YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List - WordPress Plugin

How to Set Up YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List for WooCommerce Orders

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List is not about making your storefront look better. It handles the dull but critical side of running a store - order documents. In this guide, you will learn how to prepare WordPress and WooCommerce, choose an invoice generation mode, configure numbering, make the PDF templates usable, verify packing slips, manage file storage, control customer access, and troubleshoot common failures.

In YITH's current product lineup, this plugin is called YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips, but in tasks, archives, and older product pages it still often appears as YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List. For that reason, I will keep using the original name where it helps with search and download, while following the current YITH documentation for the actual settings.

The main goal is to create a predictable workflow: an order reaches the right status, the plugin generates a PDF, the document appears in the email or the customer's account area, the administrator can download, regenerate, delete, or export documents, and the warehouse gets a packing slip without manually assembling the data. This guide is not a substitute for accounting advice, but it does help you configure the technical side so documents do not go missing, get duplicated, or break because of a theme, template, or update.

What Problem the Plugin Solves in a Real Store

A standard WooCommerce order includes products, addresses, payment, shipping, taxes, notes, and statuses. What a default setup usually lacks is a full PDF document system: the store may send an email with order details, but it does not always provide an invoice with the required number, a packing slip for the warehouse, a credit note for returns, or a clear document copy in the customer's account. YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List fills exactly that gap between the order itself and the final document.

The easiest way to understand the plugin is to look at its input and output. The input is a WooCommerce order: order number, status, products, prices, discounts, taxes, customer address, shipping method, payment method, notes, and additional metadata. The administrator defines the rules: when to generate an invoice, what number to assign, which fields to show, where to store the file, which template to use, and whether a packing slip, proforma, receipt, or credit note is needed. The output is a set of PDF documents and, for some regional workflows, XML files.

The most important practical point: the plugin does not fix incorrect order data. If taxes, statuses, addresses, or shipping settings are wrong in WooCommerce, the PDF will faithfully carry that error into the official document. That is why setup should start not with template design, but with checking what data the order already contains and at what point the store considers the order ready for invoicing.

For a small store, this may be simple automation: the invoice is created when the order moves to Processing or Completed, the customer receives the PDF by email, and the administrator sees the document in the order screen. For a store shipping physical products, packing slips matter more: the warehouse staff checks products, quantities, SKU, weight, dimensions, and shipping method. For a B2B store, the priority shifts to VAT/SSN fields, correct numbering, prefixes, suffixes, extra business details, and document availability in the account area.

The plugin is especially useful when one order passes through several roles. The customer expects confirmation and a document, the manager verifies payment status, accounting needs an export or backup, the warehouse prepares the shipment using the packing slip, and support needs a quick way to regenerate or resend the PDF. When all of those roles work from one order screen and one set of rules, there is less room for manual error.

Core Features That Drive the Setup

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List includes several mechanisms worth looking at separately, because they are what make it more than a simple "save order as PDF" tool.

• Document creation mode: an invoice can be created manually from the order screen or automatically based on an order event, such as order creation, moving to processing, or completion. The visible result is that a PDF appears in the order actions, in the documents table, and, when relevant, in the customer email.
• Numbering rule: you can use the order number, the order ID, or a separate sequence with a starting value, minimum length, prefix, suffix, and duplicate protection. The right way to verify it is by checking two consecutive test orders, not just one.
• Documents panel: a dedicated invoices and credit notes table lets you search, filter, download, delete, regenerate documents, send them to the customer, and export a CSV based on the current view.
• PDF templates: you can use standard layout options or build custom templates with a Gutenberg-like editor using blocks for customer data, shipping details, the product table, dates, document numbers, and totals.
• Packing slip: for physical products, the plugin creates a separate document with information useful for fulfillment rather than accounting: products, quantity, SKU, weight, dimensions, shipping, and notes.
• Storage and backup: by default, documents are stored in a folder inside wp-content/uploads/ywpi-pdf-invoice, and in premium workflows they can also be sent to Dropbox or Google Drive.
• YITH integrations: other YITH plugins can pass VAT, SSN, delivery date, tracking, vendor details in a multi-vendor store, or deposit information into the generated documents.

These features are best configured one at a time. If you enable automatic generation, a new template, required checkout fields, and cloud backup all at once, it becomes much harder to see where a problem actually started. A reliable order of work is this: first manual creation and a basic PDF, then automation, then the template, then extra fields, then cloud storage and integrations.

Who This Solution Fits and When Another Approach Makes More Sense

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List is a strong fit for WooCommerce stores where documents need to live alongside the order. That includes stores with regular sales, physical shipping, B2B buyers, returns, accounting exports, and repeated customer requests for invoice copies. The plugin does not require you to build a separate document management system: it uses WooCommerce data and adds a PDF document layer on top of it.

If the store sells only digital products, processes one or two orders a week, and does not need packing slips, the plugin may offer more than you actually need. In that case, first check whether standard WooCommerce emails and a manually generated document from your accounting system are enough. The plugin makes the most sense when documents are created regularly and a mistake in the number, address, or amount can cost time.

For stores with regional requirements for electronic invoicing, YITH is interesting because the documentation specifically covers Italian Electronic Invoicing, XML files, sender data, intermediary data, and checkout fields. But that should not be treated as a universal promise of legal compliance in every country. Regional electronic invoicing depends on the jurisdiction, format, and accounting workflow. WordPress setup is only one part of that process.

The packing slip workflow also will not fit every store equally well. Reviews on the current YITH product page include one note from a user who needed a single PDF containing all packing slips for a large batch of orders. The developer confirmed that this specific feature was not available. That does not make the plugin bad, but if your warehouse depends on high-volume batch printing of packing documents, you need to verify in advance exactly how the team will download and print those slips.

When the Plugin Is a Particularly Good Fit

• The store wants to attach PDF invoices to customer emails automatically and keep copies in the admin panel.
• You need proforma, receipt, credit note, or packing slip documents, not just a standard invoice.
• It matters whether the document number is separate from the technical order ID or, on the contrary, matches the order number.
• The team wants a dedicated document table where they can filter by date, download PDFs, and export CSV files.
• The customer needs to download the document from My Account without contacting support.
• The store already uses other YITH products such as Delivery Date, Order & Shipment Tracking, Checkout Manager, EU VAT, Point of Sale, Multi Vendor, or Product Bundles.

When to Be More Careful

• The store needs a full accounting workflow with direct submission to a national system that YITH does not explicitly support.
• The warehouse prints hundreds of packing slips per shift and specifically requires one combined PDF for the whole batch.
• The site already runs another PDF invoice plugin that attaches documents to the same WooCommerce emails.
• The theme or child theme already overrides YITH templates, and the team is not prepared to maintain those files after updates.
• The store has a complex multi-vendor workflow where automatic document generation for vendors is disabled and replaced with manual creation.

Check suitability with a test order before enabling automatic email delivery. It is much easier to fix a document with the wrong number or an empty VAT field before the customer receives it by email.

What to Check Before Installing It in WordPress and WooCommerce

Before installation, it is not enough to confirm that WordPress simply loads. PDF documents are generated on the server, stored in uploads, may be attached to emails, may use logo images, pull in order metadata, and depend on WooCommerce statuses. Your pre-installation check therefore needs to cover data, server conditions, filesystem permissions, and the current email workflow.

Start with technical compatibility. The current YITH product page lists minimum requirements for WordPress, WooCommerce, and PHP, and the YITH help center also highlights PHP memory, cURL, OpenSSL, and TLS requirements for proper updates and premium product connections. Those numbers should not be hardcoded into the visible article as if they never change. But before installation, open the Technical Info block on the product page and compare it with your own site.

Check WooCommerce statuses. According to YITH documentation, automatic generation may depend on the moment the order is created or when it moves to Processing or Completed. In WooCommerce, those statuses have real operational meaning: a paid order for a physical product usually remains in processing until it is picked and shipped, while completion may trigger separate emails. If the store team uses statuses incorrectly, the plugin will generate documents at the wrong time.

Pre-Installation Checklist

• Create a backup of the site and database before installation or update.
• Check that WooCommerce, WordPress, PHP, and the active theme match the current technical information block on the YITH page.
• Make sure the wp-content/uploads folder is writable, because YITH stores documents in its own subfolder there by default.
• Disable duplicate PDF sending in any other invoice plugin, or at least verify that two different documents are not being attached to the same email.
• Prepare a test product with a price, tax, SKU, weight, dimensions, and a shipping option if the store ships physical goods.
• Check WooCommerce emails using a test order: new order, processing, completed, refund, and the customer order email.
• Gather the legal wording for the footer, invoice notes, pro-forma notes, and any terms that must appear in the document.
• Decide which numbering scheme fits the store: order number, order ID, or a separate document sequence.

Also verify your images. The company logo in the PDF should not be oversized, should avoid transparency that prints poorly, and should not rely on an external URL that the PDF generator may fail to access. If the logo did not appear in an older document, first check the file path and whether the image is actually reachable on the server before changing the template.

If the store runs in multiple languages, do not enable automatic document delivery until you have checked the translations. The YITH page lists support for WPML and Loco Translate, and older PDF invoice discussions for other plugins often mention font issues and missing translations. A safe approach for YITH is this: first open the PDF in the admin panel for each language, then send a test email, then verify the download from the customer account.

Installation, Activation, and the First Manual Check Without Automation

Installing the premium YITH plugin usually means uploading a ZIP file in WordPress: Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin, then installing and activating it. This guide does not cover purchasing, license keys, or bypassing activation. What matters here is something else: once the plugin is enabled, do not immediately turn on automatic document creation for live orders. First test the basic manual workflow.

After activation, find the YITH section in the left WordPress menu and open YITH -> PDF Invoices & Packing Slips. YITH documentation shows that the panel includes tables for invoices and credit notes, and that the main settings are grouped into general options, document format, storage, and PDF templates. If the menu items look different, check that you actually installed the current product rather than an older free WordPress.org branch that is no longer available for download.

Your first check should be manual. Open a WooCommerce test order with a standard product and generate a PDF from the document metabox. If the document appears, download it from the order screen, open it in the browser, and also in the system PDF viewer. Then go back to the YITH documents table and make sure that the invoice is listed there as well. This verifies three layers at once: file generation, storage, and order linkage.

Minimum Test Order

1. Create a product with SKU, price, tax settings, weight, and dimensions if the store uses shipping.
2. Place a test order as a customer or create one from the WooCommerce admin panel.
3. Make sure the order includes billing and shipping details, as well as a selected payment and shipping method.
4. Open the order screen and manually create the invoice.
5. Download the PDF and check the number, date, products, amount, tax, discount, address, and logo.
6. Create a packing slip if the product is physical, and verify the SKU, quantity, weight, dimensions, and shipping method.
7. Delete or regenerate the test document only after you understand exactly what changes in the number and in the file.

Do not use a real customer order for your first test. Even if the document can be deleted or regenerated, the email may already have been sent and the number may already be in your records. If the store is already live, create a private test product, use a test payment method or a manual order, and keep automatic sending turned off for the moment.

Do not skip the manual test. It tells you whether the server can generate a PDF at all. Automation only makes sense after one document can be created, stored, and opened without errors.

The Settings Map After Installation: From Invoice Numbers to Customer Access

The best way to work through the main settings is not mechanically from top to bottom, but by following your business process. First decide when the document should appear. Then choose the numbering rule. After that, configure the filename format, document visibility, template, and storage. This order reduces the risk of ending up with a beautifully designed template that still creates documents too early or with the wrong sequence.

Invoice Creation Mode

In General options, YITH lets you choose between manual and automatic invoice creation. Manual mode is the right starting point for setup, testing, B2B orders, payment review, and stores where documents are issued only after an additional check. Automatic mode makes sense once the process is stable and the document should appear without any manager action.

For automatic generation, the documentation describes several trigger points: when the order is created, when it moves to Processing, or when it moves to Completed. The right choice depends on what the store treats as a legally and operationally ready invoice. If an order exists before payment, early generation may create documents for unpaid orders. If you wait until Completed, the customer may not receive the invoice until after the item is actually shipped. For most stores with physical delivery, testing generation on Processing is usually the most sensible starting point, but the final rule should come from accounting and payment status workflows.

How to verify the mode you chose: create two test orders in sequence and move them to the target status. The documents table should show two separate files, and the numbering should behave exactly as expected. If only one document appears or the numbering jumps unexpectedly, do not try to fix it in the template: the issue is in the generation event, the order status, or the numbering rule.

Document Number: Order Number, Order ID, or a Separate Sequence

YITH supports several ways to assign invoice numbers: using the order number, using the order ID, or starting a separate sequential numbering series from a specific value. This is not just a cosmetic setting. The document number affects search, accounting reconciliation, exports, regeneration, and customer expectations.

The Order ID is the technical record identifier in WordPress. It is usually unique, but it may contain gaps because the database creates records for more than just orders. The order number is the visible order number and may be modified by other WooCommerce extensions. A separate sequence is useful when invoices need their own independent series with a prefix, suffix, minimum length, and duplicate control.

YITH also provides a minimum length option: if a number is shorter than the required length, the plugin pads it with leading zeroes. That helps keep documents neat and file sorting more consistent. But before enabling it, make sure that this format does not conflict with your accounting system. Prefixes and suffixes are best kept short and meaningful: a store code, document type, or internal marker. Do not fill the number with marketing phrases.

How to Choose a Safe Starting Number

If the store has already issued invoices manually, do not start at 1. Take the last used number from the accounting system, confirm the next number with your accountant, and only then enter it as the starting sequence value. After saving, create a test order, verify the number, remove the test documents from your records if your procedure allows it, and only then enable automation.

The duplicate protection option is useful if the store has migrated, imported orders, or changed its numbering approach. But it should not be your only safeguard: keep your old documents, export the current invoices table, and make sure the new range does not overlap with the old one.

Zero-Value Documents

On the YITH features page, the plugin offers an option to prevent invoice creation for orders with a value of 0. This matters for stores with free products, gifts, trial orders, full-amount coupons, or warranty replacements. But it should not be enabled blindly: sometimes a zero-value order still needs to be recorded as a shipment, exchange, or service operation.

Test three situations: a completely free order, an order with a partial discount, and an order with free shipping. If the rule is enabled, the invoice should be skipped only for a truly zero-value order, while a normal paid order with a discount should still generate a correct document. If your store uses custom coupon or rewards logic, add a separate test for that as well.

How the Customer Opens the Document

In the generated document view settings, YITH lets you decide whether the customer downloads the PDF, opens the file in the same tab, or opens it in a new browser tab. That may seem secondary, but it affects support. Downloading is convenient for the buyer's accounting team. Opening in a new tab is convenient for a quick review, but it can be blocked by browser settings or corporate restrictions.

After configuring this, open a test order as a customer in My Account -> Orders. YITH documentation shows that documents are available next to the corresponding order, but the appearance of the buttons depends on the theme. So do not promise customers a specific color or button style. Verify that the link exists, is clear, and does not break the order row on mobile.

The Invoices and Credit Notes Panel: Managing Documents Without Chaos

A separate documents table is one of the most practical parts of YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List. It gives the administrator a view of already created invoices and credit notes, along with date filters, search, PDF download, CSV export of the current view, document regeneration, sending to the customer, and deletion. This is not just a file list. It is a working panel for support, accounting, and order queue verification.

The panel becomes especially useful after template changes. Suppose you added a company logo, enabled SKU in the product table, or changed the footer. Older documents do not always need to be regenerated: in some cases, the customer has already received the document and it should remain as it was. But if test documents or unsent documents need to be updated, the regenerate action helps you create a new PDF from the current order data and the current template.

How to Use Bulk Actions Safely

Bulk actions are useful for mass operations, but they are also where mistakes are easiest to make. First filter the table by date or by the specific set of orders you need, then export a CSV of the current view so you have a record of exactly which documents are in the selection. After that, you can apply download, delete, or regenerate to the selected files. If the operation affects customer-facing documents, verify in advance whether a repeat email could be triggered.

A practical detail from product reviews is worth noting here: one user wanted a single PDF containing all packing slips at once, and the developer confirmed that the product did not include that feature. So do not assume that bulk download means one combined file. Test the actual behavior with several orders and explain the printing workflow to your team ahead of time.

When to Regenerate a Document and When to Keep the Old One

Regeneration makes sense if the document has not yet been sent to the customer, was created using test data, contains a template error, or needs to reflect corrected order information. It is better to keep the old file if the document has already been used in accounting, sent to the customer, or tied to a return. When in doubt, do not delete the document. Download a copy and leave a note in the order explaining why a new file is being created.

Do not try to fix numbering by mass-deleting documents. If an invoice received the wrong number, find out why first: the wrong sequence start value, an overlap with imported orders, a changed order number from another extension, or manual regeneration. Deleting files without understanding the cause only hides the real problem.

CSV as a Reconciliation Tool

Exporting a CSV from the current view is useful for more than accounting. It also helps you spot gaps, duplicates, unexpected dates, and documents created under the wrong status. After enabling automation, place several test orders, filter them in the YITH table, export the CSV, and compare it against WooCommerce orders. If the order exists but the document does not, check the order status and generation trigger. If the document exists but is missing from the email, check the email settings and the actual WooCommerce email delivery.

PDF Templates: What to Show and Where to Avoid Overdoing It

An invoice template has two jobs: it must show the required data and make the order easy for a person to review quickly. YITH offers a default template, styles such as Default, Black & White, and Modern stripes, plus custom templates built with a Gutenberg-like editor. In the default template settings, you can manage company information, invoice and pro-forma settings, credit note settings, packing slip settings, colors, and visible columns.

The most common PDF setup mistake is turning on everything that is available. Product picture, SKU, short description, variation, quantity, prices, tax, tax percentage, total, discounts, shipping, and fees are not equally useful in every document. For a customer, a detailed tax table may be mandatory. For the warehouse, extra prices are just noise. For a credit note, the refund description and refund total matter more. For a packing slip, the priorities are product, quantity, SKU, weight, dimensions, and shipping details.

Company Information and Logo

In the company information block, configure the company name, logo, business details, and display toggles. The logo should have enough contrast and should be prepared for PDF output, because the PDF generator needs to embed the image rather than just display it in the browser. If the logo is too wide, the document layout can stretch and push the product table to the next page. If the logo does not appear, first check that the file is available in the Media Library and that uploads permissions are correct, then try a smaller file.

Company details are usually best written as several short lines. Do not turn the header into a long legal paragraph. Legal details, return terms, payment details, and internal notes usually belong in the notes or footer area, if they really need to be printed on every document.

Order Info and Customer Details

In the invoice and pro-forma template settings, you can choose which order details to show: order number, order date, order amount, and payment method. These fields are useful for customer verification, support, and accounting. Customer details can be inserted using placeholders, and YITH documentation provides a list of metakeys and block placeholders. Use them carefully: a placeholder can only show data that actually exists in the order.

For example, if checkout does not include a VAT field, the VAT placeholder will not magically produce a valid tax number. If the field was added by another checkout plugin, make sure its meta key matches what you insert into the template. When in doubt, open a test order, inspect the actual metadata, or use YITH's built-in blocks instead of arbitrary text strings.

Product Table: Not Every Column Is Equally Useful

The Product table in custom templates lets you enable thumbnail, product name, SKU, description, weight, dimensions, quantity, regular price, sale price, price, discount percentage, tax, tax percentage, total, and total with taxes. For an invoice, the important columns are usually name, SKU, quantity, price, tax, and total. For B2B stores, a tax breakdown may also be required. For a packing slip, it is usually better to hide prices and keep only fulfillment-related fields.

A good rule of thumb: if a column does not help the document recipient take action, it is better turned off. The customer checks payment and products, the warehouse checks fulfillment, and accounting checks amount, tax, and document number. One PDF does not have to be perfect for every role.

Notes, Footer, and the Last Page

YITH lets you enable invoice notes, pro-forma notes, invoice footer, pro-forma footer, notes on the credit note, the credit note footer, packing slip notes, and the packing slip footer. In some cases, the footer can be shown only on the last page. That is useful for return conditions, legal information, or a short instruction for the customer.

Do not overload the footer with marketing. A PDF invoice often ends up in the buyer's accounting system, gets forwarded inside the company, and is kept as an order record. The footer is a good place for business details, contact information, a short return policy, or a request to contact support in case of a discrepancy. Marketing slogans, long promo codes, and decorative content are better left for the email or thank-you page.

Custom Templates and Gutenberg Blocks

Custom templates are useful when the standard styles are not enough. YITH documentation notes that Gutenberg must be enabled if you want to edit the default PDF template or create new templates. The available blocks include Customer info, Shipping info, Product table, Date, Order number, Document number, Order amount, and Total table. Each block has its own settings for size, padding, color, typography, and additional CSS classes.

A practical workflow looks like this: first create a copy of the template, then change only one area, save it, generate a new test document, and open the PDF. Do not edit the header, table, footer, colors, and placeholders all at once. PDF rendering can differ from what you see in the browser editor: a long address, a large logo, multiple product variations, or long product names can break an otherwise clean layout very quickly.

A Safe Custom Tweak for Long Product Names

YITH documents the use of additional CSS classes in the advanced builder settings, and it also allows template overrides through the theme. If long product names stretch the PDF table, do not jump to PHP first. Start with the visible columns and text size settings in the Product table. If that is still not enough, you can add a class to the table block in the builder, for example invoice-product-table-compact, and apply CSS in the template settings or in a safe override if your team already maintains that type of customization.

.invoice-product-table-compact td {
  word-break: break-word;
  line-height: 1.35;
}

.invoice-product-table-compact .product-name {
  max-width: 280px;
}

This is not an official ready-made YITH snippet. It is a cautious custom adjustment based on the documented ability to add CSS classes to blocks and on standard table CSS practices. Use it only on a copy of the template, test the PDF with products that have a long name, variation, and SKU, and roll it back by removing the class or the CSS rule. If your template does not include a product-name class, do not invent a selector: inspect the actual template HTML or use the builder settings instead.

Packing Slips for Physical Shipping: What the Warehouse Needs to See

In YITH, the packing slip is a separate document for physically shipped products. The product page and documentation explain that packing slips can be generated manually or automatically, and that the template can show customer data, notes, a footer, order totals, and visible columns such as product picture, SKU, weight and dimension, product variation, quantity, and other fields. Unlike an invoice, this document is usually read not by accounting, but by the person packing the shipment.

That is why a packing slip should be simpler than an invoice. If the warehouse checks products by SKU, enable SKU. If products look similar, enable thumbnails, but make sure the images do not bloat the PDF. If weight or size matters, enable weight and dimension, but first verify that those values are filled in on the WooCommerce product pages. If a product has no weight value, the packing slip will not become a reliable source for weight information on its own.

Manual or Automatic Packing Slip Generation

Manual packing slip generation works well when a manager first checks payment, stock availability, warehouse zone, or address details. Automatic generation is more convenient when orders are standardized and the slip is needed as soon as the right status is reached. For physical products, it often makes more sense to create the packing slip when the order moves to processing rather than at the moment the order is first created, because the order may still be unpaid or need clarification.

The check is straightforward: create an order with two products, different SKUs, and at least one variation. Generate the packing slip and make sure the quantity matches the order, the variation is not lost, the shipping address is visible, and pricing columns do not get in the way of packing. Then change the quantity or address in the test order and see whether the document needs to be regenerated to reflect the updated information.

Working with Delivery Date and Tracking

The YITH product page and documentation list integrations with YITH WooCommerce Delivery Date and YITH WooCommerce Order & Shipment Tracking. In the first case, the delivery date can appear in the packing slip. In the second, tracking data can be shown in shipping documents through the matching integration setting. This is useful for stores where the warehouse and support team need to see the delivery date or shipment number directly in the document.

The boundary of responsibility matters here. PDF Invoices & Packing Slips does not select the carrier or create the shipment itself. It displays data that comes from another extension. If tracking does not appear in the packing slip, check not only YITH PDF settings, but also whether the tracking details are filled in at the source, whether the Show in packing slip option is enabled, and whether the document was regenerated after the data changed.

How to Keep a Packing Slip from Turning Into a Second Invoice

If a packing slip includes all prices, taxes, discounts, a long footer, and legal terms, it becomes harder to use. The warehouse needs product identification and action, not accounting detail. Decide separately whether order totals need to be shown. In some stores, that helps verify cash on delivery. In others, it only distracts staff and exposes information they do not need.

The best packing slip is one that lets the team pack the shipment without opening the WooCommerce order. Review it not as an administrator, but from the perspective of the person holding the product: is it clear which variation to pick, how many units to include, which address to use, and which shipping method was chosen?

VAT, SSN, Receipts, Pro-Forma, and Credit Notes: Not Every Order Needs the Same Documents

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List does more than generate a final invoice. The documentation covers pro-forma options, receipt options, credit note options, checkout options for SSN/VAT, and separate logic for Italian electronic invoicing. These features should be enabled only when needed, because each of them adds data to checkout, emails, the customer account, or return documents.

A pro-forma is useful when the customer needs a preliminary document before the final invoice. YITH documentation shows that a pro-forma differs from a standard invoice because it does not have an invoice number. A receipt is useful when the customer chooses between an invoice and a receipt during checkout. A credit note is created when an order is refunded and can have its own sequential numbering, reset rule, and amount display settings.

Checkout Fields for VAT and SSN

In YITH -> PDF Invoices -> General options -> Checkout options, you can show or hide the SSN and VAT fields and make them required. The documentation explicitly warns that the required setting applies to all users. That is a critical detail: if you make VAT mandatory in a retail store, some customers may not complete checkout because they do not know what to enter.

A safe setup is to enable those fields as optional first, place a test order as an individual buyer and as a business customer, check the PDF, and only then decide whether they really need to be mandatory for everyone. If the store serves both companies and private customers, do not force the fields without accounting input and a checkout funnel test.

Credit Notes for Returns

In YITH, credit notes are created when an order is refunded. The settings let you define the starting number for the next credit note, reset the sequence at the start of a calendar cycle, and display positive amounts if that is required in your country. After a refund, the order screen lets you regenerate, create XML for, or delete the credit note. The customer can also view and download the credit note from My Account -> Orders.

To test returns properly, use a test order with multiple products and a partial refund. A full refund only checks the simplest case. A partial refund shows how the document handles specific line items, discounts, shipping, and tax. If the PDF does not clearly show what was refunded, check the refund description and the credit note template settings.

Italian Electronic Invoicing

YITH has a dedicated section for Electronic Invoicing for Italian companies. When the relevant option is enabled, settings for Fatturazione elettronica, sender details, intermediary data, checkout messages, and XML download from the invoice status block become available. The documentation also includes an important note: XML is not generated in preview mode, so if the XML button is missing, preview mode should be your first check.

This section is relevant only for stores that genuinely need that format. For other countries, do not treat the Italian settings as a universal recipe. If you need an electronic format for another jurisdiction, look for confirmed support of that specific format in YITH or consider an alternative product that explicitly supports the required e-document formats.

PDF Storage and Backups: Where the Documents Live and Who Can Access Them

By default, YITH documents are saved in the Invoices folder inside wp-content/uploads/ywpi-pdf-invoice. The documentation also describes a custom path option with placeholders such as [year], [month], and [day]. That is useful for organization, but the uploads folder is still part of the WordPress site, so the usual questions about access, backups, privacy, and recovery still apply.

Before changing the save path, answer two questions: who needs to find these documents, and how will you restore them after a failure? A year-and-month folder structure is convenient for archiving, but it makes manual lookup harder. A single folder is simpler, but it becomes unwieldy faster in a large store. If accounting receives documents through CSV and PDF exports, a period-based structure is usually easier to work with.

Dropbox and Google Drive

YITH supports automatic upload of generated PDF documents to Dropbox and Google Drive. For Dropbox, the documentation describes enabling the Automatically upload documents to Dropbox option, choosing a folder name, retrieving an authorization code, granting access, and pasting the code into the settings. Because the code is valid only for a limited time, it is best to complete the setup in one session.

For Google Drive, the process is more involved: the documentation covers creating a project in Google API Manager, generating an OAuth client ID, configuring the consent screen, enabling the Google Drive API, publishing the app, adding the redirect URI, and entering the credentials in the plugin. This is not a simple checkbox. If the store does not have an administrator who understands OAuth, start with local storage and regular WordPress backups, and add cloud storage as a separate later step.

How to Verify Storage Without Exposing Extra Data

Create a test order using safe sample data. Generate an invoice, find it in the documents table, download the PDF, and then confirm that the file appears in the local path or cloud folder. Do not use real customer personal data when testing external services. If documents are shared with accounting through the cloud, verify the folder permissions and exactly who can open the link.

Cloud backup does not replace access control. A PDF invoice includes customer information, address, amounts, products, and sometimes tax identifiers. If the synced folder is shared too broadly, the problem is not YITH itself, but how cloud access has been configured.

Practical Workflow: Test Order, Invoice, Packing Slip, and Email Verification

Below is a workflow for a store that sells physical products and wants a controlled process: the invoice is created after payment, the packing slip helps with fulfillment, the customer sees the document in the account area, and the administrator can regenerate the PDF after fixing the template. It is not the only possible setup, but it shows clearly how to connect YITH settings to real WooCommerce operations.

Goal

The goal is to make sure that when an order reaches the selected working status, an invoice with the correct number is created, and a packing slip is available for physical goods. The customer should be able to see the document in My Account, the email should not contain a broken PDF, and the administrator should be able to find the entry in the invoices table.

Preparation

• WooCommerce is already configured: there is a product, a tax rate, a shipping method, and a test payment method.
• YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List is activated, but automation remains off until the manual test is complete.
• A clear invoice number rule has been selected, and the company information has been saved.
• The PDF template includes the essentials: company details, customer details, order number, document number, date, product table, and total table.
• The packing slip template includes SKU, quantity, variation, shipping address, and, if needed by the warehouse, weight and dimension.

Setup Steps

1. Open YITH -> PDF Invoices & Packing Slips -> General options and temporarily keep invoice creation in manual mode.
2. Create a test order with a physical product, a completed shipping address, and a realistic combination of discount, tax, and shipping method.
3. Open the order in the WooCommerce admin panel and create the invoice from the document metabox.
4. Download the invoice PDF and check the number, addresses, line items, taxes, totals, logo, and notes.
5. Create a packing slip and verify that the warehouse fields are readable without opening the order.
6. Open the YITH invoices table and make sure the document can be found, downloaded, regenerated if needed, and included in a CSV export.
7. Log in as a test customer and check My Account -> Orders: the created document should be available next to the order.
8. After the manual test succeeds, switch invoice creation to automatic mode and choose the event that matches the store workflow.
9. Create a second test order and move it to the target status to confirm that automatic generation works without the manual button.
10. Check the WooCommerce email that should include the invoice or pro-forma attachment, if that workflow is enabled.

How to Confirm It Works

The setup can be considered working if two consecutive test orders generate documents with the expected numbers, the PDF opens locally, the document appears in the YITH table, the button is available to the customer in My Account, the packing slip includes the required warehouse data, and the email does not arrive without an attachment or with a corrupted file.

If one part of the chain fails, do not change every setting at once. Break the check into parts: does the PDF generate manually? Is the document visible in the table? Is the file saved in uploads? Does the automatic event fire on the correct status? Is the WooCommerce email sent? Does the customer account button depend on the theme or on the existence of the document? That kind of step-by-step review quickly shows where the failure actually lives.

Important Detail: Older Orders

If the store was already operating before YITH was installed, older orders should not always receive new documents automatically. For those orders, first decide whether bulk generation is even appropriate and what number should be used. If you enable a separate sequence starting from the current number, an older order may receive a new invoice number that does not match the original accounting history. For archived orders, it is safer to work with a small test batch first, export a CSV, and align the process with accounting.

Compatibility, Integrations, and Safe Improvements Without Editing Core Files

YITH emphasizes compatibility within its own catalog and lists specific integrations. That does not mean every shipping plugin, POS extension, multi-currency setup, or checkout field plugin will automatically pass data into the PDF. The integration needs to be confirmed either by documentation or by an actual test. This matters especially for VAT, tracking, delivery date, bundles, deposits, and multi-vendor workflows.

Useful YITH Combinations

With YITH WooCommerce Checkout Manager, you can edit the VAT and SSN fields added by the PDF invoice plugin. That is useful if the store wants to adjust checkout fields without writing custom code. With YITH WooCommerce Delivery Date, the delivery date can appear in the packing slip. With YITH WooCommerce Order & Shipment Tracking, shipping documents can display tracking details. With YITH WooCommerce Deposits / Down Payments, documents can be created for deposit transactions and final payments. With YITH WooCommerce Multi Vendor, vendors can get their own invoice settings, template, and logo, but automatic document generation is disabled in the vendor workflow, and documents are created manually.

Each of these combinations needs its own check, because responsibility is split between plugins. If the delivery date is missing from the packing slip, check Delivery Date. If tracking is missing, check Order & Shipment Tracking. If a vendor does not see an automatic document, that may be an expected limitation of the multi-vendor integration rather than a PDF plugin error.

Template Overrides: When They Are Justified

YITH documentation allows document templates to be overridden through the theme folder: files from templates/yith-pdf-invoice are copied into the woocommerce/yith-pdf-invoice folder in your theme. This is a powerful mechanism, but it comes with maintenance overhead. YITH explicitly warns that plugin updates will be ignored for files you override on the site.

child-theme/
  woocommerce/
    yith-pdf-invoice/
      invoice-details.php
      invoice-totals.php

Use overrides only for tasks that cannot be solved through the builder settings, visible columns, notes, footer, colors, or placeholders. Before making changes, copy the original file, describe the purpose of the edit in a comment, test the PDF on a sample order, and keep a rollback path ready: remove the overridden file from the child theme or restore the previous copy. Do not edit the plugin files themselves.

Localization and Translations

The current YITH page states that the plugin is translation ready and supports WPML and Loco Translate. In practice, that means interface strings can be translated through normal tools, but the PDF document itself still needs separate verification. Fonts, non-Latin characters, long translated words, line wrapping, and tables may look different in the PDF than they do in the HTML editor. After translating, place a test order with a Russian address, a long city name, an email, a phone number, a product with a variation, and a customer note.

If a string in the PDF does not translate, first look for it in Loco Translate or WPML string translation, then check whether it is your own content from notes, footer, or the template. Do not start changing PHP just to fix translation until you have ruled out the standard translation mechanisms.

Security and Updates

The old free WordPress.org slug was closed at the author's request, while the current premium YITH page provides its own changelog and technical block. YITH has also published support material about an issue in the YITH Plugin Framework and has emphasized the need for updates. The practical conclusion is simple: install the current package from the official source, keep WordPress, WooCommerce, and the YITH framework updated, and test the full PDF workflow on staging or with a sample order before applying updates to production.

PDF document plugins process customer personal data. That means access to the admin panel, uploaded files, cloud folders, and backups should follow the store's security policy. Do not give managers more permissions than they need for order handling, and do not send documents to the cloud without proper access control.

Role-Based Workflow: Who Creates, Verifies, and Uses the Documents

One of the main reasons an invoice plugin quickly turns into a source of confusion is that no one owns the process. In YITH, you can enable automatic generation, give the customer access to the document, add packing slips, export CSV files, and regenerate PDFs. But if the team has not agreed on responsibilities, technical automation starts working against the store: a manager regenerates a document, the warehouse prints an old copy, accounting reconciles a different number, and the customer receives a duplicate email.

Split the workflow by role. The WordPress administrator is responsible for installation, updates, storage, permissions, and the health of PDF generation. The order manager is responsible for the WooCommerce status, manual document creation in exception cases, regeneration after fixing an address, and sending the document again to the customer when appropriate. The warehouse is responsible for packing slips and fulfillment verification. Accounting is responsible for numbering rules, legal notes, tax display, credit notes, and exports. Support responds to the customer, but should not change numbers or templates without coordination.

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List works best when the document workflow is described as a chain of roles rather than a single "generate automatically" checkbox. That matters especially in stores where several employees have access to WooCommerce orders. The same document means different things to different people: to the customer it is proof of purchase, to the warehouse it is a packing instruction, to accounting it is a financial record, and to the administrator it is a file in uploads and logs.

Order Manager

The order manager sees the order first and is usually the one changing its status. That means this person needs to understand which status triggers invoice creation. If automatic generation is tied to Processing, the manager should not move an unpaid or disputed order into processing just for an internal note. If generation is tied to Completed, the manager should know that the customer may receive the invoice later than expected.

A short internal rule set is helpful for the manager: before changing the status, check payment, address, shipping method, products, discounts, and tax lines; after the status change, open the document in the order; when correcting an address or product, do not resend the old PDF first, but decide whether regeneration is needed. That process takes less than a minute, but it prevents most complaints such as "my invoice still has the old address" or "the amount does not match the order."

Warehouse and Packing

The warehouse should not work from the invoice if a packing slip has been created for that purpose. The invoice shows payment and calculation. The packing slip shows fulfillment. If the warehouse sees prices, discounts, and tax blocks, it is easier to miss what actually matters: SKU, variation, quantity, address, shipping method, and special notes. That is why it is better to prepare a separate packing slip template instead of trying to force one PDF to serve every purpose.

Warehouse verification should be concrete. Take an order with two products, one variation, different SKUs, and a shipping method. Print the packing slip or open it at the packing station. If a staff member with no access to WooCommerce can fulfill the order using only that document, the setup is correct. If they still need to open the order, check the product page, or ask a manager, the template is missing important data.

Accounting and Exports

Accounting usually focuses on the number, date, amounts, tax breakdown, credit notes, XML, and export data. YITH provides sequential numbering, format settings, a credit notes table, CSV export, and XML for regional workflows. But accounting does not just need the feature to exist. It needs the procedure to be stable. If a document number changes after regeneration, if older documents are deleted without a record, or if the cloud backup is accessible to every manager, the workflow is not secure.

It is better to agree upfront on what actions a manager can take independently. For example, the manager may download a PDF and send it to the customer, but must not change numbering settings. The manager may regenerate a test document or an unsent document, but should not recreate an already booked invoice without leaving a note. The manager may create a packing slip manually, but should not delete a credit note after a refund. These rules do not require a complex permissions system, but they do require discipline.

Customer Support

Support often receives requests such as "where is my invoice," "why does the PDF still show the old address," or "can I get the document again." This is where My Account -> Orders should be configured so the customer can access the document next to the order without needing support. If the button exists but looks confusing because of the theme, add a short note to the email or the account page using theme tools rather than editing YITH core files.

If the customer asks for a document correction, support should first identify what kind of change is needed. An address error before shipping means correcting the order and regenerating the PDF. An error in company details means checking checkout fields, VAT/SSN, and template placeholders. A return means creating or verifying a credit note, not manually editing the old invoice. A resend request means using the send to customer action, if that action is available and matches store policy.

Migrating Older Orders and Launching on a Live Store

The riskiest moment is not installation on an empty site, but launching on a store with an existing order history. Older orders may already have documents from another system, manually issued invoices, accounting numbers from another tool, attached PDFs from a different plugin, or no documents at all. If you enable YITH and immediately generate invoices in bulk, you may end up with a new numbering sequence that does not match your historical records.

Before migration, map the current state. How many orders already exist? Which ones require documents? What system assigned document numbers before? Do customers need PDFs for old orders? Are there refunds? Does the store use a custom order number plugin? Are there imported orders from another platform? The answers determine how the sequence should be configured and whether bulk actions are appropriate at all.

Three Safe Launch Modes

The first mode is "new orders only." It is the simplest. You choose a starting number that continues your current accounting sequence, enable automatic generation only for new orders, and leave the archive untouched. Older documents remain in the previous system. This works well if customers do not need to download old invoices from My Account.

The second mode is "archive on request." New orders generate documents automatically, while older ones are recreated only when the customer asks for them or when there is an internal reason to do so. This mode lowers the risk of a mass error, but it requires support instructions: how to find the old order, which number to use, and when a new invoice should not be created.

The third mode is "controlled batch generation." This is the right choice if the store must move older documents into YITH. Before doing that, export the old orders, confirm the starting numbers, create a limited batch, export the CSV, check the PDFs across several order types, and only then expand the range. If the test batch shows gaps or incorrect tax lines, stop and fix the cause before continuing.

What to Check on Older Orders

• Older orders may use outdated tax settings that differ from the store's current rules.
• Addresses and phone numbers may have been stored in a different format, especially after migration.
• The product SKU may have changed, while the order preserves only part of the original line-item data.
• Custom fields may have been created by another checkout plugin and may not match YITH placeholders.
• Refunds may have been partial and may not include enough refund description data for a clear credit note.
• Emails for older orders should not be sent to customers automatically without deliberate action.

For an older order, the main question is not "can YITH generate a PDF," but "should this PDF be treated as an official document." If not, do not mix it into the active accounting sequence. If yes, record the generation date, the data source, and the internal decision behind the assigned number.

Checks After Updating WordPress, WooCommerce, YITH, or the Theme

PDF documents sit at the intersection of several systems. WordPress changes the editor and file environment, WooCommerce changes statuses, emails, and order data structure, YITH updates its framework and templates, the theme affects My Account buttons, and checkout, tracking, or delivery date plugins add more data. That is why after an update it is not enough to confirm that the site still opens. You need to verify the full document workflow.

The YITH changelog shows regular compatibility updates for WooCommerce, WordPress, the framework, and fixes related to CSV, dates, VAT validation, and other details. That is useful, but it does not replace local testing. Even if the update officially supports a new WooCommerce version, your own site may still have a child theme, a template override, custom checkout fields, or another PDF plugin.

Short Regression Test

1. Open a test order and create an invoice manually.
2. Check the number, date, product table, tax, totals, notes, and footer.
3. Create a packing slip for a physical product and verify the SKU, variation, quantity, and shipping address.
4. Move a new test order to the status that triggers automatic generation.
5. Make sure the invoice is attached to the correct WooCommerce email.
6. Log in as the customer and open the document from My Account -> Orders.
7. If Dropbox or Google Drive is enabled, verify that the test PDF appears in the expected folder.
8. If you use a template override, compare it against the default template on a test order.

This test is worth keeping as an internal store procedure. It takes less time than handling a customer complaint after an update. If the store runs in multiple languages, repeat the check with both a Russian and an English order, because fonts, translations, and long strings may break only in one language.

When to Suspect a Template Override

If a field disappears after an update, the order of data changes, the PDF becomes empty, or the error appears only in one document type, check the overridden template files in the theme. YITH warns that plugin updates are not applied to overridden templates. An older theme file may not be aware of new data, new validation, or a changed document structure.

A safe test is to temporarily switch the document to the default template or remove the override on a test copy of the site. If the problem disappears, the cause is not the order and not WooCommerce, but the override. At that point, you either need to update the custom file manually by comparing it with the current YITH template, or drop the override and solve the task through the builder instead.

What to Do Before a Major Update

Before a major WooCommerce or YITH update, download several control PDFs: a standard invoice, an invoice with a discount, an invoice with taxes, a packing slip, a pro-forma, a credit note, and a document with additional VAT/SSN fields if those are in use. After the update, generate the same kinds of test documents again and compare the structure. You do not need pixel-perfect matching, but the key data must still be there.

The document workflow can be considered stable only after it has been tested on a new order. Opening an old PDF is not enough: that file already exists in uploads and does not prove that the generator still works after the update.

Troubleshooting: Why the PDF, Numbering, Email, or Packing Slip Is Not Working as Expected

Problems with invoice plugins often sound the same: "the PDF was not created," "the email has no attachment," "the number is wrong," or "the slip is empty." But the causes are different. YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List gives you several checkpoints to inspect: order status, generation mode, storage folder, template, order fields, integrations, and WooCommerce email behavior. Start from the symptom and do not mass-regenerate documents until you know the actual source of the issue.

The Invoice Is Not Created Automatically

Symptom: the PDF can be created manually, but a new order does not get an invoice after checkout.

One possible cause is the wrong generation trigger. If the plugin waits for Completed, but the physical order stays in Processing, the document will not appear. If the order exists but the payment is not confirmed, the processing event may never happen. Check the real WooCommerce order status and the invoice creation setting in YITH.

Fix: temporarily create a new test order and move it manually through the status flow while watching for the moment the invoice appears. After changing the rule, do not test only on an old order without regeneration or a new order, because the event may already have passed. Rollback: return to manual mode until the cause is clear.

The Email Has No PDF or Includes the Wrong Document

Symptom: the PDF exists in the order screen, but the customer did not receive the attachment, received a pro-forma instead of an invoice, or got the email before the document was created.

YITH states that invoice and pro-forma documents can be attached to customer emails, while WooCommerce itself sends different email notifications depending on the order and its status. Check which email was actually sent: new order, processing, completed, customer invoice, or refund. Then verify whether the document existed before that email was sent.

Fix: align the generation event with the email. For example, if the invoice should be attached to the processing email, do not generate the document only on completed status. Also check whether another PDF plugin is attaching its own document to the same emails.

The Invoice Number Does Not Match Expectations

Symptom: the PDF shows the order ID instead of the expected order number, the sequence started from the wrong value, there are gaps, or duplicate concerns appear.

Check the selected invoice numbering mode: order number, order ID, or sequential numbering. If a separate sequence is used, review the starting value, minimum length, prefix, suffix, reset rule, and duplicate protection. If the visible order number is modified by a third-party plugin, make sure YITH is reading the number you actually expect.

Fix: stop automatic generation, create two test orders in sequence, and see how the number changes. If documents have already been sent to customers, do not delete them outside your internal procedure. Rollback: restore the previous rule and record which numbers were created during the test period.

The Packing Slip Is Empty or Useless for the Warehouse

Symptom: the packing slip is created, but it does not show the needed products, SKU, variations, weight, dimensions, or delivery data.

The cause may not be the PDF generator at all, but the product data. If SKU, weight, or dimensions are not filled in within WooCommerce, YITH cannot display them correctly. If delivery date or tracking should come from another YITH plugin, verify that it is installed, that the integration is enabled, and that the data is actually present in the order.

Fix: create a product with a full set of fields, enable the required visible columns in the packing slip template, and regenerate the document. If the warehouse does not use prices, disable the pricing columns to simplify the document. Rollback: restore the previous template or disable the column that is causing trouble.

The PDF Looks Broken: Missing Logo, Broken Table, Text Too Small

Symptom: the document opens, but it is visually unusable: the logo is missing, long product names break the table, text overlaps nearby columns, or the PDF runs to too many pages.

Start with the template. Reduce the logo size, remove unnecessary columns, shorten the footer, and check long product names, variations, and discounts. If you use a custom template, open the Product table block settings and review the typography, padding, dimensions, and additional classes. For the default template, check the available style options and colors.

Fix: make a copy of the template, change one area at a time, and generate a new test PDF after each step. If the issue appeared after a theme override, temporarily remove the overridden file from the child theme and test the default template.

Documents Are Not Saved or Do Not Appear in the Cloud

Symptom: the PDF is generated in the admin panel, but the file cannot be downloaded, does not appear in the expected folder, or Dropbox/Google Drive does not receive a copy.

Check write access to wp-content/uploads/ywpi-pdf-invoice, the custom path, path placeholders, and filesystem permissions. For Dropbox, verify the authorization code and the state of the toggle. For Google Drive, verify the OAuth client, that the Google Drive API is enabled, and that the redirect URI is correct. Do not send real documents to the cloud until a test file completes the full path successfully.

Fix: return to the default local storage path, create a new test PDF, and only then re-enable cloud backup. Rollback: disable the cloud option and keep local storage until the OAuth or permissions issue is fixed.

Critical Errors Appeared After an Update

Symptom: after updating the plugin or WooCommerce, the order screen breaks, the PDF is not created, the email workflow fails, or WooCommerce error logs start showing issues.

YITH regularly updates its framework and compatibility, but the site may still have an older theme, overridden templates, a conflicting PDF plugin, insufficient memory, or outdated PHP. Check the WooCommerce system status, the error log, the list of overridden templates, and the most recent changes on staging. If the issue started immediately after the update, do not begin by editing plugin files.

Fix: temporarily disable automatic generation, test the default template, disable the conflicting invoice plugin, and roll back the custom override. If the error persists, collect a system report and contact support with a test order, the order status, the template in use, and the error log.

YITH Video: Where to Watch the Setup Through the Developer's Eyes

YITH has a help center article with a dedicated video for this product. It shows how to configure YITH PDF Invoice & Packing Slips and which settings matter first. The best time to watch it is after you already understand the overall settings map from this guide. That way, the interface toggles will not feel like a random collection of checkboxes.

The practical value of the video is that it answers the intent behind "how to use YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List" by walking through the panel, the documents, and the basic configuration. Use it as visual confirmation of where the settings live, but make your final decisions about numbering, generation timing, and required checkout fields based on your store's actual workflow.

Questions That Usually Come Up After the First Setup

Can I still use the old name YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List?

Yes, but in current YITH sources the product is called YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips. The old name remains in the WordPress.org slug, older reviews, and import tasks. When searching for documentation, use the newer name. When downloading from this page, you can still rely on the original product name shown on the listing.

Where will the customer see the PDF invoice?

YITH documentation shows that it is available in My Account -> Orders next to the matching order. Invoice and pro-forma documents can also be attached to customer emails. The button appearance depends on the theme, so do not just verify that the link exists. Make sure it also displays clearly on the orders page.

Which should I choose: manual or automatic invoice generation?

For the initial rollout, choose manual mode so you can verify the PDF, numbering, and template. Enable automatic mode only after testing, and tie it to the order event that truly means the document is ready: order creation, Processing, or Completed. For physical goods, the right trigger is often processing or completion, but the final choice depends on the store workflow.

Can VAT or SSN be made required?

YITH allows you to show or hide SSN/VAT fields and make them required. The documentation notes that the required setting applies to all users. So first test the flow for both individual buyers and companies. If the field is not relevant to everyone, making it required can hurt checkout completion.

Why does XML not appear in the order?

For Italian electronic invoicing, you need to enable the relevant option, complete the Fatturazione elettronica settings, and generate the invoice. YITH documentation specifically warns that XML is not generated in preview mode. If the XML button is missing, check preview mode and the full set of company details first.

Can templates be safely changed through code?

Yes. YITH documents template overrides through the woocommerce/yith-pdf-invoice folder in the theme, but that path is better suited to a technical team. Plugin updates will not automatically apply to overridden files. Start with the builder, columns, colors, notes, footer, and placeholders first, and reserve overrides for more targeted tasks.

What should I do if the PDF looks fine in the admin panel, but the email arrives without a working file?

Break the problem apart. First make sure the PDF can be generated and downloaded from the order. Then check which email notification it is supposed to be attached to and whether the generation moment matches the email timing. After that, inspect WooCommerce logs and any conflicting invoice plugins. Do not change the template until you have confirmed that the file is actually being attached to the correct email.

Is this plugin suitable for a large warehouse?

It can be, if the warehouse only needs order-level packing slips and the available bulk actions fit the product's workflow. If the team needs one combined PDF containing all packing slips for a shift, that has to be verified separately: in a public YITH review, that exact feature was confirmed as unavailable. For high-volume printing, compare alternatives before deployment.

When It Makes Sense to Move to Downloading and Testing

YITH WooCommerce PDF Invoice And Shipping List is a strong choice if your WooCommerce store needs a manageable document layer: automatic or manual invoices, packing slips for fulfillment, pro-forma documents, receipts, credit notes, a document table, template settings, customer access from the account area, and integrations with other YITH solutions. The plugin is most valuable in stores where an order passes through the customer, manager, warehouse, and accounting.

Before deployment, you need to answer a few key questions: which status triggers the invoice, which number counts as official, which fields must appear in each document, where the PDFs will be stored, who can access the cloud folder, and who is responsible for regenerating documents after an order change. Once those answers are clear, setup becomes a structured process rather than a random one.

If you want the simplest starting point, begin with manual creation of a test invoice and packing slip. If both open, save correctly, and are easy to read, move on to automation. If the store already uses other YITH plugins, review the useful integrations: delivery date, tracking, checkout fields, deposits, multi-vendor, and product bundles. If your main need is different - shipping labels, combined bulk printing, special e-document formats, or a free catalog version - compare the alternatives listed above.

Once you have verified the requirements, the test order, and the template, you can get the WordPress version and roll it out on a site copy or in a test environment. Do not enable automatic document sending for live orders until three checks have passed: the PDF can be created manually, the PDF is created automatically on the correct status, and the customer can see and open the document without contacting support.