Hi,
Is there anywhere in the setting where I can set what the next invoice number should be?
I’ve been adding old invoices into the system but now there is a gap between the old ones i’ve added, so the next invoice number is after all the old ones i’ve added (I haven’t finished adding them yet).
I tried creating a blank new one and then deleting but that just gives me a gap of 1 invoice number between the last one raised.
Thanks in advance.
Create a new invoice and manually set the invoice number. Once this is processed the next invoice should auto increment from the last one sent. I think the fact that you are deleting it may be confusing QuickFile.
Adding old invoices again will reset this so you will need to manually alter the first invoice each time after you add old ones.
Whatever the last invoice number is, QF will always auto-increment from that. Say you had the following numbers:
10001 - Old invoice
10002 - Old invoice
10003 - Old invoice
You have 3 more to enter later (10004 to 10006), if you wanted to leave that range open you just need to manually create your next invoice as 10007 and QF will increment from there.
Now later you can bring in the remaining historic invoices and use the vacant range (10004 to 10006).
Yes i’ve been through all those processes, but the issue i have is that 90% of my invoices are recurring, so the next invoice is likely to be automated.
If my current invoice is say 3456
the next auto generated one will be 3457
This is fine.
Problem is that i’ve been entering invoices from a while ago, e.g. 2345 with a gap to say 3000.
If i create a new invoice after inputting 2345 the next will be 2346 (which is correct).
My question is, how do i set the next automated invoice to be 3457 after i’ve been adding old invoices?
As far as i can tell i can’t set it to use the next (new) invoice number?
Thanks
If you’ve been entering invoices between 2345 to 3000 but you also have an invoice for 3456 then whether the next invoice is created manually or by a recurring template the number will always be 3457.
QF works out the next invoice number by getting the top number issued (e.g. 3456) and adding 1. Recurring invoice numbers always follow this logic and even when you manually create an invoice it will default to this, the only difference is with manual invoices it can be over-ridden.
So the automated number will start from the next highest number regardless of the gap?
Thanks
Yes that’s exactly what it will do.
Hi Glenn
I had this issue as well. The current sequence of invoice numbers was lets say 350…so the next recurring invoice number would be 351.
I had to input some old invoices at 200, 201, 202 (to update the sales invoices from the beginning of the accounting year).
When i had to issue a new invoice (thankfully it was not recurring one), the new invoice template showed 203 and not 351. i manually changed it to 351 and then the sequence continued from there okay.
I therefore agree with unclechunk on this… please could you double check this?
Thanks
I’ll report back Sameera when my next recurring invoice goes out.
We checked the code and I also ran a test. I can’t see why it would issue a lower number for recurring invoices. It uses the exact same code in both instances. If you can provide specific examples we will look further into this.
i did a test on the demo account that i have.
Invoice sequence went up to 00001 to 000012
I raised invoice number 000030 dated 12/12/2014and marked it as sent.
Then i raised invoice 000013 dated 30/11/2014 and marked it as sent.
The next automatic invoice sequence was 000031 - which is as per your post and that how the system works.
I tried it again, so raised invoice 000015 (000014 was existing) and marked it as sent.
The next automatic invoice sequence comes up as 000016.
I reckon if you raise more than one invoice with old sequence than it remembers that sequence?
if you want to check the QF account number is 6131432533
Thanks!
Thanks @Sameera, I see that the next auto allocated invoice number is 000016 despite the top invoice being 000030. I think if a recurring invoice was created it would assume 000031, however the prefilled number for a manual invoice is 000016 which is not consistent.
Is this a test account, would you mind leaving as is until an engineer can have a look?
sure Glenn no problem.
yes this is a test account. thanks
OK I have had a chat with an engineer and my understanding of how it increments was not correct.
In actual fact what it does is it takes the last invoice created on the system and increments that number by 1. This would correlate with what you and @unclechunk observed in your own accounts. It would follow this logic if it was a one-off or recurring invoice.
This is the way the auto-increment has worked since the beginning, so I am told.
Would it be possible to set the increment (on the recurring invoice generation) to the latest number +1 as a pose to the last one generated + 1.
That way we’d be able to add old invoices to the system in sequence and also have our automated invoices going our correctly numbered?
Or if there was an option to set the “next invoice no” ?
Knowing the issues I’ve had with invoice numbers in the past, a little box to say ‘next invoice no’ would be handy I think.
Not sure how you would be able to override it though from a technical point of view, knowing that it’s worked off the last invoice created
It will be difficult to change the auto-incrementing logic without causing disruption to many other accounts. It will also be difficult and potentially confusing to have two modes of behaviour. I think if there’s stronger support for this we could explore this option further but it’s not a simple change unfortunately so we’d definitely need a lot more support.
Certainly the simplest option i’m sure is to have somewhere to set the next invoice number?
At the moment the only way i can get close to getting it auto incrementing from where i want (if i’ve added old invoices in) is to create a new blank invoice then delete it. This way i’m close but i miss 1 invoice number.
I just want to clarify from a coding perspective, although I don’t work for QuickFile, I understand the difficulty in the implementation for this.
When you say the simplest option is to have somewhere to set the next option, it really isn’t that easy. The system has been built around the last invoice + 1 concept, as @Glenn said. To change it, it would involve changing multiple files and multiple database queries, which wouldn’t be a simple box.
However, something like a little box to provide the next invoice number should be simple in comparison. Maybe @Glenn could advise on that.
I am quite aware of how simple requests may be a lot harder than they look (my business is in coding).
It was just a suggestion that if i was given this type of request that would probably be the easiest way for me to implement it.
Obviously not knowing how the system is built, this doesn’t really mean anything.
Anyway, its an issue for me currently to cope with by probably having the odd missing invoice number when the invoices get generated automatically.
As i’ve said its the only issue i’ve really had with the software and thought i’d bring it up as something that could possibly be looked at.
If it can’t then i’ll have to deal with it, not an issue.
Easiest way around the problem is to only enter old invoices when you know you have a new one to send out.
That way when you create the new one (after your old ones) the next automated number will be correct.