".pdf" (Portable Document Format, PDF) files are documents that can be viewed and/or printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free program you can download at www.adobe.com. Beginning with version 4.306 (Beta), the Order Manager allows you to attach certain reports as .pdf files to some of its email messages.
Following are the Order Manager reports that can be sent as PDF attachments:
Invoices and/or Packing Slips can be sent as PDF attachments to Orders email
Quote reports can be sent as PDF attachments to Quotes email
Purchase Orders can be sent as a PDF attachments to Purchase Orders email
Drop Ship PO and/or the Packing Slip can be sent as PDF attachments to Drop Ship Purchase Orders email
To attach a .pdf file to an email, you must include a special tag in the email template. The tags only work in the appropriate email types, as detailed above. For example, a purchase order PDF tag is ignored if you are sending a quote. In certain cases, you may also have to set up your reports to generate the .pdf files. (See the section Creating Custom Report PDFs with Access 2000, below.)
Attaching .pdf files does not work everywhere. It is limited to places where the Order Manager can reasonably figure out what data needs to be sent. It is currently supported when sending email at the following locations in the Order Manager:
Importing orders> when sending order confirmation email
Importing orders> when creating drop ship purchase orders
View Orders> Approve button (uses the Approval Options screen)
View Orders> Send Email button
View Orders> when creating drop ship purchase orders
Manual Orders> (uses the Approval Options screen)
Manual Orders> Quotes button; when sending email after saving a quote
Purchase Orders screen> when creating/sending purchase orders
Multi Order Processor> Send Bulk Email button
Multi Order Processor> when creating drop ship purchase orders
When you send an email that includes a PDF attachment, the program prints the report to a .pdf file and attaches it to the email message before sending the message. Then, it deletes the .pdf file. Note: The system parameter DeletePDFFiles is set to True by default; if you do not wish for the program to delete the .pdf files after they are sent, set it to False.
IMPORTANT: This feature is only available if you have the system parameter EmailSendMethod set to Order Manager or Stack Controller. If you have the system parameter EmailSendMethod set to Order Manager, attachments can only be used with plain text email; they cannot be used with HTML email messages. (If you use the Stack Controller setting, you can use attachments with HTML messages.)
There are five system parameters that tell the Order Manager which report formats to use when creating the .pdf files. The parameters are the following:
InvoicePDFTemplate
PackingSlipPDFTemplate
QuotePDFTemplate
POPDFTemplate (for purchase orders)
DropShipPDFTemplate
Each parameter is pre-set with a default report format, however for Invoices and Packing Slips, you can go into System Parameters and select from any of the standard formats included with the Order Manager. (The program uses a report format called “Invoice pdf” that automatically re-configures itself to implement the appearance and features you want.) For Quotes, Purchase Orders, and Drop Ship Purchase Orders, the default report format is the only option for printing .pdf files, so there are no System Parameters to set for these reports -- unless you are using a custom report (see below).
To choose from the report format options to generate .pdf files for Invoices, Packing Slips, or custom reports:
Go to Quick Clicks> System Parameters.
Select Reports from the Parameter Group (for purchase orders, select the Purchase Orders group).
Select the template you wish to use:
For Invoices and Packing Slips, select a template from the drop down list.
For Custom Reports, type the name of the report in the field in the lower left corner.
Click Save.
Click Close to exit the Set System Parameters dialog box.
To use a custom report, if you are using Access 2000, you must configure the report to print to a “virtual printer” that is now installed with the Order Manager. The virtual printer is called “OM2PDF," which stands for “Order Manager to .pdf file”. (If you are using Access XP/2002, Access 2003 or later, you do not have to do this -- the Order Manager will take care of it for you.)
To configure a report to print to OM2PDF, open the report in Design View.
Go to File> Page Setup> Page tab.
Select Use Specific Printer.
Click the Printer button.
From the drop-down list, select OM2PDF and click OK.
Click OK.
Save the report format.
Follow these steps to insert the "include" tag into your email template, which will attach the report to the email as a .pdf file.
Go to Maintenance Menu> Maintenance> Email Template Editor.
Either select an existing template from the drop-down list or click on New.
Insert the appropriate tag(s) into your email template. The tags are:
IncludeInvoicepdf – for invoices
IncludePackingSlippdf – for packing slips
IncludeQuotepdf – for quotes
IncludePOpdf – for regular purchase orders
IncludeDropShipPOpdf – for drop ship purchase orders
If you selected an existing template, click at the end of the body of the email, select the appropriate tag, and click Insert into Template.
If you clicked on New, you can add text to the body of the email and then insert the appropriate tag OR you can insert the tag by itself, thereby sending a blank email with the report attached.
Click Save> OK> Close.
As long as the "include" tag is appropriate to the email template (i.e., IncludeQuotepdf in a Quote email), the report (or reports) will be attached as a .pdf file(s) when you send the email.
Updated 7/23/08
Modified 11/14/11