How proformas work
A proforma shows the client what you'll charge before you invoice, so they can accept it or pay an advance. It isn't an invoice and books nothing.
Many clients want to see the bill before the job, and some pay part of it up front to hold the date. You send them a document with the equipment, the dates and the amount, they accept it or pay, and only after the job do you issue the invoice.
In Filmo, that document is a . It has its own number, lines, taxes, totals, validity and PDF, just like an invoice, but it isn't one: it carries no tax signature and doesn't count as invoiced revenue. Think of it as a dress rehearsal of the invoice: the client sees exactly what they'll be charged, and nothing is booked yet.
Take the Landmark Venues wedding: three large frame tents, 120 Chiavari chairs and 12 round tables. Two months before the event, you create a proforma for 50 % of the order and send it. Landmark Venues pays it in your , and the money waits on the proforma as an . When you invoice, you convert the proforma and the invoice already shows it as paid.
Three things to know first
- It has two statuses at once. The says whether it's ready («Draft» or ), and the says what the client has answered («Pending», «Confirmed» or «Canceled»). Neither one stops you editing it.
- Converting it doesn't close it. When you create the invoice, the proforma is linked to it but keeps its status, and it can still be edited, signed, paid and converted again. Set it to «Confirmed» or «Canceled» yourself after invoicing.
- What the client pays moves to the invoice. Money paid against the proforma stays there until you convert that proforma into the invoice, which then deducts it.
Proforma statuses: draft, validated, pending, confirmed
A proforma always answers two questions: is it ready to send, and what has the client said? The proforma page, the list and the order's «Documents» card show both.
Document status: is it ready?
| Status | What it means | It changes when | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Still being prepared. The page shows the «Draft» badge, and it already has its number. | You click «Save as draft», even on a validated proforma | «Send» is disabled on its page, and it doesn't appear in the portal or in the mobile app. |
| Validated | Ready to send. | You click «Save» | «Send» works and the client sees it in the portal. It can still be edited. |
Commercial status: what has the client said?
| Status | What it means | It changes when | What it changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pending | Waiting for the client. Every proforma starts here. | You create it, or set it back by hand | The client can sign, decline or pay it in the portal until it expires. |
| Confirmed | Accepted by the client or by you. | The client signs or pays in the portal, or you set it | The client can't sign it any more, but can still pay it. |
| Canceled | Declined or discarded. | The client declines it, or you set it | «Edit» and «Convert to» disappear from its page, and the portal doesn't take payment for it. |
Any commercial status can change to any other, and back. The date changes none of them: after it, the client just can't sign, decline or pay a «Pending» proforma in the portal.
Follow a proforma through
You create the Landmark Venues proforma from the order and click «Save»: it's «Validated» and «Pending». You send it, Landmark Venues pays it in the portal, and it becomes «Confirmed» on its own. After the wedding you convert it into the invoice. The proforma stays «Confirmed»: Filmo doesn't mark it as invoiced, but the list's «Invoiced» column shows the invoice.
The proformas list and proforma page
Every proforma in your account is under «Sales» → «Proformas» in the sidebar. You'll also find an order's proformas in its «Documents» card, which is where you usually create them.
The proformas list
- The status filter: «All statuses», «Pending», «Confirmed» and «Canceled», each with its count. The search, the filters you add and your saved segments narrow it further.
- The «Relations» column shows the order each proforma comes from, and «Invoiced» the invoices created from it.
- The «Status» column has a dropdown to change the commercial status right there, and a payment badge when the client has paid.
- Select several proformas to use «Bulk actions»: «Change status to», «Send by email», «Download», «Convert to» and «Delete».
- «New proforma», at the top, starts one from scratch.
Inside a proforma
Click a proforma to open it. The PDF is on the left, as the client will see it, and everything about it is on the right.
| Where | What you'll find |
|---|---|
| Header | «Convert to» and «Send». The «⋯» menu has «Print», «Download», «Edit», «Duplicate» and «Delete», plus «Run workflow» for administrators. |
| General information | The number, the «Status» badge, the validity and issue dates and, on a partial proforma, its period or percentage. |
| Related documents | The order, the project, the source quotes, the invoices and quotes made from it, and a button that draws the whole chain. |
| Advance payments | What the client has paid, with «Total», «Total advances» and what's pending. Only shown with the «Treasury» permission. |
| Further down | The emails sent, files, notes and tasks. |
The invoices you create from a proforma are its . The in «Related documents» draws the order, the quotes, the proforma and its invoices together, so you can follow the whole chain.
Outside «Sales», proformas also show in the project's finances, in the «Proformas» tab of the client's contact page (view only), in the «Proformas» section of the portal, and in the mobile app, which shows the PDF of an order's proformas that aren't drafts.
What you can do with a proforma
| You want to | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Create a proforma | The order's «Documents» → «Add» → «Proforma» | Create a proforma |
| Fix something in it | «Edit», in the «⋯» menu | Create a proforma (Edit a proforma) |
| Email it to the client | «Send», in the header | Send a document by email |
| Let the client accept and pay online | The customer portal | Approve and pay in the client portal |
| Record an advance | «Advance payments» → «Add payment» | Take an advance payment on a proforma |
| Record the client's answer | The «Status» badge | Confirm or cancel a proforma |
| Invoice it | «Convert to» → «Invoice» | Convert a proforma to an invoice |
| Remove it | «Delete», in the «⋯» menu | Confirm or cancel a proforma |
Good to know
- A proforma is a copy. The client's details, the lines and the amounts are fixed when you create it: changing the contact or the order afterwards doesn't change it. Only its payments and its links to other documents update.
- It gets its number from a proforma the first time you save it, even as a draft. Deleting a proforma leaves a gap: its number isn't used again. See Document numbering series.
- Filmo keeps no versions of a proforma. If you edit it after sending it, the client sees the new document in the portal.
- A proforma doesn't reserve equipment or change the order's status.
Up next
Create your first one: Create a proforma.