The most simple way to generate an invoice is by using an existing document such as an approved Estimate or completed Job. When you generate an invoice through an existing document Tudodesk automatically clones the source document for you so there's no need to re-enter any details. Tudodesk also links the two documents by reference, making it easier for you, your customers and your team to identify where an invoice came from. Cloning documents is faster and more accurate than re-entering information manually and as such it is suggested that you clone documents when creating an invoice.

Note: If you are yet to encounter the Cloning feature please refer to our tutorial How to Clone (copy) Documents for Easier Document Creation.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a new invoice without the use of the cloning feature.

Note: All of the 'Create' processes in Tudodesk follow the same format as 'Create an Invoice'. Just make sure you are on the correct board (e.g. Invoices) and use the same instructions given below.

Navigate to the 'Invoice' board shown below and click the + Add button.

The 'Create New Invoice' pop-out will appear.

Firstly, you must add the customers details.

Tudodesk stores previously used information to prevent repetition and save time.

If you are invoicing a new client click the 'Create new contact' button.

If you are invoicing an existing customer, try using the search box to enter their name or email address. Tudodesk will suggest results close to your entry as you type, taken directly from your customer database. 

In this example, we will be adding a new contact to the invoice.

Click the 'Create new contact' button. 

The 'Quick add contact' pop-out shown below will appear.
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To create a new customer; a first name, last name and valid email address will need to be provided. 

After filling out the customer's details, click the 'Add' button. 

This will close the 'Quick add contact' pop-out and apply the customer to the invoice.
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After adding the new contact to the invoice, complete the Title, Reference (optional) and Summary (optional) sections of the invoice. 

Note: Tudodesk documents require a title to make them easily identifiable.

For this example, we have used "Omega Watch Repair" for the title, and  "Repair customers broken Omega watch and service" for the summary.

Note: References make it easier to link information and track invoices if they are available.
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After completing the required fields, click the 'Create invoice' button highlighted. 

Note: When you create a document in Tudodesk, a unique ID will be automatically generated. This important identifier allows you, your agents and your customers to easily find and reference documents.

After creating the invoice you will be taken to the document edit screen where you can view your draft invoice. 

The next step is to list the charges for this invoice.

Note: As you add charges to the invoice Tudodesk automatically calculates the line total, sales tax (if enabled) and invoice total for you.

Make sure that if you are charging sales tax, that this option is enabled and set in the company settings.

There are three options when adding charges to your invoice:

In this tutorial we will use option (1): Manually add custom items onto the list.

Click the + icon underneath the item list.

Enter a short description for the item, the net unit price, quantity and discount (%).

In this example we have added "Omega Dial" with unit price £195.00. 

Note: Tudodesk will by default set the quantity as one unit. 

We can now add the price of the dial to the invoice and add labour charges. 

We have filled out a new line titled 'Labour per hour' with unit price £32.50 and adjusted the quantity to the amount of hours spent, in this example two hours were spent.

Tudodesk has now correctly calculated the line total as £78.00.

All of the charges and costs for this invoice have now been completed.

The final step is to send the invoice to your customer for payment. 

At the top of the invoice document window you will see the status bar. The status bar highlights the current status of a document.

Note: New documents are always placed in 'draft' mode.

By clicking on the next step in the status bar you can update the document to the next step.

The status' of documents are used to indicate which stage of process the the document is in. 

At the top left of the document page is the 'document action bar' 

Tudodesk will always offer the next chronological step in a documents life-cycle but this can be updated manually if needed.

The steps in an invoices life-cycle are as follows:

Draft - Initial creation of the document
​Preview - Opens the document in the client portal for customer view
​Send - Marks the invoice as sent and sends it to the customer
​Pay - Opens the payment dialogue
​Void - Cancels the invoice

In this example, the invoice is ready to send to the customer so we have clicked the 'Send' Button.

After clicking 'Send', the document send window shown below will appear to confirm the invoice. 

To send the invoice, click the 'Update status to sent' button. 

Tudodesk now marks the document as 'Sent' and sends an e-mail to your customer with a link directly to the invoice in Tudodesk's customer portal.

If a payment gateway such as 'Stripe' has already been calibrated with your company, the customer will be able to pay the invoice online which will automatically update the document to 'Paid'.  

If the payment is delayed, Tudodesk will automatically remind you to collect payment of this invoice. 

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