invoice ideas - what program ?

[joey_205]

Hi everyone. Ive just started working for a fashion company in london.. I have been asked to produce some invoices which will be sent out to customers with purchased products... The invoices need to look really sleek and professional as well as following the corporate identity..

Anyway the problem... All the invoices will be filled out and printed by the warehouse manager which means it needs to be able to update them and edit.

I would usually do them in excel but i think its quite hard to get them looking really good in there,

I was wondering if there is any programs you would recommend or techniques i can use... maybe design them in illustrator and import the design as a background in excel if thats possible?

Thanks for any advice / tips.

Joey

[hank_scorpio]

For things like this I set up a template and had them preprinted.

Then set up a template in Excel and when that is printed on top of the finished blank invoices they all fit perfectly.

Would something like that help?

[joey_205]

yea that's what i originally wanted to do however they have insisted on printing everything on site only buying a better quality paper... maybe still do the same thing.. print them all of on site in one bulk then run through an excel template..

much rather send them to the printers around the corner to be honest.

[hank_scorpio]

It's usually cheaper in the long run to get shells printed. How many invoices will they print per year? How much is one full colour (or b/w) sheet to print off themselves?

Compare that to quotes for full colour and b/w quotes for the invoices for the entire year (heck you could 2 years worth printed if necessary).

Printing out full colour or even b/w when it includes graphics could take longer too rather than just sending b/w text from excel that overlays. So it saves on time and full colour print outs (b/w prints) too.


It's usually how we've done it in the past.


If they really want to do it you could use InDesign and Acrobat forms

http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-52-acrobat-friendly-form-design

http://www.theindesigner.com/blog/episode-53-acrobat-friendly-form-design-part-2


And they can fill out the data in Acrobat


Acrobat can even equate things

http://www.ehow.com/how_6518093_adding-equation-acrobat.html

That can total the invoice - speeding things up

(perhaps a better link to setting up equations in Acrobat is needed? But it's doable and super fancy)

[joey_205]

Fantastic, Im trying to get them printed which is the way i would usually do it.. I just hope they do. Thanks for the advice. Ill look into acrobat and see if its possible to do it that way.

Cheers.

Joey