Document Layout Designer

The layout designer (Accounting → Layout designer) sets the PDF look of each kind of accounting document — invoice, quote, order confirmation, delivery note and dunning letter (Mahnung). Start from a preset, switch sections on and off, set colours, font size and margins, and watch the live preview beside it re-render with sample data as you edit. A master switch decides whether your layouts are used at all: when it's off, every document renders with the built-in default.

What the designer does — and the master switch

One designer covers all five document types; one toggle decides whether your layouts are live.

You build a separate layout for each document kind: invoice, quote, order confirmation, delivery note, and Mahnung.
The 'Use my custom layouts for generated PDFs' toggle is the gate — with it off, everything uses the built-in default no matter what you've saved.
A freshly saved layout does nothing until you turn that switch on.
A saved layout applies to every invoice, quote and so on that you generate from then on. When a document type has several layouts, the one you chose with 'Use for documents' under 'Manage layouts' applies.

Build a layout

Pick the document type, start from a preset, then switch sections on and off; the document prints the sections in the order of the list.

Open Accounting → Layout designer.
Under 'Editing layout for', click the document type's name and choose the one you want to design.
Optionally pick a look under 'Start from a preset': Classic (normal margins, font size 10), Modern (wide margins, more space between sections, a subtotal per group, VAT per rate) or Compact (narrow margins, font size 9, tight spacing). A preset replaces the current layout and the page design of this document type.
In the 'Sections' list, remove a section with its ✕, add one with 'Add block', and move sections with the arrow buttons.
Click a section to edit its options below the list.
Click 'Save layout'. It stays greyed out until you change something, and each document type is saved on its own.

Tips

'Advanced' switches the list to the raw blocks: you can then add any block type and drag blocks into order by their handle. 'Simple' switches back.
Text fields accept variables like {{customer.name}} or {{invoice.number}} that fill in when the document is generated. The 'Variable' button above a text field lists all of them and inserts the one you pick at the cursor.
Every text has a German and an English field. The language of the document decides which one is printed; an empty one falls back to the other.
'Use built-in layout' next to Save takes your saved layout for the document type you are editing out of use. Other document types keep theirs.
A document type can have several layouts. Pick one under 'Layout for …'; 'Manage layouts' creates a new one, saves a copy, renames, deletes, and with 'Use for documents' decides which one your documents are generated with. Editing another layout does not change your documents.
'When this block is printed' in a block's options prints it only for business or private customers, only for certain countries, or only from a number of positions. Without a condition it is printed on every document.
'Export to a file' saves the layout in the editor as a file; 'Import from a file' adds such a file as a new layout, on this or another account. The file holds the layout only, no customer or document data.
'Text templates' on a text field saves the current text under a name and inserts a saved text later, so you don't retype a footer or a closing line.
'Undo' takes back your edits one at a time, back to the last save: a removed section, an applied preset, a changed option or page design.
Switching to another document type while you have unsaved edits asks first. Choosing the current type again reloads its saved layout. Closing or reloading the tab with unsaved edits also asks.
Click the selected section again, or 'Page design' in its options, to get back to the page-wide colours, font size and margins.
'Add block' offers only sections that print something on this document type: the Mahnung letter only on a Mahnung, and no Totals on a delivery note or a Mahnung.
'Download PDF' renders a sample of the document type you are editing.
If you remove 'Document details' and save, generated PDFs leave it out as well. On an invoice it carries the invoice number and dates, which an invoice must show, so only remove it when another section prints them.
Your layouts are stored in your account. A second device opens the designer on the saved layout.
A new section goes right below the one you have selected. With nothing selected it goes to the end of the list, above the footer and the signature. A Custom text shows its first words in the list, so several of them can be told apart.
Removing a section shows a short note with 'Undo' that brings it straight back. The note goes away as soon as you change something else; the 'Undo' button next to Save still works then.
The menus work with the keyboard: Arrow up and down move through the entries, Home and End jump to the first and last, Escape closes the menu and returns to its button. Selecting a section moves the keyboard to its options.
On a phone or a narrow window the preview is below the editor. 'Show preview' at the bottom of the screen shows the preview in place of the editor; 'Back to editing' returns to where you were.
Clearing a number field such as the watermark's opacity means 'use the standard value', not zero.

The sections

Each section is one block of the document.

Header, Address, Document details, Line items and Totals — the core of every document.
Document details (Belegdaten) prints the particulars a buyer files against: document number, document date, service date or period, due date (on quotes and order confirmations: 'Valid until'), customer number, your-reference (their PO number), and the customer VAT ID. Every row has its own switch and hides itself when the value is empty.
Footer (page numbers and your legal imprint), Watermark and Signature.
Skonto note, Project data, and free Custom text for anything extra.
Mahnung body — the dunning text; leave it blank to use the statutory § 286 / § 288 BGB wording for the chosen stage.
On a Mahnung, the document details section prints two numbers: the number of the invoice being dunned and, under it, the Mahnung's own number ('Reminder no.', for example RE-2026-0042-M1). Both follow the 'Show document number' switch.

Colours, font size and margins

With no section selected, the 'Page design' panel styles the whole document; a selected section has its own 'Design' options.

Page design: Accent colour, Text colour, Base font size (pt) and Page margins (Normal, Compact or Spacious).
Leave a page-design field empty to use the standard design; your brand accent from Settings then applies by itself.
Design on a selected section: font size, text colour, alignment, and the space above and below it — for that section only. The font size is the size of the section's main text; smaller and larger text in the section moves by the same number of points. The colour replaces the section's normal text colours; accent colours stay.
A text colour is a hex value such as #333333. While the field holds something else, the default colour is used and a note says so.
The footer's Design has font size and colour only: it sits in the bottom page margin, which grows with it.

Preview, save, and activate

See it, save it, switch it on.

Watch the live preview panel on the right — it re-renders the layout as you edit, with sample content and your own company details; use its 'Download' button (or 'Download PDF' in the toolbar) to save that sample as a PDF.
Save the layout for the active document kind.
Turn on 'Use my custom layouts for generated PDFs' so your layouts drive real documents.

Common Pitfalls

The preview uses sample content, not a real customer or invoice — it shows the layout, not your figures. The company name, the legal imprint and the brand accent are your own.
Dashed boxes in the preview mark what a document adds itself, in the place where it prints: subject and notes on an invoice; cover letter, notes, bank details, terms, closing text, signatures and the statutory texts on a quote; the amounts due and the bank details on a Mahnung. A Custom text you place last comes before those parts.
On a quote, the Signature section decides only whether signature lines print. They always print for both parties after the closing text, wherever the section sits in the list.
Your logo comes from Settings → Account → Signature & Branding and your legal imprint from Settings → Accounting → Invoice settings; the Header section only controls the logo size, not the image itself.

Choosing line-item columns

The line-item table has a column picker in the block options.

Available columns: Pos., Article no., Description, Qty, Unit, Unit price, Discount, VAT %, and Net.
At least two columns stay ticked; the last two cannot be cleared. A subtotal after each group prints in the Net column, so it needs that column.
Unit and VAT % are switched on by default — German buyers expect the unit and the per-line tax rate on the document.
Article no. fills in for lines added from your product catalogue; it is the product SKU, frozen onto the line when you add it.
Delivery notes use Ordered and Delivered instead of the money columns.

Good to know

A couple of behaviours worth understanding before you rely on custom layouts.

When you finalise an invoice, its layout is frozen onto that invoice — re-downloading it later always reproduces the original, even if you change the live layout (a legal-immutability requirement).
There's no visual drag-on-page canvas; you confirm fidelity in the live preview panel (and can download a sample PDF).
Save the layout before you switch to another document type or load another layout. The app asks first; if you go on, the unsaved changes are discarded.
An invoice on a saved layout ends like the built-in one: with the payment sentence (the due date written like the 'Fällig am' row), the payment-terms line of your text template, and the greeting with your signature line. A Storno or Rechnungskorrektur gets no payment lines, and an invoice that is already finalized keeps the PDF it had.
Dates on an English document follow Settings → General → Date format, on a saved layout as on the built-in one: 22/09/2026 with 'Day first', for example. German documents read 22.09.2026.
The footer always prints in full. The page margins you pick are a minimum: when your legal imprint, a footer text over several lines or a large base font size needs more room, the bottom margin grows until the page number and every imprint line fit. The preview prints your own imprint, so its footer is as tall as on your documents.
A total discount shows on a custom layout too: the totals print the sum of the lines (Subtotal), the discount, and the net amount, then VAT and the total — the same three rows as the built-in layout.

Help & Documentation