This guide covers sending sales invoices via email, service activation, and email settings. The guide also explains how to ensure email deliverability with the correct settings.


CONTENTS

How to start using the service

Sending sales invoices via email is possible when "Delivery of sales invoices by e-mail" is selected in Netvisor Store > Electronic service channels .

Service activation is free, and a transaction fee according to the price list is charged for sales invoices sent via email. Once the service is activated, you need to select the transaction types for which email sending is used in the sales basic information (Sales > Settings > Basic data and settings > Basic data of sales): 


You can edit the cover templates in Sales> Invoice settings > Email notes:

  • Sender's email address: You can define your company's own address in this field. The sender's email address always appears as noreply@netvisor.fi, and the sender's name appears as the company's name. If the customer replies to the received message, the reply will be sent to the address defined in this field. Any error message from the sending will also be sent to this address.
  • Message cover: This text becomes part of the cover and appears immediately after the invoice information. The text above the cover, which starts with "hyvä asiakkaamme," cannot be edited. 
  • Message cover in Swedish: as above, if the customer's billing language is defined as Swedish on the customer card. Please note that the cover must be written in Swedish by yourself. 
  • Message cover in English: as above, if the customer's billing language is defined as English on the customer card. Please note that the cover must be written in English by yourself.
  • Tip: You can line break the message cover with the HTML tag <br>


Error messages

If the delivery of a sales invoice sent via email fails, an error message is sent to the invoice sender via email. To send an error message, the company must have its own email address saved as the sending address: Myynti > Asetukset > Laskutuksen asetukset > Sähköpostien saateviestit

Editing the message cover is possible for sales invoices, offers, sales orders, and purchase orders. For payment reminders, payment notices, credit invoices, and interest invoices, the beginning of the cover is generated by the system, and the message cover becomes the same text as defined for the sales invoice.

The validation of an invoice sent via email occurs in two stages: The first stage checks the metadata of the message and their correctness. For example, if the email address is incorrectly formatted (e.g., incorrect domain) or contains special characters, it is immediately rejected. No error message is sent to the customer for these rejections, and the error is not visible in the sales invoice processing history. In the second stage, the message is forwarded to the recipient's server if it passes the first stage checks. The recipient's server performs its own checks on the incoming message, and the message either reaches the recipient or results in an error (e.g., typos in the recipient's email address but the domain is correct). The invoice sender receives an error notification for these errors if the company has defined its own email address in the email invoice sending settings. Error messages are not delivered if the sending address is noreply@netvisor.fi.

The arrival of error messages is also affected by the receiving server and its settings. For example, if the email address is written incorrectly, but the domain after the @ symbol is correct, no error message is sent from Netvisor if the receiving domain does not forward it to Netvisor. 

Netvisor's invoice does not show if the email sending resulted in an error.

Email addresses to be added to customer records

The customer's billing email address is defined on the customer card's "Edit basic data" tab in the Sähköpostilaskuosoite field:

If the invoice is to be sent via email to multiple recipients, separate email addresses should be separated by a semicolon (;) in the respective field. No semicolon is placed after the last address. If there are multiple recipients on the invoice, the recipients will not see other recipients. 

Addresses are separated by a semicolon in the customer's information, but in the sending process and processing history, the semicolon is shown as a comma. 

Sending Invoices

Sending sales invoices via email follows the normal sales invoice sending process. In the sending process, the sending channel for invoices will be "Välitys sähköpostitse". 

Invoices sent via email are sent in the order of arrival, either immediately or with a slight delay. Invoices sent from Netvisor via email are sent as PDF attachments, and the attachments are not encrypted. Sent material cannot be canceled.

Invoice attachments

More information about adding attachments to invoices and allowed file formats can be found in this guide.
Attachments for invoices sent via email can be added directly to the sales invoice in the Invoice attachments section. If the attachment is intended to be added to all invoices being sent, you can first bring the invoices into the sending process by selecting "Lähetä laskut" and adding the attachment in the sending process in the "Lisää liite" section. The attachment added in the sending process is sent to all invoices in the same sending process. The invoice sending does not allow unprotected attachments. The invoice and its attachment are combined into the same PDF file. When attachments are added to the invoice in the sending process, the added attachment is not visible on the invoice afterward. When the invoice is sent via email, the PDF link in the invoice processing history only shows the invoice image and does not include the attachment added in the sending process.

Email settings

To ensure that your invoice emails reach their recipients without being marked as spam, it is important to implement certain email authentication methods. You do not need to handle this yourself, but you can ask your IT department to check and apply the following settings, which are critical for both email deliverability and security:

1. SPF (Sender Policy Framework): SPF helps verify that emails sent from your domain are authorized by listing the mail servers that are approved to send emails on behalf of your domain. This prevents unauthorized use of your domain, reducing the chances of your emails being marked as spam.

2. DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails, confirming that the email was indeed sent from your domain and that its content has remained unchanged during transit. This authentication process is crucial for maintaining a good sender reputation and ensuring successful email delivery.

3. DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance): DMARC provides email service providers with instructions on how to handle messages that fail SPF or DKIM checks. It helps manage the handling of such emails, enhancing security by ensuring that only authenticated emails are delivered.

These mechanisms are essential to protect your email communications from being marked as spam and to guard against phishing attacks and other email-based threats. By encouraging your IT department to ensure these settings are properly in place, you can achieve a higher level of trust and security in your email communications, while also improving deliverability to your customers and their clients.

You can check the status of your domain using the free MX Toolbox service.

Frequently asked questions

Why hasn't the email invoice been delivered?
If the email invoice has not been delivered, it is worth checking at least the following:
- The customer's email address is saved on the customer card's "Perustietojen muokkaus" tab in the "Sähköpostilaskuosoite" field
- Is the recipient's email address written correctly?
- The recipient's email address must not contain special characters or diacritics (hyphen and underscore are allowed)
- Myynti > Perustiedot ja asetukset > Sähköpostien saateviestit > Lähettäjän sähköpostiosoite: This field must be defined with only one email address, and nothing extra.
- If the invoice is rejected by the recipient's server, this may be due to the recipient's mailbox being full or the invoice having too large attachments (we recommend that the attachment size is max 5 MB/attachment and the total size of attachments is max. 25 MB)
- The recipient may also need to whitelist noreply@netvisor.fi


Email invoicing should be approached in the same way as letter invoicing: occasionally, there may be a situation where the message is not delivered, and you may not necessarily receive any information about it other than through a payment reminder. You can improve the certainty of invoice delivery by ensuring that the above-mentioned items are in order. In general, the certainty of whether the message has reached the customer is tenuous for invoices sent via email. This is largely due to the fact that, for example, in spam situations, the receiving server may push the message to the trash and not acknowledge anything to the sender.


Keywords: sales invoice, email invoice, electronic service channel, attachments, SPF, DKIM, DMARC



This article has been translated using an AI-based translation tool. The contents or wording of these instructions may differ from those in other instructions or in the software.


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