Sometimes you need to work backwards.  Let's say you sold a book to someone for $30.  The book's retail cost is $40, but you're not sure what the discount should be.  You can have the program automatically calculate the percentage discount and even figure sales tax (if it is applicable).  To do so, select PRODUCT TOOLS >> CALCULATE DISCOUNT from the Menu Bar.

The "Calculate Discount" dialog box appears:

You can either calculate the overall discount or an individual discount for a product:

Calculate Overall Discount from Total Amount

In the top blank on the Calculate Discount dialog box, enter the total amount charged.  Using the example above, you would enter $30.  Click on "Calculate Overall Discount," and the program will automatically make the appropriate adjustments on the invoice.  You'll see that $10 will be entered in the "Less Discount" blank, a percentage discount of 25% will be indicated just to the right of the "Overall Discount" blank, and $30 will be entered in the "Total Due" blank.

This is a simple example, but this feature becomes very useful when you have tax or shipping involved and the calculations become more involved.

If tax is not involved, an overall discount can be calculated so that it exactly matches the desired amount. That's possible since the calculation is made by adjusting the figure in the Less Discount blank on the Main Invoice Screen. (In rare situations when a tax calculation would create a difference, AnyOrder will notify you.)

When an overall discount is calculated, only the Less Discount figure on the Main Invoice Screen is adjusted.  No discount will be shown for each of the products listed in the Item Area.  (Whenever a sale is discounted by use of Less Discount--in comparison to a percentage discount--no discount will show for the individual products.)  The reason for this is that if each of the individual product were discounted separated, more often than not, the rounding process involved in the calculations would cause the Total Due to be a penny or more higher or lower than the amount you are trying to achieve.  For more information on how AnyOrder! calculates discounts, see Discount and Less Discount.

Calculate the Discount of an Individual Product

You can also work backwards and calculate the discount of an individual product that you've listed in the "Item" area of the invoice.  To do so select the item from the list on the bottom of the Discount dialog box by moving the color highlight to the correct row.  To prevent the color highlight from jumping around, keep it in "Quan" column.

After you move the highlight to the desired row, type in the amount in the "Enter Discounted Total" blank on the bottom of the screen.  Then click on "Calculate Item Discount."

On the Main Invoice Screen, the discount column only shows one decimal place, but item discounts are actually precise to seven decimals.  You can see all seven places in the Calculate Discount dialog box.  You can also view or adjust all decimal places in the discount field by using the Alternative Product Entry Screen