Clear Books » Help

Freshbooks Import Tool

Edward — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:36:27 +0000

Help Article

FreshBooks Import Tool Guide

Steps

1. Login and set up your FreshBooks API access.

2. Add your FreshBooks API url and key to your ClearBooks account.

3. Import your Freshbooks Invoices or Clients.

1. Login and set up your Freshbooks API access.

1.1 Login to FreshBooks

1.2 Navigate to the API details page by clicking ‘My Account’ and then ‘FreshBooks API’ .

1.3 Enable the FreshBooks API for your account and copy your FreshBooks API url and API token(key) from the FreshBooks API page.

2. Add your FreshBooks API url and key to your ClearBooks account.

2.1 Login to ClearBooks and navigate to Settings->Organisation-> Setup

2.2 Paste your FreshBooks API url and API token(key) from the FreshBooks API page into the respective fields circled below.

3. Import your FreshBooks Invoices or Clients.

3.1 Navigate to Tools->Import and click the link ‘Import from FreshBooks’.

3.2 To import invoices, enter a Start date and/or End Date for importing FreshBooks invoices. Only valid invoices will be imported to ClearBooks.

3.3 To import clients, you can either select to import all FreshBooks clients or enter a specific client, using their username and email address to identify them, to be imported into your ClearBooks account.

If you have any difficulties in following this guide. Please email support@clearbooks.co.uk or make a post on GetSatisfaction through clicking the top right Support button in your account.

Automatic Paypal Import Tool

Edward — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:38:41 +0000

Help Article

Paypal Import Tool Guide

Steps

1. Login and set up your Paypal account

2. Setup a Paypal internet payment bank account in your Clear Books account

3. Import your Paypal transactions

This tool automatically imports transactions and entities from your Paypal merchant account (i.e. this will not work for personal Paypal accounts).

Steps:

1. Login and set up your Paypal account

1.1 Login to your Paypal business account.

1.2 Navigate to the Profile page.

1.3 Click on the API Access link.

1.4 Click on Grant API permission.

1.5 Complete the form as shown below and then click Submit.

2. Setup a Paypal internet payment bank account in your Clear Books account

2.1 After you are logged into Clear Books navigate to Money ->Banking and click on the New Account button.

2.2 Click the plus icon next to Internet payments to create a Paypal account in Clear Books.

2.3 Configure the bank account as shown below. Select payment provider as Paypal, bank group to New Bank, set the default currency to your Paypal account’s currency. IMPORTANT the Email Account must be set to the email address of the Paypal account you intend to import from. Once this has been done hit the Confirm Changes button and navigate to Money->Banking.

3. Import your Paypal transactions

3.1 Click the Import link for your Paypal account.

3.2 Notice that there is an Import directly from Paypal section. There is a short help area next to the Import directly from Paypal section that describes what the checkboxes are for.

3.3 If this is your initial import then you must set a start date for your import. You can do so manually or using the popup calendar that appears when you select the field. When ready, click the Import button.

3.4 On successful import you are redirected to the management page for that particular import set.

3.5 If the selected transaction from the import set has a Paypal fee attached to it then the fee will get automatically explained, as show below.

Congratulations setup is complete.

Notes

A limitation of the Paypal API means that this tool does not match the original description for a currency conversion which has occurred in your paypal account. e.g. if you have a GBP Paypal account and make a payment in USD, then the description of the Paypal transaction will be “Conversion from USD to GBP” rather than the original description ‘Purchase of xyz’.

Brindle Brickheads (Unprecedented Ferocity)

Setting up opening balances

Nick — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:20:30 +0000

Help Article

Setting up opening balances

Links
Getting Started

Steps

1. Navigate Settings > Getting Started

Bank Account Balances

Enter the opening balance for each bank account

Debtors

Enter opening debtor balance

Creditors

Enter opening creditors balance

Other Balances

Enter positive or negative amounts for each account on balance sheet

If you need to make an alteration to any of the opening balances they are all controlled from the Getting Started tab.

Step 1.

Navigate Settings > Getting Started.

Bank Account Balances

Enter the balance from accounting year start date for each bank account here. To save the new balance click Update.

Opening Bank Balances

Debtors

Enter opening debtors balance. To add an opening debtor you need to create an invoice for the entity that owes the company money. Add one invoice after the other to build up a snapshot of the opening debtors.

Opening Debtors Balance

Creditors

Enter opening creditors balance. As with Opening Debtors you need to add an invoice except that it is for an entity that the company owes money too.

Opening Creditors Balance

Other Balances

Enter positive or negative amounts for accounts on balance sheet. The Account Names will vary depending on the Account Codes setup on the system. Depending on the account code you will either have the option to debit or credit that account’s balance. To save changes to the Opening Balance Sheet click Update.

Opening Balance Sheet

Editing and viewing paid invoices

Nick — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:51:29 +0000

Help Article

Editing and viewing paid invoices

Links

Paid Invoices

Steps

1. Navigate Sales > Invoices >Paid Invoices

2. Filter invoices by date or contact

3. Click on the invoice number of invoice to be edited or viewed

4. Click Edit

5. Amend invoice details and click Update

You can only edit the Project, Credit Terms, Summary, Details and Account fields on a paid invoice.

Step 1.

Navigate Sales > Invoices >Paid Invoices to view all paid invoices in the system.

Paid Invoices

Step 2.

If you have a large selection of paid invoices you can filter them by Contact, Project or Date.

Step 3.

Click on the invoice number of the invoice to be edited or viewed.

Invoice Number

Step 4.

If you want to edit the invoice click the Edit button.

Edit Button

Step 5.

There are only certain sections of a paid invoice that can be amended. You can only edit the Project, Credit Terms, Summary, Details and Account fields on a paid invoice.

Paid Invoice With Un-Editable Fields Blanked Out

Once you have made changes to the invoice click Update.

Setting up VAT rates

Nick — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:20:14 +0000

Help Article

Setting up VAT rates

Links

Manage VAT Scheme

Steps

1. Navigate Settings > Organisation > Manage VAT Scheme

2. Complete or enter details of new VAT Scheme

3. Click Update or Add

Deleting A VAT Scheme

Click the Delete Icon

To change the VAT rates within Clear Books or set up a new VAT Scheme you will need to go to the Manage VAT Schemes Page. Only VAT registered companies (setup under organisation settings) can switch between VAT rates.

Step 1.

Navigate Settings > Organisation > Manage VAT Scheme.

VAT Section Of Settings

Step 2.

On the VAT Schemes page you can either update a current VAT scheme or setup a new one.

You cannot edit a VAT scheme. To change the VAT scheme for a year the current VAT scheme must be deleted; this would be necessary if a company became VAT registered mid way through a financial year.

VAT Schemes Page

What The Fields Mean

VAT Scheme Options:

Choose either VAT Registered, Not VAT Registered, Flat Rate Scheme and Custom GST Scheme.

VAT Accounting Options:

Invoice Accounting:

Also known as accruals means that VAT is calculated on when the invoice is issued.

Cash Accounting:

VAT is calculated on a transaction once payment has been received.

Step 3.

After selecting the VAT Scheme, VAT Accounting, Date From, Date To and VAT Rate click Add.

Deleting A VAT Scheme

To delete a VAT scheme you will need to click on the delete button (shown below) to the right of the VAT period you wish to delete.

The confirmation message VAT scheme removed will appear.

Viewing and deleting recurring invoices

Nick — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:55:53 +0000

Help Article

Viewing and deleting recurring invoices

Links

Recurring Invoices

Steps

1. Navigate Sales > Invoices >Recurring

2. Filter recurring invoices by date or contact

Delete A Recurring Invoice

1. Click on invoice number of recurring invoice to be deleted

2. Click Delete Template

3. Check recurring invoice appears as voided

Step 1.

Navigate Sales > Invoices >Recurring.

Step 2.

If you have a large selection of recurring templates filter them by Contact, Project or Date.

Recurring Templates

Delete A Recurring Invoice

Step 1.

To delete a recurring invoice first click on the Invoice Number of the recurring invoice to be deleted.

Step 2.

Click Delete Template.

Delete Recurring Template

Step 3.

The recurring template will now appear as voided in Void Invoices.

Voided Recurring Invoice

Adding a new bank account

Nick — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:36:41 +0000

Help Article

Adding A New Bank Account

Links
Banking

Steps

1. Navigate Money > Banking, click New Account

2. Choose to add a bank account as the type of account

3. Fill in the bank account details and click confirm account

4. Check that the new bank account appears on the money screen

After setting up your intial bank accounts when sigining up for Clear Books you may wish to create additional bank accounts as your business grows.

Step 1.

Navigate Money > Banking and click New Account.

Banking Page

Step 2.

Select to add a bank account.

Add New Account

Step 3.

On the following screen you will see the 3 sections below, fill them in as required

Bank Details

When creating a new bank account fill in the details as required. New Bank needs to be selected from the drop down box for the field Bank Group.

Account Holders And Import Tool Settings

If there is more than one account holder add additional account holders here.

On Default import file type select the file type you expect to use for the bank import (this will usually be the same format used by your bank for downloading online bank statemtents).

Number of statments allows you to have one statement for each account holder (if more than one is selected above) or one statement for the whole account.

Payment methods and advanced options

Select the payment methods that you use for that bank account (do not worry if you aere not sure you can change them at a later date). To add another payment method not on the list click Add Payment Method.

Under Advanced you have the option to show or hide the bank account on the Clear Books dashboard along with the ability to make this bank account the defaukt choice in dropdowns.

Once you are happy with everything select Confirm Account.

Step 4.

The new bank account will appear on the Money screen.

Using Alternate Logos For Projects

Nick — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:30:32 +0000

Help Article

Using Alternate Logos For Projects

Links

Toggle Features

Projects

Steps

1. Navigate Home > Toggle Features and toggle on Project Invoices / Project Invoice Items

2. Navigate Reports > Projects

3. Create a new customer invoice and select the project with the correct logo

If you are using projects to invoice from different departments within a company you may wish to use alternate logos on your invoices.

Step 1.

Navigate Settings > Toggle Features. Toggle on Project Invoices and Project Invoice Items.

Toggle Features

What The Fields Mean

Project Invoices

Allows project logos to be used on invoices.

Project Invoice Items

If you have multiple items on an invoice you can assign them to different projects.

Step 2.

Navigate to projects; Reports > Projects.

Click on the project you want to upload an alternate invoice logo for and fill in the details on the Edit Project page. Once everything has been updated click Confirm Changes.

Upload Project Logos

What The Fields Mean

Parent

If you want this project to be a sub division of another project select the parent division here.

Use Name On Invoices

Use the name of the project on the invoices.

Step 3.

Create a new customer invoice. Select the project with the appropriate logo for the invoice from the drop down menu under Project and from the last box drop down box in the Account/VAT rate column (this bottom box will only appear if project invoice items are turned on).

Choosing Advertising Project Logo

After creating the invoice click View PDF to make sure that the logo has been successfully uploaded.

Project Invoice

Project invoice with alternate logo, web address, name and number highlighted.

Placing payment on account

Nick — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:14:38 +0000

Help Article

Placing payment on account

Links

Money In

Steps

1. Navigate Sales > Money In

2. Enter the details of the payment, click Confirm Payment

3. Unallocated payments screen appears

If you receive a payment in advance of issuing an invoice to a customer you may wish to enter this onto their account ready to be allocated when the invoice is created.

Step 1.

Navigate Sales > Money In

Step 2.

Enter the details of the payment and click Confirm Payment. The entity needs to be the customer who’s account the payment is to be held on.

Money In

Step 3.

The payment will now appear as an unallocated payment on that customer’s account on the following page. If there are other unallocated payments for that customer they will be show on the following screen.

A payment can be allocated against an invoice on this screen by using the Add Invoice option. See the allocate a payment against an unpaid invoice help article for more information on allocating payments.

Checking transaction limits

Nick — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:20:33 +0000

Help Article

Checking transaction limits

Links
Subscription

Steps

Option 1

Check Transaction Counter to the top right of the Clear Books system

Option 2

1. Navigate home > Subscription

2. Check Transactions Left figure

If you are on the Clear Books growth or established plan then you may want to know how many transactions you have left per month. There are several ways this can be done.

Check The Transaction Count

In the top right corner of Clear Books you will see a count of how many transactions you have remaining this month.

Transaction Counter

View Subscription Dashboard

The subscription dashboard can show you how many transactions you have left. Navigate home > Subscription and check the Transactions Left figure to see how many transactions you have left.

Transactions Left

Subscription History

You may want to check how many subscriptions you have used in the past months. Transaction History shows the number of transactions made over the past months.

Transaction History