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 theCustom Formatssetup screen. To do so, selectSetup, thenSecurity Groupsand adjust security permissions for theSetup Menu>Custom Formatsoption. (The menu option isn't available unless you've turned on firm security by marking theEnable Firm Securitycheckbox on thePreferencestab of theFirmsetup 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 useFilemenu 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 
button on the toolbar.
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 theFormat Wizardto specify which information to include or omit on the invoice
- For reports, use theFormat Wizardto 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 theFormat Wizardto 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.- To view or modify security settings, selectSetup, thenSecurity Groups.
- Expand theSetup Menugroup and locateCustom Formats.
- 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 theSecurity Groupssetup screen to be able to change security settings.
- Though you can grant access to reports in theCustom Formatsscreen, the reports that appear on that screen for members of the security group are determined by security settings for thePrint Reportsscreen. For example, if a security group is granted access to reports in theCustom Formatsscreen security settings, but is only permitted access to 3 individual reports in the security settings for thePrint Reportsscreen, then that group will only be able to modify those 3 report formats.
