In this article, you’ll learn how to issue easy-to-use, professional-looking invoices and estimates to your clients, making sure you secure more business and get paid faster.
You can set default information for all your invoices and estimates at once, or customize the information for each invoice or estimate you create.
Setting up Invoices & Estimates
Follow these steps to add the basic information you want to display on all your Invoices and Estimates:
Step 1: Go to Settings > Payments, and click on the Invoices & Estimates tab.
Step 2: Fill out your Billing Address & Business Info, and customize the client information you want to display on your invoices & Estimates. Next, fill in your terms and conditions, including the Due Date for your invoices, and enter the Terms & Conditions you want clients to see when they receive your estimate and invoices. You can also include default Taxes for your services and product.
Invoices & Estimates templates
The app offers pre-made templates businesses can use to enhance the look and feel of their invoices and estimates. On the payment settings page, go to the 'Templates' tab. Choose a layout from the following option will be your default:
- Classic - The standard layout design includes your business logo and theme color of your choice (default is your brand color)
- Styled - An enhanced layout with a cover image to make a long-lasting impression on your clients.
- Letter (US) - a US standard letter template designated for printing and sending via single window envelopes.
Customize your template
For each template, you'll be able to choose the brand color and your business logo design and size.
You'll need to choose a cover image from the app gallery or upload your own for the styled layout.
Creating new invoices & estimates
You can easily customize any of the defaults as needed:
- Billing address and billing info
- Invoice Label: The title that will appear at the top. The default for Invoice is “Invoice”, and the default for Estimate is “Estimate”.
- Currency: This will take on the default currency for the account.
- Invoice/Estimate Number: Invoice/Estimate numbers are updated automatically so you don’t have to keep track! The first invoice will be automatically assigned the number 0000001, and each new invoice will go up by one.
- Issue Date / Due Date: The issue date is usually the day you created the invoice, but you can backdate it if you need to. Set the due date of the invoice as well.
- Items List: The items list of an estimate/invoice is where you’ll list out the services or products your client is paying for. You can also apply taxes and discounts here.
Adding items
You may want to issue an estimate or an invoice for more than one service or item. Follow these steps to add items to your invoice or estimate:
Step 1: Scroll down to the items section on your invoice or estimate.
Step 2: Click on Please select an item to view and pick from your item list.
You’ll notice that the list comes prefilled with the menu of services that you offer and their prices.
Learn how to create a custom item in the section below.
Creating custom items
Follow these steps to create a new custom item that does not already exist in your list of services or items.
Step 1: Click Custom... from the Items dropdown menu.
Step 2: In the New Item popup box, name the custom item and attach a price to it.
Step 3: Fill in the following details:
- The number of custom items to add to the list
- A discount, if necessary
- Up to three taxes (taxes are saved for future use)
Editing items
Added an item by mistake? Need to add a 15% discount? Just click the ⋮ icon next to the item in the row of the relevant item, and select either Edit or Delete.
Deposits
Estimates deposit request
When creating an estimate, you can add a deposit request requiring your clients to pay before the service/products are provided.
Click on "Request a deposit" below the total amount to open the deposit request. You can set your deposit to be one of the following options:
- Percentage: Based on the total amount of the estimate. You'll also be able to round up the amount on this option.
- Set price: Set the deposit's worth according to your business currency.
There are two ways to collect deposits:
- Recording a payment or charging your clients from the Back office. You can go to the estimate page and click "Take payment". To charge a card or record a payment.
- Online - If you are connected to a payment gateway, your clients will be required to pay the deposit online to complete the estimate's approval. You can also check the "Disable online payments for this deposit" to have it paid in person.
Note: When online payments are disabled, clients will receive a message to contact the business to pay the deposit after approving the estimate.
Terms, Notes, Signature and more
Terms: You can edit your default terms and adjust them per a specific invoice or estimate.
Notes: Use the Note to client field if you want to add a personalized message to the Invoice, as shown here:
For Estimates only:
- Signature: To require clients to electronically sign on an estimate to approve it, check to 'Client signature is required.'
For Invoices only:
- Allow a client to pay online: If you would like your clients to have the option of paying online.
- Allow a client to pay a partial amount if you would like your clients to be able to pay in installments.
Save or Send your Estimate & Invoice
Once you’re satisfied with the way your estimate/invoice looks, you can either save the invoice as a Draft or Send it to the client and additional recipients, if you have any.
This is how your clients will see your invoices and estimates:
Issuing a Work Order
A work order document describes the work scope based on the Estimate or Invoice line items, quantity, and contact information, such as phone number and address (based on the 'To' information on the Invoice/Estimate), without any pricing information.
Tip: Work orders are usually used to share an outline of a job with staff members or other stakeholders without exposing them to financial details.
Note: A work order is created only once an estimate or an invoice is issued.
To view a work order, you'll need to go to the Invoice / Estimate designated page.
- If the estimate is approved or the Invoice is paid, you'll see a 'View work order' button.
- If the estimate isn't approved or the Invoice is unpaid, you can view the work order when clicking on the three dots.
You can also Print or Download when viewing the work order and clicking the icons on the top right of the page.
Updating Invoices & Estimates After Sending
If you find a mistake or something you want to change, you can still edit an estimate or invoice even after you sent it and send an updated version of it.
To update an existing invoice, go to Payments > Billing & Invoicing, use the right-hand filter to select your invoice, and select Edit from the follow-up actions.
To update an existing estimate, go to Payments > Estimates, use the right-hand filter to select your estimate, and select Edit from the follow-up actions.
Sending Invoice Payment Reminders
To send a payment reminder for outstanding or overdue Invoice, follow these easy steps:
Step 1: Go to Payments > Billing & Invoicing
Step 2: Find the relevant invoice you want to send a reminder for.
You can find the invoice faster by filtering for client name and/or checking the Has Invoice filter on the right-hand side of the Billing & Invoicing page, as you see here:
Step 3: On the page that opens, click and select Send reminder, as you see here:
Step 4: Click OK on the confirmation message that appears to send the reminder.