INVOICE - IT FOR WINDOWS published by Eastern Digital Resources PO Box 1451 Clearwater, SC 29822-1451 Tel. (803) 593-0870 This edition of INVOICE - IT is distributed as shareware. You may freely copy and distribute this program to others. Please register your copy. SHAREWARE REGISTRATION JUST $35.00 INVOICE - IT is designed for creating and printing invoices for those who need only the invoicing function, without all the other accounting functions of Inventory Control, Accounts Receivable, Sales Analysis, and General Ledger. If you need these other functions however, INVOICE - IT integrates with our Total Business Solution Software to provide a fully automated accounting system. NEW FEATURES FOR VERSION 2.0 Version 2.0 features a major update to INVOICE-IT. The major new features are listed below: 1. The "standard" format for data files is now Dbase compatible rather than the ASCII comma delimited files used in version 1.x. This will make it much easier to use files created by INVOICE-IT with other programs and spreadsheets. The ASCII text file format is also maintained for compatibility. 2. A new feature has been added to show open (unpaid) invoices and allow you to mark them when paid. This function also allows you to see the total of unpaid invoices. 3. The program is now running under Visual BASIC version 2.0. You'll find this version somewhat faster than the earlier version. It also no longer erases some of the lines on the screen when writing descriptions. 4. The logo function has been cleaned up and sped up considerably. Unfortunately it's still somewhat slow, but there's nothing further I can do with that with the current version of Visual BASIC and/or Windows. ***************************** N O T E *************************** If you are upgrading from an earlier version of INVOICE-IT, you will need to run the convert utility from DOS before using the new version. Failure to do so will scramble your data files! ****************************** N 0 T E **************************** NOTES ON USING THE PROGRAM The first thing to do in setting up INVOICE-IT is to enter your company name and address information. Choose SETTINGS - COMPANY SETUP. LAST INVOICE NUMBER: Enter the number -1 that you want INVOICE-IT to start with. SALES TAX RATE: Enter the sales tax rate to apply to invoices. 5 percent sales tax should be entered as point zero five (.05). When using INVOICE-IT with the Total Business Solution, the sales tax rate entered in each customer record will override this default rate. TAX SHIPPING CHARGES: This field is used to indicate whether your state requires collecting sales tax on shipping charges. This is a Yes / No field. FILE FORMAT: INVOICE-IT version 2.0 now allows you to store system files in industry standard Dbase format. You should use this format unless you have a particular reason to need to use ASCII comma delimited files. Our Total Business Solution includes utilities to allow you to maintain the PRODUCTS, CUSTOMER, & INVOICE history files used by INVOICE-IT or you can use most popular data base and spreadsheet programs to create these files. Included with INVOICE-IT 2.xx is a utility, DBCONVRT.EXE which will convert your customer, products and invoice history files from comma delimited to Dbase format. DEFAULT INVOICE MESSAGE: You may specify a default note to appear on the bottom of each invoice. This can be overridden at any time with another message. FORM SIZE/TYPE: The program supports several plain paper options in addition to the pre-printed invoices formats. You may choose from each of the listed formats and print a sample to decide which to use. See the price list above for current prices on pre-printed forms. The File - Save option creates a file, INVOICES in either Dbase or ASCII, comma delimited format depending on the format chosen in Company Settings. Each new invoice is added to this file. You can import this file into DBASE, LOTUS, PARADOX, EXCEL, etc. for further analysis using the standard file import utilities in each of these programs. The standard edition of INVOICE-IT does not have DDE links enabled to other packages to allow you to automatically retrieve customer names and product descriptions. When used with the Total Business Solution, these functions will allow you to create multiple invoices much more quickly. The discount and shipping fields accept either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage. If you enter a percentage, enter 10% with the trailing percent sign and the program will calculate the percentage figure for you. If you make further changes on the face of the invoice however, you will need to re-enter the percentage in order for the program to calculate it for you. The program allows you to build a CUSTOMER and PRODUCTS file for easy fill in of invoices. You may maintain these files in Dbase format or ASCII, comma delimited. If you decide to use ASCII comma delimited, you may use either quotations around each field, or just separate them with commas. To edit the files and add your own information, retrieve each file into NOTEPAD or EDIT and make the changes. The format of the CUSTOMER.TXT file is as follows CUSTOMER #,CUSTOMER NAME, ADDRESS1, ADDRESS 2, CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE Note that each record contains 7 fields. If you don't have a piece of information you must still place commas in the field postion. The following layout is also acceptable. "CUSTOMER #","CUSTOMER NAME","ADDRESS 1", " ","CITY", "STATE","ZIP CODE" The names may be entered in any order. The program will sort them for you. In order for individuals names to be sorted properly, you should enter them in the format, LASTNAME; FIRST NAME (NOTE: there is a semi-colon and a space after the last name). The print invoice routine will then swap the name on the semi-colon when printing. The PRODUCTS.TXT file contains 5 fields: PART #, PRODUCT DESCRIPTION,COST,SELL,CATEGORY Like the Customer file, each record must contain 5 fields, each separated by commas. The category fields is not used by the shareware INVOICE-IT version. The registered copy uses this field for the sales analysis feature. If you don't have this information, you should enter zeroes or empty quotes in the field. The category field is used to identify the "kind" of product sold, or to tie into the General ledger program. The sample PRODUCTS.TXT file shows General Ledger account numbers. WINDOW INVOICE HISTORY: This feature allows you to retrieve sales invoices which were written previously. You can then reprint them if you'd like. EDIT CUT: This function allows you to send an invoice out to the Windows clipboard or retrieve a description from another application. FILE PRINT FORM: This allows you to "screen print" a small invoice on plain paper. REPORT SALES JOURNAL This report allows you to print either all invoices or selected invoices according to your criteria. Version 2.xx defaults to a blank field for Beginning Invoice, Beginning customer number and Beginning Salesman, rather than one with all zeros as in version 1.xx REPORT QUICK COST: In order to use this feature, you will need to enter cost figures in your PRODUCTS file. The Quick Cost Analysis gives you a quick snapshot of the cost of the items on an invoice from the figures in the PRODUCTS file. Items which are not found in the products file are ignored, so you should take care to double check your figures. REPORTS OPEN INVOICES: This option is new for version 2.0. You can use this option to see invoices which are unpaid and get a total on all outstanding invoices. If you have specified Dbase format for your file formats under Company Setup, you may click on an invoice to change its status from Open to Paid, then choose Post Invoices to have the program mark an invoice as paid. If you have specified Ascii format for your file formats, you will need to use another program such as Notepad to change the status of an invoice, but you may still use this window to see unpaid invoices and the total amount outstanding. For additional help on using the program, see the file MANUAL.WRI. We appreciate your feedback. Comments or questions may be directed to J.Rigdon on GEnie, or JohnR238 on AOL, or internet at JOHNR238@AOL.COM.