The Jetpack CRM Invoice Builder has many features, but still works out-of-the-box. You can even add online payments via Invoicing Pro.
This guide covers the basic use of Invoicing in Jetpack CRM.
Before you get started: Invoicing Settings
The Invoice Builder in Jetpack CRM has a number of settings which are worth knowing about before you get started. You can find the key settings in two different settings pages in Jetpack CRM Settings:
Invoicing Settings
Load these settings by clicking Jetpack CRM > CRM Settings > Invoicing:
These settings are Invoice specific. They do not apply to Quotes.
Taxes can be set in Jetpack CRM > CRM Settings > General > Tax:
You can create your own tax rates here.
Reference Type
The reference type refers to how an invoice is numbered. By default, the auto-generated reference type is turned on, so your invoices will have an automatically incremented reference ID when you create new invoices.
Auto-generated reference
You can add a prefix or suffix to the ‘next number’, and set the next number to be used on your invoices. This is the number (ID) your invoices will start with, and after that first invoice, this field will show the next number in line to be generated.
Please note that since the invoice ID is a truly unique identifier, even if you delete an invoice, that ID will not be overwritten. You may see non-sequential IDs as a result of this, or changing your reference type.
You can also change your auto-generated reference type at any time.
Please note that this WILL NOT regenerate any existing invoices using a previous reference type, and that there is currently no option to edit those older invoice reference types, so you will see something like this:
You can also use both a prefix and a suffix simultaneously:
You may want to use a custom auto-generated field instead. Please see our documentation on creating a custom field type called Autonumber.
Manual Input
You can also choose ‘Manual Input` for your reference type. This will allow you to select a prefix, which is auto-populated into your invoice edit screen, and then you can add your own reference, as seen below. In this case, I selected “MANUAL” as my prefix, and in the invoice edit screen, entered “myRefID99”.
This allows you to go back in and edit your reference identifier, which the auto-generated reference type doesn’t allow. So on the invoice above, I can go back in and edit:
And it will update correctly in my list of invoices:
Business Info Settings
Load these settings by clicking Jetpack CRM > CRM Settings > Business Info:
These settings allow you to set globally-used business information such as your business name or contact email.
For invoices, the fields which will appear on PDFs and the client portal are:
- Business logo
- Your Business Name
- Owner Name
- Business Contact Email
- Business Contact URL
Creating your first invoice
To create your first invoice you can click Invoices -> Add new from the top Jetpack CRM menu.
You can change any Invoicing information you want by editing it inline. Since v3.0 you can now also add tags.
Please note that in the screenshot below, the Add your logo option only appears if you have not set a logo in the Business Info screen.
Adding new lines to the invoice
You can add new rows to the invoice to have your invoices be the total of a number of line items. This is useful if you want to break down your invoices for your clients.
How to set the Invoice Status
The Invoice comes with a number of statuses. Draft (while you work on it). Unpaid, Paid and Overdue.
This controls what the client is shown in the client portal.
Adding Attachments
You can add attachments to Invoices in the “Add File” section of the invoice editor:
You may specify accepted file types in Jetpack CRM Settings > General > File Attachment Settings.
Extras
Custom fields
Since v3.0 you can now also use custom fields with Invoicing. Click here for the guide on custom fields.
Tax rates
Since v3.0 you can now also use custom tax rates with your invoices.
Quotes conversion to Invoices
Quotes cannot be converted into Invoices at the moment. However, we plan to include this feature in our future plugin releases (no official estimated time for the deployment yet).
For the time being, after a contact accepts a quote, an invoice needs to be created separately.
Placeholders for Invoices
We have options to create and customise placeholders for invoicing if needed.
You can read how to get placeholders for invoices on this page; for more information and details about templating, here is more info for templating and invoicing.