Customer Documents in the Shop's Design
A customer who ordered from a shop expects the invoice, credit memo and delivery note from that shop — with its logo, colours and sender address. A document in the company's standard layout reads like a mistake and prompts the question "who are you, I never ordered from you?"
merchantCENTRAL decides per shop which layouts render the documents, which e-mail account sends them and what the subject says.
What stays with the company
The design comes from the shop; the mandatory details stay the company's: name and address, VAT registration number, commercial register, management, bank details. A shop layout swaps logo, colours and footer, not the company data. A common footer reads "etikettenbox.de is a brand of … GmbH" with the full company details below.
Which documents are affected
| Document | Where it comes from | Shop design |
|---|---|---|
| Order confirmation | Shopify, in the theme's design | not from Business Central — see below |
| Invoice | Business Central | yes |
| Credit memo | Business Central | yes, when it came from a Shopify refund |
| Shipment | Business Central | yes |
A document knows its shop through the ids Microsoft's connector writes onto it: the Shopify order id on order, invoice and shipment, the refund id on the credit memo. A document created by hand stays unchanged.
Setup
1. Design and import the layouts
- On Report Layouts, export the standard layout of the report, for example 1306 Standard Sales - Invoice, 1307 Standard Sales - Credit Memo or 1308 Standard Sales - Shipment (depending on your report selection).
- Adjust the Word file: logo, colours, footer with brand and company details.
- Import it as a new layout, for example
etikettenbox.de Invoice. The standard layout stays, so every other channel keeps printing with it.
For the e-mail text in the shop's design as well, design the report's e-mail body layout too.
2. Switch it on on the shop card
On the Shop Card, section Customer Documents:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Branded Customer Documents | Main switch. Off, every document looks as for any other customer. |
| Brand Name | The name the shop's customers know, for example the shop domain. Replaces the company name in the subject. Empty keeps the company name. |
| Sender Email Account | The account the shop's documents are sent from, picked from Email Accounts. Empty, the account of the standard scenario sends. Clear Sender Account empties the field. |
| Order Confirmation by Shopify | Shopify sends the order confirmation. While on, Business Central refuses to send an order confirmation for orders of this shop. |
3. Assign layouts per report
With branding on, the list Document Layouts appears. One row per report:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Report ID | The report the report selection runs for the document |
| Use for Email Body | Empty for PDF and print, set for the HTML e-mail text. Each needs its own row. |
| Layout Name | The imported layout; Select Layout only offers layouts of this report |
A report without a row runs with the standard layout. A row with a layout takes precedence over the report selection and over a customer-specific layout: the shop the order came from decides.
What happens when printing and sending
- Print, PDF, attachment: right before the report runs, merchantCENTRAL sets the shop layout — when printing, on Send, when saving as PDF, when sending through the job queue and through the document sending profile.
- E-mail text: the layout assigned for the e-mail body renders the HTML text.
- Sender: if a sender account is set, that account sends. If it no longer exists, sending stops with a message instead of quietly using the default account.
- Subject:
<Brand Name> - <document type> <number>. A subject set for the individual document takes precedence.
No second order confirmation
Shopify sends the order confirmation itself. With Order Confirmation by Shopify, Business Central refuses a second one. The message leads to the shop card, where the switch can be turned off.
Limits
- A credit memo created by hand without a Shopify refund uses the standard layout.
- A batch print over several documents runs with the layout of the first document.
- The e-mail account has to exist under Email Accounts; merchantCENTRAL creates none.
- Without a licence, or with the channel switched off, every document uses the standard layout again.
Permissions
| Permission set | Access |
|---|---|
| ALN MCSH Admin | Change the switches and the layout assignment |
| ALN MCSH User | Read the layout assignment — enough for printing and sending |