Set up project invoices to send via email

Set up your invoice layout in Report Designer

Open: Tools > Run Sage Report Designer.

1. Select your project invoice layout: File Explorer > Layouts.

2. From the Properties Pane, select Email options and click .

3. Enter your email options:

   

   1. From the: Email message should contain drop-down list, choose the group that matches the header section of the invoice layout.

      For the INVInvoice (Single) layout, select the group that contains INVInvoiceCredits.INVInvoiceCreditID.

      

   2. Click To.... and add the required recipients. To send your project invoices to the preferred contact for each customer, add the SL Customer Accounts > ContactEmailAddress expression.

      See how to add this expression

      1. In the Expressions section, click Add.

         

      2. Drag the following from the Fields pane to the Expression Editor section:

         SL Customer Accounts > ContactEmailAddress.

      3. Click OK.

      Copy

      SLCustomerAccounts.ContactEmailAddress

   3. If required, click CC... to enter the recipients for a copy of the email.

      These can be entered as text or as an expression.

   4. Enter a Subject for the email.

      This can be entered as text or you can use an expression to include information such as your company name and the invoice number.

      See how to add this expression

      1. Click Subject.

         

      2. Drag the following from the Fields Pane:

         SYSCompanies > CompanyName.

      3. In the Expression Editor, enter + "Invoice No:" +

         Note: To add more than one expression use + or and. If you want to include text with an expression use "quotation marks" around the text.

      4. Drag the following from the Fields pane:

         INVInvoiceCredits > DocumentNo.

         The completed expression should be as follows:

         SYSCompanies.CompanyName + " Invoice No: " + INVInvoiceCredits.DocumentNo.

      5. Click OK.

      Alternatively, you can copy and paste the following expression:

      Copy

      SYSCompanies.CompanyName + " Invoice No: " + SOPInvoiceCredits.DocumentNo

   5. Choose whether to send the invoices as plain text or as an attachment.

      See how to send as plain text

      If you want to send the report as plain text, you may have to amend the layout to make it suitable for an email message, as the layout is designed for printed output.

      Note: Some layouts contain text that is designed to be read by a 3rd party document management add on available for Sage 200. This text is not designed to be printed but will appear when the document is sent as plain text. You may want remove this if you are sending your emails as plain text.

      See an example

      For the INV Invoice layout, this text is entered under the postal address:

      

      See how to send as an attachment

      1. Enter the required message text.
      2. Choose the file type that you want to send from the Attachment Format drop-down list.

      3. Enter a Filename for the attachment.

         You can use an expression for this if you want the filename to include information such as your company name and the invoice number.

         See how to add this expression

         1. Click Filename.

            

         2. Drag the following from the Fields Pane:

            SYSCompanies > CompanyName.

         3. In the Expression Editor, enter + "Invoice No:" +

         4. Drag the following from the Fields pane:

            INVInvoiceCredits > DocumentNo.

            The completed expression should be as follows:

            SYSCompanies.CompanyName + " Invoice No: " + INVInvoiceCredits.DocumentNo.

         5. Click OK.

         Alternatively, you can copy and paste the following expression:

         Copy

         SYSCompanies.CompanyName + " Invoice No: " + SOPInvoiceCredits.DocumentNo

   6. Choose whether to send the invoices via email straight away or to your outbox for checking before sending to email recipients.

   7. Choose your email account provider.

      Microsoft Outlook	Select this if you are using Microsoft Outlook
      MAPI	Select this if your email application uses a MAPI (Outlook / Exchange) mail server.

4. To save the new invoice layout, select File > Save As.

   When you change a default layout, letter or report, you must save the new layout, letter or report in the custom or company folder.

Set up your customer accounts and document layouts

1. Choose to use the new project invoice layout.

   See how to select the project invoice layout

   Open: Tools > Choose Layouts.

   1. Select INVInvoice from the Layout drop-down list.

   2. Use the Browse button to select the required layout.

      Layouts are stored in the layouts folder.

      Tip: Make sure the file type is set to Sage Layout Files (*.layout).

2. Set up a new role or use an existing one.

   See how to set up a new role

   Open: Accounting System Manager > Settings > Customer and Supplier Roles.

   1. Use an existing role or add new one.
   2. Select Sales or Purchase and Use with Documents.

3. Associate this role with Billing Invoice document type.

   See how to associate roles with document types

   Open: Accounting System Manager > Settings > Customer and Supplier Document Types.

   1. Select the role for the Billing Invoice document type.

4. Set up a Preferred Contact for the role with a valid email address for each customer account that you want to send invoices to via email.

   See how to set up a preferred contact

   Open: Sales Ledger > Sales Accounts > Amend Account Details | Contacts.

   1. Select the contact and click Edit.
   2. Add or edit the role and select Preferred Contact.