Invoice a customer and record what they pay

1Open Invoices

Open Tools, then Invoices. The list shows every invoice with its customer, title, status, due date, total and what is still Owing.

Filter it with All, Draft, Unpaid, Overdue, Paid and Void, or type in Search number or title. Click an invoice to open it beside the list, where everything below is done. Click another row to switch invoices, the cross to close it, or the arrows to open it on a page of its own.

2Start an invoice

Click New invoice. The form opens beside the list, headed New invoice and Not saved yet. Its dates, tax and currency start from your settings.

Nothing is created until you click Save. Close the form and the invoice never existed, and it spends no invoice number. Change your mind often and the numbers stay in order.

Choose the Customer and the Site, give it a Title, and type the customer's order number in Customer reference if they gave you one.

If your business uses matters or projects, choose the one the invoice is for beside Site. The field carries your own name for them. To see one matter's invoices, choose it in the box above the list. New invoice then starts on that matter.

Work with no site of its own has its own answers, above the list under If the work has no site. They are Remote and At Company Premises. A company with venues under Admin, then Locations, picks which one instead, each by its name.

Those answers are choices, not sites, so your Sites list holds only the addresses you visit. Renaming a venue renames the choice, and closing one takes it out of the list while every job already booked there keeps reading correctly.

A customer or site that is not in the list yet can be added without leaving. Click Customer or Site, then Add new at the top of the list, fill it in and save. On the phone app it is New customer or New site, in the same place. Whatever you had typed in the search starts the form. Either way it is chosen for you, and nothing you already typed is lost.

On the site form, type the first few letters of the street address and pick the real address from the list under it. The suburb, state, postcode and country arrive with it. Standing at the site, click Use my current location above the address instead, and your browser asks before it shares anything. The site form on the phone app searches the same way. If the address is already one of your sites, the web offers Use this site and the phone app chooses it for you.

Each site in the Site list shows its suburb, state and postcode under its street. Typing a suburb finds every site in it.

Check the Due date, the Tax label and the Tax rate (%). Tick Prices include tax when your unit prices already include it.

3Add the lines

Click Add line, or Add from price book and pick an item. For each line, type the Qty (the hours or the number of units), the Unit, such as hr or each, and the Price of one unit. Untick Taxable where tax does not apply. For a discount, type a negative price.

For an item that is not in the price book yet, click Add from price book, then New item. Type its Name, Unit and Price, untick Taxable if tax does not apply, and click Add item. It is saved to the price book and added to the invoice as a line.

Fill in Notes for a sentence above the lines, How to pay with your bank details, and Terms, then click Save. The totals are worked out again from what was saved.

On a new invoice, that first Save is what creates it. Its number appears at the top, and Mark as finalised, Download PDF, Duplicate, Share link and Record payment appear with it.

4Choose how it prints

Your invoice prints through your business's invoice template. An admin sets it up in Settings, Invoice template. Every copy follows it: Download PDF, an emailed PDF and the PDF on the customer's link.

To print one invoice on another template, pick it under Template and click Save. Default follows the template your business marked as its default.

A Detailed template asks two things under For this invoice only. Tick the itemised Professional Fees table to include it, and the Summary Fees by Lawyer table likewise. With the fees table off, type a Professional fees description. Your customer reads it in place of the lines.

Any other template offers Additional details, printed in its own section below the totals.

An admin chooses what every invoice on a template asks. In Settings, Invoice template, tick settings under Ask on each invoice. Add fields of your own under Your own fields, such as a purchase order. Every form that creates or edits an invoice asks each one, and the invoice prints the answer.

To check a template before you use it, click Edit layout on it (Edit logo on a Detailed template). The preview is a sample invoice printed with that template's settings, every page of it. Choose a Layout preset, tick what to include and add Your own fields in the panel on the right, and the preview changes as you go. Click Save to keep the changes, or Cancel to leave the template as it was.

A law firm's invoices all end with its "Your rights concerning this invoice" clause, on every template. Change the words in Settings, Invoice template, and leave a blank line between paragraphs.

5Invoice an accepted quote

Open a quote marked Accepted and click Create invoice. A draft invoice opens with the quote's customer, site, title, currency and tax, and each line in the quote's total. A deposit the customer paid on the quote is already recorded as paid.

If the quote already has a job, the invoice is made from the job instead, as in the next step, so work added to the job since the quote is on it.

6Price a job as you book it

Add a job in your jobs table. The Job Items card sits under the job's own fields, for the labour and the materials on that job.

Click Add line, then type the Description, the Qty and the Price of one unit. The card totals the lines once each one has a description.

Click Create. Your job items table gets a row for each line, linked to the new job, so the job carries its own value.

On the phone app the card is on the New job sheet, with the description on its own line and Qty and Price under it. Tap Add to save.

7Text the quote, and book the job when they accept

Add a job and tick Raise one under Also raise a quote. The Text the customer card then writes the quote's message instead of a booking.

Tick Send the quote when I create the job, then click Create. The customer gets the message with a link to read the quote, sign it and accept it online.

Leave Text them the booking when they accept ticked. When they accept, the job moves to Booked and they get the booking text the card showed, written from the job as it stands then.

Marking the quote accepted yourself does the same. The booking text goes once, whether the customer accepts first or you do.

When your customer accepts, every optional extra they ticked gets Included ticked on the job's own line. The job's Job Value counts an extra only once that tick is set.

On the phone app, turn on Send the quote when I add the job and Text them the booking when they accept, then tap Add.

8Text the customer that their job is booked

Add a job in your jobs table. The Text the customer card writes a message from the job itself.

It names the customer, the work, the day and the site address. The window reads as Arrive from and Arrive by set it: "arriving from 07:30 and by 08:30".

Editing the box replaces the written message, and Start again from the job brings it back.

Tick Send this text when I create the job, then click Create. The text leaves as you create the job, and the confirmation names the number it reached.

On the phone app, the New job sheet carries the same card. Turn on Send this text when I add the job, then tap Add.

Moving a booked job brings the card back. Change its day, its site or its arrival times on the job's Edit form. The card then writes "We have moved your ..." with the new booking.

Tick Send this text when I save the changes, then click Save changes. On the phone app, the job saves as you change it. Turn on Text the customer the new booking, then tap Text the customer.

Moving a window anywhere else brings up the same card. Click Times on a stop in Routes, or change Arrive from or Arrive by under a job's own fields. Tick Send this text when I save the times, then click Save times.

Taking both times off shows no tick: the job has no new time to give the customer. Clear on a stop's times sends nothing either.

A job still waiting on its quote shows no tick. Its customer gets the booking when they accept, written from the job as it stands then.

9Invoice a job

Open the job in your jobs table and click Create invoice at the top of its page. A draft invoice opens with the job's customer, site and the person it is assigned to, and a line for each of the job's lines with its description, quantity and unit price.

A job made from a quote takes that quote's title, currency and tax, and a deposit paid on the quote is already recorded as paid. Any other job takes the currency and tax from Admin, Company, and its title from the first line of the job's notes.

The job's page then lists its invoices. Each row carries the invoice number, its total, its issue date and its due date. The invoice shows Open job beside its number, and on the phone app Edit job under that number changes the job without leaving the invoice.

Click Add another invoice under the list to bill a long job in stages, or to add a variation. The job keeps every invoice. Its Status reads Paid once every invoice on it reads Paid, and Payment Due shows the soonest date a customer still has to pay.

Set a job line's Item Type to Consumables for small items such as cable ties, tape or sealant. The job keeps each one itemised for costing. The invoice puts them all on as one line, Consumables, carrying their total.

Consumables with tax and consumables without each get a line, Consumables and Consumables (tax free), so the invoice taxes each correctly. A line's Taxable decides which.

To list every consumable on the invoice instead, an admin opens Invoice settings and unticks Combine consumables into one invoice line, then clicks Save settings. It starts ticked.

An Optional Extra goes on the invoice only once somebody ticks Included, the same as the job's own total.

A job set to Completed with no invoice is listed the next morning in Finished jobs not invoiced, a notification to your company's recipients with each job's name, customer and finish date. Each job is listed once. Voiding its only invoice does not list it again.

To stop it, open your profile, then Notifications, and switch off Finished jobs not invoiced. An admin switches it off for the whole company under Admin, Notifications.

10Email the invoice

Click Save, then Email invoice under Customer link. Check the address in To, type a Message or leave it empty to use your usual one, and click Send. The customer gets a button to open the invoice, with the PDF attached, and their reply comes to you. A draft invoice is finalised and reads Unpaid.

An invoice made from a job also carries the job sheet, once somebody has ticked an item on the job's checklist or signed it. The job sheet holds the checklist, the photos marked for the customer and the signatures.

Every email sent about the invoice is listed under Customer link, with who it went to and when.

11Text the invoice

Click Save, then Text invoice under Customer link. To holds the customer's mobile number, and Message starts with Hi, their name, the invoice number and your company name. Change either if you need to, then click Send text.

A link to the invoice is added at the end of the text, and a draft invoice is finalised and reads Unpaid. Invoice texted to and the number show beside the invoice number.

If the customer has no mobile number yet, the form says so. Type it in To and leave Save this number to ticked to keep it on the customer for next time. Untick it to use the number for this text only. Changing a number they already have shows the same box, unticked.

12Send the customer a link

Click Save, then Share link under Customer link. The link is copied, and a draft invoice is finalised and reads Unpaid. Paste it into an email or a message to your customer. Copy link copies it again, and the box shows Not opened yet until the customer opens it.

The customer needs no account. Their page shows the lines, what has been paid and the Amount due, with Download PDF and your How to pay details.

To send a file instead, click Download PDF, send it yourself, then click Mark as finalised. The invoice shows Unpaid until it is paid, and Overdue once its due date has passed.

Download a draft and every page carries DRAFT across it, so a file sent before the invoice was finalised cannot be mistaken for the real one. Finalise it first and the watermark is gone.

13Take payment by card

When card payments are set up, the customer's page shows a button such as Pay $230.00 for the amount due. They pay on Stripe's payment form, and the money goes to your own Stripe account. A card payment is recorded on the invoice as Card, and the invoice reads Part paid or Paid.

Card payments have to be set up first: click Admin, then Billing, and click Set up card payments under Getting paid, fill in the form and click Continue to Stripe. Without it, the customer sees your How to pay details only.

Stripe takes its fee from each payment. Under the totals, the invoice shows Stripe's card fee and its bank or direct debit fee. The brackets show what each fee comes to on this invoice. The figures use Stripe's standard rates. An account on custom pricing pays less, and an overseas card costs more.

To let customers pay by bank, click Turn on direct debit under the totals. Getting paid in Admin, Billing has the same link. It opens the payment methods in your Stripe account. Turn on PayTo and BECS Direct Debit in Australia. Other countries have ACH Direct Debit (US), pre-authorised debit (Canada), Bacs Direct Debit (UK) and BECS Direct Debit (New Zealand). Stripe may ask you to verify your business first.

A bank payment takes a few business days to clear. Until then the invoice reads The customer's bank payment of $230.00 is on its way. The customer's page says the same and offers no second Pay. Once the money clears, the invoice shows a Bank transfer payment. If the bank refuses it, the invoice records nothing and you get a notification. The customer can then pay again from the same link.

14Record a payment

Click Record payment. Amount starts at what is owed, so change it for a part payment. Set Paid on, choose the Method (Bank transfer, Cash, Cheque or Other), type a Reference if you have one, and click Record.

The payment shows under the totals. The invoice reads Part paid while some is still owed, and Paid once nothing is.

15Take a card payment on your phone

In the Diract phone app, open the invoice and tap Tap to Pay on iPhone (on Android, Tap to Pay). It is the first payment button once card payments are set up, and takes what is owed.

The first time, an admin taps Turn on Tap to Pay on iPhone, allows location access, and accepts Apple's terms. Anybody else sees a message asking them to get an admin to do it. An admin can also do it ahead of time in More, Tap to Pay on iPhone.

Hand the customer the phone, or hold it out. They tap their card or phone on the top of it. The screen then says Approved, Declined or Timed out. An approved payment goes to your own Stripe account and is recorded on the invoice as Card with the reference Paid by Tap to Pay.

Tap Send receipt to send the customer a receipt by message, email or anything else on your phone's share sheet.

16Remind the customer automatically

An admin clicks Invoice settings on the Invoices list. Type a number in Remind before due (days) to email the customer once when the invoice is that close to its due date. Type a number in Remind when overdue by (days) to email them once when it is that many days past due. Leave a box empty to send none, then click Save settings.

Email message is what an invoice email says when whoever sends it leaves the message empty.

17See the job move with its invoice

An invoice made from a job moves the job along. Once the invoice is finalised, by Email invoice, Text invoice, Mark as finalised, Share link or a payment, the job's status changes to Invoiced and its invoice date and payment due date are filled in from the invoice. Once nothing is owed, from payments you record or a card payment the customer makes, its status changes to Paid.

Removing a payment puts the job back to Invoiced. Void or Back to draft puts its status and dates back to what they were, unless somebody changed them on the job in the meantime. The job's history shows each change.

18Send invoices to Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB

An admin opens Finish setting up on Quick Glance and clicks Set up beside Sync with your Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB. The same panel is under Admin, then Accounting, as Invoice sync. Click Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB, sign in there and allow access. You come back to the same panel, connected.

We pick the usual sales account and tax codes for you, and the bank account when there is only one. Click Start syncing. If a question is left, choose the answer in the panel first. Click What syncs and where to see each thing that goes across and when, or to change an account.

From then on, each invoice goes to your accounting software when you send it. Each payment follows it, dated the day your customer paid. Removing a payment here removes it there. Changing a sent invoice changes it there, and voiding it here voids it there. Click Send earlier invoices to send the invoices from before you started syncing. Admins see In Xero, In QuickBooks or In MYOB on the invoice once it has arrived.

An invoice made from a job reaches Xero or QuickBooks with its job sheet attached. The sheet goes once somebody has ticked or signed something on the job's checklist. Xero sends it with the invoice when you email the invoice from Xero, and so does QuickBooks.

19Void or delete an invoice

Anybody with permission to void clicks Void and types why. A voided invoice keeps its number and can no longer be changed or paid. Click Duplicate to make a new draft with the same lines and a number of its own.

A draft that was never sent can be deleted with the bin beside Void.

Both are on the Invoices list too, at the end of each row: the no-entry sign voids, and the bin deletes a draft. They ask the same questions as the buttons on the invoice.

On the phone app, swipe a draft left in the list and tap Delete, or press and hold it. On an invoice that has gone out, Delete says it can only be voided, which is done from the invoice.

20Set the defaults

An admin clicks Invoice settings on the Invoices list. Set the Number prefix and Digits, how many days after the issue date an invoice falls due in Due after (days), and the How to pay and Default terms every new invoice starts with, then click Save settings.

Attach the job sheet to invoice emails starts ticked. Untick it to send invoices for jobs without the job sheet, by email and to Xero or QuickBooks.