Templates decide how each kind of form looks when you print or email it from File ▸ Print Forms and Send Forms: the title, the colour and style, the font, which company details and header fields print, which columns the lines show and what they are called, and what goes in the footer. Each kind of form can have several templates, one of them the default.
Opening Templates
Lists ▸ Templates. It opens over the Home Page, and Esc takes you back to the Home Page. It needs permission for the Invoices list.
Templates… in Print Forms opens it too, on top of Print Forms; Esc then goes back to Print Forms.
The window has the list of templates on the left and a live preview on the right. The preview uses your most recent real document of that kind, or a marked sample (PREVIEW — SAMPLE … (NONE RECORDED YET)) if you have none.
The template list
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Show | All templates, or one kind: Invoice, Sales Receipt, Credit Memo, Estimate, Sales Order, Purchase Order. |
| Include inactive | Also list inactive templates, marked (inactive). |
| Columns | NAME, TYPE and DEFAULT (a tick on the default for its kind). |
Click a template to preview it; double-click to edit it.
Every company starts with standard templates: Product Invoice (the default invoice), Service Invoice, Professional Invoice, and one each for Sales Receipt, Credit Memo, Estimate, Sales Order, Purchase Order and Statement.
Buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Statement… | Edits the customer statement's layout: Title printed on the statement, Colour, Font, which company details print, and a Message at the foot. Choose Save. |
| New… | New Template: choose the Type and a Template name, then Create. The editor opens. |
| Edit | Opens the selected template in the editor. |
| Duplicate | Copies the selected template, so you can change the copy. |
| Make Default | Makes the selected template the one Print Forms and Send Forms start with for its kind. |
| Make Inactive / Make Active | Hides or restores a template. The default cannot be made inactive: make another the default first. |
| Delete | Deletes a template you made. Standard templates cannot be deleted (make them inactive instead), and neither can the default. Forms already printed or sent are not affected. |
Only an administrator can change templates; everyone else sees Only an administrator can change templates. and the buttons are greyed.
Customize a template, step by step
- Select the template and choose Edit (the editor is headed Customize … Template).
- Change the Template name and the Title printed on the form (for example "Tax Invoice").
- Under Look, choose the Style (Colour band or Lined), a Colour and a Font (PT Sans (standard), Product Sans, Helvetica, Times or Courier). On invoices and sales receipts, Stamp PAID or PARTIALLY PAID on the form adds the payment stamp.
- Under Company, tick what prints: Logo, Company name, Address, Phone, Email, Website, Tax / business number. The details come from Company Information; the logo from the business settings.
- Under Header, tick the fields to PRINT and type the TITLE each prints under. The fields depend on the form: Date, Number, Bill to / name and address, Ship to, Terms, Due date, Sales rep, Ship via, Payment method, Invoice it was raised against (credit memos), Expected / ship date, and Custom fields (Lists › Custom Fields).
- Under Columns, tick and title the line columns: Item, Description, Quantity, Unit of measure, Rate, Tax code and Amount (Amount always prints).
- Under Footer, tick what prints: Note on the form, Subtotal, Tax, rate by rate, Total (with its Total title), Payments and credits or Amount refunded (with a title), Balance due (with a title), Acceptance signature line (Signature line on a purchase order), and type any Long text (disclaimer, terms, bank details).
- Watch the preview update, then choose Save. Cancel asks Discard your changes? if you changed anything; Esc does the same.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Enter a name for the template. | Type a name. |
| There is already a template called "…". | Use another name. |
| This is the default … template. Make another one the default first. | Choose another template and Make Default, then try again. |
| Standard templates cannot be deleted. Make it inactive to hide it. | Use Make Inactive. |