Magento 2 Backend Exploration: Credit Memos

The following article describes the Credit Memos screen, continuing our exploration of the Magento 2 admin. Below, you will discover how to work with the corresponding screen and individual credit memo pages. Besides, you will discover how to effortlessly import/export credit memos in Magento 2.

Magento 2 Credit Memos Screen

You will discover the Credit Memos screen under Sales -> Credit Memos.

Control elements

You can leverage numerous control elements common for the entire Magento 2 admin on the Credit Memos screen. 

There is a search field on the top left part of the screen. You can also see a dropdown with mass actions below. You can PDF credit memos in bulk simultaneously. 

As for the top right area above the Credit Memos grid, it lets you apply filters, switch between grid views, show/hide columns, export grid content, select the number of orders per page and switch between grid pages. 

You can use the search field to find credit memos by different parameters:

• Type a keyword;
• Hit the Enter button.

Now, let’s see how to apply mass actions to credit memos in Magento 2. First of all, you have to select items you want to PDF: tick them in the first column manually. It is also possible to choose Select All, Deselect All, Select All on This Page, or Deselect All on This Page from the dropdown in the first column. Next, select the only action available in the dropdown:

When it comes to filters, the corresponding section of the Credit Memos screen in the Magento 2 admin lets you narrow down the selection of credit memos. You can set the following filtering options:

• Created;
• Order Date;
• Refunded;
• Purchased From;
• Credit Memo;
• Order;
• Bill-to Name;
• Status.

Note that filters are based on the available columns, but the Credit Memos grid includes more elements than we’ve just mentioned. The Magento 2 admin lets you show/hide the following 22 columns:

• Credit Memo;
• Created;
• Order;
• Order Date;
• Bill-to Name;
• Status;
• Refunded;
• Order Status;
• Purchased From;
• Billing Address;
• Shipping Address;
• Customer Name;
• Email;
• Customer Group;
• Payment Method;
• Shipping Information;
• Subtotal;
• Shipping & Handling;
• Adjustment Refund;
• Adjustment Fee;
• Grand Total;
• Action.

After changing the appearance of the Magento 2 Credit Memos grid, you can save it as a new view:

The default Magento 2 Credit Memos grid

Now, when you know how to control the Credit Memos grid in the Magento 2 admin, let’s find out how it looks by default. The usually consists of the following 9 columns:

• Checkboxes – select orders for mass actions;
• Credit Memo – a credit memo number;
• Created – when a credit memo was created;
• Order – a corresponding order number;
• Order Date – when an order was placed; 
• Bill-to Name – a name of your customer specified in order details;
• Status – Pending, Refunded, or Cancelled;
• Refunded – a corresponding refund amount;
• Action – view each credit memo individually.

Magento 2 Credit Memo View

Use the last column from the default grid view to see all the information specified in each credit memo. The data is split between the following sections:

• Order & Account Information;
• Address Information;
• Payment & Shipping Method;
• Items Refunded;
• Memo Total.

In Order & Account Information, you can view a corresponding order number, date, status, and purchase point. The section also displays customer name, email, and group.

The Address Information section displays editable shipping and billing addresses.

In the Payment & Shipping Method section, you can find information about the selected payment method as well as the corresponding shipping method details.

The Items Refunded section shows refunded products as well as their names, SKUs, attributes, prices, quantities, subtotals, taxes, discounts, and row totals.

In the Memo Total section, it is possible to add comments, notify customers about them, or enable/disable their visibility on the frontend. The following credit memo totals are displayed here as well:

• Subtotal;
• Shipping & Handling;
• Adjustment Refund;
• Adjustment Fee;
• Tax;
• Grand Total.

How to create a Magento 2 credit memo

A credit memo is a document utilized in a full or partial refund. It shows the amount that should be refunded. It can be applied toward a purchase or refunded to the customer. Magento 2 provides the ability to print a credit memo for a single order. At the same time, you can do it for multiple orders as a batch. However, you must generate a credit memo from the order before it can be printed. 

Issue a credit memo

Let’s see how to issue a credit memo:

1. Go to the Admin sidebar -> Sales -> Orders.
2. Find a completed order in the grid you want to refund and click the View link in the Action column.
3. Now, pay your attention to the button bar at the top of the page. If the order is invoiced, you will see the Credit Memo button. Click it! 

Note that your new Credit Memo looks similar to the completed order page. It includes each item from the invoice in the Items to Refund section.

Items to Refund

Now, you can set the return to stock option. However, it is editable only in the case of online payment methods.

To return the product to inventory, mark the Return to Stock checkbox. Note that you also need to enable Magento Inventory Management. If you are not going to return the product to inventory (it was damaged), leave the checkbox blank.
To enter the quantity to refund, follow these steps:

1. Specify the number of items to be returned in the Qty to Refund box. Save the change.
2. If there are items that are not to be refunded, enter 0 in Qty to Refund for them.
3. Now, you can recalculate the total. Click Update Qty’s.

Note that the amount to be credited cannot exceed the maximum amount available for a refund!

Refund totals & comments

To update the Refunds Totals section follow these steps:

1. Use the Refund Shipping field to specify any amount that is to be refunded from the shipping fee.
2. Use the Adjustment Refund field to add value to the total amount refunded as an additional refund that does not apply to any part of the order. It cannot be higher than the paid amount.
3. Use the Adjustment Fee field to substract a value from the total amount refunded. Note that it is not subtracted from a specific section of the order.
4. Mark the Refund to Store Credit checkbox to return credit to the customer account balance if the purchase was paid with the help of store credit.
5. You can also add comments in the Credit Memo Comments box, notify customers, and include the comments you have entered as we’ve already mentioned.

Next, you should choose a refund option. According to the payment type, you can utilize either Refund Offline or Refund Online.

For further information, read this article: Issuing a Credit Memo in Magento 2.

How to import credit memos to Magento 2

You can import credit memos to Magento 2 using the Improved Import & Export extension. The module provides better opportunities than the default data transfer solution since it supports numerous file formats and connection points, lets you apply mapping presets, and automated data synchronization with the help of schedules. We will describe its benefits in a separate section below. Now, let’s figure out how to import credit memos to Magento 2.

Go to System->Improved Import/Export->Import Jobs and hit the “Add New Job” button.

In General Settings, enable the job, specify its title, choose the manual run frequency, select a language (locale), and enable/disable the following features depending on your business needs:

• Generate Unique Url if Duplicate;
• Re-Index after Import; 
• Send email from new tracks.

In Import Settings, enable/disable API depending on your needs, choose Orders in the Entity dropdown (the extension will import credit memos to Magento 2 as a part of your orders file), and select a platform to apply a mapping preset.

In Import Behavior, select Add/Update from the dropdown, choose a validation strategy, specify the maximum possible number of errors, and type separators.

In Import Source, select your import file type and specify its source. You can import a data file from a server, Dropbox account, URL, or upload it directly. In the case of Dropbox, specify a file path, access token, and remote images directory. 

And don’t forget to validate the data file with credit memos. If it contains attributes that are not supported by Magento 2, you can apply mapping. 

To start importing credit memos to Magento 2, hit “Save & Run” in the top right corner of the screen. For further information about this process, follow the link below and contact our support:

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension

How to export credit memos from Magento 2

To export credit memos from Magento 2, we also recommend using the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension. The module not only automates the default credit memos export process but also lets you eliminate manual data files modification. Let’s imagine that you need to provide an accounting system with credit memos on a daily basis. Follow these steps to achieve your goal:

Go to System->Improved Import/Export->Export Jobs and hit the “Add New Job” button.

Go to the General Settings section and enable the job there. Type its title and select a frequency (every day at 3:00am). Choose a local file language and divide additional attributes if necessary. 

Now, proceed to the Export Settings section to select Order from the Entity dropdown and enable Consecutive Export.

In Export Behavior, select a format of your export file (your accounting system should support this format) and choose order entities that should be provided to the external platform – credit memos.

Go to the Export Source section and specify where your credit memos should be transferred to. You can select FTP, SFTP, or a data file as a destination. Check the connection before going any further.

Next, you can map attributes and add filters to provide the external system with the exact data it needs.

To start the export process, hit “Save & Run” in the top right corner of the screen. For further information about credit memos export in Magento 2, follow the link below and contact our support:

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension

Improved Import & Export Features

Now, let’s pay a little bit more attention to the features of the Improved Import & Export extension. The tool is designed to turn your Magento 2 admin into a central hub where you control all integrations; therefore, it is much more potent than any import/export solution currently available on the market. Even the default transfer tools of Magento 2 Commerce don’t offer anything similar. 

The extension provides several ways of moving credit memos data to and from your e-commerce website, including a direct connection between two systems. As an admin, you can manage all integrations right in the backend interface. And as it was mentioned above, the plugin allows automating all credit memos import and export processes in Magento 2. Let’s start the exploration with this feature.

Automated Import & Export Processes

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension offers two different ways of automated credit memos data import and export: schedules and event-based triggers. The principle behind both mechanisms is described below. You only have to configure your import/export job, and the extension does everything for you. Let’s see how schedules work.

Schedules

With the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension, you can use the default cron syntax to create export schedules moving Magento 2 credit memos to a remote platform. The module provides the ability to specify any custom intervals so that you can create a schedule suitable for your specific business needs. At the same time, you can select one of the predefined intervals which are also fully customizable. And don’t forget about the opportunity to create import and export profiles which have no schedules. If you only need to move data once, there is no need to schedule the profile.

Another cool feature related to schedules is the ability to launch every profile manually. For instance, you need to transfer credit memos to an external accounting system every day at 6 PM, but no orders have been placed yet. If the first order has been placed after 6 PM, you can easily move it to an eternal system manually transferring all the related credit memos.

Events

Event-based triggers represent the second way of automating data transfers in Magento 2. The Improved Import & Export extension enables real-time updates based on them. Create and configure a trigger specifying conditions to synchronize two systems right after a certain action takes place. For further information, check this article: How to Run Magento 2 Import or Export After Specific System Event or Process.

Advanced Mapping Features

The following chapter discusses another important aspect of the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension – the ability to solve problems caused by different attribute standards. Our module provides several exclusive mapping features that dramatically simplify the way you import and export credit memos in Magento 2

Mapping Presets

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension offers a very straightforward way of matching external attributes to ones used internally. You get a series of mapping presets – predefined mapping schemes that provide the ability to implement attribute matching in a few clicks. After creating and configuring a new job, choose a suitable preset in the mapping section of your new profile. Next, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension will do all the work for you.

Instead of figuring out what third-party attributes are utilized in your credit memos file, you let our module analyze the input data and match all third-party designations to the internal ones. Any manual interactions with data files are eliminated. Here is how everything happens in the admin:

Matching Interface

If there is no preset suitable for your integration or you want to make an import/export file suitable for third-party requirements manually, utilize the matching interface of the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension. It lets you map attributes by yourself in the admin. Select an entity, choose a system attribute and specify the corresponding external one in front of it as shown below:

In the grid above, there is also the third column – “Default Value” –  where you can specify hardcoded (default) values, which are attribute values automatically provided to every item related to the attribute. It is handy when, for instance, you import products from multiple store views to a single one.

Filters

Now when you know how to apply mapping and use hardcoded (default) values, we’d like to describe another feature that lets you export Magento 2 credit memos to a remote system – filters. Follow these steps to master the tool:

• Click the ‘Add Filter’ button;
• Select an entity;
• Select a system attribute that will be used as a basis of a new filter;
• Specify parameters applied for filtering;
• Repeat the previous steps to create more filters.

Note that parameters applied for filtering vary, depending on the chosen attribute. Everything is simple and intuitive:

Attribute Values Mapping

Besides, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension provides the ability to match attribute values. Since incorrect values may prevent import processes or may not be accepted by third-party systems, it is essential to replace all unsupported designations with the proper ones. As you might have already guessed, the default Magento tools don’t let you do that.

As for our plugin, it offers an interface similar to the one we’ve just described above. Choose a third-party designation and specify a corresponding internal one in front of it. Repeat matching until no external values are left. For further information, read this article: Attribute Values Mapping.

Attribute Values Editing

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 module lets you not only map attribute values but also edit them in bulk via the following rules:

• Add a prefix to multiple attribute values;
• Add a suffix to multiple attribute values;
• Split multiple attribute values;
• Merge multiple attribute values.

Note that the module provides the ability to create various conditions to increase the efficiency of editing. For further information, check this article: How to Modify Attribute Values During Import and Export in Magento 2.

Category Mapping

Another feature of the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension that simplifies the way you import data from any source is category mapping. It is especially useful when you transfer data from third-party catalogs that have a unique structure. The module provides the ability to match external product categories to ones used internally as follows:

And you can create new categories on the fly. Both features are described here: Category Mapping.

Attributes On The Fly

Another feature that dramatically simplifies import processes is the ability to create attributes on the fly. If an update file doesn’t include all the required data, our module allows using the following general form to specify all parameters used to get all missing attributes automatically:

Attribute|attribute_property_name:attribute_property_value|…

The procedure is described in more detail here: Product attributes import.

Extended Connectivity Options

As mentioned above, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension allows extending the default opportunities related to data transfers. Our module offers a bunch of extended connectivity options described below.

Multiple File Standards

The Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension lets you import and export credit memos and other data with the help of the default CSV format as well as XML, JSON, ODS, and Excel. Thus, the necessity to convert files of these standards into CSV and vice versa is completely eliminated!

Multiple File Sources

And the vital improvement that enables extended credit memos file import/export in Magento 2 is support for multiple sources:

• FTP/SFTP. Transfer data files using a local or remote server.
• Dropbox. Use a Dropbox account to establish a connection between the two systems. Alternatively, you can rely on Box, OneDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, and Amazon Drive.
• URL. A direct URL can be used to import a data file as well.

In case an update file is compressed, the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension will extract it automatically!

Alternative Ways of Import & Export

The alternative ways of import and export, which are not represented in Magento 2, include data transfers via API and intermediary services.

The Improved Import & Export extension provides the ability to leverage REST other APIs (SOAP and GraphQL) to import and export credit memos between Magento 2 and any external systems.

As for the intermediary services, they are Google Sheets, Office 365 Excel, and Zoho Sheet. The following image shows how to use Google Sheets to move data to Magento 2:

Another important feature is support for WSDL and WADL.

The video below displays other details of our extension:

Get Improved Import & Export Magento 2 Extension

Final Words

Now, you can easily master credit memos in the Magento 2 admin. As you can see, converting orders into credit memos is an intuitive process that doesn’t take much time. Creating PDFs is even faster. And with the Improved Import & Export Magento 2 extension, you can easily import and export credit memos between your e-commerce store and any external system.