13. Managing Your Templates

To access your templates, open the Manager Window. Once there, select Templates option along the top of the manager toolbar.

13.1 The Preview Window

The Preview window allows you to select a template theme and preview what your orders will look like when printed. You must have at least one order in your store to be able to preview orders. At the top-right corner of the Preview Window, you will notice two arrows. These arrows allow you to scroll through your orders and preview each of them. The center option allows you to refresh the preview if any changes were made to the template.

13.2 Themes

Below the preview, you will notice theme options. They are labeled Checkout, Classic, Construct, Emerald, Modern, Sepia and Skyliner. To preview an order using a different theme, simply click on the theme icon you wish to use. The preview will now show you the template with the new theme for one of your orders.

Once you have chosen a template theme you like, you need to click on the "Use for Printing" button that is located in the bar right above the template theme options.

13.3 Logos and Store Information

Above the Preview Window, there are four buttons that allow you to change other options. The first option will allow you to edit your Logo and Store Information. Click on the Edit button to the right of that option and you will be brought into a new window. The first option on this window will allow you to add a logo or graphic to your order templates. To add a logo, click on the Select Image… button, browse to the location of the graphic you wish to use, select the file containing the graphic and then click on the Open button. The supported file type would be JPG, JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, PDF, ESP, GIF and TIFF format. Once you have selected the graphic you wish to use for your logo, you will see the selected logo in this window. To the right of that logo, there are two options. The first is Scale to fit. This option will take a logo and scale it down to size so it fits within the logo box. The second option is Respect image size. This will not change your logo size, but will leave the image dimensions alone, allowing for a larger graphic. If you wish to have the image appear at the top of the thermal receipt, select the option to Show Store Logo on receipt.Below the logo options, you have the option to add information about your company such as the company address and a footer that you may wish to appear on each order. To enter that information, simply click in the appropriate box and begin keying in the necessary information. The store address will appear in the invoice header, while the footer can contain extra information such as a return policy. When you are satisfied with your changes, click the Apply button at the bottom of the screen.

13.4 Order Numbers

To customize your document number click the Document numbering button. Drag any element into the order number field to construct an order number. The fields always need at least a unique number which can have leading (eg 0001). You can change the leading in the element drop down menu. Changes to the order numbers will only apply to newly created documents.

13.5 Print Margins

To edit the print margins, click on the Edit button to the right of that option. This will bring up the screen where you can edit the margins. These margins can be set to fit your customized letterhead. To begin, there is a box for each of the top, bottom, left and right margins. At the bottom of the screen is a box where you can select the units used to measure the margins. The options are centimeters and inches. To edit a margin, click in the box for the margin you wish to edit, and key over the existing number. When you are satisfied with your changes, click the Apply button at the bottom of the screen. These margins can be changed at any time by coming back here and changing the margin numbers and/or the measuring units. Please note that the margins will not affect the thermal receipt.

13.6 Advanced Options

To edit advanced options, click on the Edit button to the right of that option which will bring up the appropriate screen. The first set of options apply to invoices and orders. If you wish to have product descriptions appear on invoices and orders, click the box labeled Show description. The next option allows you to show the product prices on invoices and orders either including the taxes or excluding the taxes. Below that is a check-box to display VAT/Tax Breakdown. If unchecked the subtotal and tax information will no longer print on the order or invoice. The next option handles how taxes are printed. They can be Combined into one tax rate or Specified per Rate which lists all taxes and the corresponding amounts. Taxes in Totals will be unavailable if VAT/Tax Breakdown is unchecked. If you wish to show all payment information on invoices including the total amount paid, the total amount due and the amounts paid broken-down by payment method, select the check-box next to Totals. Below this is Notes, Payments and Discounts. If you wish to have all notes appear on invoices and orders, click the check-box labeled Show notes. Next is the option for Payments. When this box is checked, both a Signature line and Tips box will print for the customer to sign and leave a Tip. If you wish to display the total savings amount when providing a percentage discount on an order, select the check-box for Show total discount. Below the divider are options to define the paper size and printer to be used when printing orders and invoices. If no printers are found, you will not be able to select a Default Printer or Paper Size within this window. New printers installed to your Mac are found automatically and readily available within the drop down list. The second set of options are for Thermal Receipt printers. They are the same options as listed above, plus the option to select which cash drawer to open in the event a receipt printer is setup using multiple cash drawers.

At the bottom of this window will be options that apply to both tabs, Invoice and Order and Thermal Receipts. The first option is to define what printer should be used when turning on Automatic Printing. You will have the ability to select your Default Invoice Printer, which uses the Default Printer setup on the Invoices and Orders tab, or the Default Receipt Printer which uses the Default Printer setup on the Thermal Receipt tab. If you wish to have two copies always printed when using automatic printing, select the box next to Always print 2 copies. Below this will be a language drop-down which allows you to change the template localization. Select the language you wish to use when printing Invoices, Receipts, and Purchase Orders. If the language you wish to use is not found in the list, you can easily add your own following a simple YAML format.

13.7 Managing Template Themes

Besides choosing one of the pre-installed themes that come with Checkout it is possible to install custom templates. Simply double-click your custom template theme from the Finder. Checkout will then validate the template to ensure it can be used with this version. If the template can be installed, you will receive an Install or Preview the template option. Choosing Install will simply install the template theme, you'll notice that a new template icon will appear in the template theme chooser.

Choosing Preview will allow you to temporarily preview what the template theme will look like. To install this template theme you need to click on the "Install Template" button that is located in the bar right above the template theme options.

To remove a custom installed theme from the theme options, click the red button located at the right top of the theme icon. This will pull up a prompt that asks you if you are sure you wish to delete the theme. When you are sure, click the DELETE button. If the theme that you wish to remove is the default, please select a different theme so that it can be deleted. Please note that it's not possible to remove the pre-installed themes or the theme that is currently used for printing.

13.8 Editing Template Themes

It is possible to custom create or to adjust the layout of your invoice and other printing templates (order, quote, purchase order and receipt), you'll need basic HTML and CSS knowledge. Furthermore, you'll need a copy of Checkout to fully test and preview your results. Go to the "How to: Edit Your Template" documentation page to read how.