Marking Other Invoices Paid (Spreadsheet Method)
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Mark Paid Dialog Box: Marking Other Invoices Paid (Spreadsheet Method) |
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The Payment Area is located on the right side of the Main Invoice Screen. This is where you enter customer payments. This help page includes detailed information on how to use this part of the program when one payment pays off more than one invoice. Additionally, we have prepared an illustrated guide which supplements this information. You can reach the guide by clicking here: How to Record Payments in AnyOrder
The Mark Paid feature is used to record customer payments on invoices. Usually, it's a fairly simple process. If a payment pays off one invoice, it's just a matter of activating the Mark Paid dialog box, clicking OK, and all the necessary information is recorded. (To activate the Mark Park dialog box select INVOICE TOOLS >> MARK INVOICE PAID. Or it can be accessed by clicking the word: "Payments.") The Mark Paid process, however, involves a couple of extra steps when a customer pays off two or more invoices with a lump sum payment. In such cases, you enter the total amount of the payment in the first Mark Paid dialog box. Then after entering the amount, a second dialog box appears. The second dialog box is designed differently depending upon whether you are using the "Spreadsheet Method" or the "Form Entry Method." The Spreadsheet Method is selected by default and is easiest and the most common way of marking other invoices paid. It also has an undo feature which the Form Entry Method lacks. However, if you'd like to use the "Form Entry Method," you can reach it by removing the checkmark from "Spreadsheet Method" on the first Mark Paid dialog box.
The discussion below is for the Spreadsheet Method. For more information on the Form Entry Method, see: Marking Other Invoices Paid (Form Entry Method). IMPORTANT NOTE: The Spreadsheet Method is not available if you enter payment amounts directly to the invoice and do not use the Mark Paid feature. In the second dialog box (entitled "Mark Other Invoices Paid"), you'll use your mouse to click on invoices that are paid off. (For more details on the Mark Paid feature and information on the steps leading up to this dialog box, see "One Payment for Two or More Invoices" found under Payments by Customers.) The following provides more information about the different parts of the "Mark Other Invoices Paid" dialog box:
Marking Invoices on the Spreadsheet The "Mark More Invoices Paid" appears when you select "One Payment for Two or More Invoices" on the first Mark Paid dialog box:
The spreadsheet which occupies most of the dialog box shows all of the customer's invoices. Each invoice is shown on a separate row. Your current location on the spreadsheet is shown by the large black arrow on the far left of the spreadsheet -- and by the colored indicator in the first column. You can move up and down the spreadsheet by using the up and down scroll bars. You can also move to the right or left by using the horizontal scroll bars. Moving to the right allows you to see three additional columns including balance, shipping name and the first product listed on the invoice. If desired, the columns may be adjusted in width by moving the lines in the heading area at the top of the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is used to mark which invoices should be covered by the payment. The process is fairly easy. First, locate an invoice that should be marked paid. Then double click on that invoice's row. (You can single-click if you put a checkmark beside "Select by One Click," or you can also press the spacebar on your keyboard to make the selection). When you double-click (or single click), a checkmark appears in the first column. The checkmark means that the invoice will be marked paid along with the starting invoice. Keep clicking until you've checked all of the invoices that should be included in the payment. One column that may be helpful to you is the "Pd" (Paid) column. When "Pd" is checked, it means that the invoice has already been marked paid. When it's not checked, the invoice has not been paid. Those are the invoices that you're looking for. By sighting down this column, you can quickly narrow down the list to all those invoices that haven't been paid. (The only exception to this is if you are making corrections to batch of invoices that you've previously marked paid. In that case, you will be looking for checkmarks in the "Pd" column.) If you accidentally miss-mark an invoice paid, you can remove the checkmark by double clicking again. As you mark invoices paid, the amount remaining from the original payment is shown at the bottom of the screen. After you've marked all the necessary invoices paid, the Amount Remaining figure will reach zero (0). At this point, the program will ask if you want to exit, select "Yes" and you're all finished.
Select by One Click Normally, you use two clicks to select an invoice. The first click moves the pointer to the appropriate row and the second click selects the invoice. If desired, however, you can change the behavior so that it only takes one click to make the selection. Each time you click on a row, it is immediately selected. To make the change, place a checkmark beside "Select by One-Click." AnyOrder will remember your setting.
"List" Button To view a list of invoices that you've marked paid so far, click on the "List" button. The list is an alternative form of viewing marked invoices. It may be useful if you are comparing your progress with a list of invoices on the customer's check stub.
Amount Left The "Amount Left" figure is located on the bottom, left hand side of the dialog box. As you make selections, the figure will change, indicating how much is left of the original payment. It is calculated by taking the original payment and subtracting the total due amounts appearing on the marked invoices. If an invoice has a credit on it, the credited amount is added to the Amount Left figure. When you have marked the last invoice of the batch, the Amount Left figure should show zero (0). Whenever Amount Left reaches zero, a message will appear asking if you want to exit. If you've completed entering all of the invoices, select YES and you'll be finished with the process. If Amount Left doesn't reach zero (0), and you've completed marking all of the invoices, then one or more of the amounts included in the customer's payment doesn't match the amounts on one or more invoices. You can find out where the problem lies by comparing the amounts in the total due column of the spreadsheet with what the customer has recorded on the check stub. Note that if you are marking a series of invoices and you have some credits mixed among charges, it is possible that Amount Left will reach zero (0) before you've completed entering all the invoices. In that case, when the "Amount at Zero (0)" message appears, select NO, (you don't want to exit) and continue marking the rest of the invoices paid.
Filtering AnyOrder filters the invoices shown on the spreadsheet depending upon the type of customer. There are two types of customers: those with a number or those without a number. Those with numbers are customers that have been entered in the Customer Database. Those without numbers are not in the Customer Database. Let's say you are working with a customer that has a customer number. In other words, you are working with a customer that is in the Customer Database. Along with the customer's number is something called the Billing Group Number. The Billing Group Number is almost always the same as the Customer Number. If, however, the bills for two or more customers are sent to the same central office, they are part of the same billing group and have the same Billing Group Number. They would have different customer numbers, but the same Billing Group Number. Only invoices with the same Billing Group Number will appear on the spreadsheet. Lower on the screen, you'll see a checkmark beside: "Show Only those Invoices With the Same Billing Number." If you are working with a customer that does not have a number (in other words, they are not in the Customer Database), then only invoices with the same spelling of the name appear on the spreadsheet. The following will be checked: "Show Only those Invoices With the Same Billing Name." In either case, it's much easier to find what you're looking for, limiting invoices only to those of relevance. If you remove the checkmark from "Show Only Those Invoices…", all invoices, no matter what the Group Number or billing name, will be shown. You'll probably rarely ever remove the checkmark, but the option is available should you need it. You can also refine the filtering effect even more by clicking the "More Filtering Options" button. This opens a small dialog box ("Additional Filtering Options") with several choices: Show only those invoices with the same billing number (or name) Show only those invoices with the same billing number (or name) AND with a CREDIT (NEGATIVE AMOUNT) in Total Due Show only those invoices with the same billing number (or name) AND with a POSITIVE AMOUNT in Total Due Show only those invoices with the same billing number (or name) AND which have NOT been marked paid yet It's helpful to look a little closer at the last option ("Show only those invoices with the same billing name AND which have NOT been marked paid"). Normally, it's best to use this filter to give you an overall view of which invoices haven't been marked paid. Then after viewing the invoices, you'll want to switch back to one of the other filters. The reason not to keep this filter turned on is that when it's in effect, each time you mark a row on the spreadsheet to be paid, the row will disappear from the spreadsheet. (That's the purpose of the filter: anything marked paid is filtered out.) If desired, you can keep the filter on and use it for selecting rows, but be aware that you won't be able to keep track of previously marked rows.
Search Sometimes when marking invoices paid, you may not have an invoice number. Instead, you may need to work from the customer's PO Number. In such cases, you can use the Search function. By clicking on the "Search" button, a small dialog box appears on which you can enter a customer's PO Number. You also have the option of entering an invoice number. Options available are: Search for an Exact Word Match. When checked, AnyOrder will search for an exact word match. If you are searching for a PO Number or reference which is purely a number, this normally the best option. Sometimes, however you may be searching for a PO reference that includes your notation along with the customer's number. Search Only for Those invoices with the Same Billing Number (or Name). Normally, you'll keep this box checked. The only time you might remove the checkmark is if you are working a customer without a number and you can't find the PO Number. This will allow you to search through all of the invoices – not just those limited by the spelling of the name. PO Number / Invoice Number Blanks. Precedent is given to the first blank (PO Number). After you type a PO Number in the first blank, click on OK and AnyOrder will search for the number. If you need to search for an Invoice Number, make sure the first blank is empty and then type in the Invoice Number.
Opt Button Opt means "Option." There's only one option--and you'll probably rarely use it. It's utilized when you have to re-mark a number of invoices in order to correct a mistake made in an earlier Mark Paid process. Normally, whenever you try to mark an invoice that's previously been paid, an "Invoice Already Paid" message appears. This is a safety valve to prevent you from marking the wrong invoice paid. In almost all situations, you'll want to keep the message turned on. But there may be a time or two when you want to turn it off. Let's say you've completed the Mark Paid process on a series of invoices. After completing the process, you find that you've left out an invoice. To correct this, you'll need to go back and re-mark the invoices (in addition to the one that you missed). While you are re-marking the invoices, you may wish to turn it off the "Invoice Already Paid" message. If you don't, it will keep triggering each time you select an invoice. To turn it off, click on the "Opt" button and select YES. To turn it back on, click on "Opt" and select "NO."
Combining Payments One situation that you may run across is when you already have an amount recorded on an invoice and you want to combine that amount with a new payment. This situation is quite rare and you may never have to worry about it, but if it happens, here's how to handle it: To help explain, let's use an example. Let's say that you've issued five invoices to "Main Street Supply." The total of the five invoices is $900. One of the invoices, Invoice # 444, is for $250. Main Street Supply is having a bad month, but to demonstrate their willingness to keep up with their bills, they send you a check for $50, partially paying off Invoice # 444. You enter the $50 under "Payment1" on Invoice # 444. Then, a month later, they send a check for $850 to pay off all five invoices. You would select INVOICE TOOLS and MARK INVOICE PAID, enter the $850, and the "Mark Other Invoices Paid" dialog box will appear. You would then follow the usual procedure, marking each of the invoices that are being paid off. When you click on Invoice # 444, the following message will appear: A payment is already recorded on invoice # 444. Do you wish to add this payment to the existing payment? Select YES if you want to COMBINE this payment with the existing payment. Select NO if you want to ERASE the existing payment. In this case you would want to select YES, combine the payment with existing payment. AnyOrder will leave the amount in the Payment1 blank untouched and take that amount into consideration as it calculates the "Amount Left" figure. Once you've finished marking all of the invoices, the "Amount Left" figure will reach zero (0) and the process will be complete. Note that the above message is triggered any time you're marking invoices paid and the invoice selected has an existing value in either Payment1 or Payment2. If you've mistakenly entered a value in Payment1 or Payment2 -- or there's a payment left over from an earlier incomplete mark paid process -- then the message will be triggered. In either of these cases, you'll want to erase the payment. That's done by selecting NO when the message appears.
Correcting Mistakes You may find that after exiting from the Mark Paid process you've made a mistake. No worries. Mistakes are bound to occur now and then, but they can be easily fixed. Here's how to handle them: If the wrong invoice paid has been marked paid. Bring up the miss-marked invoice on the screen, and select INVOICE TOOLS and REMOVE PAYMENT STATUS from the Menu Bar. This will remove the paid status message in the Payment Box and any payment notations in the Notes area of the invoice. Once you finish this, you should re-do the Mark Paid process. Begin again at the Starting Invoice, enter the total payment and re-mark each of the appropriate invoices paid (leaving out, of course, the miss-marked invoice). This will get everything back in order and update the payment information on the starting invoice. If you've left out an invoice--or simply need to do the Mark Park process over again. To get sorted out, it's just a matter of repeating the process. Begin with the Starting Invoice and select INVOICE TOOLS and REMOVE PAYMENT STATUS from the Menu Bar. This will remove the paid status message in the Payment Box and any payment notations in the Notes area of the invoice. Then select INVOICE TOOLS and MARK INVOICE PAID to bring up the Mark Paid dialog box. Type in the payment amount and click on OK. The "Mark Other Invoices Paid" dialog box appears. Re-mark the appropriate invoices on the spreadsheet. When Amount Left reaches zero (0), and you've completed entering invoices, the payment information on the Starting Invoice will be appropriately updated -- and you'll be back on track again.
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