HourSlipGuides / Invoice templates
Invoice templates
A template is the look and the standing text of an invoice: its title, color, font, which columns show, and the notes, terms and footer it starts with. You can keep several and give each client its own.
The four that come built in
| Template | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Classic | Plain sans serif with a dark accent, every entry listed. The default. |
| Modern | A violet accent, a rounded font and a thank-you line in the footer. |
| Summary | One line per project and no individual entries. For clients who want the total and not the diary. |
| Formal | Titled "Tax Invoice", in a serif font, with payment terms printed. |
These are ordinary templates. Edit them, rename them or delete the ones you don't use.
Edit a template
Open Settings › Templates and select one. The preview on the right updates as you change things.
- Name. What you see in pickers. Clients never see it.
- Title on the invoice. Printed in capitals at the top. Invoice, Tax Invoice, or whatever your country calls it.
- Accent. Eight colors: Ink, Violet, Blue, Teal, Green, Amber, Red and Pink. The accent colors the title, the rule above the table and the total.
- Font. Sans Serif, Serif, Rounded or Monospaced.
- List each entry under its project. The same switch as on a single invoice, set here as the starting point.
- Hours and rate columns. Hide either one. Hiding the rate suits fixed-price work where you'd rather not show an hourly figure.
- Starting notes. Text every new invoice begins with. You can still edit it per invoice.
- Terms. Late fees or payment conditions, printed in their own block.
- Footer line. A short line at the bottom of every page.
Add, copy, delete and set the default
The buttons beside the list add a new template, duplicate the selected one and delete it. Duplicating is the quickest start: copy the one closest to what you want and change the copy.
The template at the top of the list is the default, used by any client that hasn't been given its own. Make Default moves the selected template there. On a Mac you can also drag templates into order.
When you delete a template, drafts and clients that used it switch to another one. You always keep at least one.
Give a client its own template
Open the client in Clients and choose its Invoice template. New invoices for that client start with it. A client left on the default follows whichever template is first in the list, including if you change the default later.
Switch the template on one invoice
On a draft, open Invoice options and pick another template. The preview changes straight away. The notes and the entry-listing switch follow the new template too, unless you've already changed them by hand on that invoice.
The New Invoice sheet has the same picker, if you know before you create it.
Sent invoices keep their look
Editing a template restyles every draft that uses it. Sent and paid invoices aren't touched: each one keeps a copy of the template as it was when it went out, even if you later change or delete that template.
Templates are part of a backup, so they move with you to a new computer.