Set up email templates and file naming patterns

allows an organisation to set up a library of reusable email templates and file naming patterns for the documents it sends — quotes, invoices, purchase orders, job briefs and invoice statements. This article covers how both are set up from Settings, and how the correct template or pattern is chosen when a document is sent or generated.

In this article:

• Key terms
• Before you start
• Setting up email templates
• Setting up file naming patterns
• Overriding defaults on an individual Custom Print Template
• How templates and patterns are applied when sending

Key terms

• Email Template — a reusable email subject and body for a document type (e.g. Invoice, Quote/Estimate), with variables that are replaced by real values when a document is sent.
• Custom Print Template — an existing feature: an organisation-authored template used to generate a document such as an invoice, quote, or purchase order.
• File Naming Pattern — a reusable pattern that controls the file name generated for a document type, using the same style of variables as email templates.
• Override — a setting made on an individual Custom Print Template that takes priority over the organisation-wide default for that document type.

Before you start

Email Templates and File Names are visible under Settings > General only once this feature is enabled for the organisation. If these options aren't visible, they may not yet be available on the account.

• Managing the email template library and file naming patterns is restricted to staff with Administrators access.
• Any user can select an existing email template, or rely on the default, when sending a document — this doesn't require Administrator access.
• File naming patterns are part of the Custom Print Templates feature, so the organisation needs access to Custom Print Templates to use them.
• Both email templates and file naming patterns are organisation-wide settings — they apply to everyone in the organisation, not just the person who configured them.

Setting up email templates

Navigate to the template library

1. Go to Settings > General Settings.
2. Select Email Templates from the sidebar.

This opens the Custom Email Templates page, which lists the organisation's templates for each document type: Invoice, Invoice Statement, Jobs, Purchase Order, and Quote/Estimate.

Create a template

1. From the Custom Email Templates page, select the document type tab to create a template for.
2. Select Create New Template.
3. Complete the following fields:
   • Name — a descriptive label for the template, e.g. Standard Invoice Email.
   • Subject — the email subject line.
   • Body — the full email body.
4. Insert variables in the Subject or Body by selecting an entry under Available variables — this inserts the variable at the cursor position.
5. Select Set as default if this should be the default template used for this document type. Only one default template is allowed per document type — setting a new default automatically replaces the previous one.
6. Select Save.

Variables inserted into a template appear as tokens like {ClientName} during editing. When a document is sent, these are replaced with real values before the email is seen — see How templates and patterns are applied when sending.

Supported variables in email templates

The variables available depend on the document type.

These are email-body variables. File naming patterns use a related but different set of variables — see Setting up file naming patterns. For example, an invoice email uses {InvoiceNumber}, while an invoice file name uses {DocumentNumber}.

Edit or delete a template

1. From the Custom Email Templates list, open a template to edit its name, subject, body, or default status.
2. To delete a template, use the delete option on the template list or edit screen. Deleting a template that's linked to a Custom Print Template's email override removes that link — the print template falls back to the document type's default.

Multiple templates can also be selected in the list and deleted together.

Setting up file naming patterns

Navigate to file naming settings

1. Go to Settings > General Settings > Custom Print Templates.
2. Select the File Names tab.

This shows one row per document type: Invoice, Quote/Estimate, Purchase Order, Job Brief, and Invoice Statement. Each row has a text field pre-filled with the system default pattern, a row of clickable variable chips, and a live example of the resulting file name.

Set a default file naming pattern

1. On the File Names tab, select the field for the document type to customise.
2. Select a variable chip under Available variables to insert it at the cursor. Date variables (see below) can be reformatted after inserting.
3. Leave a field blank to use the system default format for that document type.
4. Select Save Changes.

Invalid file-system characters (such as / \ : * ? " < > |) aren't allowed in a saved pattern and are rejected with a validation error on save. When a file name is generated, any character in a substituted value that would still be invalid is automatically replaced with a hyphen.

System default patterns

If a document type's pattern is left blank, these defaults are used:

Supported variables in file naming patterns

Date variables — CurrentDate, InvoiceDate, DueDate, StartDate, ValidFromDate, ValidToDate, PurchaseOrderDate — support a format, shown as {VariableName:Format}.

• Available date formats

  • YYYYMMDD (e.g. 20260523)
  • YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-05-23)
  • DD-MM-YYYY (e.g. 23-05-2026)
  • MM-DD-YYYY (e.g. 05-23-2026)

Each variable can only be used once per pattern, and date variables must include a format (e.g. {DueDate:YYYYMMDD}) — a pattern that omits the format won't save.

Overriding defaults on an individual Custom Print Template

Each Custom Print Template can override the organisation-wide email template and file naming pattern for its document type.

1. Go to Settings > General Settings > Custom Print Templates > Templates, and open (or create) a Custom Print Template.
2. Under Email Template Override, select an email template from the Email Template field, filtered to the template's document type. Leave it set to Please select to use the organisation-level default for that document type.
3. Under File Name Override, enter a File Name Pattern using the same variables described above. Leave this field blank to use the organisation-level default for that document type.
4. Save the Custom Print Template.

How templates and patterns are applied when sending

Email templates

When a document is sent, the email template used is resolved in this order:

1. The Custom Print Template's override, if one is set.
2. The organisation-wide default for that document type, if one is set.
3. If neither is set, the compose window opens blank, exactly as it did before this feature existed.

Variables in the resolved template are substituted with real values before the compose window opens — the finished subject and body appear directly, not raw tokens like {ClientName}. The subject or body can still be edited before sending, and a different template can be selected manually from the compose window if needed.

File naming patterns

When a document is generated, the file name is resolved in this order:

1. The Custom Print Template's override pattern, if one is set.
2. The organisation-wide default pattern for that document type, if one is set.
3. If neither is set, the existing file naming behaviour is used.

File name variables resolve to real values at the moment the document is generated — there's no separate preview step in the send flow (the example shown on the File Names settings page uses sample data, not the real document's data).