Emailing Invoices and Packing Slips

AccuArk's invoice email integration allows you to send professional invoice PDFs and packing slip PDFs directly to your customers without leaving the invoice form. This eliminates the need to manually export documents, open a separate email client, and attach files. Everything happens in a single click from the invoice toolbar.

What Email Integration Does

The email integration generates a PDF version of the current invoice or packing slip and sends it as an email attachment to the customer associated with the invoice. The invoice PDF includes all financial details such as line items, prices, taxes, discounts, payments, and balance due. The packing slip PDF includes item names, SKUs, and quantities but intentionally omits all financial information such as prices, totals, and payment details. This makes the packing slip ideal for warehouse staff, shipping teams, or delivery drivers who need to verify the contents of an order without seeing what the customer is paying.

How to Access Email Features

The email features are accessed through the Email dropdown button on the invoice toolbar. This button appears as a dropdown with two options:

• Email Invoice — Generates the full invoice PDF with all financial details and emails it to the customer on file.
• Email Packing Slip — Generates a packing slip PDF with items and quantities only (no prices or totals) and emails it to the customer on file.

Both options follow the same automated flow. The only difference is the content of the generated PDF.

Prerequisites

Before you can email invoices or packing slips, the following conditions must be met:

Email Settings Must Be Configured

Email settings are managed on a per-location basis. Each location can have its own SMTP server, credentials, sender name, and reply-to address. The system retrieves the effective email configuration for the current location using the location-specific settings. If no email settings have been configured for the location, the email feature will be unavailable and the system will display an error.

To configure email settings, navigate to your location settings and complete the email configuration section. The following fields must be populated:

• SMTP Server — The hostname or IP address of your outgoing mail server.
• SMTP Port — The port number (typically 587 for TLS or 465 for SSL).
• SMTP Credentials — The username and password for authenticating with the mail server.
• From Name — The sender name that appears in the customer's inbox (e.g., "AccuArk Sales").
• From Address — The email address that appears as the sender.
• Reply-To Address — The email address customers will reply to if they respond to the email.

Customer Must Have an Email Address

The system retrieves the customer's email address from their client record. If the customer does not have an email address on file, the email cannot be sent and the system will notify you. To resolve this, open the customer's profile and add their email address before attempting to email the document.

Invoice Must Be Saved

The invoice must be saved to the database before it can be emailed. If you have unsaved changes, the system will auto-save the invoice as the first step of the email process. This ensures the PDF reflects the most current state of the invoice.

Permission Required

The logged-in user must have the EMAIL_SEND permission assigned to their role. Without this permission, the Email dropdown button will not be visible on the toolbar.

The Email Flow

When you click either "Email Invoice" or "Email Packing Slip," the system executes the following steps automatically:

1. Auto-save — The invoice is saved to ensure all current data is persisted.
2. Validate email settings — The system checks that email settings are configured and enabled for the current location. If settings are missing or disabled, an error message is displayed and the process stops.
3. Retrieve customer email — The customer's email address is retrieved from their client record. If no email is on file, an error message is displayed.
4. Generate PDF — The invoice PDF or packing slip PDF is generated based on the current invoice data. The invoice PDF includes all financial details. The packing slip PDF includes only items, descriptions, and quantities.
5. Compose and send email — The email is composed with the PDF attached and sent through the configured SMTP server. The email message, subject line, and body are built from the location's email template configuration.
6. Result notification — A success or failure message is displayed to the user. On success, you will see a confirmation that the email was sent. On failure, the error details are shown so you can diagnose the issue.

Invoice PDF vs. Packing Slip PDF

Understanding the difference between these two documents is important for choosing the right one to send:

The packing slip is designed for operational use. Send it to warehouse teams who need to pick and pack orders, to delivery drivers who need to verify shipment contents, or to customers who need a receipt of what was shipped without financial details. The invoice PDF is the full financial document suitable for billing, accounting, and customer records.

Troubleshooting

If emails fail to send, check the following:

• Email settings not configured — Navigate to location settings and verify that all SMTP fields are completed and the email feature is enabled.
• Customer has no email address — Open the customer's client record and add a valid email address.
• SMTP credentials are incorrect — Verify the username and password with your email provider. Many providers require app-specific passwords when two-factor authentication is enabled.
• SMTP port is blocked — Some networks block outgoing connections on port 587 or 465. Contact your network administrator or try an alternative port.
• Email rejected by recipient server — The recipient's mail server may be rejecting emails from your domain. Check that your domain has proper SPF and DKIM records configured.
• Attachment too large — Very large invoices with many line items may produce PDFs that exceed the mail server's attachment size limit. Contact your email provider to check the maximum attachment size.

If the issue persists after checking these items, review the error log for detailed error messages from the SMTP server.

What to Read Next

• Creating Purchase Orders from an Invoice — Learn how to generate purchase orders for out-of-stock items directly from the invoice.
• Invoice Permissions and Best Practices — Review the full list of invoice-related permissions and recommended workflows.