General improvements

• View a history of the actions made to an invoice

New features:

• Send a bill to your client via email directly from Amberlo

 

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GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS

1. View a history of the actions made to an Invoice

From now on, you can see the full history of actions made to an invoice: the creation and approval dates, sent and paid dates, and the invoice status changes. You have a complete picture of actions in the right side of the Invoice window:

 

 

NEW FEATURES

1. Send a Bill to your client via email directly from Amberlo

Amberlo finally gets a long-awaited feature to simplify everyday billing for you. Now it’s easier than ever to generate invoices quickly and then immediately send them to your clients right from Amberlo. You will no longer need to download the invoice as a PDF file and attach it to an email sent through the firm’s regular email program. The Invoice Document can be sent as soon as you prepare it, right form Amberlo.

How to send an Invoice via email?

Once the invoice is finalized with any changes that may have been needed, simply click on the icon Send Invoice:

You can choose:

• Send Invoice - the option to directly email an invoice to your client. Invoices display a list of service items alongside the total amount a customer must pay.

• Send Reminder - a late payment reminder option you can use to send to your client.

 

Whatever option is selected, an email will be generated for the client according to the template you specified. All Invoice Email Templates are created or modified here:

• General Amberlo Account Settings: go to Amberlo Settings → Bills -> Sending: the templates created here will be used for all outgoing invoices;

or

• Contact or Matter Settings: go to Contact or Matter Card -> Settings → Billing: if you want to add a custom message to be included when emailing the invoice.

Note: only an administrator has the right to create or make changes to Invoice Email Templates.

Once you clicked on Send Invoice or Send Reminder, you will see a preview of the email message along with the link to an invoice (as detailed below):

Here you can add additional recipients, change the sender address, or adjust the content of the message.

 

2. How to set general email settings for outgoing Bills?

Before sending invoices via email you have to configure email settings for sending bills. Go to Amberlo Settings (1) > Bills (2) > Sending (3) to set general settings and customize your email template when you mail invoices to your customers:

Customizing General Email Settings for Outgoing Bills

• Cc Recipient - enter the CC email address to which copies of all emails will be sent.

• Default (BCC) Recipient - enter BCC email addresses that every outgoing email will be sent as an anonymous copy (BCC).

• Amberlo Mail Service:

  • Default Amberlo Email - the same email you use in Amberlo.

  • SMTP Server - you can also use an SMTP server to send mails. Using SMTP allows you to send emails via external servers. You will need the SMTP server's hostname, login credentials, and the used port and security method.

• The Credentials of the Sender:

  • Default Amberlo Email Address: the sender's email will be indicated as the sender, including name and surname.

  • Firm’s Email Address: the sender’s email will be indicated as the general firm’s email.

3. How to customize your email template for Bills and Reminders?

Instead of having to type the body of an email each time an invoice or reminder is emailed from Amberlo, email templates can be customized to your liking, giving you a set of predefined templates to choose from. There are several places where you can customize the email message for bills and reminders:

3.1 General Amberlo Account Settings

Note: the templates created here will be used for all outgoing bills.

3.1.1 Customize your email template for Bills 

To edit or create a new email template, go to Amberlo Settings → Bills (1) → Sending (2) and click the arrow icon (3) button near the top right of the page, then in the drop-down menu select Manage e-mail templates (4):

Once you clicked on the Manage e-mail templates, the new email window will be opened and here you can choose whether you want to create a new template (by clicking on the button marked with a plus icon) or edit the existing one:

If you want to edit the template information, just click on the template name and make changes:

Important: the content of the email must include a dynamic field that generates a link to the sent Invoice - {{ViewUrl}}.

Other template variables can be also inserted into the body of your email by copying the variable to include from the list below. The example above shows what an email template for a new invoice might look like.

{{Number}} - document number 
{{DocumentType}} - document type (Invoice, Estimate) 
{{ViewUrl}} - document link 
{{Title}} - document title (VAT Invoice, Invoice) 
{{IssueDate}} - issue date 
{{Buyer}} - buyer name 
{{BuyerFirstName}} - buyer first name 
{{BuyerLastName}} - buyer last name 
{{TotalPriceNetWithCurrency}} - total NET price with currency (eg. €15.36) 
{{TotalPriceGrossWithCurrency}} - total GROSS price with currency (eg. €15.36) 
{{TotalPriceGross}} - total NET price (eg. 15.36) 
{{TotalPriceNet}} - total NET price (eg. 15.36) 
{{TaxValue}} - tax amount (eg. 15.36) 
{{TaxValueWithCurrency}} - tax amount with currency (eg. €15.36) 
{{Notes}} - Additional notes from bill 
{{PaymentTo}} - Due date 
{{AmountDueWithCurrency}} - Due amount with currency (eg. €15.36) 
{{AmountDue}} - Due amount (eg. 15.36) 
{{PaidWithCurrency}} - Due amount with currency (eg. €15.36) 
{{Paid}} - Due amount (eg. 15.36) 
{{EmailUserSignature}} - User's personal signature which is set in email integration. 
{{Footer}} 

Terms which can be translated in other languages (.Fr; .Lt; .Ru;) 
{{DocumentType.Lt}} - document type (Invoice, Estimate) 
{{Title.Lt}} - title (VAT Invoice, Invoice) 

3.1.2 Customize your email template for Reminders

Getting paid on time is crucial for your business. And now you don’t need to spend your time chasing down customers and trying to figure out who needs to pay you and when.

To make sure you don’t suffer from a lack of cash flow, Amberlo has a new feature that will automate sending reminders of the delayed invoices to save you time and get paid faster. All you have to do is turn on Invoice Reminder, create the text of the Reminder Email Template and specify how often the reminder should be sent.

To create (or edit) Reminder Email Template, go to Amberlo Settings (1)→ Bills (2) → Sending (3) → Unpaid invoice (reminders) (4):

When you turn on automatic reminders, Amberlo will check your invoice due dates every night at midnight. If any meet your criteria, it automatically sends an email to gently remind your customer about the overdue invoice. This works for any overdue invoice you currently have.

How to turn on invoice reminders?

• Click on the checkbox Set automatic reminders;

• Specify how often you want to send reminders in the Send reminders after;

• If you want to send reminders for overdue Estimates as well, just click on the checkbox Send also for estimate documents.

 

3.2 Contact or Matter settings

If you’d like to customize even further, you can always do so at the Contact (Client) and Matter level. When viewing your Client or Matter, you’ll always have a Settings tab (1) where you can override the default email settings for outgoing bills you created in General Amberlo Account Settings. This is where you can create specific information about your Client or Matter. If you have a client who only needs additional email addresses for certain matters, leave this empty at the Client level and instead click on Invoice Settings when in a Matter.

Go to Contact tab, select a Client card you need and open it:

Then click on Settings icon (1) → Billing (2) → Sending (3) and click on the checkboxes Use custom email template for this contact (4) and Use custom reminder settings for this contact (5).

Manage suggested email recipients

If your main contact requests that invoices also be sent to another email addresses besides their own, Amberlo has a quick and simple option to email out the same invoice to multiple recipients. By default, Amberlo automatically suggests matching names or addresses in the Send to section, but you can add additional emails as well. Just write multiple email addresses by separating them with a comma and that’s it. Now, whenever you create and send out an invoice for this client, it will be sent out to the numerous email addresses listed under your client-specific billing settings.

Note: Keep in mind that when you add the address at the Client level, that means every invoice for that client will also be sent to the additional addresses designated. If you have a client who only needs additional email addresses for certain Matters, leave this empty at the Client level and instead click on Settings when in a Matter.

4. How to set up footer of the email?

An email footer displays commonly used information such as your business's contact details. It ensures that your emails have a professional, uniform look. So now you can easily add your firm’s information to the emails to keep everything organized.

Note: in order to have footer information in all emails, your need to specify the dynamic field {{Footer}} when creating your Email Template for Bills and Reminders.

 

That’s all for the new features! We hope this will help to start using it smoothly.

If you have any questions or have ideas for improving Amberlo, drop us an email at support@amberlo.io and tell us:

• What is the pain point that the feature is trying to address?

• What would it do that isn’t already in the app?

• How would you or other users benefit from the feature?

We are always happy to hear from you!