Using document layouts

How to

Create a custom document layout

You can customise the layouts used for sales orders, invoices, credit notes, despatch notes, quotations, pro formas, statements, debtor letters, purchase orders and labels.

Sage 200 has a set of defaults layouts that you can use 'out of the box'. We recommend that if you want to use customised layouts, that you make changes to these default layouts.

Open: Tools > Run Sage Report Designer.

  1. Enter your Sage 200 log in email address and password, then click Sign In.

    Report Designer opens.

  2. Go to the File Explorer, browse to the Layouts folder, then double-click on the document layout that you want to customise.

  3. Make your changes to the layout.

  4. When you have finished, go to the File menu and select Save As.

  5. Choose where to save the layout:

    1. If you want to use the new layout for all companies, save it in the custom > layouts folder.

      Tip: If you use the same filename as the default, your custom layout will be used automatically.

    2. If the layout is specific for a single company, save it in the company > layouts folder.

Choose default document layouts

If you have customised the default layout and saved it with the same name, e.g. SOP Invoice (Single), your new layout will be used automatically.

If you've saved your layout with a different name, you'll need to choose it as your default layout. To do this:

Open: Tools > Choose Layouts.

  1. From the Layout drop-down list, select the type of document.

    The following table shows the names of the layouts and what they're used for.

    Opayo is the new name for Sage Pay. If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, where you see references to "Sage Pay" in the app, these are referring to the Opayo payment service.

    Note: A number of layouts have (single) and (continuous) versions. The (single) version is always used by default. The (continuous) version is for dot matrix printers.

    Layout type Corresponding layouts Used for Is default
    NominalCheque Nominal Ledger Cheque Cheques from nominal payments Yes
    POPOrder POP Purchase Order Purchase orders Yes
      POP Return Purchase returns Yes
    ChequeOnly Purchase Ledger Cheque Suppliers using the Cheque Only payment group Yes
    RemittanceWithCheque Purchase Ledger Cheque and Remittance Suppliers using the Remittance and Cheque payment group Yes
    RemittanceOnly

    Purchase Ledger Remittance Advice

    		 Suppliers using the Remittance Only payment group

    Yes
    RemittanceOnlyEmail

    Purchase Ledger Remittance Advice (Email)

    Suppliers using the Epayment Remittance only payment group

    Yes
    StatementPrimary

    Sales Ledger Statement

    Customers using paper statements

    Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Statement with Advice

    		 Customer paper statement with a remittance advice  
    StatementPrimaryEmail

    Sales Ledger Statement (Email)

    Customers using email statements

    Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Statement Payment Service Provider (E-mail)

    Sales Ledger Statement Sage Pay (Email)

    Customer email statements with a Pay Now button.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    SOPCreditNote SOP Credit Note Sales credit notes (Invoicing and sales orders Yes
     

    SOP Credit Note (Single Plain paper)

    		 For plain A4 paper  
     

    SOP Credit Note (Email Plain Paper)

    		 With email options  
    SOPDespatchNote SOP Despatch Note When goods are recorded as despatched. Yes
    SOPInvoice

    SOP Invoice

    Sales invoices (Invoicing and Sales Orders)

    		 Yes
     

    SOP Invoice (Single Plain paper)

    		 For plain A4 paper  
     

    SOP Invoice (Email Plain Paper)

    		 With email options  
     

    SOP Invoice Payment Service Provider (E-mail)

    SOP Invoice Payment Service Provider (Email Plain Paper)

    SOP Invoice Sage Pay (Email)

    SOP Invoice Sage Pay (Email Plain Paper)

    Designed for use with both Opayo (formerly Sage Pay) and Sage Invoice Payments.

    A Pay Now button is added to each type of invoice layout.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
      SOP VAT Invoice VAT only invoice Yes
      SOP VAT Credit Note VAT only credit note Yes
    SOPProForma

    SOP Pro Forma

    Pro forma invoice

    Yes
     

    SOP Pro Forma Payment Service Provider (E-Mail)

    SOP Pro Forma Sage Pay (Email)

    Pro forma invoice with a email settings and a Pay Now button.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    SOPQuotation SOP Quotation Quote Yes
    SOPSalesOrder SOP Sales Order Sales order Yes
    DebtorLetterPeriod1 Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 1 Chase letter for due date period 1 Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 1 Payment Service Provider (E-Mail)

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 1 SagePay (E-Mail)

    Chase letter with Pay Now button and email options for due date period 1.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    DebtorLetterPeriod2 Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 2 Chase letter for due date period 2 Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 2 Payment Service Provider (E-Mail)

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 2 SagePay (E-Mail)

    Chase letter with Pay Now button and email options for due date period 2.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    DebtorLetterPeriod3 Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 3 Chase letter for due date period 3 Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 3 Payment Service Provider (E-Mail)

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 3 SagePay (E-Mail)

    Chase letter with Pay Now button and email options for due date period 3.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    DebtorLetterPeriod4 Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 4 Chase letter for due date period 4 Yes
     

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 4 Payment Service Provider (E-Mail)

    Sales Ledger Debtors Letter 4 SagePay (E-Mail)

    Chase letter with Pay Now button and email options for due date period 4.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts to use for Opayo will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    		  
    INVInvoice Inv Invoice Invoices from Projects Yes
    INVCreditNote Inv Credit Note Credit notes from Projects Yes
    BillLayout Bill Layout Bills from Projects Yes
  2. Click Browse to choose the layout file. The 'out of the box' layouts are stored in the Default folder, customised layouts used by all companies are stored in the Custom folder and company specific layouts are stored in the Company folder followed by a folder with the company name.
  3. Click OK.

Use multiple invoice and credit note layouts

If you want to use more than one layout for your printed invoices and credit notes, you must add them using them to Sage 200. To do this:

Open: Sales Order Processing > SOP Maintenance > Maintain Invoice Layouts or Maintain Credit Note Layouts.

  1. Click Add.

    Note: This will be Custom > layouts or company > layouts.

  2. Choose the invoice or credit note layout file from the relevant layouts folder. For custom layouts these will be stored in the Custom > layouts or company > layouts folders.

    This adds the new layout to layout list. Each new layout has a label of SOPinvoice2, SOPInvoice3 etc

  3. To make the new layout the default, click Default.

Set a customer to use a specific layout

Open: Sales Ledger > Sales Accounts > Enter New Account | Documents.

Choose the required layout for each type of document.

  • Statement Production.

    Choose from one of the following:

    Statement type Corresponding layout file
    Paper Standard Statement Primary
    Paper Alternative Statement Alternate
    Email Standard Statement Email Primary
    Email Alternative Statement Email Alternate

  • Sales Invoice Layout.

  • Credit Note Layout.

    Choose from the following

    Invoice or credit note type Corresponding layout file
    Default Invoice layout SOPInvoice
    Default Credit Note layout SOPCredit Note
    Additional layout descriptions taken from the Maintain Invoice Layouts and Maintain Credit Note Layouts screens

    SOPInvoice2 etc

    SOPCredit Note 2 etc

Use email layouts for invoices and credit notes

Before you can email your invoices or credit notes, you need to choose the layout you want to use. This layout must have the correct email settings applied.

Sage 200 has a some default layouts that you can use 'out of the box' with email setting already applied. We recommend that if you want to use customised layouts, that you make changes to these default layouts.

  • SOP Invoice (Email Plain Paper), SOP Credit Note (Email Plain Paper): With borders to define the sections.

  • SOP Invoice (Email), SOP Credit Note (Email): Without borders to define the sections.

  • SOP Invoice Payment Service Provider (E-mail), SOP Invoice Payment Service Provider (Email Plain Paper): Designed for use with both Opayo (formerly Sage Pay) and Sage Invoice Payments. A Pay Now button is added to each type of invoice layout.

    If you're using Sage 200 Professional versions up to 2020 R1, the layouts will have the old "Sage Pay" name.

    • SOP Invoice Sage Pay (Email), SOP Invoice Sage Pay (Email Plain Paper).

Choose an email layout

Open: Tools > Choose layouts.

  1. Choose one of the following from the Layout drop-down list:
    • SOPInvoiceEmail
    • SOPCreditNoteEmail

  2. Click the Browse button next to Filename and choose the layout you want to use.

    • Default layouts can be found here: default > layouts
    • Customised layouts can be found here: custom > layouts

Useful Info

About Report Designer

You use Report Designer to make custom versions of your standard letters, layouts and reports. Report Designer works with your Sage 200 data to analyse your business information. It includes a comprehensive set of tools that can be used to produce your own complex or specialised reports and layouts.

Open: Tools > Run Sage Report Designer.

About using layouts in Sage 200

Layouts are used to create the documents that you send to your customers. Each layout is built up in sections and contains information from your company database such as your customer's name and address and your company name and address. The exact information included on each layout varies according to the type of layout.

Sage 200 has a set of defaults layouts that you can use 'out of the box'. If you want to use custom layouts to suit your organisation, we recommend that you make changes to these default layouts. You can:

  • Change the text appearance, font and size.
  • Change margin, borders, columns.
  • Add or remove data fields.
  • Add images such as your company logo.

Why file names and locations are important

Your reports and document templates are stored in three levels:

  • Company/Company name: Reports and templates specific to a particular company. You should only use this if you have more than one company for your site.

    Note: You'll need to create the company name folder. This must exactly match the name of your company in Sage 200.

  • Custom: Reports and templates that you have created, and want to use for all companies on your site.
  • Default: Standard reports and document templates that we have provided with Sage 200.

When you generate a report or document , Sage 200 first looks for a company version, and then a custom version. If it does not find either of these, it uses the default standard version.

For example, when you run the Aged Debtors (Detailed) report, Sage 200 looks for the report in the following locations:

  1. Sage 200 checks the company folder first.

    company/<your company name>/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report

  2. If it does not find the report in the company folder, it checks the custom folder.

    custom/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report

  3. If it does not find the report in the custom folder, it uses the default report:

    default/reports/sales/Sales Ledger Aged Debtors Report (Detailed).report

So when creating a custom document or report template:

  • Keep your custom file name the same as the default file name.
  • Save your template to the same folder in the custom area as the default standard template.

For reports, the above information is critical and must be followed. For layouts, you can use a different file name for custom layouts, and select them by using Choose Layouts.

Troubleshooting

I changed a layout but cannot save it

You cannot save changes made directly to a standard layout. You will notice the Save options are greyed out.

You must use Save As to save your amended layout in the custom folder.

I tried to print my layout but my custom version was not produced

When you run a report, Sage 200 looks for that report / layout / letter in the custom folder. If you find that your custom report is not being generated, it means that Sage 200 cannot find your new report or layout and has reverted to the default version of the report.

Check that:

  • The file name of your custom report is exactly the same as the name of the default layout on which it was based.
  • If you've used a different name for the layout, check that you've added it to Sage 200, using the Choose Layouts option.
  • If it's an invoice or credit note layout, make sure that you've added it using the Maintain Invoice Layouts or Maintain Credit Note Layouts.
  • If it's a layout for a specific customer, make sure you've added it to the customer's account.

See Why file names and locations are important.

See also

Choose how to print reports

Print or reprint invoices and credit notes (from Invoicing)

Send reports and documents by email