Clean, custom-branded invoice and quote PDFs — without unnecessary complexity.
FancyPDF is a free, open-source addon that gives WHMCS invoices and quotes a more polished, compact appearance. It uses the TCPDF engine already included with WHMCS and retains WHMCS as the source of billing, tax and payment data.
No ionCube, external fonts, CDN assets, JavaScript or commercial licence checks are required to render a PDF.
Important
Development release · v0.#.#-dev
Currently targeted at WHMCS 8.13 LTS and PHP 8.3. Other versions have not yet been verified. Test in staging, including emailed PDF attachments, before using FancyPDF for customer-facing billing.
- Your branding: primary and accent colours, optional PNG/JPG logo override and adjustable logo width.
- Invoices and quotes: configurable Invoice / Tax Invoice and Quote / Proposal headings.
- Space-efficient layouts: full-width item tables, clear totals and tax indicators, and an optional online invoice link.
- Payment visibility: WHMCS-provided tax, credits, balances, payments and invoice transaction history.
- Customisable footer: three repeating columns, editable headings, WHMCS company details and clickable HTTP(S) links.
- Local icons: bundled SVGs, enabled or disabled with one setting.
- Reversible theme integration: per-theme template overrides, stored originals and SHA-256 modification checks.
- Simple update checks: compares the installed module version with the project's GitHub
versionfile; never installs updates automatically.
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| WHMCS | Development target: 8.13 LTS |
| PHP | Development target: 8.3 |
| Access | WHMCS administrator access, addon permissions and a working database |
| Filesystem | Write access to the relevant templates/<theme>/ directory |
| PDF engine | The standard WHMCS-supplied TCPDF instance |
Known limitations
- FancyPDF displays values supplied by WHMCS; it does not recalculate taxes, discounts, credits or balances.
- The paper-format setting is informational. WHMCS chooses the actual page size before FancyPDF begins rendering.
- Footer text should be kept reasonably short. Multi-page documents, long addresses, unusual characters and long titles still need testing.
- RTL and envelope layouts, custom font management and watermark editing are not included in this development release.
- Back up the WHMCS database and any customised PDF theme templates.
- Copy
modules/addons/fancypdf/into the matching directory in your WHMCS installation. - Go to System Settings → Addon Modules, activate FancyPDF and assign the appropriate administrator permissions.
- Configure via System Settings → Addon Modules → FancyPDF → Configure.
- Open Addons → FancyPDF, select the System Theme, and choose Install/Update Template Overrides.
- Generate sample invoices and quotes/proposals. Check both admin/client downloads and PDF email attachments before going live.
PDF template overrides / entry points are installed per-theme here. Activation alone does not modify templates or WHMCS core files.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Branding | Primary/accent colours, optional logo override and logo width (mm) |
| Document headings | Invoice vs Tax Invoice; Quote vs Proposal |
| Layout | Show icons (on / off); informational paper-format setting |
| Footer titles | Independent headings for left, centre and right columns |
| Footer content | WHMCS company details on the left; custom text in the centre/right |
| Payment details | Invoice centre-column fallback if its content is blank |
| Legacy closing text | Right-column fallback if its content is blank |
Colours use #RRGGBB. The optional logo override is a WHMCS-root-relative path to a PNG/JPG image; by default, FancyPDF looks for assets/img/logo.png or .jpg.
Centre/right footer content supports plain text, new lines and explicit https:// or http:// URLs. Those URLs become clickable in the PDF. Arbitrary HTML is not supported. The left-column body always comes from WHMCS company settings; only its heading is configurable.
FancyPDF installs four small entry-point files into the selected theme:
templates/<theme>/
├── invoicepdf.tpl
├── invoicepdffooter.tpl
├── quotepdf.tpl
└── quotepdffooter.tpl
Existing contents — or the fact that a file was previously absent — are recorded in the mod_fancypdf_installs database table so they can be restored later.
FancyPDF will not silently overwrite unknown or subsequently modified template files. The same protection applies to restoration. Database-backed originals complement, but do not replace, your own backups.
The admin page compares the file on disk with the SHA-256 hash recorded at installation.
| Result | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Verified Override (SHA-256 match) | The installed file still matches FancyPDF's recorded copy. |
| Changed / Missing (hash mismatch) | The file has been edited, replaced or removed. |
A WHMCS or theme update that replaces an entry-point file should therefore be detected. A verified hash does not establish compatibility with the current WHMCS version or with other theme files. Recheck the overrides and regenerate representative PDFs after every WHMCS/theme update.
Update FancyPDF: Back up first, then replace modules/addons/fancypdf/ with the newer release. Read CHANGELOG.md for configuration or template changes. In some WHMCS installations, newly added addon settings may require reactivation; preserve installation records and settings before attempting this.
Restore original templates: Open Addons → FancyPDF, select each theme with installed overrides, and choose Restore original Templates. Verify restoration before deactivating the addon. Deactivation is deliberately refused while installation records remain.
If restoration refuses a changed file, inspect it and compare it with your own backup. Do not force-delete it: the safeguard is intended to protect later customisations and WHMCS/theme changes.
Migrating from CleanPDF? Test on staging and retain a complete backup of that installation. FancyPDF can preserve readable entry-point contents, but restoring them does not reinstall or repair CleanPDF. FancyPDF does not incorporate its proprietary or encoded code.
The administration page fetches the plain-text version file from the project's GitHub main branch and compares it with fancypdf_version() in fancypdf.php. Versions use numeric x.y.z notation (the -dev suffix may appear in release filenames).
This is a notification only: it never downloads or executes an update. If GitHub is unreachable, the page reports that it cannot check and remains usable.
- Standard and long customer addresses; long invoice numbers and proposal subjects.
- Introductory and closing quote text, including multi-line content.
- Taxable/non-taxable items, discounts and one or two tax levels.
- Zero/non-zero credit, part-paid and fully paid invoices.
- Several transactions, including long references.
- Multi-page PDFs and repeating three-column footers.
- Logo, icon toggle, invoice links, footer links and permissions.
- Admin/client generation, PDF email attachments, template installation and restoration.
README.md Project documentation
CHANGELOG.md Release history
LICENSE GNU GPL v3 or later
version Repository version marker
modules/addons/fancypdf/
├── fancypdf.php Addon settings and administration
├── src/
│ ├── Installer.php Safe template install and restoration
│ └── Render.php Invoice, quote and footer rendering
├── entrypoints/ Four WHMCS PDF template overrides
└── assets/icons/ Bundled SVG assets
FancyPDF is maintained by The Network Crew Pty Ltd. Contributions should favour small, readable changes and the existing WHMCS/TCPDF integration rather than new runtime dependencies.
When reporting an issue, include your FancyPDF, WHMCS and PHP versions; the document type; reproduction steps; relevant errors; and a redacted PDF if useful. Never publish client billing details, credentials or sensitive links. Changes to shared rendering code should be tested against both invoices and quotes.
FancyPDF is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (LICENSE). It is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by WHMCS or the CleanPDF publisher. All respective trademarks remain the property of their owners.
See CHANGELOG.md for release history.