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Creating invoices

Starting one​

Open Payments → Invoices and press New invoice. On a wide screen, hovering Invoices in the sidebar shows a plus that opens the same screen in one click.

You can also start from a contact, an inquiry or a booking, and the details carry across. Starting from the thing it relates to saves retyping. It also keeps the invoice connected to the job, which matters later when you work out what a booking actually earned.

Duplicate, in the three-dot menu on an existing invoice, opens a fresh draft with the same contact, lines, discount, notes, terms, accepted payment methods and column settings. Nothing is created until you save.

Two things CoreHue asks for first​

Before your first invoice you'll see two short dialogs, once each.

Set your default currency. It's pre-selected from your country. It is used for pricing, documents and reports, and it cannot be changed afterwards. See Currencies.

Set up numbering. Prefixes, starting numbers and how many digits your numbers pad to. This also locks. See Numbering and terms.

If your business name is missing you'll see a reminder to complete your business profile. Invoices carry your business details, so fill them in before you send anything.

Who it's for​

Pick a contact. An invoice cannot be saved without one.

You can also attach an inquiry or a booking. Choosing a booking pulls in the items and discount that haven't been invoiced yet and sets the invoice to the booking's currency.

To email the invoice, the contact needs an email address. Without one you can still create the invoice and share its link.

Currency​

On Core, an invoice uses your default currency and the page simply shows which one.

On Pro, a currency selector sits at the top right of the form. Choose the currency before you add anything. Once a line has content the selector locks, because the prices on the invoice are in that currency. Attach a booking and the currency follows the booking instead, with no selector.

Dates and terms​

Invoice Date is the date the invoice carries.

Terms works out the due date for you: Due on receipt, Due in 15 days, Due in 30 days or Due in 60 days.

Due Date is when you expect to be paid, and it drives everything else: whether the invoice shows as overdue, when reminders go out, and your outstanding figure. An invoice with no due date can't chase itself.

Set your default terms once under Payments → Settings → General so new invoices arrive with a due date already worked out.

Payment methods​

Tick the methods this invoice accepts. The list holds everything you've set up. Your Stripe connection appears as Online payment, and every manual method you've written appears by name.

Tick none and the invoice becomes a document to read rather than a bill to pay. The client sees everything and has no way to pay. Do that deliberately, not by accident.

Manage payment methods below the list opens the settings page. See Payment methods.

Line items​

Each line is a saved item, plus a description, quantity, price and tax rate for this invoice. The pencil beside the description opens an Edit description window where the text takes formatting, and Apply puts it back on the line.

Open Select an item… and pick one. Its name, description and price fill in. If the item you want doesn't exist, Add item at the bottom of that list creates it and drops it straight onto the line.

A line can also carry only a description, with no item picked. The item is what gives the line its name.

Everything after that is yours to change on this invoice. Editing a line never changes the saved item, and changing the item later never changes an invoice you've already created.

Write item names the way a client reads them. "Wedding coverage, 8 hours" is better than "WED-8". They may be forwarding this to someone who wasn't at the conversation.

The description is free text over several lines, so a package can list what it includes.

Add New Row adds a line. The gear icon beside it opens the column settings for this invoice alone: rename the four columns, hide the ones you don't use, and choose which business and contact details the document shows. Your defaults for all of that live under How invoices look.

Tax and discount​

Apply a tax rate per line, so one invoice can mix taxed and untaxed work.

+ Add Discount, under the totals, adds one discount for the whole invoice, either a percentage or a fixed amount. An invoice carries one discount, so the link disappears once you've added it. See Taxes and discounts.

Payment schedule​

Payment type offers Full payment or Payment schedule. A schedule splits the total into up to twelve dated payments, so a client pays a deposit now and the balance later. See Payment schedules.

Three text blocks at the bottom of the form, each with a default you can set once.

  • Notes: a thank you, or something specific to this job. It takes formatting
  • Terms: your payment terms, cancellation policy, whatever you need on record. It takes formatting too
  • Footer (optional): contact details, registration numbers, as plain text

See Invoice defaults.

Preview​

Preview at the top of the form shows the document exactly as the client will see it, and Edit takes you back. It's the fastest way to catch the wrong contact, a missing line or a stray note.

Saving​

The bar at the bottom of the editor offers Save & Send or Save Draft, with Cancel on the right.

Either way, CoreHue checks three things first and lists whichever are missing:

  • Attach a client: the invoice needs a contact
  • Add at least one line item
  • Remove the negative total: the total has to be zero or more

CoreHue gives the invoice its number the moment you create it, using your prefix and format. That number is never given to anything else. So deleting a draft leaves a permanent gap in the sequence. That's expected.

Draft first​

A new invoice is a draft. Only you can see it, and you can change anything.

Sending makes it Open. You can still edit an open invoice freely, as long as no payment has been recorded against it. The moment one has, the invoice locks. It's a financial record, and quietly rewriting an invoice someone has paid is how disagreements turn into disputes. See Invoice statuses.

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