A refund receipt template controls the receipt layout Rhythm uses when staff print or email a refund. Each business unit can choose its own template on its setup page. If a business unit does not choose one, Rhythm uses the built-in layout.
What It Controls
A refund receipt template has three parts:
- Basic information. The template name, permanent identifier, and active or inactive status.
- The receipt layout. This is an HTML page with merge-field placeholders for details like the refund number, amount, and payer. Rhythm fills those placeholders when it creates a receipt for a real refund. The layout needs its CSS included with the HTML, so keep the styling and markup together when you build or edit it. If you copy only the markup, the receipt can lose its intended formatting.
- A merge-field helper bar, which helps you find and copy placeholder names while you edit the layout.
A refund receipt template controls only the receipt page. Unlike a payment receipt template, it does not include a separate email design, so there is no Email section to edit even though refund receipts are sent by email. The email that goes with a refund uses standard wording generated when it is sent. You can customize that email’s recipient, subject, or body only when you send it manually from the refund’s own options.
Where to Find It
Go to Finance & Billing › Setup › Templates › Refund Receipts. This opens Manage Refund Receipt Templates, where you can see every refund receipt template in your Rhythm account, along with its name, last changed date, and active status.
- Create Refund Receipt Template opens a blank form with Rhythm’s built-in refund receipt layout already filled in, so you can start from a working example.
- The Clone icon on a row opens a new template based on that template, but does not copy its identifier. A clone starts with the source template’s layout instead of the built-in layout.
- The Edit icon opens that template so you can change it.
- The Delete icon removes the template after you confirm.
Prerequisites
You need the permission your administrator grants for refund receipt template setup. Without it, you cannot open this page or use its actions.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Any text | Empty | Required. Appears in the template list and anywhere a business unit chooses a refund receipt template |
| ID: | Letters, digits, underscores, pipes, and hyphens | Suggested from the name | Required. This is the template’s permanent identifier, and you cannot change it after the first save |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Controls whether the template appears as active in lists. A business unit that already uses an inactive template keeps using it |
| Deletion Protection: | On, off | Off | Shown only to users with access to this control. Protects the template from deletion while it is on |
| Refund receipt layout | Rich-text HTML with merge fields | Rhythm’s built-in refund receipt for a new template; the source template’s layout for a clone | Required. The layout cannot be empty |
For payment account details on a refund receipt, use the Electronic Payment Info - Payment Account merge field. A similarly named field, Payment - Account Info, appears on default templates but is not listed in the data dictionary. It has also been seen rendering text like “ending xxundefined” instead of the payment method’s actual last four digits. That specific issue was later fixed, but if you see an incorrect value from this field, switch to Electronic Payment Info - Payment Account.
Preview Before You Save
Use the Preview button beside the merge-field bar to test your current layout before you save it. Rhythm asks for a Refund ID:, then opens your unsaved layout for that refund in a new browser tab so you can check the design against a real refund. To find the ID for a refund you want to use, open that refund’s 360 view, open its options menu, and choose Copy ID to Clipboard.
Warning
Previewing a template replaces that refund’s published receipt page with your draft layout. Anyone who already has that refund’s receipt link, or opens it later, sees your draft until someone prints or emails a real receipt again from a saved template. Use a refund that you do not mind temporarily showing with a draft receipt.
Warning
When you save a template, Rhythm only checks that the layout is not empty. It does not check whether the merge fields you typed are correct. A template with a broken merge field saves without an error, then fails when someone prints or emails a refund receipt from it. An extra or mismatched template tag, such as an unmatched {{/if}}, is one specific cause. If both email and print stop working for a refund receipt, check the layout for extra closing tags before you look elsewhere.
If refunded line items show costs but no product names in preview, and the same layout worked before, try recreating the template as a new one. This has restored the correct line item names in preview, even when the original template’s layout looked the same.
Dependencies and Precedence
- A business unit’s setup controls which refund receipt template its refund receipts use. This list does not show which business units use a specific template.
- Rhythm creates the refund receipt later, when staff produce and send a receipt for a real refund.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Editing a template's layout affects the next receipt created from that template. Receipts that were already printed or emailed do not change.
- Deactivating a template does not stop business units from using it. Rhythm does not check Status: when it creates a receipt, so an inactive template still works for any business unit that uses it.
- A change Rhythm makes to its own built-in refund receipt layout — for example, removing an element like the print button from it — is not retroactive for templates you already created or cloned from that layout. Update your existing custom templates yourself if you want them to reflect a change like that.
- Deleting a template is permanent.
Warning
Nothing stops you from deleting a refund receipt template that a business unit still uses. If you delete it, that business unit can no longer produce refund receipts from that template, and what happens instead is not defined here. Before you delete a template, check every business unit’s setup to make sure none of them still uses it.
Permissions
You need the permission your administrator grants for refund receipt template setup to view, create, edit, clone, and delete templates. There is no separate permission for individual actions within that setup area.
Validation and Errors
If you try to save a template with an empty layout, the form will not let you continue. If you try to preview a template without entering a refund identifier, Rhythm asks you to fill in that field first. If you preview with a refund identifier that does not exist, or with a layout that has broken merge-field syntax, Rhythm shows an error message. Correct the problem and try again.