Creating an Invoice
How to create an invoice, choose the customer, select charge rows, and understand what Work Planner includes by default.
Click New Invoice from the invoices list to open the create invoice popup. Work Planner builds invoices from charge transactions, so this flow is really about choosing the right customer first and then picking the charges that should be turned into invoice items.
Customer
- Customer: This is required. Until a customer is selected, Work Planner cannot show any charge rows to invoice.
- Select customer button: Opens the customer selector popup so you can search and choose the right customer without leaving the invoice popup.
- Open customer button: Once a customer is chosen, the second button lets you open that customer record directly if you need to check details before invoicing.
If you started from a job-driven or debt-driven flow, the popup may already know which customer and job you mean. In that case, Work Planner shows a blue job summary block and preselects the charges from that job where it can.
Select Transactions to Invoice
- Default charge list: By default, Work Planner shows the charges the customer still owes, and ticks them for you. Each payment counts against the oldest charge on its job first, so the rows left match what the customer owes. Missed visits are never listed: they record the work you lost, but the customer doesn't owe them.
- Invoice column: If a charge is already linked to another invoice, Work Planner shows that invoice reference and status. Those rows stay visible for context but they are not selectable again.
- Select All and Deselect All: Useful when you want to invoice everything shown or start from a blank selection and pick only a few rows.
- Show Historical: Turn this on when you need to go further back than the charges still owed. It brings in the customer's other charges, including ones already paid or invoiced, so you can include them deliberately. Only the charges still owed are ticked for you.
- Net Amount, VAT Rate, VAT, Gross Total: These figures help you see exactly what the selected charges will turn into before the invoice is saved. If your business isn't VAT registered, there's just Amount, and the summary shows only the Total, unless a charge listed has VAT on it.
Selection Totals
As soon as you tick one or more rows, Work Planner shows a running summary of how many charge rows are selected plus the net total, VAT total, and gross total. This is the easiest place to spot that you have missed a row or picked too many before saving the invoice.
Additional Invoice Details
These fields appear under the charges once you've ticked at least one.
- Due date: When the customer should pay by. The hint under it says Leave blank to use your payment terms from Settings › Accounts & tax. Left blank, the invoice is due that many days after today. Pick a date when this invoice needs different terms, such as for a customer who pays at the end of the month.
- PO Number: Use this when the customer expects their purchase order number on the invoice.
- Company Name Override: Leave this blank in normal use. Fill it only when the invoice needs to show a company name different from the customer's stored company field.
- Note: Adds an optional invoice note that appears on the invoice record after save.
What Happens When You Save
- Invoice reference: Work Planner generates the next invoice reference for that business automatically.
- Invoice items: Each selected charge row becomes an invoice item in the same order you selected it.
- Ledger links: The selected charge rows are linked to the new invoice so they are no longer treated as uninvoiced charges elsewhere.
- Status: New invoices start as Open.
- Due date: The date you picked, or today plus your payment terms. Once it has passed with the invoice still to be paid, the invoice shows as overdue on the invoices list and in its popup.
Validation That Stops the Save
- No customer: You cannot create the invoice without a customer.
- No selected charge rows: At least one charge row must be selected.
- Invalid charge mix: The selected rows must belong to the chosen customer and must still be available to invoice.
Related articles
- Invoice Items and Job Linkage: Explains how the selected charge rows become invoice lines and keep their job links.
- Editing an Invoice: Use this when the invoice has already been created and you need to change its due date or notes.
- Invoice Detail View: Shows what you can inspect after the invoice is saved.
- Transactions List: Helpful when the right charge rows are missing from the create popup and you need to inspect the finance records behind them.
- Accounts and Tax Settings: Setting the payment terms a new invoice's due date comes from.