How Do I Customize My Invoice Forms?

An important aspect of your business is how you present yourself to your customers.  This is handled - in large part - by the invoices and quotes your provide them.  Customizing your forms in ESC will give them that extra personal touch that consumers love to see.

You can access all Invoicing forms (including Quotes and Credit Memos) by going to File → Print Options → Forms → Invoice Forms: Customize.

This screen is also available if you click on the Form link at the top of the Invoicing, Quotes or Credit Memo screens.

In the Invoice Forms screen, you'll have a full list of all available forms.  The top-most Normal type invoice form will be the default form for all new invoices.  The top-most Quote type form will be the default form for all new quotes.  The same goes for your Credit Memo type forms as well.

Customizing the Forms

In the Invoice Forms screen, you may highlight any form in the list and then click the Design button to access the Layout Designer for that form.  The Layout Designer will allow you to add or remove fields, logos and labels, as well as rearrange the layout of the information.  See our guide on the Layout Designer for more information.

You can also customize the way your forms print by heading to the Invoice Forms screen and clicking on the Properties button.  

• The Invoice Type determines how this form behaves and in which screens it will appear.  
• Terms and conditions or additional information for your customers can be entered into the Memo field, which will then print in the body of the form, between the last line item and the total.  
• If you want your final amount to be labelled something other than "Total", you can enter that label in the Text for displaying Total on the invoice field.
• If you no longer want this form in use, you'll click the Invoice form is inactive box.
• ESC also allows you to print Packing Lists to include with shipped items.  If you set a form as a packing list, then you can have it printed each time an invoice is printed.

Invoice Types

The invoice type determines which sales screen the form will appear on and may control the way ESC works when the form is chosen. The following is a list of invoice types and how they affect the system:

• Normal - This is a normal invoice. These types of forms only appear on the Sales Invoicing screen. The total amount of the invoice must be equal to or greater than zero to use this form.
• POS –This is a point-of-sale invoice. These types of forms only appear on the Sales Invoicing screen. When used on the Sales Invoicing screen the Cash customer will automatically be assigned to the invoice to speed up entry. If Cash customer is used the invoice must be paid in full using the Tender button before saving.
• Quote – This form type only appears on the Quote screen. It does not affect sales reports or your financial statements in anyway. 
• Credit Memo – This form type only appears on the Credit Memo screen. When using this form type the total amount of the credit memo must be less than zero.
• Credit POS – This form type is the same as the credit memo except it is used to credit a point-of-sale invoice.
• No Charge – These form types only appear on the Sales Invoicing screen. After it has been applied to an invoice all parts and billing codes added to the invoice will automatically have a zero price. Invoices using this form type will be categorized as a no charge invoice on the Sales Summary Report, allowing you to track the cost of no charge invoices separately.
• Call Back – Similar to the No Charge type, Call Backs appear on the Sales Invoicing screen. They will also change the price of all parts and billing codes added to the invoice to zero. They will appear on the Sales Summary Report in their own category.
• Inter-Company Billing – This type is identical to the Normal type, except that the invoice is categorized as an Iinter-Company Billing invoice on the Sales Summary Report.

Importing and Exporting Forms

Invoice forms can be exported from your database or import into your database from other sources.  Perhaps you have more than one database and you want to use the same invoice form in both.  Sure, you could go through the work of customizing it twice, but let's save you some time.  

Simply highlight the form you want to export and then click the Export button on the toolbar of the Invoice Forms screen.  This will save the file to your local computer with an .ITP extension (make sure you save it to a directory you are familiar with so it is easier to find).  This form can now be shared or moved to another database.  

There are two ways that you can import a form into ESC from your computer.  The first is to create a new invoice form in ESC and use the template you exported.  Another is to import it to an existing form, thus overwriting that form permanently.  

1. If you want to import the template to a new form, you'll head to the Invoice Forms screen, File → Print Options → Forms → Invoice Forms: Customize.
2. Click the Add New button.
3. Give your new Form a name.
4. Select the Type of form this will be.
5. Select the Import form from an existing template option (2nd option).
6. Click OK.
7. A Windows Explorer box will appear, asking you to select the template you wish to import.  Find and select your template, then click the OK button.  
8. Your new form will be created and will open for you in the Layout Designer screen to review.  If you are satisfied with the form as it appears, click the Save and Close button.  

Creating New Forms

You may be more comfortable creating a new form to customize, rather than working on the one that is still in use for your daily invoices.  You can do that from the Invoice Forms screen by clicking on the Add New button.  

You'll have the option to create the new form from an existing one, which will simply duplicate the form you select.  You can also import a template that was previously exported from an ESC database.  And finally, you can create a blank form.  

If you want this new form to be your default, highlight the form in the Invoice Forms list and click the Up arrow until it is the first form in the list.