BillFlow

Create an invoice

Start an invoice, name the customer, add lines, then save it as a draft or issue it with its number.

Creating an invoice takes a minute: start it, name the customer, add lines, then save it as a draft or issue it. This guide walks through each step in the editor.

Totals recalculate as you type. Nothing here has been issued yet.

Before you start#

You need a role that can edit documents: owner, admin, accountant, sales or operations. Viewers can open documents but not create them.

Start the invoice#

  1. Click Create in the top bar. It opens a new invoice. For a quotation, delivery note, waybill, receipt or purchase order, open the arrow beside it, More document types, and pick from the list.
  2. The editor opens with today's date, your default template for invoices, and the next invoice number shown as a placeholder. That number is not assigned until you issue.
Create starts an invoice; the menu beside it starts the other everyday types.

Name the customer#

Click the customer field on the sheet and start typing. Existing customers appear as you type; pick one and their billing address and payment terms fill in. Type a name that is not in your customers yet to bill someone new.

Pick an existing customer or type a new name.

Add the lines#

Each row takes a description, quantity, unit and unit price, with a discount and per-line taxes when those columns are switched on. Start typing a description to pick a product from your catalogue, or type freely. Press Add Row for the next line. To reorder, drag the handle at the left of a row, or focus it and press ↑ or ↓.

The subtotal, discounts, taxes and total update with every keystroke. They are previews: the server recalculates everything when you save, so a stale browser can never issue a wrong total.

Add Row appends a line; each line carries its own discount and taxes.

Check the details#

The sheet's Document Meta block carries the invoice number, the issue date and the due date; the due date follows the customer's payment terms and can be changed. The panel on the right has three tabs. Content holds Document Settings (currency, number and date formats), Tax Settings (whether tax applies, its name and rate, and what it applies to) and References (the customer's purchase-order number). Style controls the look; Formula adds calculated columns to the items table. Terms, payment instructions and a signature are blocks on the sheet, and the Blocks list on the left switches any block off with its eye icon.

Save or issue#

  1. Save Draft keeps the invoice without a number. The editor also saves on its own about a second after you stop typing, so closing the tab loses nothing.
  2. Save & Issue reserves the next invoice number, locks it to this document and moves the status to Issued. Issuing is what makes the invoice official. It cannot be undone; an issued invoice can only be voided.
Issue when the invoice is final. The number is assigned at that moment.

After issuing#

The invoice opens on its own page with its number, status and totals. From there you can download the PDF, mark it sent, record payments and follow its history.

An issued invoice. Payments and status changes happen here.

Create a delivery note#

From an issued invoice, Create Delivery Note starts one. It copies the descriptions, quantities and units at their full quantity and leaves the money behind: prices, discounts, taxes and totals are all stripped, the date is relabelled Delivery Date, and a signature line for the person receiving the goods is switched on. The delivery note arrives as a draft with no number and takes a DN- number when you issue it. The invoice itself is not changed.

Create Delivery Note stays available even after one delivery note already exists, for a shipment sent in more than one batch.

A draft, void or cancelled invoice cannot produce one — BillFlow refuses with A delivery note can only be created from an issued invoice.

Record what you are paid#

Record Payment on the invoice starts one; the status follows the balance to Partially Paid or Paid. The payment history lists every entry, and you can correct or remove one. Recording payments needs the payments permission: owner, admin and accountant have it, but sales and operations do not, even though both can edit documents.

Track and share it#

Mark Sent records that it went out, Download PDF produces the file, and the Related documents card shows anything created from this invoice.

Discard it#

Discarding deletes the document and returns its number to the pool for reuse, leaving a record in Discarded documents. It cannot be undone.

For the flow that starts with a proposal rather than a bill, see Create a quotation.

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