Customizing estimate, invoice and receipt templates

In this article, you'll learn how to change the look of the estimates, invoices, work orders and payment receipts your customers get. Every account starts with a standard version of each, and you can redesign them so they look like your business.

The four standard templates are Invoice, Estimate, Work Order and Payment Receipt. Customers see the Estimate template on their estimate page and in its PDF. The Invoice template works the same way for invoices, and the Payment Receipt template makes receipts. When you send a document from a job, the Work Order template is picked first.

To open your document templates:

1. 1.At the bottom of the menu, click the Settings gear.
2. 2.Under General, click Documents.
3. 3.The Document templates page lists every template with its Type, whether it needs a Signature, and when it was last Updated. Click the name of the template you want to change, or click the pencil on its row.

The designer opens with your document on the left and three tabs on the right: Design, Tools and Layout. Along the top are Back, Preview, Save, Settings and Duplicate.

Start from a ready-made design

The quickest way to change the whole look is to pick a design.

1. 1.Click the Design tab.
2. 2.Click the design you want: Basic, Green Estimate, Impact, Minimal, Green services, Blue or Work Order. Basic and Minimal each show up twice: one is laid out for invoices and the other for estimates.
3. 3.You'll be asked whether you want to override your existing template settings. To swap the page for that design, click Yes. To keep what you have, click Cancel.

How the page is built

The page is made of rows, and each row is split into one, two or three cells. Each cell holds one thing: a block of text, the items list, a table, your logo, an image, a divider or a signature box.

When you move your mouse over a cell, a yellow outline shows up around it. On a filled cell:

• •The trash can at the top right empties the cell.
• •The brush at the bottom right changes how it looks (more on that below).

Hover in the margin beside a row to see the row's own trash can and a move handle. The trash can deletes the whole row. Drag the handle to move the row somewhere else.

An empty cell says Drag Something Here. A brand new custom document has no rows at all and says Empty template, start by dragging some layouts.

Add a new row

1. 1.Click the Layout tab.
2. 2.Drag the layout you want onto the page. You can pick one cell, two cells, three cells, or a wide cell next to a narrow one.
3. 3.To put the new row above an existing row, drop it on that row. A yellow Drop here bar shows where it will land. To add it at the end, drop it below the last row.

Fill an empty cell

1. 1.Click the Tools tab.
2. 2.Drag a tool onto an empty cell. The cell changes to Drop Here when you're over it.
3. 3.Let go. The tools are TEXT, ITEMS LIST, TABLE, LOGO, DIVIDER, IMAGE and SIGNATURE.

Tools only drop into empty cells. To replace what's in a cell, empty it with its trash can first.

The LOGO tool shows your company logo. If you haven't added one yet, the cell says so. You can add your logo under Settings then Account. With the IMAGE tool, click Choose Image in the cell and pick a picture from your computer. It shows right away. To swap the picture later, click it.

Insert values (the words in curly brackets)

Some of the text in your template looks like {{client.fullName}} or {{job.total}}. These are insert values. They're placeholders, and when the CRM makes the document it fills them in with the real customer, job and money details. Your customers never see the brackets.

To add one:

1. 1.Click inside a text block where you want it.
2. 2.In the toolbar, click Insert values.
3. 3.Pick a group, like Client values, Job/invoice values, Account values, Estimate values, Invoice values, Payment values or Document values, then pick the value you want. If you've set up custom fields, they're under Job custom values and Client custom values.

For the full list, see Understanding and using insert values in documents and messages.

Edit text

Click into any text block, table or signature caption and a toolbar shows up above it. From there you can:

• •add a table, and undo or redo
• •make text bold or italic
• •change the font size, Line Height and font
• •align text left, center or right
• •underline text or clear its formatting
• •change the text and background color
• •open the source code if you're comfortable editing HTML

Insert Markdown opens a small editor with Normal, Heading 1 to Heading 3 and Quote styles, plus undo, redo, bold, italic, bullet lists, numbered lists and a link button. Write what you want, then click Insert to put it into your text block.

Change a cell's color or the items list style

1. 1.Hover over the cell and click the brush at the bottom right.
2. 2.On a text, logo or image cell, click a color circle to set the cell's background. White clears it.
3. 3.On the items list, pick Minimal, Stripes, With borders or Dark Titles.

Preview and save

1. 1.Click Preview to see the document filled in with sample details.
2. 2.Close the preview with the ×.
3. 3.Click Save. You'll see Saved next to the buttons.

Related articles

• •Duplicating document templates
• •How to create a custom document from scratch
• •Editing the messages sent with estimates and invoices
• •Understanding and using insert values in documents and messages
• •Resizing your company logo on documents