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This reference explains how a deposit invoice can be created automatically the moment a client signs a proposal, which settings control whether (and how much) it creates, what the resulting invoice looks like, and when it is emailed to the client. The user-facing roles referenced below are: Admin, Ops Manager, Sales Admin, Sales Member, and Client Coordinator.

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What auto-deposit does

When a client signs a proposal, the workspace can automatically create a deposit invoice for a configurable percentage of the estimate total, optionally capped at a fixed dollar amount, and optionally email it to the client. This only happens when the deposit automation is turned on and the workspace has invoicing enabled. The deposit is created as a side effect of recording the signature. It is non-blocking: if the deposit cannot be created for any reason, the signature itself still succeeds and the proposal is still recorded as signed.

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When a deposit invoice is created automatically

A deposit invoice is created on signing only when all of the conditions below hold. If any one fails, no deposit invoice is created and signing proceeds normally.

Invoicing must be enabled for the workspace

The workspace must have invoicing turned on. Workspaces without invoicing never auto-create a deposit. See Feature availability.

No invoice can already exist for the estimate

The signed estimate must not already have an invoice of any kind (deposit, main, or otherwise). If any non-deleted invoice already exists for that estimate, no auto-deposit is created. This is what prevents a duplicate deposit when a proposal is re-signed.

The deposit automation must be turned on for the branch

The branch must have Auto Create Deposit Invoice enabled under its invoice automations (see below). It is off by default.

The estimate total must be greater than zero

The estimate subtotal must be a positive amount, and the calculated deposit amount must come out greater than zero, for an invoice to be created.

The estimate must resolve to a workspace and a salesperson

The estimate must belong to a workspace and have an assigned salesperson on file, and the branch must have at least one payment term configured. If these are missing, the deposit cannot be created.

A payment schedule's deposit must still be in place (payment schedules only)

If your workspace uses payment schedules on proposals and the signed proposal has a payment schedule, that schedule must still include its deposit payment for a deposit invoice to be auto-created. If the deposit was removed from the schedule — or its amount or name was edited so it is no longer the deposit, or the whole schedule was removed — no deposit invoice is created on signing, even with Auto Create Deposit Invoice on. Workspaces that do not use payment schedules are unaffected.

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Settings that control auto-deposit

Four settings govern auto-deposit. Two control how much the deposit is; two control whether it is created and emailed. They are edited in two different places in Settings.

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Where each setting lives

  • Deposit Percent and Max Deposit Amount are edited in the branch’s Costs & Production settings section.
    • Deposit Percent — “Percentage of total price required as deposit (e.g. 10 = 10%).”
    • Max Deposit Amount — “Maximum deposit in dollars. 0 means no cap.”
  • Auto Create Deposit Invoice and Auto Send Deposit Invoice are edited under Settings -> Invoices -> Invoice Automations, as two checkboxes that save immediately when toggled.

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Automation toggle behavior

Auto Send depends on Auto Create

The Auto Send Deposit Invoice checkbox is disabled whenever Auto Create Deposit Invoice is unchecked. Turning Auto Create off also forces Auto Send off in the same save.

Toggles save immediately, with a confirmation

Changing either checkbox saves right away. On success you see “Invoice automations updated successfully.” If the save fails, the toggle rolls back to its previous state and you see “Failed to update invoice automations.”

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How the deposit amount is calculated

The deposit is the estimate total multiplied by the Deposit Percent, then capped at the Max Deposit Amount if a cap is set.
  • The raw deposit is the estimate subtotal times the deposit percentage.
  • If Max Deposit Amount is greater than 0, the deposit is the smaller of the raw amount and the cap. Otherwise the raw amount is used as-is.
  • The final amount is rounded to the nearest cent. See Money rounding.
The deposit is always computed from the estimate’s own subtotal, independent of any separately authored main or final invoice.

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What the created invoice looks like

  • It has a single line item: description “Project Deposit”, quantity 1, with the rounded deposit amount as the unit price.
  • It is created in Draft status, dated the day of signing, and tied to the signed estimate and its project. The salesperson on the estimate is recorded as the creator, and the branch’s first payment term sets the due date. See Invoice status and actions.
  • Tax is calculated against a billing address built from the client, falling back to the project property. If the tax engine cannot calculate tax, the invoice is still created without tax — but in that case the deposit is not auto-emailed (see below). See Sales tax.

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When the deposit is emailed to the client

After the draft is created, the deposit invoice is emailed to the client only when all of the following hold:

Auto Send is on

Auto Send Deposit Invoice must be enabled for the branch.

The client has an email on file

The client must have a non-empty email address.

A billing address was available

A billing address must have been resolved for the invoice.

Tax calculation did not fail

If tax could not be calculated, the deposit invoice is left as a draft and is not emailed automatically.
When all four hold, the invoice moves from Draft to Open and an email is queued to the client. The email subject is “Deposit Invoice From [your workspace name],” and the body greets the client by name and states the deposit total and the due date in the branch’s time zone. If the email itself fails to send, the invoice stays Open — the failure does not undo the already-created invoice. The email runs in the background; see Background processing.

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Interaction with the main invoice

The deposit invoice is a separate record from a project’s main or final invoice, but both are governed by the same per-estimate rule:

One invoice per estimate suppresses auto-deposit

The check before creating a deposit looks for any non-deleted invoice on the same estimate — not just deposit invoices. If an invoice of any kind already exists (created manually or automatically), no auto-deposit is created.

Re-signing never creates a second deposit

Because the first invoice suppresses the automation, signing the same proposal again will not create a duplicate deposit.

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Quick reference

  • Auto-deposit fires only when: invoicing is enabled, Auto Create Deposit Invoice is on for the branch, the estimate has no existing invoice, and the deposit amount is greater than zero. If your workspace uses payment schedules, the signed proposal’s schedule must also still include its deposit payment.
  • Amount = estimate total times Deposit Percent, capped at Max Deposit Amount when that cap is above 0.
  • Created invoice: a single “Project Deposit” line item, in Draft, tied to the estimate and project.
  • Emailed automatically only when: Auto Send is on, the client has an email, a billing address exists, and tax calculation did not fail — at which point the invoice becomes Open.
  • No duplicate deposits: any existing invoice on the estimate suppresses the automation, including on re-sign.