1. Start with a Sales Order (Optional)
If you want to track a customer's intent to purchase before billing them, start with a Sales Order. Sales Orders don't affect inventory, inventory is only reduced when the SO is converted into an invoice. When you create an invoice, you can pull from an open Sales Order, choose how many units to bill, and generate the invoice with everything pre filled.
2. Create an Invoice
Create invoices one at a time. You'll learn how to add an invoice, select a customer, enter items, choose a warehouse to deduct from, and export the invoice and COGS to QuickBooks.
3. Auto Populate Your Invoice Numbers
Want your invoice numbers to follow your own sequence or match your internal system? ConnectBooks can auto generate invoice numbers for you, incrementing by one from wherever you left off. You can use a plain number (1001, 1002, 1003) or a custom format (INV100, SALE1, etc.).
4. Upload Invoices in Bulk Using Excel
If you have many invoices to enter at once, skip the one by one process and upload them all together. This article covers downloading the sample template, filling in invoice and item details, and using the "Create New" column to auto create customers, items, or warehouses that don't yet exist in ConnectBooks.
5. Add Fees and Discounts to Invoices
Need to add service items, fees, or discounts to an invoice? This article explains the two display options, a separate line item, or allocated across all items on the invoice, similar to how FBA fees appear. It also covers how to map each fee to the right P&L column (Fees, Advertising, Income, or excluded).
6. Add Line Item Notes
Want to include specific details or instructions on individual line items? Turn on Line Item Notes from File Settings to add a notes field to each line on your invoices, bills, and purchase orders.
7. Email Invoices Directly to Customers
Once your invoices are built, send them straight to your customers from ConnectStock. This article covers adding customer email addresses, configuring your company info and email greeting, setting a reply to address, adding CC recipients, previewing the PDF, and using Ignore Email to skip older invoices you don't want sent.
8. Include Invoices in the P&L Report
Finally, control how your manual invoices and inventory adjustments flow into your P&L. Each invoice has an Include in P&L Report toggle, and you can filter the report by customer. This article also explains how fees and service items appear in the P&L based on the column you assigned them.