PDF Templates

PDF templates are customizable designs used to generate transactional documents in PDF format. This allows you to create professional-looking documents that align with your brand identity.

In Zoho Billing, you can use templates to create standardised documents like invoices, quotes, credit notes, and other documents as PDF. By setting up PDF templates, you ensure that all your documents maintain a consistent and professional appearance and include essential information related to your transactions using one of the existing templates or creating a new one.

Scenario: Larissa, a freelance designer, wants to create customized invoices that reflect her brand. She wants to include her logo, brand colours, payment details, and project-specific details. She uses PDF templates to customize her transactional documents to include these while automating fields like customer name and invoice date. This ensures her invoices are clear, professional, and aligned with her branding, improving customer communication and speeding up payments.

Customize PDF Templates

Here’s how you can customize PDF templates:

Go to Settings.
Select PDF Templates under Customization in the Organization Settings pane.
Select the module that you want to customize from the left sidebar under Templates.
Click + New in the top-right corner to create a new template, or hover over an existing template.
Click Edit to customize the template.

General

In the General tab, you can change the name, orientation, font, and background of the PDF template.

Template Properties

Here’s how to change the template properties:

Go to the General tab under Edit Template.
Select Template Properties.

Field	Description
Template Name	Enter a name for your template.
Paper Size	Select A5, A4 or Letter sizes as paper size of your invoices based on your preference.
Orientation	Select either Portrait or Landscape as the orientation of your invoices.
Margins (in inches)	The margins of the template determine the distance between the content of the template and its edges.
Include Payment Stub	Payment Stub is a detachable section that is added to an invoice to collect cash payments, especially when you send invoices via postal services. This option is available only for Invoices.

Font

Here’s how to edit the font of the template:

Go to the General tab under Edit Template.
Select Font.

Field	Description
PDF Font	Select the font that should be used to display the contents of the template.
Label Colour	Select the colour of the labels in the document.
Font Colour	Select the colour of the text in the document.
Font Size	Specify the font size for the displayed invoice.

Background

Here’s how to edit the background of the template:

Go to the General tab under Edit Template.
Select Background.

Field	Description
Background Image	A background image can be added to fill the background of the template.
Image Position	The position of this image can be adjusted using the Image Position dropdown.
Background Colour	You can change the colour of the template’s background. Note: You can only change either the background image or the background colour at a time.

Header and Footer

You can edit the header and footer of the PDF template. In Zoho Billing, the Payment Receipts module has separate tabs for Header and Footer.

Here’s how to edit the header of the template:

Go to the Header & Footer tab under Edit Template.
Select Header.

Field	Description
Background Image	You can add a background image to fill the header section of the template. Note: The size of the background image cannot exceed 1 MB.
Background colour	You can change the background colour of the header section either by entering a hex colour code or clicking the coloured square to open the colour picker.
Customise your header content	Customize the header content of your template with placeholder and font options.
Apply to first page only	Enable this option to customize the header section differently for the first page. You can also provide separate header content for the other pages.

Here’s how to edit the footer of the template:

Go to the Header & Footer tab under Edit Template.
Select Footer.

Field	Description
Font Size	Adjust the font size of the footer of the document.
Font colour	Select the text colour of the footer.
Background Image	A background image can be added to fill the footer section of the template by clicking Choose from Desktop or Choose from Gallery.
Image Position	The position of this image can be adjusted using the Image Position dropdown.
Show Page Number	Mark this box to include page numbers in the document.
Customize your footer content	You can add information to be displayed on the lower portion of the document. This content can be completely customized with placeholders, tables, font options, and links to suit your needs.

Transaction Details

You can edit organization details, customer details, and document details of the PDF template.

Organization Details

Here’s how to edit the organization details of the template:

Go to the Transactional Details tab under Edit Template.
Select Organization Details.

Field	Description
Show Organization Logo	You can upload your business logo here to display on the document.
Resize Logo	Your organization’s logo can be resized to fit the template by dragging the slider to the left or right. Pro Tip: Click the Reset icon to switch to the image's default size.
Show Organization Name	Enable this option to show your organization’s name in the template.
Show Organization Address	Select if you wish to show your organization’s address on the template.
Organization Address Format	You can change your organization’s address format. You can also add or remove placeholders to customize it further.

Customer Details

Here’s how to edit the customer details of the template:

Go to the Transactional Details tab under Edit Template.
Select Customer Details.

Field	Description
Font Colour	Choose the Font Colour for the customer’s name.
Font Size	Adjust the font size for the customer’s name.
Bill To	Mark this option to include the billing address in the template. You can also change the field name in the textbox below.
Billing Address Format	Click this option to customize the format of the billing address by adding the required placeholders.
Ship To	Mark this option to include the shipping address in the template. You can also change the field name in the textbox below.
Shipping Address Format	Select this option to customize the format of the shipping address by adding the required placeholders.

Document Details

Here’s how to edit the document details of the template:

Go to the Transactional Details tab under Edit Template.
Select Document Details.

Field	Description
Show Document Title	Enable this option to display the document’s title in the template.
Font Size and Colour	Set the Font Size and Font Colour for the title of the document.
Document Information	Mark the checkboxes to display or hide the listed fields. The listed fields include Number Field, Date Field, Terms, Due Date, Reference Field, Salesperson, Project, e-Way Bill Number, Place Of Supply, and Subject. You can also edit the label names in the adjacent text boxes.

Table

You can edit the labels and layout of the table of the PDF template.

Labels

Here’s how to edit the labels of the template:

Go to the Table tab under Edit Template.
Select Labels.

Field	Description	Supported Modules
Label Fields	Enable the fields to add them to PDF templates, noting that label fields vary across templates based on document purpose.	All Modules
Customize Item Name & Description	Customize the item name and description format in PDFs by inserting placeholders and adding custom content.	All Modules
Invoice Created From Projects	You can apply these labels to adjust the project details in the template.	Invoices

Layout

Here’s how to edit the layout of the template:

Go to the Table tab under Edit Template.
Select Layout.

Field	Description
Table Header, Item Row, and Item Description	Adjust the Font Size, Background colour, and Font colour settings in these fields in the pdf template.

Total Tab

You can edit the labels and layout of the table of the PDF template.

Total Section

Here’s how to edit the Total Section of the template:

Go to the Total tab under Edit Template.
Select Total Section.

Labels

Field	Description	Supported Modules
Show Total Section	Mark/Unmark this option to add/hide fields like Sub Total, Shipping Charges, Discount, and Total Taxable Amount, Tax Details, Total, Currency Symbol, and Quantity in the template.	Quotes, Invoices, Credit Notes.
Show Payment Details	Mark/Unmark this option to add/hide fields such as Payments Made, Credits Applied, Amount Withheld, Write Off Amount, and Balance Due to the template.	Quotes, Invoices, Credit Notes.
Show Amount in Words	Mark this option to display the amount in words on the template.	Quotes, Invoices, Credit Notes.

Layout

Field	Description
Total(Subtotal, Tax)	Adjust the Font Size, Font colour, and Background colour of these fields based on your preferences
Balance Due	Adjust the Font Size, Font colour and Background colour of these fields based on your preference.

Taxes

Field	Description	Supported Modules
Show Tax Summary Table	Check this option if you want to display tax information.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes.
Show Retainer Tax Summary	Check this option if you want to display retainer tax information.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes.

Other Details

You can edit the notes, payment options, bank details, and terms & conditions of the PDF template.

Document Summary

Here’s how to edit the Document Summary of the template:

Go to the Other Details tab under Edit Template.
Select Document Summary.

Field	Description	Supported Modules
Notes	Adjust the Label and Font Size for notes.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes.
Payment Options	Enable this option to include available online payment methods in the template.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes.
Add your bank details	Select this option to include your bank account details in the template so that your customers can initiate payments towards this bank account.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes.
Show Invoice QR Code	Select this option to view the invoice by scanning the QR Code.	Invoices
Terms and Conditions	Check this option if you want to add terms and conditions to your template. Also customize the Label and Font Size of this field.	All Modules
Signature	Enable this option if you want to add a signature to your template. You can upload an image of your signature and add a name for it.	All Modules

Annexure

Here’s how to edit the Annexure of the template:

Go to the Other Details tab under Edit Template.
Select Annexure.

Field	Description	Supported Modules
Add Annexure Content	Check this option if you want to display tax information.	Invoices, Quotes, Credit Notes
Show Retainer Tax Summary	Click Add Annexure Content to enter additional information apart from your Terms and Conditions. It can include by-laws, clauses, and other details about your organization. This will be included at the end of every invoice.	All Modules

Other Actions in Templates

Apart from the customizations that you can do in each tab, there are other actions that you can perform in the PDF Templates module in Zoho Billing.

Preview Templates

The Preview Templates option in Zoho Billing allows you to view how your templates (such as invoices, quotes, etc.) will appear before sending them. Here’s how to preview templates:

Go to Settings.
Select PDF Templates under Customization in the Organization Settings pane.
Select the module in the Templates pane to preview the template you want.
Hover over a template in the module, and click the Settings icon to see more options.
Click Preview.

Change Default Template

By default, each module has a default template. If you’ve customized and created a new template, you can set that as the default template for that module’s PDFs. Here’s how to change the default template:

Go to Settings.
Select PDF Templates under Customization in the Organization Settings pane.
In the Templates pane, select the module you want to customize.
Hover over the existing templates and click the Settings icon dropdown.
Click Set as Default.

Now, the default template will be automatically applied to all transactions, ensuring a consistent format.

Pro Tip: You can also set a default template for each customer in Zoho Billing. Learn how to associate templates with customers.

Clone Templates

Cloning templates simplifies the process of creating a new template, new template, making it quicker and ensuring that all the basic customizations are present in the template.

In Zoho Billing, if you’ve customized a template for one module, you can clone that template for use in another module. Here’s how to clone a template:

Go to Settings.
Select PDF Templates under Customization in the Organization Settings pane.
In the Templates pane, select the module you want to customize.
Hover over the existing template and click the Settings icon dropdown.
In the dropdown, under Clone As, select the module you want to clone the template into.
In the next page, make the necessary changes and click Save.

Now, by cloning, you can use different templates with the same properties for various modules.

Delete Templates

Prerequisite:

Make sure the template is not set as default or associated with any customer.
If the template is associated with a customer associated with a customer, associate another template before deleting it.

Here’s how to delete a template:

Go to Settings.
Select PDF Templates under Customization in the Organization Settings pane.
In the Templates pane, select the module you want to customize.
Hover over the existing template and click the Settings icon dropdown.
Click Delete in the dropdown,.
Click OK to confirm the deletion in the pop-up that appears.

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