How to create an invoice?

To create a new invoice go to Sales ➝ Invoices ➝ Create Invoice ➝ fill fields ➝ click “Preview” or “Activate and Send”:

You can also find the ‘Create new Invoice’ feature in the Quick Toolbox:

View or edit an invoice

You can view an invoice by clicking on its name on the grid (Sales ➝ Invoices).
This will show you how the invoice will be seen by your clients and how it will look if printed.

To edit an invoice click on the pencil icon on the invoice preview or open the ‘Edit’ link from the row end menu on the grid.

All invoices apart from those marked as ‘paid’ or ‘void’ or ‘canceled’ can be edited.

Invoice data – description

When you open an invoice page – you will see the following data and customization:
– Invoice title – this can just be an internal note on the invoice and will only be displayed on the invoice grid.

Or, it can be used as text under the invoice name on invoice preview.
To include it in the invoice preview go to Settings ➝ Preferences ➝ Invoices & Estimates ➝ check the checkbox “Show invoice/estimate title in preview” (more here).

– Client contact – here you can choose contacts of your client who will receive this invoice. If you will not choose anyone – only the primary contact will receive the invoice.

– Client address – you can change the billing address of your client by overwriting it.

Note: If on the client page -> address the checkbox ‘same as billing address’ is checked

 then for the Delivery Note and Packing Slip  we print the client’s address as on the Invoice preview:

– Payment terms – this is the term allowed for paying the invoice. After this period the invoice becomes overdue.

Note: You can change the Payment Terms by adding the new one as described in this video:

– More options:
language – this is the language of the invoice
currency – the currency the invoice amount will be displayed in

– Invoice items – this is the body of the invoice. You can choose tasks and items that need to be paid.

– Payment options – you can choose available online payment methods. To activate go to, Settings ➝ Payment Integration.
– Notes:
‘internal note’ – these will on be visible on the update estimate page.
‘client note’, ‘terms and conditions’ – these will be displayed on the estimate preview.

Create products through invoice

When you create an invoice you can choose its items from an existing product list or create new products.

You can also create a temporary product (related only to this invoice) or new point on the product list.

To create a temporary item – enter its data manually to the related fields

If you would like to save this item to the existing products list – open the row end menu and click ‘Save Product’.

I want to re-use an invoice for a new client. Can I duplicate/copy invoices?

Yes. You don’t need to manually duplicate your existing invoice.
Simply choose the required invoice and click ‘Clone Invoice’ on the row end menu.

How to find an invoice?

You can quickly find required invoices by using filters.

Available filters:

• Client Name
• (Client) Country
• Project
• Invoice Number (Inv#)
• Invoice Title
• (Invoice) Date Range (Start – End)
• Due Date Range (Start – End
• (Invoice) Amount Range (min-max)
• Status
• Currency

Bulk Actions

You can use bulk actions for invoices by marking the check-boxes on the grid

Available bulk actions:

• archive – archive invoices
• delete – delete invoices
• send to a client – send invoices to the related clients
• print
• create PDF
• add a payment – record a payment for this invoice

Line End Menu

The Line End menu includes actions for invoices:

• edit – open and edit a page
• view invoice – open an invoice preview
• create PDF
• print an invoice
• send to a client – send to the client and chosen contacts by email
• clone invoice – create a new invoice with the same data
• make recurring – create the recurring profile based on this invoice data
• activate and send
• mark as activated – change status to ‘activated’ without actually sending
• mark as void – change status to ‘void’
• send a reminder – send a payment reminder
• add a payment – record payment of the invoice
• print a delivery note
• print a packing slip
• archive – move to ‘archived’ tab
• delete – move to ‘deleted’ tab

Multi-currency invoicing

You can convert invoices into any currency. As a default, the initial currency of your invoice will be the currency of your client (Client  -> Client Details -> Default Settings)
To change the currency click on, create/edit invoice page click on ‘Show More Options’ ➝ choose the currency from the currency dropdown or create new.

Invoice in a foreign language

You can issue invoices in different languages. Currently, zistemo supports next languages – English, German, French, Italy, Czech, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian. As a default, the initial language of your invoice will be the same as the language of your client. However, you can change it on create/update invoice page by opening ‘Show More Options’ ➝ choose a language from language drop-down.

It is possible to automatically change the language of an invoice only for zistemo default Invoice Templates. Otherwise, in case you are using one of your manual templates, you will see the following message:

To change the language automatically, you should choose one of the zistemo templates on invoice preview, save it and then change the language on the invoice:

Note: zistemo templates are: Classic Template, Clean Template, Dubai Template, London Template, Paris Template, Sofia Template.
Or, you can create a manually template in your language (Settings -> Stationery Templates, more here) and use it for your invoices.

So, the user can also change the language on the invoice page (or other documents):

if:  the default template is a zistemo Template:

or one of those templates (zistemo Shared Templates) is selected for the client as a Default Template:

In other cases, when the customized template (your own created template) is a default template for the company or the customized template is selected as the default template for the client then we show the language on the invoice page as ‘Customized’ :

It means which language the user uses for the customized template then this language we will show on the invoice (other documents) preview.

Invoice disputing and commenting

Before paying an invoice your clients are able to dispute it.

To dispute an invoice they will need to open the invoice preview (by clicking on invoice name on the grid) ➝ click ‘Message History’ ➝ insert their comments and click ‘Send’.

Then the status of your invoice will change to ‘disputed’.
The account owner and staff members can respond to the client’s dispute in the same way.

You can also make comments on an invoice in the invoice history, at the bottom of the invoice preview page. Click on ‘+ Add Comment’ link ➝ inserting a comment and clicking ‘Add Comment’

These comments will be visible to all users of your account (owner, staff, clients, tax consultant)

Invoice Payment

Invoices can be marked as ‘paid’ in two ways:

• record payment by an account owner or a team leader;
• online payment by clients.

To record a payment go to Invoices ➝ choose invoices (mark check-boxes) ➝ click ‘Add a Payment’

…Or open the invoice preview (click on the invoice number on the grid) ➝ click ‘Record Payment’.

To make an online payment from the client’s side (from the client’s profile), go to the invoice preview and click ‘Pay Now’.

Then follow the payment process to complete the payment.

The difference between deleted and archived invoices

You can delete or archive invoices.
Archived invoices – you can no longer take any actions with these invoices and your client will not see them in their profile. However, this invoice data will be still be included in your reports.

Deleted invoices – you can no longer take any actions with these invoices and your clients will not see deleted invoices. Data from these invoices will not be included in your reports.

You can reactivate archived or deleted invoices at any time.

Invoice statuses

Invoices can have any of the following 7 statuses:
1. Draft. This status appears if you click “Preview” after you created an invoice:

2. Activated. A status which appears when you click “Activate and Send” after invoice creation:

OR if you send to your client the “draft” invoice or you mark it as “activated” yourself:

3. Viewed – if the client has opened (viewed) your invoice
4. Disputed – if the client has replied (commented) on the invoice (more details here)
5. Overdue- the invoice due date has expired and the invoice still hasn’t been paid
6. Partial – the invoice is partially paid
7. Paid – the invoice is fully paid

8. Void – if the invoice is marked as void or if it is canceled, this invoice is no longer valid.

9. Canceled – an invoice with negative amount created automatically if the user cancels an invoice (more details here).

You’ll no longer have to wonder whether your clients have received your invoices or to call them in order to make sure they’ve seen the e-mail.

In the ‘Invoice History’, you can now see clearly if your customer saw your e-mail. This is very helpful in dealing with late-paying clients or clients who keep on inventing excuses to delay payments.

On the other hand, it improves the relationship with prompt-paying clients who might not have noticed the e-mail by accident. Once you notice they didn‘t open your e-mail, you assume something interfered and you can contact them to double check.

Note: Even if the client didn’t open the attached PDF, the e-mail will still be checked as viewed. Also, if the client will open and review the invoice through his account, this action will be shown in the invoice history.

How to know if a client didn’t receive an email

zistemo also has a link ‘Details’ in the Invoice/Estimate history. It is displayed next to any sent email info in the History (sent invoice, sent estimate, sent a reminder).

Click this link and you will see the status of the e-mail – if it’s sent or not and a short explanation (featured in the “Reason” column).

If you opt for a date, all you have to do is choose it from the date picker as it’s shown below:

If you’re looking to have a free text, then type it in the “Delivery text” field as shown below:
E.g: Performance Period: January – March 2016
Dispatch Date: 12 & 20 Feb 16

How it looks on invoice preview:

Automatic Reminders

To customize auto-reminders, go to Settings -> Reminders.  Here you can see 3 types of reminders:

By default, these reminders are customized for 3 days, 14 days and 30 days after invoice due dates. They are switched off by default, so in order to switch them on, simply click on the related button:

To change the number of days (when a reminder should be sent) as well as the text of the accompanying email, click on the edit (pencil) button and change the email content as you wish.

In the print screen above, for instance, this reminder will be sent to clients automatically if related invoices are 3 days overdue (on the third day after the due date).

Even if you don’t set automatic reminders to be sent out to your clients, zistemo will always send you an email reminder about the late payments.

The Automatic Reminders will always come (as sender) from the account owner. All reminders will be sent to the client’s primary contact, plus all contacts as CC you added on the invoice.

Manual Reminders

You can send payment reminder manually for any invoices (except invoices with status “Draft” and “Paid”).

To do so, go to invoices list -> click on the drop-down menu at the end of the row of needed invoice -> click “Send Reminder”

Then email preview will open. Here you can change the text or “load an other text template” of the reminder and click ‘Send’ to send it to your client.

The “reminder text templates” you can edit in “text templates:

More infos you can find also HERE

By clicking on the text template you can edit the different languages by opening them via dropdown:

The Manual Reminder will send from the current user or the account owner. Depends which (send/from) Email you choose.

Payment reminder notification to the account owner

If all your automatic reminders are switched off, then you (as account owner) will receive a notification about overdue invoices by email.

Note: you will receive the email notifications on the days when reminders should be sent to clients (if these reminders are switched on):

If a reminder was sent (either automatic or manual reminder), then this information will be shown on the invoice grid:

Here you will see which type of reminder was sent the last time (reminder 1 or 2 or 3).
Also, you can review the reminders history on the Send Reminder page

or on the Invoice Preview page:

This invoice is only visible from account owners profile and staff members’ profiles (administrators, team leaders, team members). It isn’t displayed in the “Invoices list” from Client’s profile.

In order to inform a client about this invoice, the zistemo account owner (or other team members) can send the Pro-Forma Invoice to your client by email by simply clicking on “Send to client”:

If the client accepts the invoice, the zistemo account owner (or other team members) can instantly activate this invoice by clicking on the “Activate and send” button:

Next, you’ll notice that the Activated invoice will be visible from the Client’s profile.

To get invoices through your zistemo account, your suppliers should also have their own zistemo accounts or you can invite them yourself.

First, you have to go to “Sales” -> “Invoices” -> “Received Invoices” -> click the “Invite others” link or the “Invite others” green button as shown below:

Now insert supplier’s email address and even personalize the invitation message if you wish so. Click “Send”:

Next, your supplier should accept invitation through the email. Once this is step is completed, each invoice created and sent by this supplier will be displayed in your “Received Invoices” tab.

By the way, zistemo will also send you a monthly subscription invoice if you decide to choose a paid plan.

The “Received Invoices” displays a list of your received invoices. You can review each of them by clicking its link, as well as create an expense based on every invoice.

Note: If you are using only Attendance Time module, you can find Received Invoices under your user’s profile menu: