If you have a common or standard order – for example, a group of items that are typically purchased together – that is sold to different customers, you can create convenient invoice templates for those orders to minimize data entry and reduce the potential for errors.
Invoice templates save information for a standard or common invoice in an easy-to-apply format. From the Invoice Template screen, you can create or edit templates for any common or standard invoice. Each time you create a new invoice, simply select the template from the Select Template drop-down list in the Customer Invoice screen to add the items in the standard order to the invoice without requiring you to re-enter the details for each order.
To create or edit an invoice template:
1. Select Invoice List from the Sales menu to open the Invoice List screen, and click the Template button to open the Invoice Templates screen.
2. Specify the name of the template in the Template Name field to create a new template or select an existing template to edit from the list available from the Templates button.
The template name should be descriptive, to differentiate it from any other templates you create for easy selection.
3. Use the drop-down list in the Terms field to select the default terms for invoices created from this template.
4. Select the default shipping carrier, if applicable, from the drop-down list in the Ship Via field.
5. Use the Item and Product/Service columns in the table to specify the items included in the standard order.
You can optionally change or add to the description in the Description column.
6. Specify a standard quantity for the template in the Quantity column.
By default, the quantity is 1, unless you previously specified a default quantity in the Set Up Products screen.
7. Verify or change the price in the Unit Price column, and enter any standard discount to be applied in the Discount column.
Discounts can be entered either as a specific amount or as a percentage.
8. Specify the revenue account to credit when the product or service is sold using the drop-down list in the Account column.
9. Click Save to save the template.
Once you save the template, it is added to the list of templates on the Templates button drop-down list and can be applied to an invoice using the Select Template field on the Customer Invoice screen.
To clear the screen to create a new invoice template, click Add.