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Document design

Document design and invoice templates

Your invoice template is the last thing a customer reads about a job — make it look like your business. Logo, colours, fonts, columns, field names and footers, set on your design and carried by every document built from it.

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The Invoice Office document design editor: the list of blocks on the left, an invoice for Fabrikam Ltd with the Northwind Studio logo in the middle, and font and style controls on the right

What you can change

Every part of your invoice template is yours

One screen, two editors: the design holds what the document says, the template holds where everything sits. Blocks drag into place on the page, and each opens its own Content and Style tabs.

Designs are held
Per languageDesigns are held
Type
Per documentType
Override
Per customerOverride
Drag the blocks where you want them
Switch on the blocks you need — Logo, Company details, Billing address, Shipping Address, Document detail, Introduction text, Document table, Closing text, Document terms & conditions, Custom image and Custom text — then drag them into place on the page. Up to three blocks share a row, and Move left, Move right and Full width tidy them up.
Start from a design we ship, or your own
Invoice Office ships a set of system designs to work from. Open one, use Create duplicate to make it yours, or start a new design — and mark whichever you settle on as the default.
Your logo — or your name in type
Upload a logo image and set its size and alignment, or flip Show text and print styled Logo text instead. Add a background image, with its own transparency, so the page is yours end to end.
Decide exactly what appears
Switch the product table’s columns on or off, drag them into the order a customer expects and rename them — and do the same for the document details. Hide the product description if you only want names. Nothing you never fill in has to stay on the page.
Style it down to the line
Select any block and its Style tab carries the font colour, size and family. The product table adds Line height, separate fonts for its headings and rows, and its own styling for the totals, so a cramped row is a one-field fix rather than a redesign.
Add your own text and images
Custom text and Custom image blocks put anything else you need on the page — a payment notice, a seasonal message, a certification badge — placed in its own spot on the page rather than squeezed into a footer.
Labels in your own words
Field names and values renames the words printed on the document — Due date into Payable by, Customer Number into Account no. Switch Use default design off on that design first, then Modify Field names and values and type your wording beside the field.
A footer that maintains itself
The Company details block holds up to four header and footer texts, filled with placeholders from your company details, so they stay right when your address or bank account changes. Header and logo can repeat on every page, attachments can travel with every document built from the design, and a cover image can print in front of it.

How designs are organised

Five levels of document design — knowing them saves rework

Most confusion with document design comes from editing the wrong design and wondering why nothing changed on the invoice. Here is how the levels fit together.

Managing your templates

  • Held per language

    Designs are stored per language, so a French invoice can carry a different layout from your Dutch one. The flip side is worth knowing: change something in one language and the others are untouched, so make the change in each language you invoice in.

  • Held per document type

    Invoices, quotes, order confirmations, packing notes, credit notes, payment reminders and the purchase-side documents each get their own design. Recurring invoices deliberately reuse the invoice design, so a change there covers both.

  • A basic and an advanced editor

    The basic editor puts everything on one screen: blocks, page and settings on the left, your document in the middle. The advanced editor, part of the Pro license, splits a design from its document template — the layout and styling — so one template can sit under many designs and a restyle there reaches all of them.

  • The Document type is the base

    The design whose type is Document is the base for every other design in that language. Wherever a block or section of another design has Use default switched on, it follows the base — so you set something once there rather than once per document type, and switch Use default off where one document type needs its own.

  • And a customer can override it

    A customer who needs their own look — a different logo, a co-branded invoice — gets a design chosen on their record for invoices, quotes, order confirmations, packing notes, credit notes and payment reminders. Pick that customer on a document and their design is selected for you.

How it works

Three steps to your own invoice

  1. Step 1Open Document designs

    In Settings, open Document designs and pick the language you want to work in. The list shows every design you have, its document type, its title and which one is the default.

  2. Step 2Open one, or duplicate it first

    Open a design to edit it, or use Create duplicate to copy one that ships with Invoice Office before you change anything — a system design is easier to copy than to fight.

  3. Step 3Arrange, style and save

    Switch on the blocks you need, drag them where you want them and click a block to set its content and style. Then Preview the PDF and Save.

Document design questions, answered

Where do I find the document design settings?
In Settings, open Document designs. That is the list of every design you have, per language and per document type. In the advanced editor, Document templates sits alongside it and holds the layouts a design can be built on.
Can I use my own logo on invoices?
Yes. Upload a logo image on the Logo block and set its position — left, center or right — and its size, or switch Show text on to print styled Logo text instead. A background image, with its own transparency, is switched on from the Page tab.
Can invoices and quotes look different from each other?
Yes. Each document type has its own design, so the layout, blocks and styling of a quote can differ completely from an invoice. Recurring invoices are the exception — they use the invoice design on purpose.
What is the Document design type for?
It is the base of the set — the one to change when something should apply everywhere. The designs for your other document types follow it wherever their Use default switches are on. Where one design needs something of its own, switch Use default off for that block or section and it keeps its own settings.
Can I move things around on the page?
Yes. Hover over a block and drag it by its Move handle into another row — up to three blocks sit side by side — or use Move left, Move right and Full width. Click a row to choose how its width is split, and a block to open its Content and Style tabs. In the advanced editor you do this on the Document template side.
Can a specific customer get their own invoice design?
Yes. Open the customer’s settings and use the Document designs section to pick a design for invoices, quotes, order confirmations, packing notes, credit notes and payment reminders. When you create one of those documents for that customer, their design is selected automatically.
Can I create my own invoice template?
Yes. Duplicate one of the system designs, arrange the blocks the way you want them and save. Mark it as the default and every invoice from then on uses it — or attach it to a single customer and leave the rest alone.
Do I have to redo my design for every language?
Designs are held per language, so yes — a change in one language does not appear in the others. If you invoice in more than one language, make the same change in each language’s design.
Can I change the field names on my documents?
Yes. In the design’s Settings tab, switch Use default design off under Field names and values and click Modify Field names and values, then type your wording beside the field — Due date becomes Payable by, Customer Number becomes Account no. Leave one empty and it keeps the standard label.
Can I add a footer or a signature?
They are two different blocks. The footer is the Company details block: up to four texts that print in the footer or the header, filled with placeholders from your company details so they stay right when your details change. A sign-off is a block too: Closing text for “Kind regards”, Document terms and conditions for payment terms, or Custom image for a scanned signature.
Can I put a cover page in front of the document?
Yes — you upload a cover image, with its own transparency, and it prints in front of the document. It is available on the Professional plan. Attachments that travel with every document built from the design are set separately, as is whether the header and logo repeat on every page.

More answers in our FAQ and help center.

Related

Step-by-step for every part of the design

Send an invoice that looks like you

Set your design once and every document carries it. Free to start, and no credit card to try it.

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