Invoicing by email - "paperless" options

Started by Andrew Carrick, October 26, 2010, 04:30:35 AM

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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.
Jelf Insurance Partnership
Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Me and TAM used to have a thing but we've split amicably. She got the kids, I got the Camaro and the maid.

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.
Jan Regnier
jan.regnier@meyersglaros.com
Meyers Glaros Group, Merrillville, IN 26 Users
EPIC 2020, Office 365, Indio

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.
Fantasy is more important than knowledge, because knowledge has its boundaries - Albert Einstein

Andrew Carrick

Just had a look at PDFFactoryPro and it looks like a solution, thanks Hans.
Jelf Insurance Partnership
Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Me and TAM used to have a thing but we've split amicably. She got the kids, I got the Camaro and the maid.

Jan Regnier

Quote from: HMan on October 26, 2010, 09:55:43 AM
 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,
Jan Regnier
jan.regnier@meyersglaros.com
Meyers Glaros Group, Merrillville, IN 26 Users
EPIC 2020, Office 365, Indio

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
Sysadmin - Parallel42

Jeff Zylstra

Quote from: Rick Chisholm on October 26, 2010, 11:36:27 AM
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?
"We hang the petty thieves, and appoint the great ones to public office"  -  Aesop

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.
George Watson
AssuredPartners NL, Louisville, KY
Epic 2022 R2, MU2

Kevin Crow

Is that a feature of fax@vantage or will it work with other fax servers?
Kevin Crow
Kapnick Insurance Group
@kevincrow1 on Twitter
www.linkedin.com/pub/kevin-crow/8/8b6/4bb/

Andrew Carrick

Quote from: George Watson on October 26, 2010, 03:21:38 PM
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.
Jelf Insurance Partnership
Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Me and TAM used to have a thing but we've split amicably. She got the kids, I got the Camaro and the maid.

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.
Fantasy is more important than knowledge, because knowledge has its boundaries - Albert Einstein

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!
Ray Alvarez, AAI, AIS
Petschauer Insurance Agency
New York City
TAM 2014;
Exchange; Win2003 Server; 15 Users
Upload, Download/TS/CL/PL

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.
Fantasy is more important than knowledge, because knowledge has its boundaries - Albert Einstein