Part 0 · Getting started with Symbifox

Frequently asked questions

Short answers to the questions people ask most often: signing in, access rights, email, invoices, taxes, importing, files, phone and Gen.

Symbifox 18.0 (September 2026 catalogue) · Revised 2026-10-11

This chapter answers the questions people ask most often when they start out in Symbifox. The questions are grouped by theme, from signing in to Gen. Each answer takes a few sentences and, when there is one, points to the chapter that covers the subject. When an answer is a matter for your Symbifox administrators, it says so.

Signing in and finding help#

Open the instance address your organization gave you, then enter your email address and your password. You choose your first password through the link in the invitation email. If that email never arrived, your administrators send it again with Send an Invitation Email, on your user form. If your organization uses an identity provider, use the button that appears below the form instead.

See Signing in and out.

I forgot my password#

On the sign-in page, select Reset Password, then enter your email address. You receive an email with a link to choose a new password. If the link is missing from the page, or the email does not arrive, your administrators send you the instructions from your user form. If you sign in with an identity provider's button, your password belongs to that provider: change it there.

See Reset a user's password.

Changing the language, and why some labels stay in French#

Your language is set under your avatar, at the top right: My Profile, Preferences tab. Change the Language, then save. Only the languages your administrators have turned on are offered there. If the whole screen stays in the old language after a language is added, the administrators open the language, in developer mode, and select Activate and Translate. A few labels stay in French because their module is not translated yet; the guide quotes them as they appear.

See Your preferences and Add a language.

Who do I contact when I am stuck?#

Your Symbifox administrators are the first contact for accounts, access rights, data and the settings of your instance. Go to them for a password, a refused access or an application to install. For anything else, write to bonjour@symbifox.com.

See Where to get help.

Users, rights and seats#

Where are the settings and the access rights?#

Settings live in the Settings application, on the General Settings page, with one section per installed application. Access rights are set on each user's form, in Settings › Users & Companies › Users, Access Rights tab. The Settings application appears only to people who hold an administration level, Access Rights or Settings.

See Overview and Access and permissions in the settings chapter.

Add a user and choose their rights#

Invite the person first, then set their rights. In Settings › General Settings, enter their address under Invite New Users, then select Invite. They receive a welcome email with a link to choose their password. Then open their form and, in the Access Rights tab, choose one level per application. If your instance has seats, the people who administer users create the account from Sièges (seats) > Usagers (users) instead. Rights per application are then set by a person who holds the Access Rights or Settings level, often the host.

See Invite a user and Set a user's access rights.

Who can create users?#

Two administration levels create users: Access Rights, which creates accounts and assigns them groups, and Settings, which opens everything. The Administration des usagers de l'instance (instance user administration) group also creates accounts, from the Sièges application, within the limit of the seats purchased. It can grant neither the Settings level nor the Access Rights level. Keep the Settings level for one or two people: it lets them change everyone's rights, including their own.

See Access and permissions and Create an account from the application.

Limit a person to certain menus#

Rights are given application by application, on the user's form, Access Rights tab. Most applications disappear from the menu when their level stays empty. A few stay open to every internal account: Contacts, Calendar and Gen, which have no level, but also Employees and Expenses. A lower level also removes menus: in Invoicing, Configuration appears only at the Administrator level. Hiding a specific menu inside an application goes through groups, in developer mode: that is a task for your administrators.

See Set a user's access rights and Users and companies.

Internal user or portal user: the difference#

An internal user works in the applications and takes up a seat. A portal user sees only their own documents, such as their invoices, and takes up no seat. They do not have access to Discuss: they receive by email the messages addressed to them, and those about their own invoices.

See Overview in the settings chapter and Overview in the seats chapter.

See when a user last signed in#

The list of users shows it in the Latest authentication column. Open Settings › Users & Companies › Users, or Sièges › Usagers. In Sièges › Usagers, the Never Connected status flags an account that has never been used. The Sièges dormants (dormant seats) tab of Sièges › Mes sièges (my seats) gathers the accounts left without a sign-in for a long time. These screens are reserved for administrators.

See Find dormant seats.

How many users can I add, and what happens when I remove one?#

Your instance is entitled to the number of seats purchased: Sièges › Mes sièges shows the Achetés (purchased), Occupés (occupied) and Libres (free) seats. A portal account takes up no seat. To remove a person, archive their account: their place becomes free again, and their history stays linked to them. Beyond the entitlement, creating an account is refused with a message that gives the price of one more seat. Add it from Sièges › Mes sièges, with Ajouter un siège (add a seat), which states the cost before any confirmation. When no seat entitlement is set, no cap applies.

See Free up a seat and Add a seat.

Applications open according to your account's rights: without an access level, most do not appear in your menu. Ask your administrators to compare your rights with your colleague's. The person who provides support can also see Symbifox as you see it, through impersonation. If records are missing rather than menus, check which companies are checked in the switcher, at the right of the top bar.

See Overview in the impersonation chapter and Several companies.

Email and notifications#

My emails do not go out#

First check which button you used: a message posted with Log note never goes out by email, except to a person mentioned with @. A message scheduled with Send Later waits at the top of the chatter (the message thread at the bottom of a form) until its time. In the chatter, a red envelope next to a message flags a failed send. Select it: the window offers See Error Details, then Send & close to send it again. If every send fails, the sending server is at fault: the organization's server, or the server of your mailbox connected in Courriels (email). The first is a matter for your administrators.

See Internal notes and sent messages and Technical.

Receive my emails in Symbifox#

Connect your mailbox in the Courriels application, through Courriels › Configuration › Ajouter une boîte courriel (add a mailbox). Enter your address and select Détecter (detect). Then enter the password and select Brancher (connect). From then on, Symbifox checks your server every five minutes. Replies to a message sent from a record come back into its chatter on their own.

See Add an email account.

My mailbox connection test fails#

Most often, the server refuses the password. Google, Yahoo, AOL and iCloud require an app password, not your account password. Microsoft accepts no password at all: the mailbox connects through consent, after a registration your organization does once. Only encrypted connections are accepted, on port 993. On the account's form, Dernière erreur (last error) gives the server's exact answer.

See Add an email account, Connect a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com mailbox and Troubleshooting.

Change the email sent with an invoice#

For a single send, change the subject and the text in the window that opens when you select Send on the invoice. To change the text of every send, your administrators edit the Invoice: Sending template (credit notes have their own, Credit Note: Sending). This template is found, in developer mode, under Settings › Technical › Email › Email Templates.

See Technical.

Receive fewer notification emails#

Under your avatar, My Profile, Preferences tab, set Notification to Handle in Odoo. Notices then arrive under the messaging icon in the top bar, and no longer by email. To stop following a record, remove yourself from its followers, in its chatter. You can also keep the subscription and choose the types of messages you receive.

See Your preferences, Followers and Work through the notification inbox.

Company, documents and customization#

Change the company logo and its size#

You change the logo on the company's form: select the image at the top right, then upload the new file. Its size on documents has no setting: each layout reserves a frame for it, and the image fits into that frame. Crop the image as tightly as you can, with no margins, so that it fills the frame. The document Layout you choose also changes the size of the frame.

See Edit the company record.

The layout applies to every PDF document, invoices included. Go to Settings › General Settings, Companies section, then select Configure Document Layout. Choose the Layout, the font under Text, the Logo and the Colors. Enter the Footer, for example your tax numbers, then select Continue. This setting requires the Settings administration level.

See Set up the brand identity, which separates the interface colours from those of PDF reports.

Change the company's currency#

You choose the currency in Invoicing › Configuration › Settings, Currencies section, under Main Currency. Symbifox refuses to change it once a journal entry exists: make this choice before the first invoice. To invoice in another currency, turn it on in the Currencies list, then choose it on the invoice.

See Settings in the invoicing chapter.

Set the format of dates and numbers#

Dates and numbers follow each person's language. Changing the Language in the Preferences tab of My Profile therefore also changes these formats. To change the format itself, your administrators open the language's form, in developer mode: Date Format, Decimal Separator and Thousands Separator. On the Boréal demo, Canadian French writes dates as year, month, day.

See Fields of the Language form.

Add a field to a form#

Forge adds a field to an existing form, without programming. The Forge entry appears only to people in the Forge: Administrator group. Go to Forge › Add custom field, then choose in Model the type of record to extend. Enter the Field label and choose the Field Type. Leave Show in form view checked, and in Place after field enter the existing field it should follow. Without this marker, the field does not appear on the form. Check the other screens if needed, then select Create field.

See Add a custom field.

Invoices#

Keep the numbering from my old software#

You enter the starting number on the very first invoice of the journal, while it is still a draft. As long as no invoice in this journal has received a number, the number field stays editable and proposes a number. Replace it with the one that follows your last number, in the same form, for example “FAC/2026/00548”. The following invoices continue from this number. The year in the number must match the invoice date. The journal's card, on the Invoicing dashboard, then shows Irregular Sequences: this is expected.

Delete an invoice that is already posted#

A posted invoice cannot be deleted directly: you correct it, cancel it or offset it with a credit note. Reset to Draft lets you correct it, then confirm it again under the same number. Cancel, on the draft, keeps it in the list in the Cancelled state. If the customer has received it, issue a credit note with Credit Note instead. Deleting the draft is allowed only for the last invoice of the sequence, except at the Administrator level of accounting. With Audit Trail turned on, no invoice that was ever posted can be deleted. An invoice in a locked period can no longer be reset to draft.

See Issue a credit note and Lock a filed period.

Receipt, invoice, credit note: the difference#

An invoice asks for a payment to come: it carries a due date and a payment status. A receipt is for a sale paid on the spot; its payment is recorded the same way as an invoice's. Receipts are under Invoicing › Customers › Receipts, when the Sale Receipt option is turned on. A credit note, sometimes called a credit memo elsewhere, cancels or reduces an invoice that is already posted.

See Overview and Issue a credit note in the invoicing chapter.

Why does my revenue look negative?#

It is the accounting convention, not an error. Revenue is recorded as a credit, and the Balance of journal items is computed as debit minus credit: an income account therefore looks negative there. To read your sales as positive amounts, open Invoicing › Reporting › Management › Invoice Analysis. Invoices are positive there, and credit notes negative.

See Track invoicing.

Write the amount in words on an invoice#

Turn on the Total amount of invoice in letters option, in Invoicing › Configuration › Settings, Customer Invoices section. The invoice PDF then shows the total in words below the amounts. This setting requires the Settings administration level.

Taxes, totals and units#

Tax-included prices or not, and a product's default tax#

You make these choices in Invoicing › Configuration › Settings, Taxes section, under Default Taxes. Sales Tax and Purchase Tax apply to new products; Prices says whether your prices are Tax Excluded or Tax Included. This price choice locks as soon as the first journal entry exists. For an existing product, change the Sales Taxes on its form, under Invoicing › Customers › Products.

See Base data in the invoicing chapter.

Why does the QST not appear?#

The QST is missing when the line carries only the GST, or when the customer is not in Québec. A fiscal position replaces the taxes according to the province of the customer's address: a customer in Ontario gets the HST. Check the line's tax, then the customer's province and Fiscal Position. To charge both taxes, choose “14.975% GST+QST”: the total shows the GST and the QST on two lines.

See Understanding in the invoicing chapter.

Why is the total different from the subtotal?#

On each line, the Amount is before taxes, unless your prices are set to Tax Included. The Total adds the taxes to the Untaxed Amount, and the GST and the QST appear between the two. A one-cent difference comes from tax rounding, set by the Rounding Method: Round per Line or Round Globally. This setting is in Invoicing › Configuration › Settings, Taxes section.

The default unit of measure#

A new product takes the Units unit. To choose another one, the Units of Measure option must be turned on in Invoicing › Configuration › Settings. The unit then appears on the product's form, after the Sales Price, and you choose it product by product. A service billed by the hour, for example, takes Hours.

Importing, exporting and cleaning up#

Import my contacts, linked to their company#

Import the companies first, then the people. In the companies file, an Is a Company column is set to “1”. In the people file, a column carries the exact name of their company: match it to Related Company. Test flags a company name it cannot find, before anything is written. You can also import a vCard file through Contacts › Enrichissement (enrichment) > Importer une vCard (import a vCard). It links each person to their company when that company is already in the address book.

See Import records and Import a vCard file.

My CSV file breaks the accents#

Accents break when the file's encoding is not the one Symbifox guessed. For a CSV file, the import screen shows a Formatting panel. Choose another Encoding, for example “windows-1252” or “utf-8”, then select Reimport and check the preview. An XLSX file avoids the problem: save the file in that format if you can.

See Import records.

Export to Excel, then import again#

When you export, check I want to update data (import-compatible export) and choose XLSX. Edit the file in Excel without touching the identifier column. Then import it again through Import records: the existing records are updated instead of being duplicated. Test shows the errors before anything is written. If Export is missing under Actions, your account does not have the export right: ask your administrators for it.

See Export a selection and Import records.

Find a record archived or deleted by mistake#

An archived record is found again in a minute: in the search panel, check the Archived filter. Open the record, then select the gear icon and Unarchive. A deleted record, on the other hand, only comes back through a backup restore, which you request from your administrators. Hence the rule: archive by default, delete by exception.

See Archive and unarchive and Delete.

Reset everything after my tests#

No button empties the database in one go. Delete your test records from the lists: check them, then select Actions › Delete. Symbifox refuses to delete a record that others depend on, such as a contact that has invoices: archive it instead. To start again from a fresh database, contact your Symbifox administrators.

See Delete.

Get all our data back if the organization leaves Symbifox#

Any list can be exported to XLSX or CSV, with the columns you choose, by an account that has the export right. Files stored in Nextcloud stay on your Nextcloud, since Symbifox does not copy them. For a full copy of the database, contact your Symbifox administrators, who are responsible for your data.

See Export a selection and Where to get help.

Where are my files?#

Files attached to a record are under the paperclip of its chatter. You can preview, download or remove each one there. Documents stored in Nextcloud stay on your Nextcloud: Symbifox displays them without copying them. When your instance is connected to Nextcloud, they appear in the Fichiers Nextcloud (Nextcloud files) tab of a project or a task. They also appear in the Nextcloud application.

See Attachments and Overview in the Nextcloud chapter.

The most direct way: attach the document to a message written with Send message, from the client's record. For a large or confidential file, go through Transferts sécurisés (secure transfers): a link that expires, a code if needed and an access log. You can also share a file stored in Nextcloud by link, from the file browser. The client views their invoices on their portal.

See Overview in the secure transfers chapter, Share a file by link and Public pages and portal.

Is my data backed up?#

The backup of your instance is not set on screen: it is a matter for your Symbifox administrators. Ask them how often it runs and what a restore brings back. An archived record is found again without a restore; a deleted record only comes back through one.

See Delete and Where to get help.

Phone and calendar#

Is there a mobile app?#

Yes, for Android: Symbifox Mobile carries the calendar, tasks, emails and text messages. The apps are installed from an F-Droid repository maintained by Blue Fox, not from Google Play yet. To sign in, open the app, enter your instance's address, then sign in on the page that opens. There is no version for iPhone or iPad: on those, you use Symbifox in the browser.

See Install the apps and Pair an app with your instance.

See my calendar on my phone#

On Android, the calendar tab of Symbifox Mobile shows your meetings, with their agenda. To see them in your phone's Google calendar, select your avatar, My Profile, the Google Calendar tab, then Connecter Google Calendar (connect Google Calendar). An administrator must first have registered this authorization, then created the sync of your calendar with Google. A Nextcloud calendar also syncs both ways with Symbifox.

See View your calendar on a phone, Connect your Google calendar and Connect a Nextcloud calendar.

Gen, the assistant#

What Gen sees of my data, and where it goes#

Gen works in your instance's data, at your request. Your question and what Gen reads leave your server, through the service that talks to the model, for the provider of the artificial intelligence model. Your colleagues do not see your conversations. People who hold the Settings level can, however, read them, in Gen › Administration › All Sessions.

See Follow the organization's conversations.

Gen gets it wrong, or does not see the open record#

Open the Gen panel from the record itself, with Gen in the top bar: it shows a label that names the record. A conversation opened from the full-width page is not linked to any record. To check an answer, expand the step counter at the top of the bubble: it shows what Gen read. A recurring error is corrected with a steering instruction, written once and for all.

See Ask a question from a record and Write a steering instruction.