Version 1.0.0 · Updated April 2026
Before installing PDF Invoices, Packing Slips & Credit Notes, confirm your server meets these minimum requirements:
PDF Invoices is tested with the latest WooCommerce and WordPress releases and is fully HPOS (High Performance Order Storage) compatible. PDFs are generated server-side using a built-in library — no third-party PDF service is required.
pdf-invoices.zip file, and click Install Now.pdf-invoices.zip file on your computer.pdf-invoices folder to /wp-content/plugins/.After activating the plugin, a notice will appear at the top of the admin screen prompting you to enter your licence key.
EA-.Your licence key was emailed to you at time of purchase. You can also find it in My Account → Orders.
Branding settings control how your business appears on all document types (invoices, packing slips, and credit notes). Configure these once and they apply everywhere.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Branding.
Click Upload Logo to select an image from your Media Library, or upload a new file. For best results, use a PNG file with a transparent background at a minimum resolution of 300×100 px. The logo is scaled proportionally on the document — a maximum display height of 60 px is applied.
Fill in your business information as it should appear on documents:
Set the Primary Colour used for the document header, table header row, and section borders. Enter a hex colour code (e.g., #1e3a5f) or use the colour picker. The remaining document uses neutral greys and whites for readability.
After updating branding settings, click the Preview Invoice button on any order screen to see how the changes look on a real document before they go out to customers.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Invoices to configure invoice-specific settings.
By default, an invoice PDF is generated automatically when an order is placed and its status is set to Processing or Completed. You can change which order status triggers generation:
Enable or disable specific fields that appear on each invoice:
Packing slips are designed for picking and packing in a warehouse or fulfilment context. They intentionally omit prices and financial details, showing only the items, quantities, and shipping information.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Packing Slips.
From WooCommerce → Orders, select one or more orders using the checkboxes, then choose Print Packing Slips from the Bulk Actions dropdown and click Apply. All selected packing slips open in a new browser tab ready to print.
You can also print a single order's packing slip by opening the order and clicking Print Packing Slip in the top-right action buttons area.
Configure which fields appear on packing slips:
A credit note is automatically generated whenever a WooCommerce order is fully or partially refunded. It references the original invoice and shows the refunded items and amount.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Credit Notes.
Credit note generation is enabled by default. When you process a refund via WooCommerce → Orders → [Order] → Refund, a credit note PDF is created automatically. Disable automatic generation here if your accounting system produces credit notes independently.
Credit notes use their own sequential numbering sequence, independent of invoice numbers. Configure the prefix and starting number in Credit Notes → Numbering (e.g., prefix CN-, starting at 1001).
The credit note includes the original invoice number, the refund date, the refunded line items, the refunded amount (including tax breakdown), and the refund reason if one was entered during the refund process.
Configure which WooCommerce emails automatically attach PDFs in WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Email Attachments.
For each WooCommerce email type, you can attach an invoice, packing slip, and/or credit note PDF:
The invoice PDF attached to the customer's Processing Order email is the most common setup. Customers can also download their invoice at any time from My Account → Orders → [Order] → Download Invoice.
Attaching large PDF files to emails can increase email size significantly. If your products have many line items, test the email size and check your email sending service's attachment limits. Most transactional email services (Mailgun, SendGrid, SES) accept attachments up to 10 MB.
By default, invoices use the WooCommerce order number as the invoice number. Sequential numbering provides a separate, unbroken invoice number sequence independent of order numbers — a requirement in many jurisdictions for tax-compliant invoicing.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Sequential Numbering.
INV- or 2026-). Leave blank for no prefix.-UK). Leave blank for no suffix.00042).Do not change the starting number after invoices have been issued — this creates gaps in your invoice sequence, which may cause compliance issues. If you need to reset numbering (e.g., at the start of a new financial year), create a note in your accounting records and set the new starting number carefully.
Enable Reset sequence each year to automatically restart invoice numbering at the start of each calendar year. When enabled, the year is appended to the prefix automatically — for example, INV-2026-00001, resetting to INV-2027-00001 on 1 January.
PDF Invoices supports both inclusive and exclusive tax display, and produces documents compliant with common tax authority requirements in the UK, EU, and Australia.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Tax Settings.
These tax display settings on the PDF are independent of your WooCommerce → Settings → Tax display settings. This means you can show tax-inclusive prices in your shop while showing tax-exclusive prices with a breakdown on the invoice.
The bulk print tool lets you generate and download multiple invoices or packing slips as a single PDF file — useful for end-of-day printing or audit record-keeping.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Bulk Print.
From WooCommerce → Orders, select multiple orders, then use the Bulk Actions dropdown to choose Download Invoices or Download Packing Slips. The documents are merged into a single PDF and downloaded to your browser.
Generating bulk PDFs for a very large number of orders (500+) in a single operation can time out on shared hosting. Use the date range filter to print in smaller batches if you encounter timeout errors.
Go to WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Email Attachments and confirm the correct email type has the attachment toggled on. Check that the invoice was actually generated for the order — open the order and look for the Download Invoice button. If there is no button, generate it manually by clicking Generate Invoice. Also ensure your email sending service (SMTP plugin) supports attachments — some lightweight SMTP plugins strip attachments.
This is usually caused by a PHP error interrupting PDF output. Check your PHP error log for fatal errors. Common causes: missing mbstring extension, PHP memory limit too low (increase to at least 128 MB in php.ini), or a conflict with another plugin that outputs content during PDF generation. Try deactivating other plugins one by one and regenerating the PDF after each deactivation to identify the conflict.
Ensure the GD or Imagick PHP extension is installed and enabled on your server. Check that the logo file is a supported format (PNG or JPG). Very large image files (>2 MB) can also cause issues — use an optimised logo file. If the logo URL contains spaces or special characters, rename the file and re-upload.
Invoice numbers are assigned at the moment the invoice is generated. If two orders are placed simultaneously, the numbers may appear slightly out of order compared to order numbers. This is normal behaviour and does not create a true gap in the sequence. If you see actual gaps (e.g., INV-100, INV-103 with no INV-101 or INV-102), it is likely that failed orders triggered invoice generation before the payment failed. Enable Generate invoice only after successful payment in Invoice Settings to prevent this.
The download link only appears after an invoice has been generated for the order. Check the order in the admin and click Generate Invoice if the button is present. Also confirm Allow customer to download invoice is enabled in WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Invoice Settings.
Ensure Automatic credit note on refund is enabled in WooCommerce → PDF Invoices → Credit Notes. Credit notes are only generated for orders that also have an invoice — if the original order does not have an invoice, no credit note is created. Generate the invoice first, then process the refund.
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