Send your own invoice PDF instead of the generated one

If your invoices are made in another system, such as a job, practice or billing tool, the PDF your customer first receives looks different from the one Xero generates. Turn on an alternative invoice PDF and Paidnice attaches your own file instead, so the customer sees the same document in every reminder.

This setting is available for organizations connected to Xero.

Setting it up

Go to Organisation Settings, Advanced, and open the Invoice PDF tab. The section is called Alternative Invoice PDF: “Use a file already attached to the invoice in Xero instead of the generated invoice PDF when emailing customers.”

• Use alternative invoice PDF: turn this on to show the other settings. Paidnice then looks for an invoice attachment that matches the filename prefix.
• Filename prefix: text that appears in the name of every PDF your system makes, such as INV-. Attachments on the Xero invoice whose filename contains this text are used as the invoice PDF. For Xero attachments the match is case-sensitive and spaces count, so copy the text exactly. If more than one attachment matches, Paidnice uses the first match. PDFs you email in are matched more loosely, see Email your invoices in.
• Fallback behaviour: what to do when no attachment matches the filename prefix. Pick Use the Xero generated PDF (the default), Send with no PDF attached or Don’t send, report an error. With the last option, the action fails instead of sending, and the error is shown on it on the Actions page. Attach the file, then retry the action.

Click Save when you are done.

Getting the file onto the Xero invoice

Paidnice only looks at files attached to the invoice in Xero. Your other system can attach its PDF through its Xero connection, or you can attach it manually: open the invoice in Xero, click Attach files and upload the PDF. You don’t need to tick Include with online invoice, because Paidnice matches on the filename only. If you do tick it and a reminder policy also has Include invoice attachments on, the customer may get the PDF twice.

Give every PDF the same recognizable text in its filename, and use that text as the prefix.

Upload the PDF yourself

You can also put the file on one invoice by hand, for example when an emailed PDF wasn’t matched or you want to swap the document. Open the invoice in Paidnice and click Attach alternative PDF, just above Invoice attachments at the bottom of the invoice. Pick the file. Only PDF files are accepted.

The uploaded file becomes the alternative PDF for that invoice, and the invoice shows it with a PDF emailed in badge. If the invoice already had one, the button reads Replace alternative PDF and the new file takes over. The button only shows while Use alternative invoice PDF is on.

Email your invoices in

If your other system can’t attach files in Xero, it can email them in. Under Filename prefix and Fallback behaviour, click Email your invoices in to see a private address for your organization.

When your other system emails an invoice to your customer, add this address as a BCC. Paidnice attaches the PDF to the matching invoice and sends that instead of the accounting system’s PDF.

• The invoice number must appear in the PDF file name, for example Invoice_INV0017.pdf. The match ignores case, spaces and punctuation, so inv 0017 and INV-0017 both match invoice INV0017. If the name matches more than one invoice, the file isn’t attached.
• If you set a Filename prefix, the file name must contain it too. This check also ignores case, spaces and punctuation.
• The email must also go to an email address on the invoice’s contact in Xero. Any of the contact’s people counts, not only the main address.
• Keep the address private. Anyone with it can attach PDFs to your invoices.

Files that weren’t attached

When a file couldn’t be attached, the Email your invoices in dialog lists it under “Recently received and not attached”, with when it arrived, the file name, the invoice number Paidnice read from it, and the reason:

Try again is only offered for “No invoice matched that number”. For the others, fix the cause and send the email again, or upload the file on the invoice.

Where your PDF is used

A PDF you emailed in or uploaded is used ahead of a matching Xero attachment. Once it is on, your file replaces the Xero PDF anywhere Paidnice would send or show the invoice PDF:

• reminder emails with Attach invoice as PDF turned on (see How email reminders work)
• one-off sends from an invoice
• late fee and discount emails
• payment plan reminders
• PDF downloads in the customer portal, including invoice links on statements that open the portal
• bulk invoice downloads
• template previews

The wording of the email itself still comes from your template. See Edit email templates.

Checking it works

1. Open an invoice in Xero and check it has an attachment whose name contains your prefix.
2. In Paidnice, open the same invoice and expand Invoice attachments at the bottom of the invoice. The attachment that will be used is marked Nominated alternative PDF. If nothing matches, the panel says “No attachment currently matches the configured alternative PDF prefix.” If you emailed in or uploaded a PDF, the invoice shows PDF emailed in with the file name instead.
3. Open the invoice in the customer portal and download the PDF. It should be your file, not the Xero one.

The Test & Preview tab on a reminder policy checks whether the policy applies, but it does not check the PDF.