WooCommerce: Add Order Notes to WooCommerce PDF Invoices

I use the “WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips” plugin, available on the WP Repository, to invoice my clients. At times, for accounting purposes, I need to show the VAT/TAX ID of the client on the PDF invoice.

So, I open the order via WooCommerce > Orders, open the order I want to edit, add a “Note to the Customer” from the right hand side… and then have the following snippet in my functions.php adding such information on the PDF invoice!

Add a “Note to customer” via the Order Admin


/**
 * @snippet       Add "Note to Customer" @ WooCommerce PDF Invoice
 * @how-to        Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE
 * @sourcecode    https://businessbloomer.com/?p=21728
 * @author        Rodolfo Melogli, Hans Schuijff @ dewitteprins.nl
 * @compatible    WC 3.1.0, Woo P.I.P.S. 2.0+
 * @community     https://businessbloomer.com/club/
 */

add_action( 'wpo_wcpdf_after_order_details', 'bbloomer_add_note_to_customer_to_PDF_invoice_new', 10, 2 );

function bbloomer_add_note_to_customer_to_PDF_invoice_new( $template_type, $order ) {
    $document = wcpdf_get_document( $template_type, $order );
    $document->order_notes();
}

And here’s the final result:

Displaying order notes on “WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips” invoice PDF

Where to add custom code?

You should place custom PHP in functions.php and custom CSS in style.css of your child theme: where to place WooCommerce customization?

This code still works, unless you report otherwise. To exclude conflicts, temporarily switch to the Storefront theme, disable all plugins except WooCommerce, and test the snippet again: WooCommerce troubleshooting 101

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Rodolfo Melogli

Business Bloomer Founder

Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza. Follow @rmelogli

16 thoughts on “WooCommerce: Add Order Notes to WooCommerce PDF Invoices”

Jason
June 18, 2023

I’ve been trying to find this solution, but for the invoices and packing slip plugin that webtoffee makes. And it’s driving me up a wall. Why on earth did woocommerce decide to use post comments as the order notes instead of using postmeta???

Any ideas on how I can get it to work on the plugin I’m using? Hopefully you’ve used it before.

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  June 22, 2023
  
  I’m sure WebToffee will be happy to help
  
  Reply
Alejandro Vanni sarras
May 9, 2023

worked 100%

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  May 9, 2023
  
  Cool
  
  Reply
arij
March 24, 2020

Hello its not working now can you check ?

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  March 27, 2020
  
  Works for me. Which PDF plugin are you using?
  
  Reply
  1. Nick
    August 3, 2020
    
    Hello
    Thanks a lot for all your tips – very useful !
    This one does not work for me either – I use Woocommerce Pdf Invoices Packing Slips.
    Could you please double-check if one of the latest Woocommerce updates have not impactd your snippet ?
    
    Thanks
    
    Nick
    
    Reply
    1. Rodolfo Melogli
      August 18, 2020
      
      Hi Nick, seems https://docs.wpovernight.com/woocommerce-pdf-invoices-packing-slips/displaying-order-notes/ states the same. In case contact the plugin dev?
      
      Reply
Adam
December 11, 2018

Thanks as always. I am having difficulty understanding if each of the two snippets goes into the child theme functions.php? When I added both nothing seemed to appear in the pdf invoice. Thanks.

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  December 17, 2018
  
  Hey Adam, thanks for your comment! I removed the second snippet as it’s obsolete now, so you need to use just the first one. Order notes should appear on PDF invoices, unless something has changed in the plugin coding. Please note only “Notes to customer” will show (and not the other kind of notes). Test this out and let me know 🙂
  
  Reply
Nuno Morais Sarmento
October 8, 2018

Thanks for sharing your WP code snippets, very useful.

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  October 15, 2018
  
  You’re welcome!
  
  Reply
Chris
January 31, 2018

thanks for that snippet, works fine. Only thing is: it shows “Note to client” on the Invoice as well, followed by the actual note.

Is there an easy way to get rid of the “Note to client” part?

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  February 7, 2018
  
  Hello Chris, thanks so much for your comment! Yes, this is possible – but unfortunately this is custom work and I cannot provide a complementary solution here via the blog comments. Thanks a lot for your understanding! ~R
  
  Reply
Linda Carey
May 24, 2017

I want to do something similar with this plugin but do not know how to write the code!

I want to add the customer’s email to the packing list right underneath the shipping method. I cannot figure out how to do it for the life of me.

Reply
1. Rodolfo Melogli
  June 8, 2017
  
  Hey Linda, thanks for your comment! Have you tried asking the plugin’s support team?
  
  Reply

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