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Create Mails from Invoices

You can use this function when you need to send Invoices to Customers by email. Depending on the option you choose, the function will either create a separate Mail for each Invoice (with a PDF version of the Invoice attached), or it will create a separate Mail for each Customer (with more than one PDF Invoice attached). In both cases, Mails will be created as follows:
  • The sender of each Mail will be the current user or, if the current user has no Mailbox, the From System Mailbox specified in the Mail and Conference Settings setting in the Email and Conferences module.

  • The Recipient of each Mail will be chosen as follows:

    1. If the Customer in an Invoice has a record in the Additional Email Recipients setting in the CRM module, the Mail will be sent to the Contact Persons listed with the Form Type "Invoice" in that record.

    2. If the Customer does not have a record in the Additional Email Recipients setting or its record in that setting has no Contact Persons with the Form Type "Invoice", the Mail will be sent to the Email Address of the Contact Person quoted in the Attention field in the Invoice.

    3. If the Contact Person quoted in the Attention field in the Invoice does not have an Email Address or there is no Contact Person in the Attention field, the Mail will be sent to the Email Address specified in the Contact record for the Customer.

    4. If the above points are not satisfied, no Mail will be created for the Customer/Invoice.

  • The Subject and Text of the Mail will be taken from the record in the Mail Texts setting in the Email and Conferences module in which the Form is "Invoices". If the Invoice has a Language and the Mail Text record contains a row for that Language, the Subject and Text will be determined by the fields in that row. Otherwise, they will be determined by the fields in the Mail Text header, as follows:

    1. The Subject in the mail will be composed from the Subject in the Mail Text record (which should have a trailing space), the text "Invoice" or "Credit Note" and the Invoice Number. For example, if the Subject in the Mail Text record is "Please find attached " (with trailing space), the Subject of the Mail will be "Please find attached Invoice XXXX" (where XXXX is the Invoice Number).

    2. The Text of the Mail will be built up as follows:

      1. The initial text will be taken from the Standard Text record quoted in the First Text field in the Mail Text record.

      2. Depending on the Do not put Record Details in Mail Body option in the Mail Text record, the Items in the Invoice will then be listed, followed by the Invoice totals and the Payment Term.

      3. The final text will be taken from the Standard Text record quoted in the Last Text field in the Mail Text record.

    If either Standard Text record is in HTML format, the Mail will be in HTML format as well.

    If there is no suitable record in the Mail Texts setting, the Subject and Text will be taken from the Invoice Mail Settings setting in the Sales Ledger, in the same way as described above, The Subject in this setting should not have a trailing space. If the Invoice Mail Settings setting is empty, the Subject of the Mail will be "Invoice XXXX" or "Credit Note XXXX" (where XXXX is the Invoice Number). The Text of the Mail will be constructed as described in step ii above.

  • A PDF version of the Invoice will be attached to the Mail, accessible through the Document Manager. This requires you to have designed Form Templates to be used by each type of Invoice (i.e. Invoice, Credit Note, Cash Note, Interest Invoice and Project Invoice), and to have assigned those Form Templates to each Invoice Form using the 'Define Form' function. When you design the Form Templates, you may need to use Styles that will embed fonts in PDF files (this will depend on the fonts you use). You may also need to choose a code page and page setup, which you can do in the Form Template Properties. Please refer here for details about designing Form Templates and here for a list of the fields you can include in the Form Templates used by the various Invoice forms.

  • The Invoice record itself will also be connected to the Mail through the Link Manager, and similarly the Mail will be connected to the Invoice. This allows you to open the Mail quickly and easily when reviewing the Invoice, or to open the Invoice from the Mail.

  • The status of the Invoice will change to Printed. So, if you send it by email again or print it, the word "Copy" will be printed diagonally across the page as a watermark (unless you are using the No Test Printout option in the Optional Features setting in the System module).
By default, the Mails created by this function will not be marked as Sent. So, you will have the opportunity to check and edit them. If necessary, however, you can have them marked as Sent immediately and automatically.

To send Mails to Customers using this function, you must be using the External Gateway module, and you must have configured the Email SMTP Server setting. Please refer here for full details about the mailing features in Standard ERP.

Selecting the function brings up the following dialogue box:

Period
Paste Special    Reporting Periods setting, System module
Mails will be created from Invoices whose Transaction Dates fall in the period specified here.

Customer
Paste Special    Customers in Contact register
Range Reporting    Alpha
If you need to create Mails from Invoices issued to a particular Customer, enter their Customer Number here. You can also enter a range of Customer Numbers, separated by a colon (:).

A Mail will only be created from an Invoice if its Customer has an email address (either in the Additional Email Recipients setting in the CRM module, in the Contact record of the Contact Person in the Attention field of the Invoice or in its own Contact record).

Category
Paste Special    Customer Categories setting, Sales Ledger
If you want to create Mails from Invoices issued to Customers belonging to a particular Customer Category, specify that Category here.

Classification
Paste Special    Contact Classifications setting, CRM module (if installed)
Enter a Classification Code in this field if you want to create Mails from Invoices issued to Customers with a certain Classification. If you enter a number of Classifications separated by commas, Mails will only be created from Invoices issued to Customers with all the Classifications listed.

Invoice
Range Reporting    Numeric
To create a Mail from a particular Invoice, enter its Invoice Number here. You can also enter a range of Invoice Numbers separated by a colon (:).

Customer Job Title
Enter a Job Title in this field if you want to create Mails from Invoices issued to Customers with a particular Job Title (specified on the 'Comments' card of each Contact record).

Open Invoices Only
Select this option if you only need to create Mails from Invoices that are partially or wholly unpaid (or uncredited).

Include not OKed Invoices
By default, Mails will only be created from Invoices that have been marked as OK. Select this option if you need to create Mails from Invoices that have not been marked as OK as well.

Send emails automatically
Choose this option if you would like the Mails created by this function to be marked as Sent automatically. If you are using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option in the Mail and Conference Settings setting in the Email and Conferences module, all Mails that are to be sent to external email addresses will be sent to the Email Queue immediately. This might be useful if the function creates many Mails. If you are not using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option, the Mails will be marked as Sent, but they will not be sent to the Email Queue. To do this, open each Mail and select 'Send email' from the Operations menu (Windows/Mac OS X) or Tools menu (iOS/Android).

Consolidate all invoices for a customer in one email
By default, a separate Mail will be created from each Invoice in the selection. If the selection contains more than one Invoice issued to the same Customer, that Customer will receive more than one Mail. If you select this option, the Customer will receive a single Mail, with each Invoice as a separate PDF attachment.

Invoice Type
Use these options to specify the various types of Invoice from which Mails are to be created.
When the specification window is complete, click (Windows/Mac OS X) or tap (iOS/Android) the [Run] button to activate the function. The relevant Mails will be created with Invoices attached, to be placed in your Mailbox (or the From System Mailbox). The Mails will be sent to the Email Queue and from there to the Customers as follows:
  • If you chose the Send emails automatically option above and you are using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option in the Mail and Conference Settings setting, this will be done automatically and no further action is needed.

  • If you chose the Send emails automatically option but you are not using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option, open each Mail in turn and select 'Send email' from the Operations menu (Windows/Mac OS X) or Tools menu (iOS/Android) to send it to the Email Queue.

  • If you did not choose the Send emails automatically option but you are using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option, mark each Mail as Sent and save to send it to the Email Queue.

  • If you did not choose the Send emails automatically option and you are not using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option, open each Mail in turn and select 'Send email' from the Operations or Tools menu to send it to the Email Queue. The Mail will be marked as Sent automatically.
Mails will not be created from any Invoices in the selection that need to pass through an approval process. You can configure approval processes using the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module. You should configure separate Approval Rules records for Cash Notes (Invoices with a "Cash" Payment Term), Credit Notes and all other Invoices. If you do not create a record for Cash Notes, for example, the Approval Rules for Invoices will not be used in its place. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status field on the 'Inv. Address' card of the Invoice window for brief details about the approval process and here for full details.

You can also create a Mail from an individual Invoice. Simply open the Invoice in a record window and choose 'Email' from the Create menu (Windows/Mac OS X) or + menu (iOS/Android).

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