Your company's settings live in a few places, each for a different kind of thing:
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| The company's name, address, phone, email, website, legal name, Business Number, tax registration numbers, first month of the fiscal year, income tax form and company type | Company ▸ Company Information… — see Company Information. |
| How SeroBooks behaves for the whole company (QuickBooks-style preferences) | Edit ▸ Preferences… — see Preferences. |
| Which account each kind of transaction posts to | Company ▸ Accounting Setup — see Accounting Setup. |
| Your locations (branches, shops, warehouses) | The web Back Office — see Locations below. |
| Which location this computer is looking at | The location chip in the top bar — see The location picker. |
| Printed receipt heading, footer and logo | Menu ▸ Admin ▸ Receipt Layout — see Receipt Layout below. |
| Business-wide settings such as time zone, date format and the staff login handle | The web Back Office — see Back Office business settings. |
This article covers locations, the location picker, Receipt Layout and the Back Office business settings. The other pages have articles of their own.
Locations
A location is a place your business operates from: a store, a branch office, a warehouse. Every company has at least one. Locations matter in SeroBooks because:
- every invoice, bill and stock movement belongs to a location;
- stock is counted per location, and moved between them with Transfer Inventory;
- reports, the Dashboard and inventory screens can be filtered by location;
- payment methods are switched on per location (see Payment methods);
- each user works at one or more locations (Works at on the user — see Set Up Users and Roles).
How many locations you can have depends on your plan. See Your subscription and plan.
Adding or editing a location
Locations are added and edited in the web Back Office:
- Open Menu ▸ Admin and click Back Office (in Tools). On Windows the Back Office opens inside SeroBooks, already signed in.
- In the Back Office menu, open Settings ▸ Business Locations.
- Add a location, or edit an existing one. The form asks for the location's name, address (City, Zip Code, State and Country are required), phone numbers, email and website, and the invoice numbering and layouts it uses.
- Save. Back in SeroBooks, use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase so this computer picks up the change.
The location this computer works in
Each computer running SeroBooks has its own location: the location its new sales and purchases post to, and whose payment methods it uses. It is set the first time the computer opens your company (the company's first location) and is then kept, so a sync never silently moves your sales to another branch.
The location picker
The location chip on the right-hand side of the top bar shows which location Inventory, Reports and the Dashboard are looking at.
- One location: the chip simply shows its name. There is nothing to choose.
- Several locations: click the chip to open a list:
- All locations (with the number of locations under it) — every location you are allowed to see, together;
- each location by name (with its code, if it has one).
Hover over the chip for the reminder Which location Inventory, Reports and the Dashboard show. Sales always post to this till's own location.
The list only contains locations your login is allowed to work at. The choice is remembered on this computer.
Receipt Layout
Menu ▸ Admin ▸ Receipt Layout (Headings, footer, barcode, logo) sets what prints at the top and bottom of a printed receipt — the narrow slip from a receipt printer. The same Receipt heading and Footer text are also used by the full-page Classic Trade invoice design (used when your company's invoice design in the Back Office is Classic or Elegant). See The printed invoice (PDF) explained.
The screen heading reads Receipt Layout, with Heading, footer and options for printed receipts underneath.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Layout | Shown only when your company has more than one layout. Each is listed as Layout #N — heading. |
| Receipt heading | The title at the top — for example Tax Invoice. |
| Sub-heading line 1 | A line under the heading — for example your GST number. |
| Sub-heading line 2 | A second line under the heading. |
| Footer text | Printed at the bottom — for example Thank you for your business. |
| Print barcode on receipt | On: a barcode prints on the receipt. The switch opens as the layout was last saved. |
| Select logo (optional) | Pick a JPG or PNG logo file. The chosen file's name then shows in the box. |
Click Save Receipt Layout. A Saving receipt layout... message appears, then the result.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| No invoice layout synced yet. Use 'Sync Database' from the drawer first. | This computer has not received your layouts. Use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase and reopen the screen. |
| No invoice layout found. Run 'Sync Database' first. | Shown on Save in the same situation. |
| Could not open the file browser: … | The logo picker could not open. Try again, or check that SeroBooks may open files on this computer. |
Opening Receipt Layout needs the Receipt Layout permission on your role's Workspace tab.
Back Office business settings
Some company-wide settings are kept in the web Back Office. Open Menu ▸ Admin ▸ Back Office, then choose Settings ▸ Setting in the Back Office menu. The first tab, Details, holds:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Business Name | Your company's name. |
| Start Date | The date the business started using the system. |
| Default profit percent | The margin used to suggest a selling price from a purchase price when adding products. |
| Currency and Currency Symbol Placement | The home currency and whether its symbol goes before or after amounts. |
| Time zone | The time zone dates and "today" are worked out in. |
| Upload Logo | The company logo. |
| Financial year start month | The starting month of your financial year. Company Information has the same setting (First month of the fiscal year). |
| Stock Accounting Method | How stock is costed. |
| Transaction Edit Days | The number of days from a transaction's date during which it can still be edited. |
| Date Format and Time Format | How dates and times are written (12-hour or 24-hour). |
| Staff login handle | The @handle your staff sign in under. Once a login uses it, the box is read-only. See Staff sign-in names. |
Click Update Settings to save. If the staff login handle cannot be used, the rest of the settings are still saved and the message ends The staff login handle was not changed: followed by the reason.
The other tabs on that page hold settings for products, sales, purchases, email, prefixes and more. After changing anything there, use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase in SeroBooks.
Opening this page in the Back Office needs the Business Settings access permission on your role's Web Access tab (the Admin always has it).
Tips
- Keep Company Information complete. It is what customers see on invoices, estimates and statements.
- Name locations the way your staff speak about them — Main Street, Warehouse — because the names appear in the top bar and on reports.
- Check the location chip before reading a report. A report that looks short is often filtered to one location.
Common problems
Reports show less than I expect. The top-bar chip is set to one location. Choose All locations.
A new location does not appear in the top bar. Use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase, and check the location is ticked under Works at on your user.
Sales are going to the wrong location. The top-bar chip does not decide this. Each computer posts to its own location; if a computer was set up at the wrong branch, contact support through Menu ▸ Admin ▸ Live Support.
The receipt still shows the old heading. Check that you clicked Save Receipt Layout, then use Menu ▸ Sync DataBase on the computer that prints.