Create and send an invoice

Invoices live under Billing in the left sidebar. You can create an invoice from scratch, or generate draft invoices from unbilled time. New invoices start as drafts on a review screen, where you finish the details and send.

Create an invoice manually

1. Go to Billing and open Invoices
2. Click the + button in the top right
3. Choose the Client and click Create

Tidyflow creates a draft and opens it for review. Set the invoice Number (pre-filled from your numbering settings), Issue date, and Due date, then add line items with a description, quantity, unit price, and tax. Tax can be set per line or for the whole invoice.

A manual invoice is not connected to your tracked time. Typing in the same work does not clear it from WIP. To bill tracked time, create the invoice from Billing under WIP instead, so the time is linked and marked billed; see How WIP works.

Create invoices from unbilled time

1. Go to Billing and open WIP
2. Click Bill $[amount] on a client to turn all of that client’s unbilled work into a draft, or open a single job’s menu and choose Invoice this job. In Fixed fee mode, use Invoice fee to bill a job’s agreed fee instead of its hours.
3. To bill several jobs at once, select them and choose Create draft invoice(s) from selected jobs

The drafts land on the review screen, with the time already converted into line items, and nothing is sent until you approve each one. You can also pull more time into an existing draft with Add time from WIP in the draft’s menu.

Group the invoice lines

When you bill tracked time, each invoice has a Line item settings control on the review screen that decides how the work appears:

• By service merges repeated work of the same service into one line, so four weekly payroll jobs become a single Payroll line
• By job keeps one line per job
• One line collapses everything into a single line

You can also show the period, the job’s subtasks, or the service description on each line. Tick Save as the default for this client and the client’s next bill starts the same way.

Edit amounts and see realization

Draft lines bill exactly what they show: type a new Unit price or Qty on a line and the Total updates to quantity times price, with nothing hidden underneath. Quantity and price are presentation, so 5 x $100 and 1 x $500 bill the same $500; only changing the total changes what the client pays.

When a line comes from tracked time, changing its total is a write-up or write-down. The line shows the difference against the time’s WIP value as you type, for example +$150.00 and 120% for $900 billed on $750 of tracked time, so you always see what you gained or gave up on the job. A write-up or write-down recorded earlier with Adjust on the WIP page is already folded into the line’s price when the draft is created; see How WIP works.

Send the invoice

On the draft review screen, click Approve & send to email the invoice to your client as a PDF. If you send invoices outside Tidyflow, use Download PDF and Mark as sent instead, so the invoice stops being a draft and starts tracking payment.

From the invoice list you can always re-send with Email PDF, download the PDF, or, if you use the QuickBooks or Xero integration, sync the invoice across.

Invoice statuses

An invoice is Draft until you send it or mark it as sent. After that it shows as Sent, then Partially Paid or Paid as payments come in. Invoices that should no longer be collected can be marked Voided.

Record a payment

When a client pays you outside Tidyflow, for example by bank transfer, open the invoice’s row menu and choose Add Payment. Enter the amount and payment date; the invoice status updates automatically, and partial payments are fine. Payments made online are recorded for you.

Let clients pay online

Connect Stripe once in Settings under Billing and every emailed invoice includes a secure payment page where your client pays by card or bank debit. Payments are recorded automatically, saved payment methods can be charged with the Charge saved card option when sending, and contacts with billing access can also pay in your client portal. For setup, payment options, and fees, see Accept online payments.

Recurring invoices

For invoices that repeat on a schedule, set up a recurring invoice under Billing in Recurring. Tidyflow generates the invoices automatically, as drafts or auto-sent, on the schedule you choose.

Customize your invoices

Your invoice number prefix, next number, and document title (Invoice or Tax Invoice) live in Settings under Billing. Your logo is added automatically from Settings under General; see Add your logo and branding.