Getting started #
Paperwork needs WooCommerce 8.0 or newer, WordPress 6.5 or newer and PHP 8.1 or newer. It declares WooCommerce as a required plugin and will not run without it.
The setup wizard opens when you activate the plugin. Seven short steps: your company details, which documents you want, how they are numbered, how they look, and when they are sent. You can skip it — the defaults issue an invoice on a paid order and nothing else.
Where the settings live #
Under WooCommerce → Settings → Paperwork. The first tab is General, where your company details go. Documents is next: every document type with a switch, and a panel of its own behind each one.
Documents #
Sixteen types ship with the plugin. One is on when you install it; the other fifteen wait until you switch them on from the Documents tab.
Switching a type on #
Each row in the Documents list has a switch and a Settings link. The switch decides whether the type is issued at all; the panel behind Settings is where that type answers for itself — which order statuses it is made on, which emails carry it, whether a customer can download it, and how it is numbered.
What happens when you switch one off #
Nothing already issued is affected. Switching a type off stops new ones being made; every document that exists stays where it is and stays downloadable.
Numbering #
Each document type is numbered on its own: its own prefix, suffix, padding, reset policy and next number, all on that type's panel under Documents.
Numbers are allocated atomically. Two orders completing in the same second cannot take the same number and cannot skip one between them.
The gap report #
A gap can still appear for an ordinary business reason — an order was deleted, a document was voided. The gap report under Tools lists every missing number with the reason taken from the audit trail, which is the answer an auditor is actually asking for.
When the year rolls over #
The fiscal year start is on the General tab, and each type's reset policy decides whether its sequence restarts with it.
The designer #
Every enabled document row has a Design button, which opens the designer scoped to that document. What you change there applies to that type and no other.
Blocks #
A document is a list of blocks in the order they print — header, addresses, line items, totals and so on. Drag them, or use the up and down buttons, and select one to change what it shows. A block can also carry conditions, so it prints only when the order matches.
Style #
Four presets sit in the toolbar, each drawn in its own colours so you can see the difference before you pick one. Colour, type and page rules are in the Template panel; anything you leave following the shop follows the shop, so changing your accent once reaches every document that has not overridden it.
Delivery #
Which emails carry a document is that document's own setting, on its panel under Documents. Attach an invoice to the completed-order email, a packing slip to none, and so on.
- Attach to any WooCommerce email, including ones other plugins add.
- Show it in My Account, for whichever order statuses you choose.
- Put a download link in the email instead of the file, signed and expiring.
- Show it on the thank-you page.
A document that does not exist yet is created when the email is sent, provided the order qualifies for it.
E-invoicing #
Paperwork builds one EN 16931 semantic model and serialises it to UBL 2.1, Peppol BIS 3.0, CII D16B, Factur-X, ZUGFeRD and XRechnung. Each document is validated against a shipped XSD before it is allowed out.
The validation report says which business rules were checked. It does not claim an official rule set was run unless one was.
Tools and troubleshooting #
The status panel #
Under the Advanced tab. It reports what the plugin can and cannot verify on your shop — the numbering state per type, whether the archive has been checked, which rendering engine is in use, and which country profile applies.
Moving settings between sites #
Export writes every Paperwork setting as JSON. Import shows you what would change before anything is written.
Fonts #
The bundled DejaVu fonts cover Latin, Cyrillic and Greek. CJK and Arabic need an uploaded font or the mPDF engine pack; upload one from the link beside the font setting under Documents → Design.