WindoorERP Documentation 19.0

Send a pro-forma invoice

4 min read Updated 2026-08-29 WindoorERP 19.0

What this does

A pro-forma invoice is the document a customer needs before the real invoice exists: for a letter of credit, a customs file, a payment authorisation inside their company. WindoorERP produces it from the sales order — an invoice-styled rendering of the quotation, clearly titled PRO-FORMA — without creating any accounting document: no invoice number is consumed, nothing posts to the ledger, and the customer's balance does not move. It is a promise of an invoice, not an invoice.

Before you start

  • The Pro-forma Invoices access group. In this edition there is no Sales-settings switch for the feature — an administrator adds the group to the users who need it (with Developer Mode on, under Settings › Users & Companies › Groups).
  • A quotation or sales order that has not been invoiced yet — the button disappears the moment a real invoice exists on the order.

Sending one

  1. 01
    Open the quotation. With the group granted, Send PRO-FORMA Invoice appears in the header — as the primary button on a fresh draft, and as a secondary button after the quotation is sent, in either case only while the order has no invoice.
  2. 02
    Click it. The standard email dialog opens with the pro-forma template and the rendered document attached, named PRO-FORMA - [order number].
  3. 03
    Adjust the message and recipients, and send. The email deliberately carries no portal access button — the customer receives the document, not a login to the order.
  4. 04
    The send is logged in the order's chatter like any quotation email; there is no separate pro-forma register to maintain.
  5. 05
    When the deal proceeds, invoice normally — the pro-forma has no accounting footprint to clean up.

What it contains, and what it is not

The document renders the order's lines, quantities, prices, taxes, and totals in the company layout with the PRO-FORMA Invoice title. Because it is generated from the quotation, it always reflects the order as it stands — re-send it after a revision and the new copy updates itself. What it is not: it carries no number from the invoice sequence, it never appears under Accounting › Customers › Invoices, it cannot be paid against in the system, and it is not the tax invoice a customer's auditor will eventually want. If money arrives on the strength of a pro-forma, register the real invoice (or a down payment) and take the payment against that.

Tip

For a customer who just wants to see the document rather than receive paperwork, Preview on the order shows them the live portal view — often enough, and one less attachment in circulation.

Troubleshooting

The button is missing entirely — you are not in the Pro-forma Invoices group; there is no settings toggle to look for in this edition.

The button vanished on an order that had it — an invoice (even a down payment) now exists on the order; from that point the real document supersedes the pro-forma.

The customer says the pro-forma does not match the order — it renders the order as it is now; if the order was revised after sending, send a fresh copy.

Common mistakes

  • Treating a pro-forma as a tax invoice — it has no invoice number and no ledger entry, and customs or auditors will eventually need the real document.
  • Registering a customer's payment "against the pro-forma" — there is nothing to reconcile; create the invoice or down payment first.
  • Granting the group to everyone — pro-formas leaving the company are commercial commitments; keep the group to the people who own quotations.

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