Issue with margins in the invoice pdf
Mits
Member Posts: 11
There are two strange things happening whenever we export an invoice from the web or give a print out.
The exported PDF doesn't have enough margins. This poses issues while punching and filing the hard copies of invoices.
If we give a print directly from the web, the accent colored bar in the invoice vanishes.
1
Comments
Not sure what's up with the bar, I'm sure someone else can help with that one, but the PDF margin thing probably has more to do with your printer configuration than an issue with Wave.
I'd play around with formatting options there. Might just be a box that needs to be checked. I know Wave works in Letter format by default, so if you're using A4 and not accounting for it, that might be the problem.
@Mits When you want to print an invoice, we suggest that you export a PDF and then print that. This ensures that the layout is optimal and page breaks are maintained as well as clarity in the text and images used.
If you are having issues with the PDF export of invoices, can you let me know what template you are using and I can take a look!
We do make the invoices fill the page so if your issue is only when punching and filing, you have the option to control the scaling while printing. You can set it to print at 90% or 80% to create a border around the outside to allow for that type of filing.
Hope that helps!
@Dante_Bulluck - I think you pointed out right thing. I am using A4 size paper. This might solve the problem but I'm not sure. I am using the "contemporary" template. If you see it carefully, the margin on either side is very small. It should be at least half an inch on the left side for punching and filing purpose.
@Rahim - What you said is true for computers but I am using mobile device / tablet. So there are no options for reducing the fill area in the printer plugins (I am using an hp printer).
So my suggestion is, if we can add options like "export to PDF" and "print invoice" directly in the three dots context menu on invoice (as is given on the web version), it will be very useful.
The reason for asking this feature is very simple. Most of the businesses nowadays use tablets or mobiles for various apps like appointment scheduling and management of various business needs and in most circumstances, they are connected to wifi printers too. At the business site, it is generally preferred to give a print out of the invoice immediately to the customer. The employees generally don't have much time to go through a lengthy process. Currently, we make invoives in the mobile app then we go to the web version www.waveapps.com, login, go to the invoice, export it as pdf and then give a print out. This process takes at least 5 minutes and sometimes even more.
I hope that would make my point and should make a difference too
@Mits Thanks for the clarity! I will take that away and discuss with our mobile team to see what possible ideas/solutions we can come up with!
Thanks @Rahim for the prompt response
Hi, on a similar theme I currently email the invoices to myself so that I can add additional information such as a record of hours / mileage etc to the back of the invoice. The pdf's always seem to be in letter format whilst I work in A4's or other iso sizes. Is there a way of changing the default page size as I'm currently having to recreate the pdf to an A4 page size so that the attachments match before I send them on to the client.
Regards
Andy
@Andy_Naki not at the moment, but we really appreciate the feedback. If you don't mind my asking, what kinds of details do you typically include? Are these expenses for reimbursement?
Charlotte, typically I attach a record of hours worked and expenses typically. However, on large lump sum contracts the invoice has a schedule of items and percentage complete as a record for the project manager. Regards Andy
The PDF that Wave creates when I export an invoice to PDF is created in US Letter size. Here is the relevant property line from a typical PDF
Paper Size: US Letter, Portrait (216 × 279 mm)
Which is fine for US printers but very difficult for UK where we are almost inevitably on ISO A4 paper sizes.
If I print the invoice myself that is sort of ok because I can "shrink to fit" BUT it doesn't have the same professional look and feel that one could want.
However it is not really appropriate to ask our customers to do that so everything prints right to the edge for width, if the printer can get that far, and has great big margins, relatively speaking, at the top and bottom - which, I'm sorry to say, makes it look sort of amateurish.
We need a setting somewhere to set an appropriate paper size for our local market - please!
Thanks for that insight @WRH! Given that we're a global software, we do our best to be as universally intuitive. Things like this that a highly regional are good reminder of how we can make things better.
Thank you @WRH and @Andy_Naki ! To be fully forthcoming with you, I don't have any information regarding plans to do this at this time, and I can't promise we'll be able to make a change. However, I'd be happy to discuss options you might have for other tools to make it easier to manage the page size issue with Wave.
If you don't mind - how often do you have to print physical copies of your invoices? Is this because your clients require it? If you could incorporate other documents or information into your invoices, could you get around that step?
I don't print the invoices I attach A4 pdf's of additional information to the invoice before submitting them electronically as one document.
Cheers
Andy
Hi all,
Totally understand @Tyler and @Charlotte you need to be universal but the world standard (ie. ISO) is A4. I think that the US is such an important market that using the US standard size is understandable but the rest of the world uses A4. I agree with @Andy_Naki - please have it as an option. Its really a small thing but makes a big difference to the customer perception of their supplier and their accounting system.
Thanks
I'm evaluating Wave app and move from another Invoicing app, but the fact that all your paper sizing in US Letter it's a big no-no for me. I cannot send an invoice to my clients and add a note, if you need to print, please reduce the zoom factor to 80%, it's absolutely unprofessional, especially from a designer point of view. Printing the PDF in US Letter and then change it into A4, the final result looks pretty amateurish and as a designer is simply too bad to share with my clients, which would look at it and question my abilities to be a designer. How difficult would be to add the templates in A4 as well? Other tools do it (eg Zoho Invoicing). Please, add the feature, as your App is using Stripe and Stripe is going global, and due to this you will have more clients coming from outside the US! Thank you.
Hey @ennynz great suggestions, and thank you! I can confirm we're working on upgrading our invoices (they currently run on an older system that has some limitations), so once we've migrated over to a more robust platform our Product Team will be taking a look at all of the suggestions for implementation. So, even though feedback is always appreciated, feedback is especially appreciated right now. I'll make sure your comment (and this thread in general) is on the feature request list.
+1
Any software with a global usage target should allow at least Letter (US) and A4 as paper formats.
I have to jump in on this too. Being able to export A4 size is more important that it may seem. This is really something that should be added in. Thanks guys.
Definitely. It's depressing to operate as a global company, but send invoices that scream "I am an ignorant American who cares nothing for international norms!" Thanks in advance.
@Adrian22 @Proeis @phik Thanks so much for chiming in! We hear you and appreciate you sharing how important this feature is for you. Fingers crossed that we can get your invoices to stop screaming at your customers soon
@amandak Any update or timeframe when this change is going to happen? Thank you.
@ennynz I don't have an ETA for you, but it's on our Product Team's radar and they are constantly working on product enhancements.
Is there any further update on this?
I am getting a lot of complaints from my clients here in Australia that when they print the PDF its not fitting on the page because we use A4 in Australia. Yes I know they can "Print to Fit" but as previously pointed out this is unprofessional and not something we should need to worry about after all this product is supposed to be saving us time not causing us extra hassle.
Is there a way to change the size of the invoice from the US Letter size to A4?
Hey @John_Md
Unfortunately there has been no update on our front in regards to reformatting our downloadable invoices. As a cloud based software a majority of our clientele use our invoicing software electronically. However I understand that this isn't the case for everyone. The focus with updating our invoices at the present moment is directed towards function over form. We appreciate you accommodating to our North American standards however. Take care!
Still not apparently . . .
https://community.waveapps.com/discussion/1261/issue-with-margins-in-the-invoice-pdf#latest
I have sent invoices sent to myself too, and they don't come out too bad on A4, could be better so hopefully this will be an option further into the near future.
I would hardly call being able to select A4 instead of letter as a customisation option, just a basic feature of any software.
I can tell that nearly every single one of my clients (more than 100) wants to be able to access a PDF version of their invoice. They often need to send it to their accounts department and then they want to print them off and then accounts complain to my client who complain to me. This is not an unusual situation.
You seem to imply it without directly saying it but can you please give a definitive statement of your intentions to at least support A4 page sizes anytime in the next 6 months so I can decided whether or not to move onto other software or not?
Hi @Grimey @Hot_Glass! Thank you for using Wave and Welcome to the Wave Community! We are thrilled to have you here with us!
@Grimey are you looking to change the size of the invoice to A4 for printing purposes? While Wave natively creates invoices in US Letter size, there are some methods to get the invoices to scale to A4 when printing. The discussion linked by @Hot_Glass talks about these methods.
Our suggestion would be to export the invoice as a PDF, set the paper size to A4 and scale the page using the printer options.
Thank you for taking the time to ask this question. While I don't have any current updates to share, enhancements to the Invoicing feature in Wave is on the Product Team's radar.
I don’t mind (can just accept) the printed outcome when printing from the downloaded PDF (why I attach invoices to the client email), but the print out from the app invoice page direct (and I suspect customer links) are a lot smaller output and not as normal looking.
I too feel a better short to mid term result is to simply have letter and A4 options, much preferably in settings somewhere so it can be automatically applied to invoices without the need to adjust every time one is created.
Just about every country apart from the US (and probably Canada by the looks) uses A4 so this is important to a huge amount of Wave users.
Hey @John_Md, thanks for reaching out and thank you for providing some context on your situation. In full transparency, updating the print function on our invoices is not something that is on our immediate roadmap. I hope that this is something that will be updated, to accommodate all of our users and I do understand how import this is to you and your customers, but I cannot give you a timeline on a fix at this time I'm afraid.
Thanks for your honesty in this situation. Unfortunately I will now move onto other invoicing software that is truly international.