Preferences

The Preferences section under Settings allows you to customise certain functions of Zoho Billing. This section is broadly divided into General, Customers, Items, Projects, Sales and Purchase modules.

General

To configure General Settings:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences > General.

Through the General Settings, you can customise your Zoho Billing account by selecting your preferences for the various options provided below.

Enable modules

Check the modules you want to enable in Zoho Billing. Once you enable a module, that module will be available in the left sidebar of your Zoho Billing account for you to use them. You’ll be able to access and configure these modules only when you enable them in this page.

Note: You can access the modules via API even if they are disabled in the Zoho Billing web application.

First day of work week

By default, the first working day of the week is Sunday in Zoho Billing. However, you can change the first day of your work week to Sunday, Monday, or Saturday.

When you change the first day of your work week, the days and dates in the calendar will be updated accordingly. This will be useful when you are selecting dates for sales and purchase transactions, and other modules.

For example, let’s say you’ve set the first day of the week as Monday. When you create an invoice and select the invoice date, this is how the calendar will be displayed.

The day you choose here will also affect the reports you generate in Zoho Billing.

PDF attachment

Attach PDF file with the link while emailing the invoice & quote?: Check this option if you want to attach a PDF of your invoice & quote while emailing them to your customer. Leave it unchecked if you do not to include the PDF file.
I would like to encrypt the PDF files that I send: Checking this option will prevent your customers from editing the PDF files or converting them into another file formats.

Discounts

If you give discounts to your customers, you can select the level of discounts applicable on the transactions. Choose how discounts are applied in transactions:

I don’t give discounts:
If you don’t give discounts to your customers, then select this option.

At Line Item Level
Discount is provided for every item individually in a transaction (like an invoice)

If you have applied taxes on the line item(s), you can choose whether the discount should be inclusive or exclusive of tax.

At Transaction Level
Discount is provided on the whole amount in the transaction.

If you select a discount to be applied at transaction level, you can also choose to apply the Discount Before Tax or Discount After Tax.

Additional charges

You can add shipping charges and adjustments for your invoices by enabling them here. These additional charges will show up when you are creating transactions like an invoice.

Tax on item rates

Choose if your item rates are inclusive of tax or exclusive of it.

If you choose the Tax Inclusive or Tax Exclusive option, then you can choose if you want your item rates to be tax inclusive or not while creating a transaction.

Round off the sales amount

Check this option if you want your sales transaction’s total amount to be a whole number. If this option is enabled, your transaction amount will be rounded off to the nearest whole number.

Salesperson

If you have sales persons in your organisation who manage different sales transactions, then you can associate them with the corresponding transactions (like an invoice) in Zoho Billing.

To enable sales persons for your organisation, check I want to add a field for salesperson.

To view all the sales done by different sales persons in your organisation, navigate to Reports > Sales > Sales by Sales Person.

Markup for billable expenses

The expenses that you incur on behalf of your customers, which you will invoice them later are billable expenses. There are two common methods of invoicing customers:

Invoicing the actual cost: If you incur an expense of $100, you will invoice the same amount to the customer for them to pay.
Adding a markup: If you incur an expense of $100, you can mark up the expense amount and invoice $105 to the customer. This method will generate a 5% of extra revenue to your business.

To set a default markup percentage for billable expenses, enter the Default Markup Percentage and click Save.

Now, when you choose the billable option in an expense, the default markup percentage will be pre-filled in the Default Markup Percentage field.

Weekly summary report

All the admins of your organisation can receive the summary of business transactions done in a week in their email. You can also receive the report through your Slack channel if you have integrated your Zoho Billing organizaton with Slack.

To enable weekly summary reports, check Send Weekly Summary report.

Organization address format

You can change the way your organisation or business address appears on all your sales and purchase transactions.

Rearrange the existing placeholders to change the format or add new placeholders by clicking Insert Placeholders. The format you configure here will be displayed only in that transaction’s PDF.

After making all the changes in the General section, click Save.

Branding

Personalise your Zoho Billing account to go with your brand.

Organization Logo

If your company has a brand logo, you can upload it under Organisation Logo. All the transactions that you send out to your customers from Zoho Billing will be branded with this logo.

Themes

You can choose and apply themes to your Zoho Billing organisation. If you have multiple organisations, you can differentiate between them by setting a theme for each organisation.

Portal

This tab allows you to configure your Customer Portal.

Once you’re in the tab, enter a name for your Customer Portal.
You can enter a welcome message in the space provided for Banner Message. This message will be shown to your customers when they log in to the portal for the first time.
Check Send me email notification for every activity that takes place in the portal if you wish to receive email notifications for every activity that your client does in the portal.
Check Allow customers to forward documents from portal if you wish to let your customers forward documents. Please note, the people whom they forward the document to will be added as contact persons in the contact information for that client.
Check Send an email notification to customers when I comment on Invoices/Quotes if you wish to have an email sent to your customers whenever you add a comment for any transaction.
Check Enable customer review for my services if you wish to receive review from your customers to know how happy they are with your organisation’s services.
Check Allow customers to view projects and timesheets if you want to give your clients access to the time logged for each project/task.
Check Allow customers to edit their information to permit your customers to edit their billing/shipping address and contact details.
Check Save.

Customers

Configure preferences related to the Customers module. Learn more.

Items

Configure preferences related to the Items module. Learn more.

Quotes

Configure preferences related to the Quotes module. Learn more.

Invoices

Configure preferences related to the Invoices module. Learn more.

Credit Notes

Configure preferences related to Credit Notes. Learn more.

Delivery Note Settings

If you ship or deliver the products you sell to your customers, then you can configure your Delivery Note settings here. A Delivery Note lists the contents of the package, what the recipient has ordered and what has been sent to them. Typically, a Delivery Note includes description and quantity of the items delivered. In some cases, a copy of the Delivery Note is signed by the recipient and then returned to the seller or consignor as a proof that the items have been delivered.

To configure Delivery Note settings:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences > Delivery Note Settings.
Document Title: By default, the document title will be given as Delivery Note. You can change the name of this field as per your preference.
Transaction Number: This field displays the Transaction Number related to a specific delivery. You can change the name of the field as per your preference.
Date Field: By default, the field where the date is displayed will be shown as Date Field. You may customise it as per your preference.
Item: The field which shows the items which are being delivered will be displayed as Item. You can customise the name of this field as per your preference.
Description: The description of the items being delivered will be provided in this field. You can change the name of this field, as per your preference.
Quantity: The quantity field will display the quantity of the items being delivered. You can change the name of the field as per your preference.
Reference Field: This field displays the reference number or code for the Delivery Note. By default the preference to display this field in the Delivery Note will be selected. Enter the name under which this field should be displayed. Uncheck the check box next to this field, to exclude it from the Delivery Note.
Bill To: This field will display the name of the person to whom the items are billed. By default this field will be selected and you can change the name of this field. If you wish to exclude this from the Delivery Note, you can uncheck the check box next to this field.
Delivery To: You can enter the name of the person to whom the items will be delivered, in this field. By default this field will be selected and you can change the name of this field. You can exclude this field from the Delivery Note, if you wish, by unchecking the check box next to this field.
Signature: In case you require a signature from the customer on the Delivery Note, as a proof of receipt of the items, you can include this field. You can change the name of this signature field, if you prefer. If you wish to exclude this field in the Delivery Note, uncheck the check box next to this field.
Balance Due: This field displays the balance due from the customer. You can change the name of this field as per your preference. If you wish to exclude this from the Delivery Note, uncheck this field.
Show Customer Notes: If you wish to display the customer notes from the invoice, which is related to a specific Delivery Note, you can select this option.
Click Save once you are done configuring.

Packing Slip Settings

A packing slip will include details of the contents in a package you deliver. The purpose of a packing slip is to inform all the parties, i.e. transport agencies, government authorities and customers, about the contents of the package which is being delivered.

To configure Package Slip settings:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences > Packing Slip Settings.

Document Title: By default, the document title will be given as Packing Slip, you can change this as per your preference.
Transaction Number: This field displays the Transaction Number related to a specific delivery. You can change the name of the field as per your preference.
Date Field: By default, the field where the date is displayed will be shown as Date Field. You may customise the name of this field as per your preference, if you wish.
Item: This field shows the items which are in the package and will be displayed as Item. You can customise the name of this field as per your preference, if you wish.
Description: The description of the items will be under this field. You can change this as per your preference.
Quantity: This field will display the quantity of the items. You may change the name of this field as per your preference.
Reference Field: This field displays the reference number or code. By default the preference to display this field in the Packing Slip will be selected. Enter the name under which this field should be displayed. Uncheck the check box next to this field to exclude it from the Packing Slip.
Bill To: This field will display the name of the person to whom the items are billed. By default this field will be selected and you can change the name of this field. If you wish to exclude this from the Packing Slip, you can uncheck the check box next to this field.
Delivery To: You can enter the name of the person to whom the items will be delivered, in this field. By default this field will be selected and you can change the name of this field. You can exclude this field from the Packing Slip, if you wish, by unchecking the check box next to this field.
Signature: In case you require a signature from the customer on the Packing Slip, as a proof of receiving the items ordered, you can include a signature field. You can change the name of this signature field, if you prefer. If you wish to exclude this field in the Packing Slip, uncheck the check box next to this field.
Balance Due: This field displays the balance due from the customer. You can change the name of this field as per your preference. If you wish to exclude this from the Packing Slip, uncheck this field.
Show Customer Notes: If you wish to display the customer notes from the invoice, which is related to a specific Packing Slip, you can select this option.
Click Save once you are done configuring.

Field Customization

All Zoho Billing modules have a set of default fields that captures information common to all businesses. Custom Fields lets you store additional information that is unique to your business. These fields can be used to save more details about your customers, items, invoices, or all other transactions.

When will custom fields be used?
Let’s say you run a business that sells clothing for kids. In such a case, you might want to record more product details such as colour and size of the dress. To do this, you can create custom fields in the Items module with the appropriate label.

Now, let’s see how you can create and manage custom fields in Zoho Billing.

Create Custom Field

To create a new custom field:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences.
Select a module, say Invoices.
Navigate to Field Customization tab.
Click + New Custom Field in the top-right corner of the page.

Fill in the following fields:

Label Name: Enter a name for your custom field. This field will be displayed when you are entering data in the respective module.

Help Text: Enter a short text describing the purpose of this custom field. This will be displayed as a help text when this custom field is used in the corresponding module.
Data Privacy: Select PII or ePHI based on the information that you will be entering in this field.
- Select PII (Personally Identifiable Information) if the information that you will enter is confidential and can be used to identify a person. You can choose to encrypt and store it if the data is sensitive or store it without encryption if the data is non-sensitive. Choose if the information you enter will be sensitive or not sensitive:
  - Sensitive data. Encrypt and store it. This data can be viewed only by Admin users.
  - Not sensitive data. Store it without encryption. Only Admin users can view the details. However, other users can use this field to perform advanced searches.
- Select ePHI (Electronic Protected Health Information) if the information that you enter is any sensitive medical data that can be used to identify a patient. For example, the medical insurance number of your customer will be ePHI. The data will be considered as sensitive; it will be encrypted and stored. Only Admin users can access this field and other users will not be able to use this field to perform advanced searches.
Default Value: For fields that don’t contain PII or ePHI, you can provide a default value. The value you enter here will be displayed by default for this field. You can always change it while creating the transaction.
Is Mandatory: Mark this option as Yes, if you want the custom field to be a mandatory one, i.e, it shouldn’t be left blank.
Show when creating transactions: Mark this option as Yes, if you want this custom field to be displayed while creating transactions.
Show in all PDF: Mark this option as Yes, if you want the custom field to be displayed in the transaction’s PDF.
Preview: You will be able to see what the custom field will look like, when creating a transaction.

After entering all the details, click Save. From now on, when you enter data in the respective module, this custom field will be displayed.

Note: You can create up to 3 Custom Fields of the data type Text in each module.

Edit Custom Field

You can change the details of a custom field at any time. Here’s how:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences.
Select a module.
Navigate to Field Customization tab.
Hover over the custom field that you want to edit.
Click Edit.
Make the required changes.
Click Save.

Mark Field as Inactive/Active

If you’d like to stop using a custom field temporarily, you can choose to mark it as inactive.

To mark a custom field as inactive:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences.
Select a module.
Navigate to Field Customization tab.
Hover over the custom field you want to mark inactive and click the Dropdown icon.
Select Mark as Inactive.

If you have marked a custom field as inactive, you can make it active again by following the same steps as above and selecting Mark as Active.

Delete Custom Field

You can delete a custom field you have created in Zoho Billing. Here’s how:

Navigate to Settings > Preferences.
Select a module.
Navigate to Field Customization tab.
Hover over the custom field you want to mark active and click the Dropdown icon.
Select Delete Custom Field.

If you have added data in a custom field which is associated with a transaction, you cannot delete the custom field. If you want to delete the custom field, you would have to delete the corresponding transaction.

Alternatively, you can mark the custom field as inactive.

API Field Name

Once you save a custom field, you can edit it to find the API Field Name. This name will be used when referring to this custom field for an API call.

Custom Buttons & Links

You can create new custom buttons to perform specific actions for your transactions. You can create them using the deluge script and execute actions based on the functions you add. Also, you can create custom links to open external links from your transactions.

Note: This feature is available only for certain plans of Zoho Billing. Visit the pricing page to check if it’s available in your current plan.

You can create custom buttons and links for the following modules:

Customers
Products
Projects
Sales
Subscriptions

Insight: You can add up to 10 custom buttons or custom links per module. For example, you can have 10 buttons or links for the **Invoices** module and 10 for the **Quotes** module.

In this section:

Custom Buttons

Custom Buttons let you create buttons that trigger actions you configure when clicked.

Scenario 1: Peter runs a business and sells goods on credit to select customers. At the end of each month, he sends out statements for the amounts due. Instead of applying multiple filters and manually emailing the statements, Peter creates a custom button that allows him to send the statement with a single click.

Scenario 2: Patricia charges a 2% late fee on invoices that are not paid by the due date. To make this process simpler and straightforward, he creates a custom button that automatically applies the late fee to overdue invoices.

Scenario 3: John offers a 5% discount to regular customers who pre-order goods. To manage this efficiently, he creates a custom button that he uses to apply the discount directly to the invoice when he generates it.

Create a New Custom Button

To create a new custom button:

Log in to your Zoho Billing account.
Go to Settings.
Select the module where you want the custom button (e.g., Sales > Invoices).
Navigate to the Custom Buttons tab.
Click + New in the top-right corner.
In the New Custom Button popup, fill in the following fields:
- Custom Button Name: Enter a name for your button.
- Location: Choose where the custom button will appear on the module page.
- Preview: Click to preview your button.
Click Proceed.
In the page that follows, enter the Deluge script code to define the button’s function. Scroll down to When to show this button? and choose one of the options based on your preference:
- Show Always: Select this option to display the button in all records (e.g., INV-01, INV-02, etc.) without any criteria.
- Show based on criteria: Select this option to add criteria to display the custom button for specific records.

Note: You can use predefined criteria templates to create a new criteria by clicking + New Criteria to set conditions for displaying the button. This option is available only for Invoices and Quotes and the button can only be added on the Details page.

Under Who can access this button?, select who can view and access the button from any of the following options:
- Only me: Select this option if you don’t want other users to access this custom button.
- Only Selected Users: Select this option and select specific users in your organisation who can view and access the button.
- Everyone: Select this option to make the button visible for all users in your organisation.
Click Save to save and execute it later, or Save and Execute to save and run it immediately.

Now, the custom button will be created, and it will be displayed in the selected module based on the configured preference.

Use the Custom Button

Once you create the custom button, you can use it from the respective module where you’ve configured it to appear. Here’s how:

Log in to your Zoho Billing account.
Go to the module where you set up the custom button.
In the Details page, locate the custom button in its configured position, and click it.
In the pop-up, click Proceed to execute the button’s action.

Now, the custom button will execute its configured function.

Custom Links

You can create custom links that will take you to external websites or resources directly from Zoho Billing. You can also add placeholders in these links to redirect users to a specific record or page.

Scenario 1: Sarah manages an online store and needs to track shipments easily. She creates a custom button in the Items module for a shipment tracking website that also includes a placeholder for the invoice number in the tracking URL. Now, when she clicks the button, it takes her directly to the specific shipment’s tracking page.

Scenario 2: Peter uses an external software to manage his customer details. When customers request services, he needs to access their previous service records, which can be time-consuming. To simplify this, he creates a custom button that uses the Customer ID as a placeholder for his external application’s link. By clicking this button on the Customer Details page, Peter quickly opens the external link with the specific customer’s information.

Create a New Custom Link

To create a new custom link:

Go to Settings.
Select the module for the custom button (e.g., Sales > Invoices).
Navigate to the Custom Buttons tab.
Click the + New dropdown in the top-right corner, and select New Custom Link from the dropdown.
In the New Custom Link page, fill in the following:
- Custom Link Name: Enter a name for your custom link.
- Location: Pick where you want the link to appear on the module page.
- Visibility: Choose who can access the link.
- Preview: Click to see a preview of the link’s location.
- URL: Enter the URL and add placeholders if needed by clicking Insert Placeholders at the top of the field if necessary.
Click Save.

Now, the custom link will be created and shown in the configured location.

Use the Custom Link

Once you create the custom link, you can use it from the respective module where you’ve configured it to appear. Here’s how:

Log in to your Zoho Billing account.
Go to the module where you set up the custom link.
In the Details page, locate the custom link in its configured position, and click it.
In the pop-up, click Proceed to execute the button’s action.

Now, when you click the custom link, it will take you to the configured URL.