Edit templates with the visual editor

Note: This feature only supports invoice template customizations. Document Builder, which supports both invoice and quote template customizations, might be available on your marketplace. See Document Builder.

With the invoice builder tool, can modify PDF templates in the user interface (UI).

You can use the visual editor to edit templates that you previously created. You can also copy default templates and edit the copied version (you cannot edit default templates).

To edit an invoice template with the visual editor

Note: If the AppDirect logo appears in the upper-left corner of the page, when Manage > Marketplace appears in this topic, click the grid icon > Switch to | Store, instead.

  1. Go to . The Invoice Templates listing page opens.

  2. To open a template, do one of the following:

    • For templates that you previously created:

      • Click the row that contains the template that you want to edit. The Template Preview page opens.

    • For default templates that you want to copy and edit:

      1. Next to the template that you want to copy and edit, click the gear icon, then click Copy Template in the drop-down list. The Copy Template dialog opens.

      2. (Optional) To change the template name, enter a new name in the Name field.

      3. Click Create Copy. The invoice template appears on the Invoice Templates listing page.

        Note: If you plan to edit the template, do not publish the template until your changes are complete. A published template is used for all future PDF invoices. See Publish templates for more information.

      4. Click the row that contains the template that you want to edit. The Template Preview page opens.

  3. Click Edit template. The visual editor page opens. It includes three panes:

    • Top navigation—Includes viewing options and buttons to save and publish the template.

    • Left navigation pane—Contains all of the template editing options, organized under Design and Content sections. Each component in the left navigation corresponds to an element in the preview pane.

      • Design—Includes options that modify design elements for the entire template.

        • Global styles—Configure design specifications for title text, paragraph text, paragraph link text, table headers, and table body that apply to the entire invoice template. For each of these, you can configure a specific font weight, size, color, text width, and text alignment.

        • Page settings—The visual editor supports the letter size template format. Previously, PDF templates could only be created in the standard A4 (legal size) format.

        Note: After you configure a global style for a template, you can override the style for specific sections, as needed.

      • Content—Groups all of the content elements of a template into a single section in the left navigation. The content section is organized by Header, Body and Footer.

        • Upload—Upload an image to a specific section of the template. This option replaces the previous Choose File option.

        • Image Library—Every image file that you upload is added to an image library for the specific template. You can reuse images in the library in any section of the template.

      • Preview pane—Displays the entire template, including the changes that you make. Your changes are autosaved and immediately visible in the preview pane, with the exception of text changes, which require you to press Enter or Return on your keyboard before they appear in the preview pane.

    Note: While you are editing an invoice template, the preview updates after every change that you make, but the template is not updated in the database. See the final two steps of this procedure to save and publish updated templates.

  4. (Optional) To configure design specifications that apply to the entire invoice template, click Global Styles, then modify any of the following, as required:

    • Title text—Set the font weight, size, color, and text alignment.
    • Paragraph text—Define the base size, color, and text alignment.
    • Paragraph link text—Define the color of links, and whether or not links are underlined.
    • Table header—Set the font weight, size, color, and text alignment.
    • Table body—Define the font weight, size, color, and text alignment.
    • Page Settings —Switch between A4 (legal size) and letter size.

    Note: After you configure a global style for a template, you can override the style for specific sections, as needed.

  5. (Optional) To define content body settings, in the Content section, click Body. A tree structure opens. It displays all of the components in the invoice template, in the order in which they appear in the preview pane. When you hover over a component in the left navigation, the matching element in the preview pane is highlighted with a blue box.

  6. Note: Some components that appear in the template cannot currently be edited, including row, vertical, spacer and table.

  7. (Optional) Edit body components as required:

    • Text or markdown text—Click the text or markdown text button in the left navigation. A text editing pane opens, where you can edit the following text options:

      • Width—From the drop-down list, select one of the available options: Full width, 75%, 50%, 25% and Custom. If you select custom, a slider opens. Use the slider to select any value from 0 to 100. If you select any value below 100, the Position options open, which you can use to align the text (left, right, or centered).
      • Title (for text components only)—Modify the title of the text field as required, then press Enter to update the title in the preview pane.

      • Text (for markdown text components only)—Edit the content of the markdown text component. The following table provides examples of how to edit common markdown text elements:

        Markdown text element Formatting

        Headings

        Add # before the heading for Heading 1

        Add ## before the heading for Heading 2

        Examples:

        #Heading 1

        ##Heading 2

        Bold

        Add ** before and after the text that you want to bold.

        Example:

        **bold text**

        Italics

        Add * before and after the text that you want to italicize.

        Example:

        *italics*

        Ordered list

        Press Enter or the Return key twice if after each ordered list item.

        Examples:

        1. First item

        2. Second item

        3. Third item

        Unordered list

        Add an asterisk before each unordered list item.

        Examples:

        * First item

        * Second item

        * Third item

        Horizontal line

        Enter three dashes (---) followed by a space, then press Enter or Return.

        Link

        Use the following format:

        [linked text](http://example.com)

        Line break

        Enter two spaces, then press Enter or Return.

        New paragraph

        Press Enter or Return twice.
    • Size—Use the slider to select the text font size.
    • Color—To change the font color, click the color selector box, then select the text color.
    • Font weight—Select Bold or Regular.
    • Text alignment—Select Left, Center, Right, or Justified horizontal alignment.
    • Background color—To change the background color in the text box, click the color selector box, then select the background color.

    • Border style—Select any of the following options: None, Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double. If you select a border style other than None, additional border options appear:

      • Border color—To change the text box border color, click the color selector box, then select the border color.
      • Border width—Determines the thickness of the border lines. Select a value from 0pt to 20pt.
      • Border radius—Adds curved corners to the border.
    • Padding—Enter a value (up to 100) in any of the following fields to add space: Top, Left, Bottom and Right.

    • Image—Edit images as follows:

      1. Click the image that you want to edit in the left navigation pane. Image options appear in the left navigation, and the Image pane is highlighted in the preview pane.

      2. (Optional) To upload an image, click Upload, then select an image to upload from your computer. Images must be in JPG/JPEG or PNG format, and have a maximum size of 5MB.

        After you upload an image, it is available in the image library. You can reuse images from the library within the same template.

      3. Select an image width from the following options: Full width of the allowed image space, 75%, 50%, 25%, or Custom. If you select Custom, a slider appears. Use the slider to select the image width. The image height adjusts in proportion to the image width.

      4. Select the position of the image within the image element’s space (left, center, right)

        • Select one of the following border style options: None, Solid, Dashed, Dotted, Double. If you select a border style other than None, additional border options appear:

          • Border color—To change the text box border color, click the color selector box, then select the border color.

          • Border width—Determines the thickness of the border lines. Select a value from 0pt to 20pt.

          • Border radius—Adds curved corners to the border. Select a value from 0pt to 100pt

  8. (Optional) To add components to the template, do the following:

    1. Hover in the space where you want to add a component. A +icon appears.
    2. Click the +icon.
    3. Select a Title, Paragraph, Table, List or Image component to add to the template.
      • Title—Titles are a way to group content elements under a single heading.
      • Table—The primary invoice table displays information about the invoice, including billing period, invoice summary, and so on. For new marketplaces the default version is called Invoice Table in the left navigation, and you can edit that version in the visual editor. If your UI has the previous default table, called Table, you can edit the table with JSON, or replace it with the more recent Invoice Table.
      • List—Lists are another way to display content in a table format. Lists can include two columns and as many rows as you need.
      • Image—Images can include a logo, product images, and so on.
    4. To edit the component, refer to previous steps in this procedure.

  9. (Optional) To add tokens to any section of the template, do the following:

    1. Click Token Lookup. A list of tokens opens. Tokens are grouped logically by template section (invoice details, user details, seller details). However, you can add any token to any section.

    2. Click the token that you want to add. The token is added to the clipboard.

    3. Paste the token into the template field in the left navigation where you want it to appear.
  10. (Optional) To delete a component from the template, next to the component in the left navigation, click the gear icon, then select Delete.
  11. (Optional) To view the changes that you made in PDF mode, select View PDF. A PDF preview opens. To return to the visual editor, click Edit Template.
  12. To save your changes, click Save Changes. The template is saved in the database but does not replace the active template.
  13. To publish the template, click Publish. A Published template is active and is used for invoice generation.