What the PDF builder does
- 01Ready-made layouts
Seven layouts as a starting point: Standard, Modern, Minimalist, Professional, Creative, Classic and Compact. Each is an overall template with one PDF template per document; you adopt individual ones or all of them. You set the primary and accent color per template; otherwise your company's colors apply.
- 02Building blocks
Each layout is split into building blocks: letterhead, title with document number, document details, introduction, line items table, payment terms with totals, and the footer with the mandatory details. The dunning letter has its own, such as the dunning level. How quote, invoice and reminder fit together is described under Invoices and dunning.
- 03Your own elements
Texts with fields from document, company and recipient, logo, boxes, lines, columns, QR code, payment QR code as GiroCode, page number, watermark and draft stamp.
- 04Page 1 and following pages
You set margins and orientation separately for the first page and the following pages; each element says which pages it appears on.
- 05Preview with sample data
The canvas shows the rendered sheet, not an approximation. A separate button opens the whole PDF across all pages.
- 06Import an existing template
You can import a template as HTML with CSS, optionally with Jinja. Before you accept it, ZepDesk shows what was taken over, what was not, and what you should check.
What stays on the invoice, whatever it looks like
- 01ZUGFeRD stays
Invoices remain ZUGFeRD invoices. The layout changes nothing in the embedded XML, and the VAT per rate on the sheet comes from the same breakdown as the XML.
- 02Finalized means final
When a document is finalized, the PDF is created immediately and stored with a checksum. A later change to the letterhead does not change any finalized invoice.
- 03Checked against the previous sheet
Every combination of document and layout, 43 in all, was rendered from the builder's starting document against the previous sheet and checked on up to eleven points, from pixels and text through payment QR and ZUGFeRD XML to PDF/A. Status of the acceptance test on 30 September 2026: all passed. A template can be moved into the builder only if its combination passed.
What the PDF builder does not do
- 01No PDF split into blocks
A PDF is not taken apart. Your letterhead lies underneath the sheet as a whole; the fields on top are what you edit.
- 02No foreign code
An imported template is read, never executed. Text, fields and simple conditions are taken over, but no filters, macros or custom logic.
- 03No mandatory check for dunning letter, credit note and price list
The check on saving exists for invoice, cancellation invoice, quote and delivery note. For dunning letter, credit note and price list there is none of its own.
Questions about the letterhead
All questions and answersWhere do I find the PDF builder?
Your company's administrators find it under Administration, Company, Letterhead. There you choose a template and open it in the builder. Who has which role is explained under collaboration.
Do I need to know HTML?
No. You drag building blocks and elements onto the page with the mouse. Importing an HTML template is an additional route for anyone who already has one.
Does a new template change my old invoices?
No. Finalized invoices keep the PDF that was created when they were finalized. The new template applies to documents that are not yet finalized.
Your letterhead in ZepDesk.
Choose a layout, set logo and colors, place your letterhead underneath. ZepDesk checks the mandatory details along the way.