Overview and Features

How the Connection Works

ShipStation

1. Your Online Store: Customers place orders on your website or marketplace.
   
2. ShipStation: Your store sends those order details to ShipStation to handle shipping.
   
3. CustomBooks™: Cloud Commerce pulls the data from ShipStation and records it in your books.
   
   
   

Square

1. Square POS: You process a sale in person or online through Square.
   
2. Direct Sync: CustomBooks™ pulls your Square payment and sales data directly into the system.
   
3. CustomBooks™: Your front-of-house sales and back-office accounting stay perfectly matched.
   
   
   

Key Features

1. Real-Time Access: Use any device with an internet connection to see your online store data. This is perfect for business owners who manage multiple locations or work on the go.
   
2. Single Dashboard Management: View and manage all orders, customers, and products in one place. This overview helps you track inventory levels and see your sales status at a glance.
   
3. Automatic Sales & Inventory Updates: The system tracks sales, revenue, and customer behavior. It can even auto-generate Invoices, Shipments, and Cash Receipts in CustomBooks™ for you.
   
4. One-Click Order Entry: Stop typing data twice. When an order comes in, the system automatically updates your inventory and creates an invoice, reducing mistakes.
   
5. Batch Approvals: Instead of approving orders one by one, use the dashboard to review and approve multiple orders at once to save time.
   
6. Connect to 100+ Marketplaces: Connect to top sites like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Shopify. You can even track these sales by Location within CustomBooks™.
   
   
   

ShipStation

1. Navigate to the Admin Panel.
   
2. Select Integrations, then choose ShipStation.
   
3. Click the gear icon, followed by the ShipStation button.
   
4. Enter the API Key and API Secret (generated within your ShipStation account) and click Login.
   
   
   
   For detailed, step-by-step instructions on configuring this connection, please read our full knowledge base article: Integrations: ShipStation: Setting Up ShipStation.

Square POS

1. Navigate to the Sales menu.
   
2. Under the Tools section, select Cloud Commerce.
   
3. Click the Add Store button.
   
4. Under the Stores options, click Square.
   
5. Log in using your Square credentials (email or phone number and password) to authorize the connection.
   
   
   
   For detailed, step-by-step instructions on configuring this connection, please read our full knowledge base article: Cloud Commerce: Square POS: Setting Up Square.

Store Controls

1. Add Store: Click this button to connect a new online store, aggregator (like ShipStation), or point of sale (like Square) to CustomBooks™.
   
2. Store dropdown: Use this menu to switch between your different connected stores and view their specific data.
   
3. Store Status: This indicator shows if your connection is currently active (e.g., "Online" with a timestamp of the last sync) or if it requires attention.
   
4. Refresh Store: Click this button to manually pull the most up-to-date data from your connected store right away.
   
   
   

Navigation Tabs

Lists

1. Customers: Displays the list of customer profiles imported from your store.
   
2. Items: Shows the products or inventory items synced from your sales channels.
   
3. Locations: Displays the physical or virtual locations associated with your synced data.
   
4. Sales People: Shows the sales representatives associated with the transactions (commonly used with Square POS).
   

Transactions

1. Orders: Displays pending and completed sales orders synced from platforms like ShipStation.
   
2. Cash Sales (Square): Displays direct, finalized sales pulled specifically from your connected Square POS system.
   

Other

1. Approval History: A log of all the items and transactions you have already approved and sent into CustomBooks™.
   
2. Additional Transactions: Displays auto-generated related documents created during the approval process, such as Shipments, Sales Invoices, and Cash Receipts.
   
3. Trash: Holds any data or transactions you have chosen to delete or ignore.
   
   
   

Command Bar & List Management

1. Mark All: Selects every item currently visible on the page.
   
2. Unmark All: Deselects all currently selected items.
   
3. Batch Actions: Allows you to perform a single action on multiple selected items at once, such as "Approve Selected" or "Move to Trash."
   
4. Sort: Click these arrows to organize the selected column in ascending (A-Z, lowest to highest) or descending (Z-A, highest to lowest) order.
   
5. Export: Downloads the current list view into a spreadsheet file for your records.
   
6. Refresh: Refreshes the specific list you are currently viewing.
   
7. Columns: Lets you customize your view by adding or removing specific columns, or restoring the layout to its default settings.
   
8. Date Filter: Narrows down the displayed list to a specific date or date range. You can click the current filter (e.g., <all dates>) to select your desired timeframe.
   
9. Search: A text box that lets you quickly find specific records—such as a customer's name, an order number, or a product—within the current list.
10. List Pagination: Found at the bottom of the screen, these controls (First, Previous, Next, Last) allow you to flip through multiple pages of data and adjust how many items you see per page.
    
    
    

Matching Status Filters

1. Fully Matched: Displays transactions or items where all details (such as the customer and the products) have been successfully linked to existing records in CustomBooks™ or are ready to be added as new records without any conflicts. These are generally ready for your immediate approval.
   
2. Not Matched: Displays transactions or items that require your review. This happens when the system cannot automatically find a matching customer or product in CustomBooks™. You will need to manually link them to an existing record or create a new one before you can approve the transaction.
   
3. All: Displays the complete list of records, combining both your "Fully Matched" and "Not Matched" items into a single view.
   
   
   

Managing Lists and Approving Sales

If the system finds an exact match, it labels the record as a MATCH. If no matching product, customer, or order is found, it flags it to ADD NEW.

The Approval Workflow

1. Choose Your Store: Select the store you want to work with from the Store dropdown at the top of the dashboard (or click Add Store if you haven't connected it yet).
   
2. Review Your Foundational Lists: Use the navigation tabs to move through your data components. For the smoothest approval process, it is best to review and approve your lists in this specific order before moving to transactions:
   
1. First: Customers
   
2. Second: Items
   
3. Third: Locations
   
4. Fourth: Sales People (Square)
   
3. Check Your Orders or Cash Sales: Once your lists are matched, click the Orders tab (for ShipStation/eCommerce) or the Cash Sales tab (for Square). This is your main "to-do list." Review the rows to ensure the customer and items are properly matched (look for the green "All items matched!" text).
   
4. Approve the Transactions:
   
1. To approve individually: Click the green ADD NEW or MATCH text in the Action column for a specific row.
   
2. To approve in a batch: Check the boxes on the far left next to the orders you want to approve (or use the select all checkbox at the top left). Then, click the Batch actions button and choose Approve Selected.
   
   
   
5. Auto-Create Additional Documents: When you approve an order, a pop-up window titled "Auto-creation of additional Documents" will appear on your screen.
   
1. The system will automatically suggest which related accounting documents to create based on the order's status. For example, if the order is already marked as shipped, the Shipment box will be automatically checked for you. Same if the order is already paid, the Cash Receipt box will be automatically checked.
   
2. You can manually check or uncheck the available documents (Sales Order, Shipment, Sales Invoice, Cash Receipt).
   
3. Click the yellow Proceed button to finalize the approval.
   
4. Pro-Tip: If you always want these specific documents created automatically without seeing this pop-up every time, click the blue "Enable this as Default in Store Settings" link at the bottom of the window.
   
   
   
   Once you click Proceed, the approved items will be removed from your to-do list, and the selected financial documents will be instantly and accurately recorded in CustomBooks™!

1. Integrations: Connecting to ShipStation for Shipping and eCommerce Aggregator
   
2. Cloud Commerce: Connecting Square POS System to CustomBooks™