Level 3 and Higher

Batch Printing allows you to print two or more invoices (or billing statements) at a time.  For instance, let's say you've just entered a dozen invoices and you're ready to print them.  Instead of printing each one separately, you can use Batch Printing to print all of them.

Batch Printing is reached from the Main Invoice Screen by selecting FILE and BATCH PRINTING from the Menu Bar.  It can also be reached from the Billing Statement Screen by the same menu.

Invoice Batch Printing

After selecting FILE and BATCH PRINTING, the Invoice Batch Printing dialog box appears.

On the dialog box will be a list of the invoices created that day.  If you haven't created any invoices that day, then the box will list all of your invoices.

You can control how many days worth of invoices are listed by making adjustments in the "Display Options" at the bottom of the screen.  To make changes, first select the number of days worth of invoices, and then click "Activate." Be sure to click "Activate" after you make a day change. The screen needs to re-draw itself based on the new setting and clicking "Activate" is AnyOrder's signal that you're ready.

You can move up and down on the spreadsheet by using the arrow keys, PageUp or PageDown on your keyboard.  You can also use the up and down VCR buttons on the lower right of the screen.

From the list of invoices, select those you want printed by clicking and placing a checkmark in the "Yes" column.  (Pressing the spacebar also selects an invoice.)  If you make mistake, you can click again to remove the checkmark.

To select a group of statements click on the first of the group.  Make sure a checkmark is beside the first member of the group.  Hold down the SHIFT key and select the last member of the group.  All the customers between the two will be selected.  You can de-select a group by doing the same thing, but in this case, the first member of the group should not have a checkmark beside it.

You can select all of the invoices by clicking on "Select All" or remove the checkmarks by clicking on "Deselect All."

To find out how many invoices that you've selected, click on "Check Count."

When you've made the selections, press OK.  A dialog box will appear and AnyOrder will ask if it can do a check of the invoices.  During the check, it will make sure you're not missing something important and that all invoice messages (if any) are the proper length.  If you don't do the check in advance and a problem is found, AnyOrder will interrupt the printing process while it's underway and you'll have to make corrections at that time.  It only takes a second to do the check.  Plus, it's much more efficient to take care of problems in advance, so you'll want to select OK and have AnyOrder run the check.

Just before the printing process begins, the Print Invoice dialog box appears.  This is the same dialog box that comes up every time you print invoices.  From this dialog box you can select whether you want packing slips, originals or copies.

The selections you make on the Print Invoice dialog box will be applied to all invoices in the batch.  In other words, if you select one packing slip and two originals, then your printer will print one packing slip and two originals for each invoice in the batch.

Billing Statement Batch Printing

Much of the information for "Invoice Batch Printing" (above) also applies to billing statements.  The only difference between the two is the display.  When the batch printing dialog box first comes up all customers with an amount owing and payable will be displayed.  Thus, included on the list are all customers who have exceeded their grace period and have an amount in "Please Pay" blank on the Statement Screen.

You can also display all those customers with an amount owing.  To do so, click on the "Show Accounts Owing" button.  Included on this list are all customers who owe you, including those who have exceeded their grace period and those who have not.

You select which statements you want printed by clicking and placing a checkmark in the "Yes" column.  (The spacebar also selects statements.)  If you make mistake, you can click again to remove the checkmark.

To select a group of statements click on the first of the group.  Make sure a checkmark is beside the first member of the group.  Hold down the SHIFT key and select the last member of the group.  All the customers between the two will be selected.  You can de-select a group by doing the same thing, but in this case, the first member of the group should not have a checkmark beside it.

Note that if you are using AllPrint (the secondary print engine), the group selection feature is not available.  Also note that selections are made by clicking or typing a "Y" (for Yes) in the "Y" column.  To remove the selection, click or type an "N" (for No).  The spacebar is not activated in the AllPrint version of Statement Batch Printing.

You can select all of the invoices by clicking on "Select All" or remove the checkmarks by clicking on "Deselect All."

To find out how many invoices that you've selected, click on "Check Count."

Just before the printing process begins, the Print Statement dialog box appears.  This is the same dialog box that comes up every time you print statements.  From this dialog box you can select the number of copies you want printed.

Note that the number of copies will be applied to all statements in the batch.  In other words, if select two copies, then your printer will print two copies of each statement in the batch.

Stopping the Batch Printing Process

If you need to stop a batch printing job, tap the <ESC> key three or four times in succession.  A message will appear telling you that the process has been canceled.

Printing, however, will not stop immediately.  Like any printing process, the pages are sent first to the Windows Print Manager where they are placed in a queue. Then, from the Print Manager, they go to your printer.

Once you press <ESC> it may take a while for the Print Manager to clear out all pages being held in the queue.  If desired, you can manually clear out any remaining pages by bringing up the Print Manager (click on the Print Manager Icon in the lower right side of the Windows Screen), and canceling any remaining pages.