HourSlipGuides / Creating and sending invoices
Creating and sending invoices
An invoice in HourSlip is built from unbilled time. You pick a client and a period, HourSlip does the rounding, tax and numbering, and you get a draft to adjust before it goes out. Once sent, it stays exactly as the client received it.
Before the first one
Two tabs in Settings decide how every invoice looks and adds up. Set them once.
Settings › Business holds what prints in the header: logo, business name, address, email, tax ID and payment instructions. It also holds numbering. Numbers look like INV-2026-001: your prefix, the year and a counter. You can change the prefix, set the next number (useful if you've already sent invoices this year from somewhere else), and choose to restart the counter each January.
Settings › Invoices holds the rules:
- Paper size. Letter or A4.
- Rounding. Each entry is rounded up to the next 1, 6 or 15 minutes. Six minutes is a tenth of an hour, and it's the default.
- Due in. The payment term in days, 14 unless you change it.
- Tax name and default tax. Call it Tax, VAT, GST or whatever your invoices need.
A client with custom terms overrides the payment term and tax.
Create an invoice
There are two ways in. The green Invoice button on a client card covers all of that client's unbilled time. Or go to Invoices (⌘4, or Ctrl+4) and press New (⇧⌘N, or Ctrl+Shift+N).
- Client. HourSlip starts on a client that has unbilled time.
- Period. Last week, this month, custom dates and so on. HourSlip picks a period that has unbilled time in it. An entry belongs to the period its start falls in.
- Tax %. Filled in from the client or your default.
- Template. Filled in from the client.
The preview underneath shows a line per project and the total. Press Create Invoice.
Only finished, unbilled entries are included. If a timer is running for that client, HourSlip says so and offers to stop it, since a running entry is left out. If the preview says there's nothing to bill, check the period, then look at the Timesheet with the Unbilled switch on.
Adjust the draft
The new invoice is a draft, and nearly everything on it can change while it is one:
- Issued and Due dates. Moving the issue date moves the due date with it, so the payment term holds.
- List individual entries on the PDF. On, each project line is followed by its entries with dates and notes. Off, the client sees one line per project.
- Notes on invoice. Up to 600 characters, for a thank-you or a project detail.
- The number. Choose Rename… from the … menu, type and press Return.
The rest is under Invoice options, a row that's closed by default and summarizes what's set, something like "Modern · PO-1042 · 10% off · 1 extra item". Open it for:
- Template. Switch the look of this invoice.
- Reference. A PO number or the client's reference. It prints under the invoice number.
- Tax. Change the rate for this invoice only.
- Discount. A percentage or a fixed amount.
- Extra items. Fixed fees, expenses or anything else that isn't tracked time, each with a description, quantity and price.
The sums go in this order: time lines plus extra items make the subtotal, the discount comes off that, and tax is charged on what remains.
What you can't change on an invoice is its client, its period, the entries it includes or its rounding. If one of those is wrong, delete the draft and create it again.
On Windows and Linux, the PDF typefaces cover Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. If a name or note uses other characters, such as Japanese, Arabic or emoji, the invoice view warns you and lists them.
Send it
Export PDF… (⌘E on a Mac) saves the invoice wherever you choose, named with the number and the client.
Email Invoice…, in the … menu, opens a new message in your mail app addressed to the client, with a subject and a short text that states the total, the due date, the period and your payment details. On a Mac the PDF is attached. On Windows and Linux, HourSlip opens the folder holding the PDF so you can drag it in. You send the message yourself, and nothing leaves without you pressing Send.
Prefer to write from somewhere else? Copy Email Text puts the same text on the clipboard.
Then press Mark Sent. If the draft is dated earlier than today, HourSlip offers to issue it today, so the client gets the full payment term.
What changes once it's sent
Marking an invoice sent files its PDF and freezes the invoice. Dates, notes, template, tax, discount and extra items lock. So do your business details, the client's name and address, the project names and the rates. If you later rename the client, move office or restyle the template, this invoice still shows what the client received, and exporting it again gives the identical file.
Drafts are different: they follow your current settings until the moment they're sent.
If you sent it too early, use Mark as… to move it back to Draft. HourSlip asks first, because the client may already have the earlier version.
Get paid, and chase what isn't
Press Mark Paid when the money arrives. The paid date is set to today, and you can correct it if the payment came in earlier.
The Invoices list keeps score at the top: Outstanding (sent, not yet paid), Overdue and Paid this year, each per currency. A sent invoice turns Overdue the day after its due date. The filter narrows the list to All, Open, Overdue or Paid.
Delete an invoice
Choose Delete Invoice… from the … menu. Its time entries become unbilled again and can be edited or invoiced anew.
What happens to the number depends on its history. Deleting the newest draft, one that was never sent, hands its number back, so there's no gap. An invoice that was sent at any point keeps its number used up. Think twice before deleting a sent invoice at all, since the client has a copy of it.
What the PDF contains
The header has your logo and business details on one side, and the title, number, reference and dates on the other. Then come Bill to and the period, the table of projects (and entries, if listed), the totals, and blocks for notes, payment and terms.
Long invoices run onto more pages by themselves. A project line is never stranded at the bottom of a page apart from its entries, and the invoice number repeats on every page.
Currencies without cents, such as yen, round each line to whole units so the lines add up to the total. In the free version, a small "Made with HourSlip Free" line prints at the bottom. Pro removes it.