Alya Books

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    Guides for Alya Books and UAE e-invoicing

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    Document designs and text presets

    Control how PDFs look (layout, logo, colour, columns, footer) and keep reusable texts for subject, salutation, closing and payment terms.

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    Designs decide the appearance of your PDFs; text presets are snippets you drop into the editor. Both live under Settings → Documents and can be edited by owners and admins.

    Create a design

    1. Go to Settings → Documents → Document designs and click New design.

    2. Enter a Name and choose the Layout:

      • Standard: the Alya Books layout. References such as Incoterms and the custom fields shown on PDF are listed with the invoice details.
      • Logistics: shipment panel: adds a Shipment panel under the invoice details and Bill To, with the job number, house bill, master bill, branch, Incoterms, customs reference and the custom fields shown on PDF. Use it for freight invoices, for example the ones CargoWise sends.

      Then choose the Logo position (Left or Right) and an Accent colour for the rules and highlights.

    3. Switch the elements on or off: Show logo, Bank details, HS code column, Unit column.

    4. Add Footer text, for example licence number and address, and tick Default design if new documents should use it.

      The switches and the footer text apply to every PDF of documents that use the design: sent by email, downloaded, and in zip exports. Documents without a design of their own use the default design; with no design at all, PDFs show the logo, bank details, HS codes and all columns. Hiding bank details also hides the payment methods block.

      The header band and table headings use the platform's colours; your Accent colour replaces the colour of the rules and highlights. The last line of every PDF, under the footer, names the software that issued it ("Issued with …"). On the staging site it also says STAGING, so test documents cannot pass for live ones.

    5. Click Save.

    In the editor, the right panel has a Design template choice, so a single document can use a different design. Until you add one, the Alya Books standard layout is used.

    Preview shows the PDF exactly as it is downloaded and emailed, with the document's design (invoices, credit and debit notes, proformas; quotes and letters show the printable version when no PDF service is configured). Every invoice PDF also prints the buyer's address and trade licence (when the customer has one) under Bill To.

    Invoices that arrive from an ERP connector use the design chosen on the connector (Settings → Integrations → the connector → PDF design for these invoices). Through the API, pass designTemplateId when creating an invoice; GET /design-templates lists the ids.

    Create a text preset

    1. In Text presets, click New preset.
    2. Choose Used for: Subject, Salutation, Introduction, Closing, Signature, Payment terms or Notes.
    3. Pick the Language (English or Arabic; Arabic input is right-to-left), give it a Name and type the Text.
    4. Click Save.

    In the editor, each text block has a chevron that lists the presets for that block. The same menu offers Save current text as preset, so you can create presets while writing.

    Letter-style texts on invoices

    Most UAE tax invoices go without a salutation or introduction, so new invoices are plain by default.

    1. Go to Settings → Designs & texts and find the Letter-style texts on invoices card.
    2. Switch on Show salutation, introduction and closing text on new invoices if you write to customers in letter form.
    • Off (default): a new invoice shows only the subject line above the lines. The Add salutation and Add introduction links and the closing and signature fields are hidden.
    • For a single invoice, switch the texts on under Fields in the editor.
    • Existing invoices keep their own setting. Quotes and letters are not affected.
    • Text presets for salutation, introduction and closing are still offered whenever the blocks are shown.

    Good to know

    • The logo itself is uploaded under Settings → Profile → Company Profile. Use a PNG or JPEG: other formats are left out of the PDF.
    • Language of the PDF (English, Arabic or bilingual) is chosen per document in the right panel, not in the design.
    • Designs apply to invoices, credit and debit notes, proformas, quotes, order confirmations, reminders and cover letters. The Layout choice (the Shipment panel) applies to invoices, credit and debit notes and proformas.
    • Custom fields marked "Print on PDF" are listed with the invoice details (Standard layout) or in the Shipment panel (Logistics) on invoices, credit and debit notes and proformas; on quotes and letters they appear under "Additional information".
    • Deleting a design that documents use falls back to the standard layout for them.

    Still stuck? Contact support