Creating Invoice Templates

All invoice profiles require a unique invoice template that must be built and uploaded into ACE.

Requirements

• LibreOffice is required to create and modify invoice templates. It is open-source software available for free.

• You must download and register the ACE Letter Data Source before creating or modifying templates.

For more information, review Configuring the Letter Data Source.

Creating an Invoice Template

1. Open LibreOffice on your computer. (Ensure you have set it up first.)

2. Navigate to Clients → Invoice → Profiles and select an existing profile that resembles the one you need.

3. Click the cloud icon next to the Invoice Template field.

4. The template will download and open in LibreOffice.

5. Copy the template into a new document:

   1. Start a new document (File > Text Document).

   2. Select all text from the downloaded template (Edit > Select All) and copy it (Edit > Copy).

   3. Paste it into the new document (Edit > Paste).

   4. Save the document in the same location as other company templates.

6. Modify the template as needed. See Template Editing Tips.

7. Once complete, create a new invoice profile and upload the template:

   1. Click Choose File in the Invoice Template field.

   2. Select and upload the template file.

Template Editing Tips

Adding Dates to a Template

Dates must be inserted using LibreOffice fields, not from the ACE Letter Data Source:

1. In LibreOffice, go to Insert → Field → More Fields.

2. Select Date (not "Fixed Date").

3. Choose the correct format.

4. (Optional) Offset the date by a certain number of days (e.g., two days in the future).

5. Click Insert, then close the window.

This is the only field that should be added from LibreOffice. All other fields should come from ACE tables.

Adding ACE Data Fields

Fields act as placeholders, allowing users to dynamically insert information from ACE into the invoice template.  

1. In LibreOffice Writer, go to View → Data Sources

2. Click the plus (+) sign next to ACE to expand the database.

3. Click the plus (+) sign next to Tables to view the available tables.

4. Scroll through the tables and left click on a table to see the available fields.

   1. For example, to find Commission Tax 1 field:

      1. Click on the debtTrans table.

      2. A list of fields will display, scroll to locate the commissionTaxAmount.

      3. You can move or copy the field into the template.