Saasu online accounting has released a new feature to allow you to setup multiple PDF and Email Templates that you can run from Sale, Purchase and Statement areas in Saasu. We have also released the initial stage of CrowdTheme™ which allows you to build your own custom themes to apply to these templates. Lastly we have enhanced Merge fields and allowed their use across Email and PDF Templates aswell as in Themes.
We know customers like to "theme" many types of content. It allows you to have a "look" that suits your brand. Themes for powerpoint slides, weblogs and desktops are popular but to date they haven’t been developed for accounting software.
Initially we want to open this up to the Saasu community of developers to create themes using HTML and CSS. We also hope people will share them in the community. We will also include a WYSIWYG editor for non-technical customers in a future release.
What’s a real example of it’s use?
Let’s say a developer makes a cool theme for printing sticky delivery address labels. Once they upload that to CrowdTheme it becomes available for you to use in Saasu. You simply create a Template for Sales in Saasu using this theme. Then all you need to do is choose that Template whenever you want to print a Label from a Sale Transaction.
You might even have a theme you want used right across your franchise network. You could embed information like maps, warranties and other special needs. You will be able to find these Themes in Saasu’s CrowdTheme™ website when it’s released later this quarter. You can start creating your own right now by going to View > Templates and click on the edit and create your own theme link provided below the Theme selector.
To take this feature to a new level we have also built out our Merge Fields capability that can be used in both Templates and Themes.
Multiple Templates
Setup templates for different trading names, stationary needs and the use different logos for each template from the selection you can upload yourself. To access Multiple Templates go to View > Templates
CrowdTheme™
Control the the look and feel of your PDF invoices and statements by applying your own custom themes to them. If you’re familiar with HTML and CSS you can now change the font, font-size, color, and even the layout by customizing the theme associated with the template.
Merge Fields
Saasu had some basic Merge Field capability for templates but in this release we have dramatically increased the range of available data you can access. We will be adding more to this area including the ability to dynamically generate information much like you would using formula’s in a spreadsheet. We will elaborate on this upcoming innovation in coming weeks.
Big changes can lead to some small differences
There are lots of changes behind the scene to make this happen, and one of the changes that we made that may affect you is the way we handle logos. So please re-check your PDF invoices and purchase orders before sending them out.
Logo Handling – Before the Upgrade:
- One PDF template and one logo only.
- No logo size restriction.
- We resized the logo for you.
Some users uploaded very big and high resolution images resulting in big PDF file generated, which in turn causes all sort of problem with email delivery as some email servers have restrictions on attachments size.
The auto-resized logos sometimes didn’t turn out to be as expected. This is due to many logo uploads being TIFF or BMP formats which aren’t supported by webpages. We had to convert these on your behalf.
Logo Handling – After the Upgrade:
- You can now upload multiple logos or images, and you can use these images from your theme.
- Maximum logo size is 100KB.
- Supported formats include JPG, GIF and PNG.
- There is no auto-resizing of your logo’s. The maximum width recommended is:
- 640px – If you have sender details
- 960px – If you don’t have sender details
What’s the rationale for the logo file size limits?
- To prevent massive PDF files generated, which should improve reliability of email delivery of PDF invoices.
- To give you back full control on the appearance, size and quality of the images you upload.
What did you do to my logo? It looks different.
Based on the width of the logo you’ve uploaded:
- Width <= 640px: We didn’t do anything to your logo. Will render as it is.
- Width > 640px and you have sender details: Resized to 640px.
- Width > 960px and no sender details: Resized to 960px.
How do I change the logo in my template?
View > Templates. Open the template, and upload new logo or use one that you’ve uploaded before.
How do I resize my logo?
Use online image resizer tool, or if you want more control, use image editing program. The free one such as Paint.NET for Windows should do the job.
Can I customize the font, font-size and layout of the PDF generated?
You certainly can. To do this, go to View > Templates and open the template you want to customize, and click on the edit and create theme link underneath the theme picklist. Familiarity with HTML and CSS required.
I like the merge fields, makes the communication (invoice etc.) much more relevant and personal, however, is there a way to simply use the true/false statements to create different responses?
Comment by Hew Mills — October 24, 2009 @ 3:17 am
We had a problem with Powered by Saasu being printed over our preprinted letterheads after the upgrade as previously this was not printed when created a PDF without a logo.
It could not be removed in the templating engine, but worth noting here that a quick email to support and they removed it right away.
Comment by Nick — October 26, 2009 @ 5:34 am
It doesn’t look like it is possible to incorporate merge fields inside the email text? Is this the case?
For example to put FIRST NAME in the email text as
Hi FIRST NAME,
Attached is a copy of your invoice.
Comment by Tim — November 3, 2009 @ 7:19 am
Hi Tim,
We do support them. You just need to use the merge fields according to the formats for each in the help note in that area. i.e. {BillingContact.FirstName} rather than FIRSTNAME
See http://help.saasu.com/context/merge-fields/
Comment by Marc — November 5, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
Hi Hew,
You can do this within the theme design. See the help item for details but one example is:
{BillingContact.IsSpecified} Returns “true” if billing contact is specified or “false” otherwise.
Comment by Marc — November 5, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
One missing thing is the ability to have a pay now button on the invoice which direct the user to Paypal where they could pay and be returned where the invoice is marked as closed. Check out how they do it at Blinksale.com – if you added this I know a lot of web designers would make the switch.
Comment by dave rosen — November 10, 2009 @ 5:12 am
Hi,
my comment may be a littel off topic, but I would really like the abaility to see the invoice number in the “accounts receivable” on the Dashboard. That would make it considerable easier to reconcile payments when looking at one’s bank statement.
Thank you,
Jens
Comment by Jens — November 26, 2009 @ 8:57 am
We use SAASU for a medium volume point of sale & it has proven faster and easier to use than the previous MYOB system. When making a sale transaction we would like one button/menu item that automates ‘Save’, ‘Print’ & ‘Add another’ in one button click on the sale screen. This would make finishing the transaction faster than the EFTPOS machine which would be a great help. Can this be done?
Comment by Hew Mills — November 30, 2009 @ 11:36 pm
I just created a custom invoice and it ROCKS! Nice work Saasu. The documentation is a little lacking as far as merge fields are concerned. I think you should add in an example of adding a logo via merge fields and also how the whole HTML commenting is used to repeat line items. A tip for everyone else – a good way to get started is to edit one of the example ones! If anyone would like a custom designed Saasu invoice, feel free to get in touch!
Comment by dave rosen — December 2, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
When will the different templates be accessible via the API? At the moment we can only generate invoices using the default template and cannot select the template based on the users language or our storefront.
Comment by Stefan — December 8, 2009 @ 7:02 pm
@Stefan you can do this now. The API docs have the update code you need to do this.
Comment by Marc — February 11, 2010 @ 11:10 am