Invoicing by email - "paperless" options

[Andrew Carrick]

We are increasingly corresponding with clients by email, particularly schemes business, and we would like to be able to email an invoice to them. With TAM at the moment it seems the only way to get a decent document is to print the invoice onto paper (with logo, address details, etc), then scan in.

We could get TAM to print our logo onto the invoice but it's not the greatest appearance. What does anybody else do with this scenario? Are there any better options?

Thanks.

[Jan Regnier]

The Logo seems to have been messed up several versions ago and has never been improved or corrected.
Doesn't answer your question but the same "image" issue is out there for most of us.

[Hans Manhave]

We strictly use the invoice layout that comes from TAM.  It includes our logo.  We use letter size formatting.  If someone wants the invoice by email, it cannot be done automatically.  However, we try to keep a good list of these and print to PDFfactoryPro from where we can assemble a whole situation and e-mail.  The stamp & letterhead feature of pdfFactoryPro is especially handy.  Many people travel, have mobile devices to get their email and electronic ways to pay bills via a financial institution.  It is time to have a nice TAM solution for this too.

[Andrew Carrick]

Just had a look at PDFFactoryPro and it looks like a solution, thanks Hans.

[Jan Regnier]

 Many people travel, have mobile devices to get their email and electronic ways to pay bills via a financial institution.  It is time to have a nice TAM solution for this too.

Good observation, Hans..agreed,

[Bloody Jack Kidd]

just enable the TAM Paypal plugin, which integrates your BMS with your business Paypal acct, allowing for fully secure invoicing and payments online...

*sigh*


...if only

[Jeff Zylstra]

just enable the TAM Paypal plugin, which integrates your BMS with your business Paypal acct, allowing for fully secure invoicing and payments online...

*sigh*


...if only

ROFL  They'll get right on that!   I've looked into credit card processing before, and they want to charge 2% of the premium which is a huge hit if you're only making 10% commission.  Just out of curiosity, how does Paypal charge you for their service?

[Lance Bateman]

Don't know if this works with the TAM imaging - but we used PaperWise, just "printed to PWise" option, and then we could email the invoice out.

[GeorgeW]

Hmm....maybe I'm missing something.....we use TAM's Invoice format also and print to plain paper.....if we want to email the invoice, we just click on "Preview" in the Invoice Print menu and then when the preview comes up click on the "email" icon which opens an email with the invoice attached in PDF format.

[Kevin Crow]

Is that a feature of fax@vantage or will it work with other fax servers?

[Andrew Carrick]

Hmm....maybe I'm missing something..... ....which opens an email with the invoice attached in PDF format.

The problem we've found with that is that you end up with a "plain paper" pdf. You can put your logo on but its black and white with no additional text. We have an invoice "letterhead" which has stuff like our address and colour scheme etc, and we want to replicate that. Looks like PDF Factory Pro and Cute PDF have suitable options.

[Hans Manhave]

I am thinking that it would be nice if certain customers could be set for 'invoice by e-mail', then have some smtp setting so the sender /return address could be valid or if no other possibility, have part of the body say 'don't reply, e-mail address is not monitored, but send inquiries to blahblah'.  The e-mail format could be formatted to make a nice invoice looking bill.  Of course that would all be destroyed by different e-mail clients and settings.  I know some vendors use Quicken or other systems that send e-mails with links to the bill.  I have not found that very friendly either.  I would lean toward a text e-mail with just the facts, short sentences, nothing that depends on tabs etc.  Not simple to satisfy everyone's requirement.

[Ray Alvarez]

Since we send a lot of our invoices via email, this is what we have been doing:

Prepare the Invoice in TAM as normal. Print it to Adobe calling the file "invoice1.pdf".  When it prints to Adobe, it automatically opens for us to view it.  Once there we use the STAMP feature in Adobe of a custom stamp we have created that has our logo in color and all other items we want to superimpose on the invoice.  Then we print it again to Adobe and call the file "invoice.pdf".  The reason for this last step is that if we send the first Adobe invoice with the STAMP on it, if someone has Adobe on their end with "view without comments", they will not see the stamp since a stamp is just a type of comment.  By printing it to Adobe again, the entire invoice/stamp becomes one image.

This is the easiest we have been able to come up with.  I'd love to hear something even easier!

[Hans Manhave]

@Ray - that is very similar how pdfFactory would handle it with what is called "letterhead" in that software.  One creates whatever one likes to drop on top of the invoice.  Word, Publisher, whatever one wants to use.  Print it to the pdfFactory and tell it to save it as some named letterhead.  Now one can apply this to all future printings, invoices or whatever they are just by selecting the check box to make it appear.  If one has more than one of those "letterheads" one would select the right one, it becomes sticky until another is needed.  One can e-mail it straight from there or save it, print it etc.  Nice to see that Acrobat can do this also.