Custom Document Types

In addition to transactions such as invoices and credit notes, you can create documents of other types such as proformas, quotations and sales orders. However custom document types enable you to create additional documents such as Collection Notes, Sales Advice documents or Debit Notes.

The custom document types you define are 1st class citizens in the software and can be entered and utilised in exactly the same way as standard types such as Quotations. Each custom type has automated numbering so the documents you create for custom types have their own unique and incrementing numbers. Each document of a custom type can be entered, edited, printed, emailed, converted and copied in exactly the same way as you would with a standard document type like Estimates or Proformas.

To set-up your own custom document types you will need to open Company Preferences from the File menu. In Company Preferences select the Sales/Purchasing option under Transactions on the left of the window. Click the Add More Document Types link and the Custom Document Types window will open.

You can enter up to 3 different custom document types in the boxes provided. Each document type can be anything you want up to a limit of 15 characters. For example Sales Advice Note, Collection Note etc. Avoid using plurals for the names as it will make more sense when using them in the software. Alongside each custom document type you can specify the number that you want documents of that type to begin numbering from (the first document you create of each type will be 1 higher than the number you enter here).

Please note : Although you can specify any starting number you want, the documents you create for each custom type will follow the same rules as standard types in terms of utilising unique numbers across all documents regardless of type. We therefore recommend you start with a sufficiently high number so that they will have their own, uninterrupted, numbering sequence. For example instead of starting at 1000 for example, consider starting at 1001000 so they don't conflict with the numbering of other document types such as invoices. If you are setting up more than one custom type ensure that you start the second type's numbering significantly higher than the first. For example if using 1001000 for the first type, use 1010000 for the second etc.

When you have defined your custom document type names and their starting numbers click OK and then click one of the Save buttons in Company Preferences to store your settings. Your new document types are ready to be used. If you open the Sales section and click the arrow on the right of the New button you will see your new type(s) added to the menu. Select one and the Invoice Entry window will open with your custom document type shown and the relevant number displayed.