Spent ages setting up everything to find problems

[ZombiesByte]

I’m finding that the further into this I get the more problems I’m having.

Invoicing.
I’ve tried lots of ways to format the invoice to fit my letterheads and have eventually settled on a layout which just about covers things. The “TO” field is set to not show in CSS but that is ignored by the PDF output. Other problems exist with formatting (i.e. one invoice has a bold payment link while the next one doesn’t for some reason).

The invoice produced is then printed perfectly onto a page and then mailed to the client. The problem now is that I have to choose a standard template for emailing my monthly customers (I don’t wish to send monthly invoices in the post). The inconsistencies with my brand design to what I am able to do with QuickFile is driving me nuts.

Further more, I setup a recurring invoice and need to tell it to invoice for the next 1,188 months (99 years) because a blank box doesn’t work. Further more, the email template which will be automatically sent to the client now creates a gap in my terms and conditions which would normally appear on the back of my letterheads. This email now says that the terms will be shown on the back or on the attached but there is now way of attaching these terms.

Client login area

This is very confusing, it seems that I have to set a password for a client. Fair enough, I thought I’d wait until my first billing date to go and do that for them. Problem is once you’ve setup a client without a password it seems that there is no way to reset it other than from the login screen (forgot password). I can’t change it when I take on the identity as it’s asking for a previous password which I didn’t set. Oh, not to mention that symbols are not allowed - WTF!? You don’t want people to have secure passwords?

Conclusion

I’ve spent nearly a month working this all out and eventually found that it falls short in so many areas that I am fearing that I need to try alternative solutions. I used to use Accounts Portal which charged me £10 per month but QuickFile actually looked a lot better in terms of functionality. I realise now why it’s free and to charge me for the style options would be an insult!

[Glenn]

I’m sorry to hear you’ve had problems setting up your QuickFile account. I will try to address your points in order.

@ZombiesByte

The “TO” field is set to not show in CSS but that is ignored by the PDF output.

I don’t see any CSS that is hiding these prefixes, but you don’t need to use CSS for this as there’s an option in the invoice customisation area.

@ZombiesByte

Other problems exist with formatting (i.e. one invoice has a bold payment link while the next one doesn’t for some reason).

Are you able to supply the two invoice numbers where you’re seeing a difference here?

@ZombiesByte

The inconsistencies with my brand design to what I am able to do with QuickFile is driving me nuts.

Can you provide specifics? I’m happy to assist you here so perhaps posting a mock-up (or sending via a private message) will allow me to instantly see what you’re trying to achieve and guide you accordingly.

@ZombiesByte

I setup a recurring invoice and need to tell it to invoice for the next 1,188 months (99 years) because a blank box doesn’t work

Well we could default a blank box to equal an infinite term, although I’m not sure if this is any more intuitive than entering 99 years? There’s also a risk people will miss the box and inadvertently setup recurring invoices to run indefinitely. I personally don’t see a big problem here and it hasn’t been raised before, but happy to consider alternatives. Placing a checkbox “Run indefinitely” would be the best solution and I’m sure we will eventually implement this but I don’t see this as a major problem right now?

@ZombiesByte

Further more, the email template which will be automatically sent to the client now creates a gap in my terms and conditions which would normally appear on the back of my letterheads. This email now says that the terms will be shown on the back or on the attached but there is now way of attaching these terms.

You can attach files to invoices/estimates and they will be visible within the control panel when the user logs in to view their invoice, this is documented here. We don’t allow additional documents to be attached to PDF invoices sent by email as there’s always a better way to presenting accompanying documents than actually attaching as a PDF. You could for example just include a link on your email template to a standard set of Ts and Cs.

@ZombiesByte

Client login area
This is very confusing, it seems that I have to set a password for a client.

The system will automatically assign a password for you, you can change this just by editing the contact record associated with that client.

Also bear in mind that when an invoice link is emailed the client won’t actually need to enter a password at all (unless you enforce this), it will log them in and display the invoice for them.

@ZombiesByte

Oh, not to mention that symbols are not allowed - WTF!? You don’t want people to have secure passwords?

We do allow symbols on both main admin and end-user client passwords. I believe the password length is also maxed at 16. Although as I mentioned most end-user clients logging in to view invoices don’t require a password at all, the security model for end-user clients is intentionally loose to remove any friction viewing and paying invoices.

@ZombiesByte

I realise now why it’s free and to charge me for the style options would be an insult!

On a final point, it is completely wrong to assume that if something is free it is inherently rubbish. I’m sure you wouldn’t say the same for services like Google, Twitter, Facebook etc. Although we don’t license our software, we are a commercial company and fund all our development by offering consultancy based services.

No other accounting application provides anywhere near the degree of functionality that QuickFile does without charging users. Only a very small sub-set of features and reports are chargeable and even this charge is less than half that levied by the cheapest alternative.