Sending Invoices to Customers via Email
SedonaEmail is a new feature for SedonaOffice that provides functionality for sending email versions of invoices to your customers. The invoice that the customer receives is embedded directly into the email so you need not worry about firewall or anti-virus software, blocking the email due to attachments. The design is based on the Bridgestone Standard invoice form and provides for a presentable invoice format with plenty of information.
Setting Up SedonaEmail for Use
When you are ready to implement SedonaEmail, you need to contact support to arrange for activation of the feature. The SedonaOffice staff will configure the connection from your system to the email servers and provide the necessary credentials for login. Once the system is set-up, no further configuration needs to be done.
Providing Email Functionality to Your Employees
SedonaEmail provides two permission levels in User Group setup: “Single Email Invoice” and “Batch Email Invoice.”
As the names imply, “Single Email Invoice” gives a user access to all of the single email functionality in the invoice display and “Batch Email Invoices” gives a user access to the Batch sending routine from the main A/R Tree. These permissions are exclusive, so any user that requires rights to perform both of these activities will need both boxes checked! Once you have checked the appropriate boxes for a User Group, anyone in that User Group will have access to these features.
Configuring a Customer to Receive Emails
Email addressing and Email preference are controlled by the customer’s bill-to record.
Emails designated for this customer will default to the email address entered in the indicated space. If this space is blank, the customer will not be eligible for emailing of invoices! The “Email Invoices” check box sets the preference for whether this customer will receive invoices via email. If the box is checked, all invoices created for this Bill-to will start with the “In Email Queue” setting checked. This setting has no impact on whether the customer receives paper invoices.
*IMPORTANT*
Each bill-to record on a customer is treated separately so you must enter the email address and decide the email preference for each bill-to record.
Single Invoice Emailing
If the user has permission to “Single Email Invoice”, the invoice screen will appear as pictured below showing the Single Email button and the Email History Button.
Clicking the Email Invoice button brings up the following screen:
To
From here you can review and edit the destination email address listed in the “To” section. The default value of this address is taken from the set-up of the bill-to record associated to the invoice. You can add multiple recipients by separating additional email addresses with a comma. Note in the above screen this invoice will be sent to JimM@SedonaOffice.Com and JimM@PerennialSoftware.Com!
Template
This is the invoice template that the email server will use to build the contents of the email sent to the customer. Currently there is only one template available.
Subject
The default subject is the company and the invoice number. You can edit this as needed.
Additional Notes
This space is provided so that you can include a specific note associated to this email. The note will display at the top of the email, prior to the invoice section.
Once you are satisfied with these entries, you click SEND to finish or CANCEL to abort. If you click SEND, the system will write a confirmation that the email went out successfully.
If you receive an error, the error message will indicate the issue. You may need to contact SedonaOffice Support for assistance with any issues.
Below is an example of the invoice that went out as a result of the above process:
Note the Additional Message printed at the top of the email! Once you send the email, you can click CANCEL or the X to leave the email screen.
Email History
If you click the Email History button, the below will display.
This provides a listing of all email attempts made for this invoice. As this feature develops, additional messages from the email server will be displayed, including whether the email was viewed by the customer!
Add/Remove Invoice from Email Queue
All users that can edit invoices have the ability to add or remove an email from the Email Queue.
Batch Emailing of Invoices
If the user has permission for “Batch Email Invoices”, they will see the below option on the main SedonaOffice tree.
Double clicking this option will take them to the following screen:
This is the Invoice Email Queue! All batch emailing of invoices takes place from this window and the items that show are populated based on the filters chosen.
Master/Standard
You can select to filter Master Account Invoices, Non-Master Account Invoices or Both by clicking this button.
Invoices All/In Email Queue
This button switches the filter between items with “In Email Queue” checked and those that do not.
No Charge Invoices
If these are excluded, any invoice with a balance = $0 will not display.
Commercial/Residential
You can choose commercial customers, residential customers or both.
Invoice Type
Cycle, Service, Jobs, Other
Customer Type
Select the customer types you would like to include. The default is all.
Customer Group
Select the customer groups you would like to include. The default is all.
Single Master Account
Allows you to select all invoices associated with a particular Master account.
Branches
Select the branches you would like to include. The default is all.
Date Range
Checking this box allows the user to restrict the invoice selection to only invoices dated within this range.
Invoice Number Range
Checking this box allows the user to restrict the invoice selection to only invoices numbered within this range.
Bill-to/Contact Email
Switching this feature determines whether to use the email address associated to the bill-to address or the email address associated with the contact. In cases where the contact is not provided or the email address for the contact is blank, the bill-to email address is used.
Format Type
Currently, “Invoice” is the only option.
Send to Email
When you check this box, you are provided with a box to input an override email address. All emails sent while this box is checked are sent to the override email address instead of the designated email address. This is highly useful for testing and when emailing invoices internally.
Column Filters
Each column provides the functionality to sort by that column and filter the items displayed based on the settings you choose within that column.
Populating the Email Queue
Once you have your filters set, click the GET INVOICES button. This will populate the invoice listing using the filters selected. If you decide that you need to change any filters, simply change the filter settings and then click GET INVOICES again.
Once the list is populated, you can check the associated box to email that invoice. If you want to check all, simply check the very top box and the system will check all. If you need to uncheck all, you can uncheck that box (if all are checked) or check and then uncheck the box to clear everything.
Once you have the desired invoices selected, you initiate the email process by clicking SEND.
The system will prompt you to confirm that you are ready to email the selected items.
Click OK to continue or CANCEL to abort.
Once the emails are sent, you will get a confirmation screen indicating the success rate. If there are items that failed, you can review the log to determine why the item failed.
When you are done with emailing invoices, simply click the X in the upper right hand corner to exit.