookkeeper activates the Format tab.

Most of the containers have default content fields. These fields may be labels or data fields. The Header 1, Header 2, and Line Item containers are empty. You can add available content fields to them. If you add a content field to one header, it is no longer available to place in the other header. When you add an item to one of these containers, Brass Jacks Bookkeeper usually includes two content fields: a label field and a data field.

After customizing an invoice template, you can preview it.

To add an invoice template:
  1. Choose Company > Manage Invoice Templates.
  2. In the Invoice Templates dialog box, click the Add button.
  3. In the Invoice Template Detail dialog box, type a name for the template in the Template box.
  4. To adjust a container, select it in the Containers & Contents list.
    The contents of that contain become visible in the invoice template section.
  5. For Header 1, Header 2, and Line Item containers, to add items, click the (click to add a xxx field). In the list, select one or more items and click Select. (To not select an item, click Close.)
  6. To move a selected container, on the Positional tab, adjust the X Position and Y Position values.
  7. To hide the container (to not appear in the template), clear the Visible check box.
  8. To change the container's size, change the Width and Height values.
  9. To show or hide borders, click the Other tab, and then select or clear the Border check box. If you select the Border check box, to change the border's color, click the Border Color box or to adjust the border's thickness, change the Border value
  10. If you wish, click the Background Color box and specify a background color for the container.
  11. To adjust the content fields in a container, select the content field within the container.
  12. As with containers, use the options on the Positional tab to move the field, show or hide the field, or change the field's size. Additionally, specify an alignment within the content field's area.
  13. Use the options on the Other tab to show or hide borders around the field and apply a color to the border or background.
  14. To 'format' a content field, click the Font tab and specify a different font, size, or color. Select the Bold or Italic check box to style characters.
  15. If the content field is a date or numeric value field, click the Format tab to specify the format for the data.
    For amount data, specify whether to include cents or not (100 or 100.00) from the Amount Format list, specify a Currency symbol and its position, and indicate how to show negative amounts.
    For dates, specify how to represent the Month, Day, and Year, their order, and their separators.
  16. To view the entire template, click Preview. If necessary, zoom in or out by dragging the Zoom slider. Click Close.
  17. Make any final adjustments and click OK.
  18. To close the Invoice Templates dialog box, click OK.
To preview an invoice template:
  1. In the Invoice Template Detail dialog box, click Preview.
  2. In the Invoice Template Preview dialog box, review the layout.
  3. To adjust the magnification, use the Zoom slider.
  4. If the preview doesn't fit on the screen, drag the scroll bars to see the full layout.
  5. To return to the Invoice Template Detail dialog box, click Close.