Printed invoices in BigTime can include as much or as little detail as your clients require. BigTime's Invoice/PDF Editor allows you to adjust both the content and the look/feel of the invoices you generate from the system. Using that editor, you can:
- Adjust the logo/address formats on your invoices.
- Change styles/colors and more to match your firm's corporate look and feel.
- Adjust the payment and/or page footers on your invoice, including details like remittance details, federal/provincial tax numbers, etc.
- Include time/expense details, budget status information, tax rates, and more. Allowing you to add the details based on your client's specific requirements.
This chapter will show you how to adjust the PDF's your BigTime system can produce each time you "print" an invoice. We'll also show you how to control which PDF Styles are active within your system.
Getting to the Invoice/PDF Editor
1. Click on INVOICING...CONFIGURE. This will open your invoicing configuration settings. You’ll find the ability to edit the invoice/pdf formats supported by BigTime under the PDF STYLES tab.
2. Click CREATE NEW. This option will open the PDF Editor where you can begin creating your own Invoice/PDF format.
3. Adjust your invoice using the controls on the editor page. You can click through each section to configure your invoice's header information, look/feel and the summary/details that are included with each PDF.
4. Once you're finished, click SAVE at the bottom of the editor. Your new invoice will now appear in the list of invoice PDF formats on the print button picklist.
Editing Your Invoice/PDF Format
While the invoice editor is fairly easy to navigate, you should be sure to follow the numbered step-by-step on screen.
Editing Your Invoice/PDF Format
This is the printed format "name" that shows up on your print picklist list. A proper name and description makes it easier for your team to know which invoice format to use for which clients.
Logo, Appearance and Headers/Footer
In the second section, you’ll be able to select whether or not your invoice format includes your company logo, your address, etc. You can also decide what fields to show in the invoice header, what text to place in the invoice's footer(s), and appearance changes (like font style and envelope format).
TIP: Supporting Envelope Types in Bigtime
The APPEARANCE tab includes checkboxes to support standard window-envelope types.
By checking off this option, you limit some of the other text/display formats on screen, but the system will guarantee a folded invoice format that shows your customer's address in the envelope window.
Configure Your Invoice Details
This section will include the actual line items and details that will display on your invoice. Each type of information is located in it's own "tab" within this section. Click on the tab for the information you'd like to include/customize and you'll see additional options.
The tab above show, for example, the options for including expense receipts for any pass-through expenses included on your invoice. In addition to this type of information, you can use the tabs to control:
- Invoice Line Item Details are typically included on your invoices, but you can decide whether or not to display them (and whether to display things like rate/quantity, tax rates, notes, etc).
- Time/Expense Details are often included as a second page on invoices in BigTime. You can decide whether time/expense details should be included on your printed invoice, and decide which columns to include and/or subtotal by.
- Fixed-Fee Budget Status details are useful if you are printing invoices for fixed-fee projects - giving your customers a summary of where their budget(s) stand with each invoice you present. Take a look at the advanced options in this section for options to include pass-through expenses, show/hide archived and unbilled tasks and more.
- Receipts for all your pass-through expenses can be added to your invoices as well. Select the number of receipts to print per page (and the format you'd like to use), and those receipts will appear the way your checks do on your bank statement.
Click Save To Create Your PDF Format
Once you're finished, click the Save button at the bottom of the page to create your PDF format and activate it within the Print Invoice picklist list.
Printing an Invoice Using Your Custom Format
Any of the PDF formats you activate will appear in the Print Invoice picklist list on each invoice's detail page. Your users can try out that custom format by opening up a draft and selecting the print option.
Edit/Delete Existing Custom Styles
If you’ve made a custom invoice but you would like to modify the settings, you navigate to INVOICING...CONFIGURE, click into PDF STYLES, and click on the question mark next to your template name, this will reveal the edit button that allows you to adjust the template. You’ll also find the option to delete any template that you’ve created.
Tips, Tricks, and More
Take a look at our further reading to get an idea of other options are available to include on your print templates. We’ll cover showing budget information into detail and also show you styling and footer tricks.