Settings - Getting started

1What the Settings area does #

Settings hold the company-wide choices that are neither a master record nor one person's preference: how the books value stock, which trackings a voucher must fill, what the entry screens allow, how the company sends e-mail, SMS and WhatsApp, which outside services it talks to, and how a counter prints. Change one, and every user of the company works by it from their next screen load.

They fall into four kinds, and each kind saves differently:

2Where to find help #

• On every screen: the Help panel on the right. Press the chevron to open or dock it. It explains each field, the rules the server enforces, and every message the screen can show.
• The manual: at the foot of this page, the help of every settings screen in full - the shared settings editor (Account, Inventory and Approval Alert Settings use it), Mail Accounts, Email Templates, SMS/WhatsApp Profiles, API Providers, API Profiles, GST Filing Settings, Local Printing, Status Master, AI Assistance and Voucher Manager.
• The search box in the help finds a word, a setting number or a message across every screen.

3Where things are - the Settings menu #

Some modules keep their settings in their own menu, on the same editor: Order Settings (Order Management), Cashier Settings (Cashier), CRM Settings (CRM), Hub Settings (Communications), Payroll Settings and Holiday Settings (Attendance & Payroll), Time Management Settings (Employee Time Management). Customer portal settings are in the Customer Portal Administration area.

4First-day setup (administrator) #

Check these for a new company, in this order. The first three change how everything is recorded, so decide them before anybody enters a voucher.

1. General Settings: decide Track divisions and Allow group company first. Then the audit log, and whether the Modify, Delete and Find buttons are hidden on entry screens.
2. Inventory Settings: the Closing Stock Valuation Method (#3) - the single most consequential setting on the page - and the Valuation of Opening Stock Method (#13). Agree them with your accountant.
3. Account Settings: which tracking is compulsory (cost centre #9, cheque #10, bill-by-bill #11), how ledger account numbers are made (#16-#20), and the number format (#29, #87).
4. Email Account: add the company's mail profile, send a test, and say which apps and modules send through it. Nothing can be e-mailed until one works - not invoices, not the welcome message to a new user.
5. Email Templates and SMS/WhatsApp Profiles: one default template or profile per voucher type you send.
6. Approval Alert Settings: when approvers are reminded (#215) and requests escalated (#216), and who hears about requests nobody can decide (#214).
7. Masters > Voucher Manager: numbering, statuses and the stock and price rules of each voucher type you use.
8. The module settings you are licensed for: Order Settings (the credit check on orders), Cashier Settings, Payroll Settings, CRM Settings.

5Keyboard shortcuts #

General Settings has Save (F5) and a Refresh button. The shared editor's keys belong to the copy of the page you are on; a dialog's own keys win while it is open.

6How saving works #

• Account, Inventory, Approval Alert, Order, Cashier, CRM, Hub and Payroll Settings share one editor: Reload (F2), Save (F5), Discard Changes (Esc). A changed card shows modified, and the header counts how many you have touched.
• Only the changed settings are sent, and they are saved in one transaction - all of them or none. "Save failed - nothing was changed" means one was refused, so none were saved.
• The editor builds each card from the setting itself: a switch for Yes/No, a number box for numbers, a pick-list where the setting names one, text otherwise. A value no longer in its list stays, so opening the page never destroys an old value.
• Cards are grouped under headings (for Inventory: Stock Valuation, Serial, Batch & TranID, Barcodes & Scanning, Product Master, Transaction Screen, Linked Transactions). Within a group they follow the setting number.
• Screens already open keep what they loaded; a new value applies the next time each screen loads. Nobody has to sign out.
• A setting may be left blank only where the setting allows it; the page checks first and the server checks again with the same words.
• Changing a setting does not correct records already keyed. Rules apply when an entry is saved.

7General Settings #

One row for the whole company database, and every screen reads it. Only an Administrator opens it; the server refuses anyone else. A new company with no row shows the defaults - group company allowed, divisions off, audit off - and Save writes the row.

Divisions and group company

• Track divisions - on, every standard report offers the Division filter and entries can carry a division (divisions must exist in the Division Master). Reports read it on their next open.
• Allow group company - off, the Group report option disappears from company selection, and with it the group-company pick and the footer chip. It applies the next time a user opens company selection.

Vouchers and transaction screens

Audit and data handling

• Enable audit log - changes are written to the audit trail that Admin > Modified/Deleted/Cancelled Entries reads. It costs some write speed; auditors usually want it on.
• Treat text as Unicode on update - needed for scripts beyond Latin (Arabic, Hindi, Tamil).
• Local machine time as entry time - on, the workstation's clock stamps entries; off, the database server's does. Server time keeps a mixed office consistent.

Desktop application

These steer the installed desktop application only; the web ignores them: Auto-reconnect, Reconnect command timeout (1-600 seconds), Reconnection attempts (1-100), Auto-refresh dashboard, Dashboard polling interval (5-3600 seconds), Auto-update and Private download location, Idle lock (0-480 minutes, 0 = never), Default print orientation (Portrait, Landscape or blank), and the two Custom menu switches.

External import

Allow import from external source lets the import tools pull data from another database; the External source connection string is then required. It is a credential - only administrators see this page.

8Account Settings #

The accounting side of the company, on the shared editor. Administrators only, and the licence must include Financial Accounting.

9Inventory Settings #

Stock, barcodes and the item side of the entry screens, on the shared editor. Administrators only, and the licence must include Inventory Management.

10Approval Alert Settings #

How the approval inbox chases a request that is waiting. Administrators only, on every licence - somebody who could lengthen the escalation window could make a request invisible.

11Email Account - the mail profiles #

A mail profile is how this company sends e-mail - documents, statements, alerts and the customer portal's invites. They are the same profiles the desktop uses. Only an Administrator or Global Administrator may open this page: the address sends as your company, and its password is an SMTP account.

1. Press New (F3). Give a Profile name and Send from - the address recipients see. It identifies the profile.
2. Outgoing server: the SMTP server is a host name (smtp.gmail.com), not an e-mail address. The Port comes from your provider: 587 with SSL is usual, 465 is also common. Server needs a login is on for nearly every provider; give the User name and password.
3. Use an app password where the provider requires one - Gmail and Microsoft 365 refuse the account's own password for programs.
4. Save (F5), then Test it: type an address in Send a test to... and press Send test. It is the only way to know the profile works.
5. What sends through this profile: tick the portals (Customer Self Service, E-Commerce, Support, Employee) and ERP modules that send through it, and mark it the default where you want it to carry the rest. Each line shows what it resolves to - this profile, the company default, or "nothing can send this".
6. Who may send from it by hand: tick the users who may choose this address when writing a message themselves.

• The password is never shown back. An empty box keeps the stored one, so changing a port cannot wipe it.
• Senders look the profile up at send time, so an edit applies to the next send.
• The portal sends through the profile marked for it. With none, invites are not e-mailed: the link is still made and shown for copying.
• Incoming (POP/IMAP) settings and the database-mail columns are left as the desktop set them; nothing on the web receives mail through them.
• When a test fails: "Authentication failed" is nearly always an app password; a time-out is a blocked or wrong port; "A non-recoverable error occurred during a database lookup" means the server name does not resolve. Sent but not arrived - check spam, and the domain's SPF and DKIM records.

12Email Templates #

An e-mail template is the ready-made mail the software sends: subject, body, attached files, sender account and printed document. Placeholders in the subject and body are filled from the voucher or report row when it is sent.

1. Press Add (F3) and name it (up to 128 characters, unique).
2. Pick the Module type - Voucher, Other, Custom Reports or Workflow Notification - then the voucher type, module or custom report it serves. Changing the type clears choices that no longer apply.
3. Pick the Sender account from Email Account. Switch Attach print document on and pick a format if the printed voucher should go along.
4. Add default e-mail ids (separated by semicolons) and, on ERP, the branches that use it (none ticked means all).
5. Type the Subject and Body. Put the cursor where a value belongs and press Insert variable. Document link adds a link to a Document Management file (it needs the connection's Public URL).
6. Add files that go with every mail, each with a description (up to 4 MB each). Switch Default on if senders should pick this one first. Save (F5).

• Sending option: Batch Auto, Batch But Edit, One-By-One, One-By-One But Edit.
• Only one active default per module (or custom report) may cover a branch; the save names the one that already is.
• A placeholder the module does not know is warned about but saved - it is sent as typed.
• The body may not exceed 1 MB; link large pictures instead of pasting them.
• A template a workflow setting uses cannot be deleted - make it Inactive.
• Rights: Find, Create, Alter and Delete on Email Templates (User Manager > Masters). The server and the database both check them.

13SMS/WhatsApp Profiles #

A profile is a ready-made SMS or WhatsApp message: the gateway account that sends it, the text or WhatsApp template, who else gets a copy and, for WhatsApp, the document that goes along.

1. Press Add (F3), name it (up to 100 characters, unique) and pick SMS or WhatsApp.
2. Pick the Sending account - the gateway account. The gateway accounts themselves are not edited on the web; this page picks one.
3. Pick what it is Used for - Voucher, Other or Custom Reports - and the voucher type, module or report. The placeholder list on the right follows this choice.
4. SMS: type the message (up to 2048 characters) and click placeholders into it. WhatsApp: the provider's template name and the template values, in the order the template expects.
5. Add Default numbers that always get a copy (7 to 15 digits each, or a placeholder).
6. WhatsApp documents: Attach printed voucher, pick the format and how it travels - a fixed https link or an FTP upload.
7. Switch Default on if senders should pick it first. Save (F5).

• The counter under an SMS shows its parts: 160 characters in one plain SMS, 153 per part after that; one character outside the plain set (a curly quote, an emoji) makes it Unicode - 70, or 67 per part. The counter turns amber past 3 parts and red past 10.
• Only one default per voucher type, module or report may cover a branch.
• A rename carries to the gateway accounts and lead settings that name the profile; a profile they use cannot be deleted.
• Rights: SMS Template Definition (User Manager > Masters).
• Delivery after the hand-over belongs to the gateway: an unapproved template, an unregistered sender id or no balance stops it there. Check the gateway's dashboard and Admin > Notification Log.

14API Providers and API Profiles #

API Providers

An API provider is an outside service with the address and credentials to reach it. Opening the page needs Execute on Settings (User Manager > Tools & Utilities).

1. Press Add (F3), name it (up to 125 characters, unique), pick the API type - IRN Request, IRN Cancel, E-Invoice By IRN, Eway-Bill By IRN, DocToVoucher, Transport or Others - and the Provider name (Webtel, IRIS Zircon API, Others, or your own).
2. Paste the Url - a full http:// or https:// address.
3. Type the credentials the provider issued: API key, client id and secret, and the portal sign-in if it asks for one. Add Other parameters (semicolon-separated) and Body text if its instructions call for them.
4. Switch Default on for the provider to use for its API type; on ERP tick the branches that use it. Save (F5).

• Credentials are stored encrypted and never shown again, not even to an administrator. Each box says Saved or Not set; typing replaces, Clear removes, an empty box keeps.
• Only one default provider per API type may cover a branch.
• A provider an API profile or transporter setting uses cannot be deleted.

API Profiles

An API profile says how a record is pushed to an outside system: which provider, the address, the method, the body, the headers and when to call. Rights: Api Profile Settings (User Manager > Masters).

1. Set up the provider first.
2. Press Add (F3), name the profile and pick the provider.
3. Choose the Method (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE), the Timeout (5-300 seconds) and the sign-in method: None, Bearer, Basic or API-key header.
4. Complete the Address, pick what it is Used for, and write the Body, inserting placeholders. Add the Headers the provider needs.
5. Optionally add a Condition, then Save (F5) and try Preview request on a recent voucher - it shows the exact call without sending it.

• The voucher type's API option in Voucher Manager decides when a voucher calls its profiles. Every call is logged; a voucher already sent by a profile is not sent twice.
• A condition is compiled on save; one containing statements (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, EXEC) is refused.

15GST Filing Settings #

Who approves and who files each GST return, and what filing does to the month. Viewing needs Execute on Filing Return; saving also needs Execute on Settings (both User Manager > Tools & Utilities).

1. For each return, press Add a level for every approval step and pick who approves it: users, user groups, or both. Level 1 decides first; the return moves on when one person of a level approves.
2. Leave a return with no levels to have Submit approve it at once.
3. Pick the filing officers who record the ARN and may reopen a filed return.
4. Set the switches and figures, then Save (F5).

16Local Printing #

A web page cannot pick a printer - the browser always shows its print dialog. On a busy counter the InvoiceNET Print Agent, a small program on the counter computer, removes the dialog: the ERP hands it the document and the printer name, and it prints at once.

1. Install the agent on the counter computer for the Windows user who works there (install.ps1 adds it to start-up). A printer icon appears in the tray - green when ready.
2. Right-click the tray icon > Copy pairing token, paste it on this page and press Save Connection (F5).
3. Test Connection (F2) lists the computer's printers. It prints nothing.
4. Open a voucher, press Print, choose the format and the printer, tick Remember for ... on this computer, pick Silent, and print. From then on that voucher type prints straight to that printer, including the automatic print after saving.

• The settings belong to this browser on this computer, and to the company you are in. Another browser, a private window or clearing site data starts empty.
• One setting per voucher type. The print options button next to Print (Ctrl+Shift+P) always opens the format dialog, for a one-off reprint.
• Print rights and the voucher's status still decide whether it may print; a voucher printed through the agent is marked printed, so the next print needs Re-print.
• If the agent is not running or the printer is gone, the document opens in the browser's dialog and the page says why. Nothing is lost.
• The agent listens only on this computer (port 17888 by default) and obeys only a browser holding its token.

17Status Label #

A status is a named state with a display colour - Open, Approved, Closed - that documents and records carry. Statuses are offered wherever a screen shows a status pick-list, and each voucher type chooses its own from them in Voucher Manager. The page heading is Status Master.

• Status Name - required, unique, up to 50 characters. Description up to 255.
• Colour - a hex code such as #22aa55; type it or pick it from the swatch.
• Module - which modules the status applies to.
• Is Reserved ? - a system status. It can be set only while adding; once saved it can never be renamed or deleted.
• Is Active ? - off retires the status without deleting it.
• About two dozen tables carry a status; one in use anywhere cannot be deleted. Rows colour by status across the application (Inactive orange, Cancelled red), so add new statuses rather than renaming built-in ones.

18AI Assistance #

1. Read the notice at the top: it says exactly what is sent, and when.
2. Fill in the service: a Name, Which service (OpenAI, Anthropic, Azure OpenAI or a compatible one), the Model name exactly as the service spells it, the Address (required for Azure and custom; must begin with https://) and the Key. Longest answer is 100 to 8000 tokens; 800 suits a summary.
3. Tick which jobs are allowed (#285). Anything unticked is refused by the server.
4. Switch Use AI assistance on (#284). Until then nothing at all is sent.
5. Set Keep the log for (#286) at least as long as your audit window.

• Four gates must all be open: the licence, #284, the job being ticked, and the asker's own right to the record.
• The least that will do is sent: a conversation's messages (the most recent 12,000 characters), or the notes just typed. Never the ledger, never prices.
• The software never sends what the AI wrote. Every answer goes to a screen and waits for a person.
• The key is stored encrypted and never comes back to the browser. A blank key box keeps the one you have.
• The log shows every request: who, about what, characters sent and back, answered, failed or refused, and whether the answer was used.

19Voucher type settings #

Every voucher belongs to a voucher type, and the type decides how it behaves: whether it posts to the books and the stock register, how it is numbered, which statuses, columns and price types it has, and which guards apply. Voucher types are kept in Masters > Voucher Manager (rights: Voucher Manager on the Masters tab). A change applies to the very next voucher opened - no restart.

The header

• Name - the unique key, stored in capitals and locked after the first save.
• Category (Acc, Inv, Mfr, Pay, Ser, Stk, Trp) - decides which fields appear and whether the Advanced tab exists.
• Base Type - Sale, Purchase, Receipt, AMC and the rest. It decides the licence module the type belongs to, unless the type names its own Module.
• Display Order and Inactive - the order on the Transactions list, and retiring a type.
• Duplicate copies the loaded type with every setting that belongs to it, in one step. New types are usually copied, not built.
• The find a setting box beside the title searches the page's roughly two hundred captions across all three tabs and jumps to the tab of each match.

The settings that matter most

The Properties & Settings panel beside the form opens the sub-settings of a saved type: branch pricing and branch numbering (ERP), selection groups, transaction classes, column properties, custom fields, linked-transaction, voucher-sharing and status-permission properties, workflow, quality orders, TouchPOS, the lead filter and load voucher. Buttons not yet ported show disabled.

• Many switches show Desktop only for now (the web entry screen does not act on them yet) or Reserved (saved, but nothing acts on them yet).
• A voucher type that has ever been used cannot be deleted - make it Inactive.
• A voucher type whose module is not on the licence is not listed, and cannot be opened or saved.
• Nearly every switch is half of a gate: the feature also needs its flag on the product, ledger or company before it appears at entry.
• With the Communication Hub's automatic messages installed, the SMS and e-mail sending options are shown read-only here; Communications > Automatic Messages sends them.

20Settings kept elsewhere #

The module settings pages are the same editor as Account Settings, open only to an Administrator, and each is gated by its module's licence. Approval Alert Settings belong to no module and are open on every licence.

21Who may change what #

• Administrators only: General Settings, Email Account, Account, Inventory, Approval Alert and the module settings pages. The server refuses anyone else, whatever the menu shows. A Developer is not an Administrator for these pages.
• Rights on the Masters tab of User Manager: Email Templates, SMS Template Definition, Api Profile Settings, Voucher Manager - Find, Create, Alter and Delete each. The database's permission triggers check them again on save, and check the status table the same way.
• Rights on the Tools & Utilities tab: Settings (API Providers; saving GST Filing Settings) and Filing Return (viewing GST Filing Settings).
• Licence: AI Assistance needs its add-on; Order, Cashier, CRM, Hub and Payroll settings need their modules; the Applicable branches fields are ERP only.
• Local Printing is per browser; anybody sets up their own computer.

22Moving from the desktop #

• The same values. The switch pages read and write the same settings tables the desktop reads. A change made on the web reaches the desktop, and the other way round.
• The same profiles. Mail accounts, e-mail templates (the desktop's E-Mail Profiles), SMS/WhatsApp profiles and API providers and profiles are the desktop's own records.
• Desktop-only knobs. The Desktop application card in General Settings, and switches marked Desktop only for now in Voucher Manager, steer only the installed desktop application.
• Not on the web. Incoming mail (POP/IMAP) settings and SMS gateway accounts are still maintained in the desktop.

23Common messages and what to do #

This is the short list. Every settings screen's Help panel lists every message it can show.