Speed & offline billing
At a counter, billing speed is the product. BizOS gives the line-item editor three layouts, a keyboard map built around how Indian billing software has always worked, and a local catalogue so nothing waits on the network — including when there isn’t one.
Three layouts, one document
Set your preference in Settings → You → Preferences. It’s personal and saved to your account, so it follows you to another computer, and your counter operator can run Rapid billing while you run Comfortable.
| Layout | For | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortable (default) | Occasional billing, touch, tablets | Roomy cards, one line at a time |
| Compact grid | Fast keyboard entry | Dense spreadsheet rows you move through with Enter |
| Rapid billing | Counter billing with a scanner | A scan bar at the top; lines stack as you scan |
On screens narrower than 1024 pixels the editor uses Comfortable regardless, and restores your choice when you’re back on a wide one. There’s also a Rapid bill action on the invoices list for a one-off fast sale without changing your default.
The keyboard map
Mod is ⌘ on a Mac and Ctrl everywhere else.
Everywhere in the app
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
Mod+K | Search anything, run any action |
Mod+J | Ask BizOS |
/ | Search this page |
? | Show the shortcut sheet |
Esc | Close or go back |
Mod+\ | Hide or show the sidebar |
Mod+B | Switch business (if you belong to more than one) |
Mod+Shift+B | Switch branch (if your business has branches) |
G then a letter | Go to a page — for example G I for Invoices, G C for Customers |
N then a letter | Start something new — for example N I for an invoice, N L for a lead |
The shortcut sheet lists every G and N letter you have access to.
The document
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
Mod+S | Save draft |
Mod+Enter | Primary action — save & send, or save |
Esc | Back or cancel, with a check if you have unsaved changes |
? | Open the shortcut cheat sheet |
Alt+C | Jump to Customer |
Alt+I | Jump to the line grid |
Alt+D | Jump to the order discount |
Alt+N | Jump to notes |
Alt+T | Use a template |
Alt+P | Jump to the date field |
Alt+L | Jump to the price level |
The line grid (Compact)
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
Enter | Next cell; at the last cell, add a row |
Shift+Enter | Previous cell |
Alt+A | Add a row below |
Alt+X | Delete the current row |
Alt+Shift+D | Duplicate the row |
Alt+↑ / Alt+↓ | Move the row up or down |
F2 | Open or close the line note |
Alt+M | Measure the line (size, L × B) |
Rapid mode
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
+ / - | Increase or decrease the last line’s quantity |
Alt+X | Remove the last line (undoable) |
F4 / F3 | Edit the last line’s quantity / rate |
3*wire then Enter | Add quantity 3 of the best match for “wire” |
Scan a barcode and the line appears. Type text and press Enter and BizOS
resolves it — exact code first, then a fuzzy match. No match keeps your text in
the bar so a second Enter bills it as a free-text line.
Why Enter never submits
Tally users expect Enter to mean “next field”, and billing software
that submits a document on a stray Enter is a well-known source of complaints.
BizOS follows Tally: Enter walks the document, and saving only ever happens
through Mod+S, Mod+Enter or the footer buttons.
Creating a document without a mouse
Opening New invoice puts the cursor in the customer field — a typeahead, not
a button you must open first. From there Enter walks the whole document:
customer → due date → the line grid → item → quantity → next line.
Two rules keep that safe: nothing in a dropdown is highlighted until you type
(so a stray Enter can’t bill a random item), and while a list is open it
owns the arrow keys and Enter.
Discovering the shortcuts
Three layers, so you never have to memorise a manual: press ? for the full
cheat sheet with the right glyphs for your platform; in the editor, hold
Alt and every shortcut-bound control shows its key inline; and a hint
bar beside the save buttons shows the keys relevant to wherever your cursor
is. Close the hint bar once you know them and it stays closed. It is hidden on
small and touch screens.
Working offline
Once your item catalogue has synced at least once, the editor stops needing the network for the things you do most:
| Action | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Search for an item | A request per keystroke | Local index |
| Pick an item | Price lookup + image fetch | None |
| Change the quantity | Price re-resolution request | None |
| Change the customer | One request per line | An in-memory pass |
| Scan a barcode | A lookup request | Local index |
The catalogue syncs on app open, on window focus and when you open the editor, throttled so it’s never in your way. Failure is silent by design — a slightly stale catalogue beats a spinner.
Creating documents with no connection
If the network drops while you’re billing, saving still works. The document goes into a local queue and appears at the top of the list under Pending sync. When the connection returns it syncs automatically — on regaining network, on window focus, and on a short timer.
It syncs exactly once
Each document carries a client-generated key from the moment the editor opens. If a save timed out after the server had already committed it, or the queue retries, or you double-tapped — the server recognises the key and returns the original result. One invoice, never two.
What happens when something goes wrong:
- No connection, timeout, DNS failure — re-queued, with backoff.
- Server busy or rate-limited — re-queued the same way.
- Signed out — re-queued, because the document must survive a re-login.
- A real error (a deleted customer, a validation problem, no permission) — parked as failed and kept, showing the server’s message with Retry and Discard.
What offline does not cover
Sending, payments, PDF generation and editing existing documents still need a connection, and the customer picker needs the network for a customer you’ve never loaded. The phone app has no offline queue: it can show what it loaded earlier, but saving needs a connection. The realistic case this serves is “the connection dropped while I was billing” — where the customer is already chosen.
Two devices offline can oversell
If two people bill the last unit offline, both succeed and stock goes negative. That’s deliberate: at a counter, a blocked sale costs more than a stock correction. The movements post at sync exactly as they would have online.
Numbering and pricing while offline
A queued document shows “Pending sync” where its number would be. BizOS never fabricates a number on the device, because GST requires consecutive numbering and only the server can guarantee that.
Prices resolved offline can be stale if someone changed pricing elsewhere. On sync, the server re-checks catalogue lines against the live cascade while the document is still a draft, records an audit entry if anything moved, and never touches a price you typed by hand. An issued or sent document is never re-priced.
Switching business or logging out
The queue is per business, so switching between two businesses leaves each queue where it is. Logging out clears local data, so a non-empty queue asks for confirmation first and tells you exactly how many documents would be lost.
Common questions
- Can I create an invoice without internet?
- Yes, in the BizOS web app, once your item catalogue has synced at least once. The invoice or quotation is saved locally, shown under Pending sync, and uploaded automatically when the connection returns. Sending, payments and PDFs still need a connection.
- Will an offline invoice sync twice and create a duplicate?
- No. Each BizOS document carries a client-generated key from the moment the editor opens; if the server has already accepted it, a retry returns the original result rather than creating a second invoice.
- What number does an offline invoice get?
- None until it syncs. GST requires consecutive numbering, so BizOS assigns numbers on the server inside the same transaction that creates the document. Until then the list shows 'Pending sync' where the number goes.
- Does BizOS support barcode scanning?
- Yes. The BizOS Rapid billing layout is built around a scan bar: scan, adjust quantity with + and -, scan the next. Items resolve from the local catalogue, so scanning doesn't wait on the network.
- Can I bill entirely by keyboard in BizOS?
- Yes. N then I starts a new invoice, the cursor starts in the customer field, and Enter walks the whole document, following the Tally convention where Enter means next field rather than submit. Mod+S saves a draft and Mod+Enter saves and sends. Press ? for the full shortcut sheet.
- Does the BizOS phone app work offline?
- Not for saving. Offline billing with a sync queue is in the BizOS web app. The BizOS phone app can show records it loaded earlier, but creating an invoice or recording a payment on the phone needs a connection.
- What happens if two people bill the same last item offline?
- In BizOS both sales succeed and stock can go negative. That is deliberate — at a counter a blocked sale costs more than a stock correction — and the movements post at sync exactly as they would have online.