Bookmark This! November 30, 2012 posted by Nigel

CreateMyInvoice – produce nice looking PDF invoices from an email message

createmyinvoice CreateMyInvoice produce nice looking PDF invoices from an email message

If you run a small business, there’s never enough time in the day to get everything done, and often one of the main casualties is invoicing your customers. It’s just such a chore to drag up your invoicing program or service and set out all the details, and then locate the address to send it to and so on. Huge drag.

A new service called CreateMyInvoice aims to take away the drudge of the process by automating the formatting of standard PDF invoices. All you need to do is write an email in the simple default format which contains the details of the invoice (customer, items, addresses etc), and then send it to invoice@createmyinvoice.com and the service will send you back a fully formed PDF invoice for you to send on to your client.

createmyinvoice2 1 CreateMyInvoice produce nice looking PDF invoices from an email message

It’s fast, easy and free for up to 5 invoices a month. Seems like a nice idea for those with little time and less design skill.

About the Author:

Nigel is the managing editor of the Red Ferret, as well as a freelance columnist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Loves tech and fancies himself as a bit of a futurist, but then don't we all?

Nigel – who has written 5159 posts on The Red Ferret Journal.

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Philip Green

Anybody tried this and actually received a .PDF in their inbox?
Philip Green

I sent in two test invoices (from different addresses) at 19:52 and 19:59 yesterday. Received one invoice today at 10:54. Looks neat but I didn't stick to the template for due dat so that was simply omitted on the invoice.
No idea why the other one hasn't arrived. It's not in my junk folder.
- http://www.redferret.net Nigel Powell
  
  Philip, from what I understand it's very early code. So maybe giving feedback to the developer might help it move along a little?
  - Philip Green
    
    Yes, Nigel, I shall certainly do that but I had to dash off the confirmation that I had received something before running out to work. The developer's site looks nice and neat and friendly. I shall definitely be giving him some feedback as soon as I have time.
Philip Green

I had another stab at it and the invoice was delivered very quickly, just as I had specified it.
Just like any computer programme it does what you tell it to do, not necessarily what you want it to do. :-)
One must be very precise and adhere to the developer's syntax when setting up the data that is to be invoiced and then the results are perfect. I have suggested he use two digits after the decimal point even if they are zeroes to improve alignment.
- http://www.redferret.net Nigel Powell
  
  Nice, thanks for the feedback Philip.