Document types are an effective tool when working with any document agenda.
Whether it's invoices, orders, or cash receipts, each of these agendas has document types and options for configuring them.
What is a document type?
A document type can be thought of as a template for individually issued documents — it contains a range of fields that are transferred to the selected document once the document type is applied.
In addition, document types can serve as a useful tool for filtering — they allow you to easily categorize the relevant agendas, making filtering simpler across many areas.
If we take issued invoices as an example, the default document types are as follows:
Invoice - tax document
Advance - not a tax document
ATD - advance tax document
Credit note - corrective tax document
From the logic of the default document types in issued and received invoices, we can see the basic categorization of the relevant agenda.
Document types are, however, a user-defined codebook, meaning its content is entirely up to you.
Among other things, the document number series can also be changed, so individual document types can have a different format for the internal number.
Sticking with the issued invoices example, you can easily create additional document types based on various criteria, such as:
Invoice EET (an invoice submitted to EET; useful when not all documents are required to be sent to EET)
Invoice CASH (document types can also be differentiated by payment method; cash is used here as an example only)
Invoice EUR (document types allow you to predefine currencies; a currency and the corresponding pre-accounting entry can therefore be preset for foreign-currency documents)
Invoice GOODS SALE (the document type also includes an accounting prescription; if needed, any number of document types with a corresponding accounting entry can be created this way)
The scope of use is of course considerably broader; the examples mentioned above are provided for illustration and better understanding only.
How to use a document type?
As mentioned above, a document type can be thought of as a kind of template for individually created documents.
If we switch back to issued invoice types;
and open a specific invoice type;
we will see a range of fields that can be pre-filled in the invoice type. All of these fields are then naturally populated in the specific documents created (in this case, issued invoices).
If the new document type is largely similar to an existing one, the easiest way to create it is to make a copy of the existing document type. Otherwise, you can create a document type using the New button.
In our case, we will simply create a copy of the standard invoice and rename it to OSS invoice.
Among other things, the document number series can also be changed, so individual document types can have a different format for the internal number.
Once the required fields have been filled in, you can save the document type and use it when creating specific documents.
We will therefore create a new invoice and apply the newly created type to it.
The OSS invoice is merely an example of how document types can be used. As mentioned above, the scope of use is far broader.
The categorization of agendas is entirely flexible and up to you. The key thing to know is that document types are available in every document agenda and that a document type serves as a template for the specific documents being issued.
General documentation describing the fields for individual document types is also available; links are provided below.