Creating an Invoice
An invoice is a formal request for payment issued to a client. In PMSuite, invoices are auto-numbered, carry line items with per-item tax, and track two independent things at once: whether the invoice has been sent and whether it has been paid. Invoices feed the Finance module's reports and can be paid online when a payment gateway is configured.
This article covers the three ways to create an invoice, every field on the form, and what to do when something doesn't behave as expected.
Who can use it
Company Admin, plus any role granted invoice permissions under Settings → Roles & Permissions. Permission levels are None, Added (records the user personally added), Owns (records assigned to them), and All. If someone cannot see an invoice they expect to see, check their role first — and have them log out and back in, because permission changes don't always apply to an already-active session.
Prerequisites
- A client. Invoices are billed to a client record, so create the client first at /account/clients/create if none exists.
- Tax rates (optional). Configure tax rates under Settings → Tax Settings before you invoice, so they're selectable per line item.
- Invoice branding and numbering (optional). Invoice Logo, Authorised Signatory, Language, and Due After (days) live in Settings → Finance Settings → Invoice Settings; the
INV#prefix is in Prefix Settings. See Invoice Settings & Numbering. - A payment gateway (optional). Needed only if you want clients to pay online. See Payment Gateways.
How to Access
Sidebar → Finance → Invoices (/account/invoices), then use the create action on the invoices list page.
Ways to create an invoice
PMSuite offers three creation paths:
| Path | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Create Invoice (manual) | One-off billing where you enter line items yourself. |
| Recurring Invoice | Repeat billing on a schedule. Configured separately — see Recurring Invoices. |
| Create TimeLog Invoice | Billing logged hours. Line items are auto-populated from the time logged against a project; approved time logs come through as invoice line items. |
You can also raise an invoice from an estimate using the Convert button on the estimate. An estimate is marked converted only when you use that button — creating a separate invoice manually for the same client and project does not update the estimate's status. See Creating Estimates.
Invoice header fields
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Invoice Number | Auto-generated with the INV# prefix. The prefix is configurable in Finance Settings → Prefix Settings. |
| Date | The invoice date. |
| Due Date | When payment is expected. The default offset comes from Due After (days) in Invoice Settings. |
| Currency | The currency the invoice is billed in. |
| Exchange Rate | Used when the invoice currency differs from your company currency. |
| Client | The client being billed. |
| Project | Optional link to a project, so the invoice appears on that project's Invoices tab. |
| Calculate Tax | Controls how tax is calculated on the invoice. |
| Bank Account | The account the client should pay into. See Bank Accounts. |
| Payment Details | Free-text payment instructions shown to the client. Defaults come from Finance Settings → Invoice Payment Details. |
| Billing Address | The client's billing address. |
| Shipping Address | The delivery address recorded on the invoice. |
Sections such as Tax Number, HSN/SAC, Status, and Authorised Signatory can be shown or hidden on the invoice, and the client details printed on it (Name, Email, Phone, Company, Address, Project) are individually toggleable — all in Invoice Settings & Numbering.
Line items
Each line item has these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Product | The product or service being billed. Products come from your product catalogue, where each product carries a Unit Type. |
| Description | Detail text shown under the item. |
| Quantity | Number of units. |
| Unit Price | Price per unit. |
| Tax | Tax rate applied to that line, selected from your configured tax rates. |
| Amount | The line total. |
Add as many line items as the invoice needs. On a TimeLog Invoice, the line items are generated for you from logged hours and can still be edited before saving.
Statuses
PMSuite tracks payment state and send state separately. An invoice can be Sent and still Unpaid, or Paid without ever having been formally Sent — for example when you record a payment manually.
| Payment status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | No payment recorded yet. |
| Partially Paid | One or more payments recorded, balance still outstanding. |
| Paid | Fully settled — the recorded payments cover the invoice total. |
| Send status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not Sent | The invoice has not been emailed to the client. |
| Sent | The invoice has been emailed to the client. See Sending Invoices. |
Finding invoices later
Use the search and filters on the invoices list to locate an invoice. Custom fields can be added to invoices under Settings → Custom Fields, which gives you an extra value (such as a PO number) to record on each invoice — see Invoice Fields & Line Items.
Effect on other features
- Payments. Payments are recorded against an invoice and drive the Unpaid → Partially Paid → Paid transitions. Deleting a payment row removes only that payment; the invoice itself is retained. See Invoice Payments.
- Projects. An invoice linked to a project appears on that project's Invoices tab and feeds the project overview's Earnings figure.
- Estimates. An estimate is turned into an invoice with its Convert button.
- Credit Notes. Corrections and returns are handled with a credit note raised against the invoice. See Credit Notes.
- Google Calendar. If Google Calendar Settings are configured, invoices are among the record types pushed out to Google Calendar. The sync is one-way, PMSuite → Google; items created in Google Calendar do not appear in PMSuite.
- Slack. With the Slack incoming-webhook integration enabled under Settings → Notification Settings → Slack, invoice events can be posted to your Slack workspace (one-way, PMSuite → Slack).
Limitations
- An estimate isn't auto-linked to a manually created invoice. Workaround: use the Convert button on the estimate when you want its status to update, instead of building the invoice from scratch.
- An invoice paid outside PMSuite won't update itself. Workaround: record the payment manually against the invoice so it moves to Partially Paid or Paid — see Invoice Payments.
- There is no "refunded" invoice status. Workaround: process the refund in your payment provider, then raise a credit note against the invoice so the accounting record matches.
- The invoice PDF layout is fixed to the five built-in templates. Workaround: choose whichever of the five best fits in Finance Settings → Invoice Template, and use the toggles there to hide sections you don't want printed.
Troubleshooting
An invoice isn't showing in the list
Cause: An active list filter, or a role permission level that limits which records you can see.
What to do: Clear the list filters, then check the user's permission level for invoices in Settings → Roles & Permissions (None / Added / Owns / All) and have them log out and back in after any change.
The client isn't in the dropdown
Cause: The client record doesn't exist yet, or was added after the form was opened.
What to do: Create the client at /account/clients/create, then reload the invoice form.
Tax shows as zero
Cause: No tax rate is selected on the line items, or no rates are configured.
What to do: Confirm rates exist under Settings → Tax Settings, then select the rate on each line item. Tax is applied per line item.
The logo is rejected or the PDF doesn't look right
Cause: Logo uploads are capped by image dimensions (max 750 × 750 px), so a file that is small in KB can still be rejected as "too large". Layout differences between the five invoice templates can also change how a logo or long note prints.
What to do: Resize the logo to within 750 × 750 px and re-upload it in Finance Settings → Invoice Settings, then try a different template under Invoice Template and re-check the output in Invoice PDF / Download.
The invoice email didn't reach the client
Cause: The client's email address is wrong or missing, the message was filtered as spam, or the invoice was never actually sent (the send status is still Not Sent).
What to do: Check the send status on the invoice, correct the client's email address if needed, ask the client to check their spam folder, and resend from Sending Invoices.