> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.menaia.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Create an invoice
> Bill a customer for a project — start from a sold estimate or build line items from scratch, set your dates and terms, then save it as a draft or send it straight away.
An invoice is how you bill a customer for work on a project. You can build one in two ways: pull the line items straight from a sold estimate, or start fresh and add items yourself. Either way, you set the issue date and payment terms, choose what the customer sees, and finish by saving a draft or sending the invoice by email.
You start every invoice by choosing a **client** and a **project** — an invoice always belongs to one project, so the work and the customer are clear.
## Start a new invoice
Go to **Invoices** from the main navigation. This is where every invoice lives — drafts, sent, and paid. From here you can search, filter, and reopen any of them.
Press the **Create Invoice** button in the top-right corner. A short two-step setup opens.
Pick the **Client** and then the **Project** the invoice is for. The project list fills in once a client is selected. Click **Continue**.
You can also start an invoice from inside a project. When you do, the client and project are filled in for you, and you jump straight to choosing how to add items.
## Choose how to add items
On the second step you pick one of two starting points:
* **Import From Estimate** — pull the items from an estimate that's already been marked sold on this project. This is the fastest way to bill exactly what was quoted.
* **Create New** — start with an empty invoice and add items yourself, either from your catalogue or as custom one-off lines.
### Importing from a sold estimate
If you choose **Import From Estimate**, pick the estimate from the **Estimates** dropdown. Each option shows the date it was sold and its price, so you can tell them apart. If the project has only one sold estimate, it's selected for you automatically.
A sold estimate is required to import. If the project has no sold estimates yet, you'll see a notice — switch to **Create New**, or go mark an estimate sold first.
Click **Continue** to open the full invoice with those items already filled in.
## Fill in the invoice details
Whichever path you took, you now land on the invoice builder. The top section, **Invoice Details**, shows the **Client Name** and **Project** you chose, plus three things you set:
* **Issue Date** — the date the invoice is dated. Defaults to today.
* **Payment Terms** — choose from the terms your workspace has set up. The one marked as default is picked automatically. To set the due date yourself instead of deriving it from a term, choose **Custom date** at the bottom of the list.
* **Due Date** — when you pick a payment term, this is calculated for you from the issue date and the term, so you don't have to work it out. If you chose **Custom date**, pick the due date directly here instead. Either way, the due date can't be earlier than the issue date.
There's also a **Description of work** box where you can write a short summary of what was done. This appears on the invoice the customer sees.
If a payment term is marked **(disabled)** in the list, it's no longer in normal use — pick an active term instead.
## Review and adjust the line items
The **Line Items** card shows everything the customer will be billed for, with a running breakdown of subtotal, any tax, and the total.
### When you imported from an estimate
The items come straight from the estimate and are shown as a clean list. To change the actual items or quantities, you update the estimate itself — the **Edit Line Items** note explains this.
You can still adjust two things here:
* **Customize the amount due.** If you only want to bill part of the job right now (a deposit, say), use the customize option on the breakdown. You can enter a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the project total, and the invoice scales to match. Use the reset option to go back to the full amount.
* **Client View Settings.** Two switches — **Unit Price** and **Total Price** — control whether those columns show on the customer's copy. Turn them off for a simpler, total-only invoice.
If the estimate carried tax, it's shown as a **read-only** line in the breakdown, so the invoice can't drift from what the customer agreed to. To change the tax, update the estimate itself.
### When you started from scratch
Click **Add New Item** to add a line. For each line you can:
* Search your catalogue and pick an item, or type a name and choose **Add as custom item** to create a one-off line.
* Set the **Qty/Unit**, the **Unit Price**, or just the **Total Price** — the others adjust to match.
* Remove a line with the trash icon (you'll be asked to confirm).
The breakdown at the bottom keeps the totals up to date as you go.
Every line needs an item. If you save with a line that has no item picked or typed in, "Item name is required" appears under that line and the invoice isn't saved — pick an item or remove the empty line. Each line's quantity also has to be more than 0.
You also set the tax here. The **Tax** row in the breakdown has a selector, and your branch's default rate (if it has one) is applied automatically. Open the selector to switch to any other saved rate or tax group (the default rate is marked **(Default)**), choose **No Tax**, or use **Create new** to add a rate on the spot. The invoice total updates as soon as you change the selection. If your branch uses TaxJar, the selector also offers a **TaxJar** rate calculated from the project's property address, and it's picked instead of the default rate — see [TaxJar](/guides/settings/integrations#taxjar). Rates and groups are set up in [Taxes](/guides/settings/taxes).
The same **Client View Settings** switches — **Unit Price** and **Total Price** — sit at the top of the Line Items card here too. Turn either off to hide those columns on the customer's copy for a simpler, total-only invoice.
## Invoice a scheduled payment
If you built a [payment schedule](/guides/proposals/generate#set-up-a-payment-schedule) on the proposal, you can bill each payment on its own invoice — for example, the deposit now and the final payment when the work is done.
If you don't see a **Payment Schedule** on the project's **Invoices** tab, payment schedules aren't turned on for your workspace, or the project doesn't have a proposal yet.
Open the project and go to its **Invoices** tab. The **Payment Schedule** appears above the project's invoice list, with each payment's **Invoice #**, **Description**, and **Total**, and a **Total Scheduled** line at the bottom.
A project can have more than one proposal, and each has its own schedule. When it does, use **Payment Schedule From** to choose which proposal's schedule to show. The proposal of the project's sold estimate is selected by default.
Each payment that hasn't been billed yet has a **Create Invoice** button. Click it to open the invoice builder, with the client, project, and line items already filled in for that payment.
Set the dates and terms, then **Save as Draft** or **Save and Send**, as described in [Save or send](#save-or-send).
### What the invoice includes
The invoice total matches the payment's amount on the schedule, tax included.
* **Line items.** If you attached services to the payment, the invoice lists those services, with their prices scaled so they add up to the payment. If you didn't, it has a single line named after the payment. When the estimate mixes taxable and non-taxable work, that line is split into a "(taxable)" and a "(non-taxable)" line.
* **Tax.** Tax comes from the estimate's saved rate and only applies to the taxable lines. Like any invoice created from an estimate, the line items and tax are read-only here — to change them, change the estimate or the schedule. See [Sales tax](/reference/billing/sales-tax#tax-on-invoices).
### Each payment can be invoiced once
Once a payment has an invoice, its **Create Invoice** button is replaced by a link to that invoice's number, with the invoice's status underneath. A payment can't be invoiced twice. If you try — for example, from an old link — the builder shows "This payment has already been invoiced." and won't let you save.
If you void or delete that invoice, the payment is freed up and **Create Invoice** comes back.
If the schedule or its estimate was deleted, or you no longer have access to it, the builder shows "Unable to load payment schedule data for this payment." and won't let you save. Go back and try again, or create a regular invoice instead.
## Add a disclaimer
The **Disclaimer** card holds any terms or notes you want printed on the invoice — warranty language, payment instructions, anything standard for your work. It comes pre-filled with your workspace's default text, and you can edit it for this one invoice.
## Save or send
When the invoice looks right, use the buttons at the bottom of the screen:
Choose **Save as Draft** to store the invoice without sending it. It lands in your Invoices list as a draft, where you can reopen, finish, and send it later.
Choose **Save and Send** to email the invoice now. This opens a short email window where you confirm the **Recipients**, the **Subject**, and the **Body** — all pre-filled for you, including the customer's email and a friendly default message. Add or remove recipients as needed, then send.
An invoice needs at least one line item before you can save it. Both **Save as Draft** and **Save and Send** stay unavailable until you've added an item — there has to be something to bill.
After sending, you land on the invoice's detail page. From there you can record payments, resend the email, download the PDF, change the due date, or void the invoice if something's wrong.
## What's next
Email an invoice to the customer, add more recipients, or resend it later.
Mark an invoice paid — in full or in part — and keep the balance up to date.
See exactly what the customer gets and save a copy for your records.
Have a deposit invoice created automatically when an estimate is sold.