Skip to main content

Solutions

Law firms

Tax, audit & accounting firms

Corporations

Governments

Products

Legal

Trade & supply

Tax, audit & accounting

Corporate tax

Risk & fraud

Books

Recommended products

Questions? We are here to help.
Contact us

Purchase

Buy solutions

Buy books

Contact sales

Questions? We are here to help.

Resources

Insights

Events

Product training

Product communities

Developers

Setup

Custom formats overview

Practice CS comes with default formats for invoices, statements, and reports that may suit your firm’s needs. However, you can also create your own custom formats tailored specifically to your firm. You have broad control over the information included on custom formats, as well as their layout and appearance.
To create a new custom format, first open the
Custom Formats
 setup screen by selecting
Setup
, then
Custom Formats
.
note
  • You may want to restrict access to the
    Custom Formats
     setup screen. To do so, select
    Setup
    , then
    Security Groups
     and adjust security permissions for the
    Setup Menu
     >
    Custom Formats
     option. (The
    Setup
    Security Groups
     menu option isn't available unless you've turned on firm security by marking the
    Enable Firm Security
     checkbox on the
    Preferences
     tab of the
    Firm
     setup screen.) You can also control access specifically for invoices, statements, reports, or labels & letters.
  • If a security group doesn't have permissions to print invoices & statements, reports, and/or labels & letters, members of that group are also restricted from creating and modifying custom formats for those items. For example, you can use
    File
     menu security settings to grant access only to specific reports.

Getting started

Use the following information to get started with building your own custom formats.
You can right-click a standard format and select
Edit
. If you select to modify a standard format, you can revert to its default settings later by right-clicking it and selecting
Restore Default
.
Using the format wizards
After you create a new format, the next steps are typically performed in the
Format Wizard
. If the
Format Wizard
 doesn't open automatically, select the
Format Wizard
 button on the toolbar.
The actions performed in the
Format Wizard
 depend on the type of custom format you are working on.
  • For invoices and statements, use the
    Format Wizard
     to specify which information to include or omit on the invoice
  • For reports, use the
    Format Wizard
     to enter a name for the custom format and select the standard report on which your new report will be based.
  • For labels or letters, use the
    Format Wizard
     to enter a name for the custom format, select the standard letter or label on which the new format will be based, and select a type for the new format, such as Client, Contact, Firm, Office, or Staff. The type you select determines the group of recipients for which the letter or label can be generated.
Using the designer screen
After completing the
Format Wizard
, you can use the designer screen to make further changes to the layout of the custom invoice, statement, report, label, or letter you are working on.

Security settings

If your firm uses the security features of Practice CS to establish security groups with different levels of access to application features, you can grant or deny access to the
Custom Formats
 setup screen by security group. You can also control access by type of report (for example, invoices, statements, reports, labels & letters), or by individual report.
  1. To view or modify security settings, select
    Setup
    , then
    Security Groups
    .
  2. Expand the
    Setup Menu
     group and locate
    Custom Formats
    .
  3. Mark checkboxes for the items you want members of this security group to have access to. Clear checkboxes for the items you want to restrict for this security group.
note
  • You need to have security permissions for the
    Security Groups
     setup screen to be able to change security settings.
  • Though you can grant access to reports in the
    Custom Formats
     screen, the reports that appear on that screen for members of the security group are determined by security settings for the
    Print Reports
     screen. For example, if a security group is granted access to reports in the
    Custom Formats
     screen security settings, but is only permitted access to 3 individual reports in the security settings for the
    Print Reports
     screen, then that group will only be able to modify those 3 report formats.

This article applies to:

  • Product: Practice CS
  • Subject: Setup