Creating and sending an invoice

Build an invoice with line items, tax and a currency, email it to your client with the PDF attached, and move it through draft, sent and paid.

4 min read

An invoice in Billable is the same job every time: list the work, set the dates and tax, pick a currency, send it. Here is the whole loop, start to finish.

Step by step

  1. Start a new invoice — Pick the client you are billing. Their details come from the client record, so you are not retyping an address you have already saved once.
  2. Add your line items — List each piece of work with its amount. Billable adds everything up as you go, so the totals at the bottom always match the lines above them.
  3. Set the dates, tax and currency — Choose an issue date and a due date, apply a tax rate, and pick the currency you want to bill in. If you have set a default tax rate and home currency in your settings, new invoices start out already filled in with them.
  4. Send it, or download it — Email the invoice straight from Billable, with the PDF attached and the subject and message written for you. Or download the branded PDF and send it yourself.
  5. Keep the status honest — An invoice moves through draft, sent and paid. Marking it paid when the money arrives is what keeps your dashboard totals, your overdue list and your reminders telling the truth.

Keeping invoices tidy

  • Set your business name, address and logo once in settings and they will be prefilled on everything you send.
  • Attach the signed contract or brief to the invoice itself so the paperwork sits with the money.
  • If the work was tracked with a timer, add the unbilled time to the invoice rather than typing hours in by hand.

Quirks worth knowing

The small things that trip people up.

Numbering is automatic

Every invoice gets its next number for you, so you never have to remember where you left off or check the last one you sent.

Totals are worked out as you type

Line totals, tax and the grand total recalculate while you edit — there is no formula to break the night before you send.

Currency is set per invoice, not per account

Your home currency is only for your own reporting. Each invoice carries its own currency, so one client can be billed in EUR and the next in INR.

Sending and downloading are separate paths

Emailing attaches the PDF and fills in the subject and message for you. If you would rather send it from your own inbox, download the same PDF and attach it yourself.

Emailing your client is on the paid plan

Sending an invoice by email from Billable is part of the paid plan. On the free plan you can still build the invoice, download its branded PDF to send yourself, and mark it as sent — only emailing it from Billable needs an upgrade.

"Mark as paid" is one click, and it can do more

When the money lands you can just mark it paid — or use the same moment to record what actually arrived and what the transfer cost you.

More about create invoices

More guides

Still stuck on this?

Send us a message through the support form and a real person will walk you through it — usually within a couple of business days.