> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/administration/settings/customize-your-invoice-email-and-receipt-templates.md).

# Customize your invoice email and receipt templates

Preview tabs let you check conditional content before saving. Invoice and quote emails include attachment and quote-state examples; receipt emails and documents include check, card, and card-with-fee examples. Switching a preview example does not edit the template or create an unsaved change.

Settings -> Quotes & Invoices -> Invoicing is organized into tabs: Payments, Accounting, Invoice, Receipts, Custom Fields, Follow-ups, AI Prompts, and Manual Payment Methods. Alongside the invoice document (PDF) template, you can set default payment terms and customize the emails and receipts your customers receive.

An unchanged built-in document or receipt style is eligible for automatic updates when Essential improves that style. Once you change and save its source, it stays as your custom version. Re-selecting a document style from the library and saving returns it to the auto-updating built-in.

Email templates follow a narrower rule. A configured **Receipt email** that still exactly matches Essential's current built-in content is eligible for automatic updates. In most setups the same is true for a configured **Invoice email**; a legacy email shared by more than one automation type is left unchanged so an update to one workflow cannot rewrite another.

Once you save your own email subject or body, that email stays as saved. These email cards do not have a Reset to default control; **Discard changes** only removes edits you have not saved yet.

In Edit code, the **Subject** editors for invoice, receipt, and quote emails start at one line and grow automatically as text wraps or line breaks are added.

If your business has additional offices or brands, the invoice and quote document templates, the invoice email, receipt template, receipt email, and quote email previews include **Preview office and brand**. Switch among the options to verify each customer-facing name, logo, color, contact details, and Customer Portal link where available. Portal links appear only while the portal is enabled and has a saved URL; an unassigned brand is available as a branding preview but has no portal link until an office uses it. This is an internal preview control only: it does not change the saved template or the brand used for a real send. Essential automatically uses the document's effective office and brand, and the customer never chooses a brand.

## Edit an email or receipt in Visual

Each email card and the receipt template open in **Visual**: the rendered email or receipt on sample data, editable in place. Use the **Visual / Edit code** switch at the top of the card to change modes. **Save** (**Save template** for the receipt) and **Discard changes** sit under the card in both modes.

* Click any text to change it. In an email, the **Subject** row above the body is editable the same way; the subject stays on one line.
* Variables - values such as the customer name or total - show sample values. Hover a variable to see its name. Press Backspace or Delete next to a variable to remove it.
* To add a variable, click in the subject or body where it should go, then select **Insert variable** at the top of the card and pick one - or pick one first, then click where it should go. The list comes from the email's or receipt's own data and includes amounts such as **Total** (and, on the receipt, **Payment amount**). See [Add a variable](/administration/settings/edit-a-document-templates-design-with-edit-code.md#add-a-variable).
* Enter adds a line break. Pasted text arrives as plain text, and what you type is always plain text - typing `{{` can't break the template.
* Bold, italic, layout, styling, and logic are changed in **Edit code**, which shows the raw HTML/Liquid (and, for emails, the **Subject** field) below the rendered preview.
* Text that doesn't highlight when you point at it, or that only appears in some situations, is changed in Edit code.
* A red notice under the card means the template has an error, and **Save** stays unavailable until you fix it. A yellow notice flags a variable that doesn't exist, which prints nothing; you can still save. See [Errors and warnings](/administration/settings/edit-a-document-templates-design-with-edit-code.md#errors-and-warnings).
* Switching between Visual and Edit code never loses or rewrites anything; Visual changes only the text you edit.

If you can view these settings but not edit them, you see the rendered email or receipt without the switch.

## Default payment terms

The Invoice tab's **Default payment terms** are the starting terms for new customers. You can also apply a new default to existing customers:

1. Choose payment terms (or no default), then select **Save changes**.
2. In the modal, choose **New customers only** or **New and existing customers**.
3. If updating existing customers, optionally select **Skip customers** and **Skip customers with matching payment terms**. For example, keep selected customers on their negotiated terms and skip everyone currently on Net 60. A customer matching either exclusion is skipped. Active and inactive customers are included; exclusions apply only to this save and are not remembered.
4. Select **Save default only** or **Save and update customers** to confirm. Nothing is saved until you confirm; **Cancel** leaves the saved default unchanged.

The bulk update changes customer billing defaults. Property-specific billing terms and payment terms on existing invoices stay unchanged. New invoices use the applicable customer or property billing terms.

## Invoice email

The Invoice tab holds the Invoice email - the message customers get when you send an invoice, and the template new invoice follow-ups reuse. Click the subject or any text in the rendered email to change it (see [Edit an email or receipt in Visual](#edit-an-email-or-receipt-in-visual)), or switch to **Edit code** to edit the Subject and the HTML/Liquid body. **Save** applies your changes, or **Discard changes** removes unsaved edits. Automations controls when invoice follow-ups send; their message content is managed here.

If invoice outreach has not been configured under Automations, the Invoice email card links there and shows Essential's default as a read-only preview. Configure the first invoice-outreach email in Automations before editing it here. Quote outreach is configured separately on the Quote tab under Settings > Quotes.

## Set the pre-filled message for quotes and invoices

Choose a default message for your whole team:

1. Open **Settings → Quotes & Invoices → Quotes → Quote** for quotes, or **Settings → Quotes & Invoices → Invoicing → Invoice** for invoices.
2. Find **Default email message** and edit **Message**.
3. Click **Save changes**.

The next time you open Send or Resend, **Custom Message** starts with that text. You can edit it for that send without changing the business default. Quotes and invoices have separate defaults. You need permission to edit quotes or invoices to save their respective settings.

Use `{{sender_first_name}}` wherever you want the sending team member’s first name. A message beginning with `Hi,` adds the selected recipient’s first name to the greeting. Line breaks are preserved. Save an empty message if you prefer to start blank, or click **Restore default**, then **Save changes**, to return to Essential’s original wording.

## Choose where email replies go

The Invoice tab also has an **Email reply-to** setting with two choices:

* **Sender (default)** pre-fills the sending team member's login email. They can edit the reply-to address before sending.
* **Business profile email** sends replies to the email address saved in your Business profile, including replies to follow-ups. The send dialog hides the Email Reply To field.

Select an option, then click **Save changes**. Quotes have the same independent setting on the Quote tab under Settings -> Quotes. Changing the invoice choice does not change quote emails, and changing the quote choice does not change invoice emails.

## Receipt template

The Receipts tab holds the Receipt template - the PDF customers receive after a payment. Browse templates to pick a style (Classic, Modern, Bold, or Letterhead) with live thumbnails rendered on sample payment data, preview it, then select **Save template**. If you can edit the source, click any text on the rendered receipt to change it, use **Insert variable** to add details such as the payment amount, or switch to **Edit code** for the raw HTML/Liquid (see [Edit an email or receipt in Visual](#edit-an-email-or-receipt-in-visual)). **Customize** on a style card selects that style and opens it in Visual. Once your receipt no longer matches a library style, the banner's **Edit code** button opens the source directly. A business that has never customized its receipt uses the Classic style, which is also what customers receive until you save your own.

Built-in receipts show **Amount Received**, the payment method, and its saved reference on a separate row, such as **Check #: 1042**. Optional fields left blank and disabled fields do not add an empty row. Existing customized receipt designs stay as saved; select a built-in style and Save to use the updated design.

For a custom design in **Edit code**, you can use `payment.method_name`, `payment.reference_label`, and `payment.reference_value`. Check both reference fields are nonblank before showing the row, and use Liquid’s `escape` filter for the label and value. `payment.paymentMethod` and `payment.method_label` continue to include the method and reference together for existing designs. Each item in invoice `payments` also exposes `method_name`, `reference_label`, `reference_value`, and `method_label`.

Payment **Internal Notes** are internal only and are not available to receipt or invoice templates. A custom template that references `payment.notes` (including within payment history) renders no note text. Use the payment reference fields above for details customers should see.

In the built-in receipt styles, taxable line items use a checkmark when one tax entry applies, and the summary shows **Sales Tax** with its percentage. If several tax entries apply - including entries with the same percentage but different agencies or jurisdictions - the receipt names and totals each one separately. Lines without an applied tax entry do not create an empty tax row.

## Receipt email

Also on the Receipts tab, the Receipt email is the message that accompanies a payment receipt. Change the subject and body in Visual or Edit code, the same way as the Invoice email, then select **Save**. As with the receipt template, an uncustomized business sends Essential's polished default.

## Quote email

Settings -> Quotes & Invoices -> Quotes is organized the same way, into Quote, Terms & Conditions, Custom Fields, Follow-ups, and AI Prompts tabs. The Quote tab holds the Quote email - the message customers get when you send a quote and the template new quote follow-ups reuse. Edit it the same way as the invoice email; Automations controls the follow-up timing.

> **Where to find it:** Settings -> Invoicing, the Invoice and Receipts tabs; quote email and reply settings are under Settings -> Quotes, the Quote tab

## Related guides

* [Choose and customize your invoice document template](/administration/settings/choose-and-customize-your-invoice-document-template.md)
* [Configure the automated outreach sequence](/administration/settings/configure-the-automated-outreach-sequence.md)
* [Edit a document template's design](/administration/settings/edit-a-document-templates-design-with-edit-code.md)
* [Set up invoice prompt templates for AI drafting](/administration/settings/set-up-invoice-prompt-templates-for-ai-drafting.md)


---

# Agent Instructions
This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com.

## Querying This Documentation
If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters:

```
GET https://learn.withessential.com/administration/settings/customize-your-invoice-email-and-receipt-templates.md?ask=<question>&goal=<user_goal>
```

`ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
`goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case.

The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.