PDF templates control how your documents look when printed, downloaded, emailed or opened by customers: invoices, quotes, receipts, bills, statements and more. Each document type uses its default template. You can apply a ready-made design or build your own in the block editor.
Where to find it
- Settings → PDF Templates (
/pdf-templates). - Requires a plan with PDF template customization (Standard or above) and the
settings.pdf_templates.viewpermission. Editing needssettings.pdf_templates.manage.
Document types
Invoice, Quotation, Sales Order, Sales Receipt, Credit Note, Refund Receipt, Vendor Bill, Purchase Order, Debit Note, Payment Receipt, Supplier Payment, Expense Voucher, Journal Voucher, Customer Statement, Supplier Statement.
Out of the box
Every organization starts with a system default for each document type. It is a clean universal layout that adapts to the document (party block, lines, tax summary, totals, amount in words, payment details, signatures). Your logo, name, address, tax number and brand color come from your organization settings. If no custom template exists for a type, the list shows "No custom template — using system default."
The Templates page
Titled Templates ("Configure visibility and style for each document PDF."). Templates are listed by document type. Each one shows badges such as Default, Custom, Draft, Customer-scoped or Inactive.
Actions:
| Button | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Browse designs | Top right | Opens the design library |
| Create Custom Template | Top right | Opens the editor with a blank template |
| Add | Per document type | New template for that type |
| Set as default | Template row | Makes it the default for its type |
| Edit | Template row | Opens the editor |
| Duplicate | Template row | Copies it |
| Delete | Template row | Asks "Delete this template?" first |
Apply a ready-made design
- Click Browse designs (Template Designs, "Browse ready-made layouts and apply one to a document type").
- Pick a document type.
- Preview the ten designs:
| Design | Style |
|---|---|
| Slate Blue | Full-width header band |
| Teal Sidebar | Full-height coloured sidebar |
| Midnight Slab | Dark header, inverted type |
| Sunset Coral | Centred pill title, rounded panels |
| Editorial Mono | Oversized title, hairline rules |
| Bilingual VAT | English + Arabic labels, bordered (GCC tax invoices) |
| Amber Ribbon | Colour ribbon across top and edge |
| Indigo Stacked | Stacked title over a thick underline |
| Boxed Plum | Every section in an outlined card |
| Compact Rose | Slim header, dense layout |
- Click Use this design. This creates a new custom template, publishes it and makes it the default for the selected type. "Existing templates are kept — you can switch back any time."
Or click Build from scratch to open the empty editor. Back to templates returns to the list.
Edit a template
The editor builds a document from sections → columns → widgets.
- Block library (left, collapsible): widgets such as logo, heading, text, dynamic field, entity fields, line items, totals, image, divider, spacer and signature.
- Canvas (centre): drag blocks in, select and reorder them. Arrow keys move the selection, and Delete/Backspace removes it.
- Inspector (right, collapsible): style the selected block (colors, fonts including Arabic fonts, sizes, background, borders, padding, alignment, column widths), plus Layout settings (paper size such as A4 or Letter, margins) and Template settings.
- Modes: Editor, Split (canvas and live preview side by side) and Preview (rendered with sample data marked "Preview data — not an accounting record").
- Variables: insert placeholders such as the document number or customer name. They are replaced with real data on every PDF.
- Assets: upload images (for example a stamp or signature) to the template. Save the template before uploading assets.
- Customer scope: — Org-wide template — (default) or one specific customer. A customer-scoped template overrides the default for that customer only.
Save your work, then Publish. Unpublished templates stay Draft and aren't used. Turn on Set as default for this document type to use it right away. If you leave with unsaved changes, the editor asks you to confirm before discarding them.
Rules
- Exactly one default per document type. PDFs always use the customer-scoped template for that customer if one exists, otherwise the default.
- The preview renders the same way as the final PDF.
- Bank details blocks are available on invoices, quotes, sales orders and sales receipts.
- Changing a template affects PDFs generated from now on, including re-downloads of old documents. Posted accounting data never changes.
Worked example
Al Noor Trading LLC wants bilingual tax invoices:
- Browse designs → document type Invoice → Bilingual VAT → Use this design.
- Edit the new template. Add the company stamp as an image asset in the footer and change the accent to the brand green.
- Save, then Publish.
Every invoice PDF now shows English and Arabic labels, the TRN, a tax summary at 5%, and the stamp.
What the sales PDFs print (updated October 2026)
The design controls how a document looks; the data on it follows the document's rules. For sales documents:
| Document | What the PDF shows |
|---|---|
| Invoice, Quotation, Sales Order | Each line by its catalog item name with the line description in small type beneath; historical lines that were not stock items are labelled as such. Money in the document's currency. |
| Sales Receipt | The receipt's own Paid and Balance Due (a fully paid receipt prints a balance of 0.00) and the document discount rows. |
| Credit Note | Totals followed by Allocated Credit, Refunded Credit and Available Credit, so the recipient sees how much of the credit has been used. |
| Refund Receipt (against a credit note) | A small table with the source credit — the credit note's number, date and the refunded amount — in place of an item list. |
| Customer advance voucher (funding or refund of a customer advance) | A Total Received or Total Paid voucher with payment number, date, status, party, account and the amount in both the advance currency and your base currency. |
| Customer Statement | The ledger for the chosen range; see Customer statements and sales reports. |
Statuses, labels and totals print in the language you are using, in every language SolaCount supports (English, Arabic, French, Russian, Urdu, German, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Turkish and Italian); Arabic documents are laid out right-to-left. Excel exports follow the same rule for their headings and their workbook details.
Common problems
- "I can see templates but can't edit." You lack
settings.pdf_templates.manage. - "The menu item is missing." Your plan doesn't include PDF customization (Standard+). The system default is still used.
- "My logo is wrong." The logo comes from your organization profile (set in setup step 1), not from the template. If you can't change it there, contact support.