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1. Connect Stripe with Invoicebus
In order to start sending Stripe enabled invoices, you need to connect your Stripe account with Invoicebus first:
- Login to your Invoicebus account (if you don't have an account, signup here)
- Go to Settings and click "Connect with Stripe"
- You'll be redirected to the Stripe website
- Enter your Stripe credentials
- You'll be taken back to the Invoicebus website
- Your Stripe account is connected with Invoicebus
To revoke the Stripe access, go to Setting → Payment Settings and click "Revoke Access".
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2. Create Invoice
To create an invoice with Invoicebus, click "New Invoice" in the right menu. The invoice editor will open up and you'll be provided with an interactive invoice form. The invoice form can be divided into 8 autonomous sections which work together to help you write invoices very easy and fast.
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Company info
To add/edit your company details, click anywhere in the upper part of the invoice. To save the details, click "Save" in the bottom right corner of the red-bordered panel. Invoicebus will save your company info for future re-use and will automatically pre-populate it on every new invoice you generate. Please note, if you make any changes to your company info in the future, your older invoices will not be changed.
Tip: Make sure to upload a logo. Invoices with logo are instantly recognizable and look more professional.
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Invoice terms
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Issue Date
Issue date is also known as invoice date and shows the date when the document was issued (have in mind that this is not necessarily the date when products or services were provided).
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Net & Due Date
Net represents the number of days by which the invoice should be paid. For example, the term net 30 is used to indicate payment within 30 days. When you enter a value in the Net field, the Due Date is automatically set and vice versa. Note that if you enter 0 days, the final invoice will display "Upon receipt" instead of "0 days".
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Currency
Currency used to charge your customer. Invoicebus uses the official ISO 4217 currency standard which specifies three-letter codes for currencies worldwide. If you are receiving invoice payments with Stripe, the currency should also be supported by Stripe. You can find a list of all Stripe supported currencies here.
You can change the currency directly in the invoice editor or under Settings.
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P.O. #
Purchase order number. If you don't have one, you can leave it empty.
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Description
Internal note which helps you search through your invoices later. It is not displayed on the final invoice.
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Template
A template defines the look and feel of your invoices. Fields, layout, colors, fonts - all are defined by a template. There are 3 types of invoice templates: basic, premium, and custom.
- Basic templates have a plain business design, cannot be modified and come in 6 color variants.
- Premium templates also cannot be modified, but they are visually more appealing. With every Single-decker/Double-decker plan comes a few built-in premium invoice templates. You can find more in our invoice template store.
- Custom templates can be created from scrach with HTML/CSS. Learn how to create invoice template.
How to change the invoice template?
- Click the template link in the invoice editor
- A template window will open up
- Select an invoice template from the list or upload a custom template by clicking "Upload Template"
- Click "Apply"
- Save the invoice
Note: If you are uploading a custom template, make sure to archive the files in 7z, zip, or rar first.
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Client/Customer
This section contains details about your client/customer. For your convenience, you can manage your clients from the very same page where you create invoices. You can also manage them under the Customers tab.
Add new client
- Click "Add New Client"
- Enter the client details
- Click "Save".
Tip: If you are dealing with a large number of clients, start typing the client name prior to clicking "Add New Client". This will first check if the client exists so you can quickly re-use it.
Use existing client
- Start typing the client name (if you want to list all clients, click the small gray arrow at the right)
- Select the client from the list
Edit client
- Locate the client in the list and hover over its name
- Click the small pencil icon at the right
- Make the necessary edits
- Click "Save"
Remove client
- Start typing the client name to locate it in the list
- Hover over its name
- Click the small trash icon at the right
Note: All removed clients are kept in trash for 15 days, then they are permanently deleted.
Add custom fields to a client
For each client you can add various custom fields such as client tax number, shipping info, contact person, and more. To add a custom field:
- Add a new client or edit an existing one
- Click "Manage Client Custom Fields"
- Add a unique ID and a value for the custom field
- Click "Apply"
Note: In order to be displayed on the final invoice, all custom fields should also be included in the HTML template you are using. Learn how to use custom fields.
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Invoice title and number
Usually, the word "Invoice" indicates a title, but depending on the invoice type, you can also use "Pro forma", "Tax Invoice", "Bill", "Commercial Invoice", or any other suitable word. The number of the invoice is used for correspondence and should be unique for each invoice. Invoicebus lets you use custom numbering pattern which may contain a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
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Itemized table of products and services
Items, products, services
Invoicebus has a built-in manager for items, products, and services and lets you quickly use them on your invoices. Similarly to the client manager, the item manager is embedded within the invoice editor itself.
Add New Item Manually
Even though Invoicebus automatically saves all new items you use, you can also add new items manually:
- Open the list of items (start typing the item name or click the down arrow key on your keyboard)
- Click "Add New Item Manually"
- Enter Item name, Price, and Tax (if any)*
- Click "Save"
*If you want to assign a Tax to an Item, the tax should be created first.
Tip: When you are writing an item description be as specific as possible because people want to know what they are paying for. However, have in mind that the invoice is not a report, so don't make it too lenghty either. If you need go into details, consider attaching an external file.
Edit Item
- Find the item you wish to edit (start typing the item name)
- Hover over the item you wish to edit
- Click the small pencil icon at the right
- Make the necessary edits and click "Save"
Remove Item
- Find the item you wish to remove in the list (start typing the item name)
- Hover over the item you wish to remove
- Click the small trash icon in the right
- The item is moved to trash
Taxes
You can add one or more taxes per invoice. All taxes are assigned per item, which means you can add different taxes for different items. When you assign a tax to an item, Invoicebus automatically calculates the value of the tax and gives you a breakdown below the table.
Add New Tax
- Click anywhere in the tax column
- The list with taxes will show up
- Click "Add New Tax"
- Enter Tax Name and Tax Value (%)
- Click "Save"
Edit Tax
- Click anywhere in the tax column
- The list with taxes will show up
- Hover over the tax you'd like to edit
- Click the small pencil at the right
- Make the necessary edits and click "Save"
Remove Tax
- Click anywhere in the tax column
- The list with taxes will show up
- Hover over the tax you'd like to edit
- Click the small trash icon at the right
- The tax is moved to trash
Columns
The itemized table of products contains the following columns which can be configured according to your needs:
- Row count # (auto incremented)
- Item description
- Quantity
- Price
- Discount (%)
- Tax (%)
- Linetotal (auto calculated)
Column Names
All columns come with pre-defined names. You can edit the name of each column by clicking the name and overwriting it. For example, if you are charging by hour, you may want to change the title of the Quantity column to Hours.
Column Visibility
The columns you don't need can be hidden by clicking the "Configure Columns" link below the table. Hiding the unnecessary columns is a good practice if you want to produce more clear invoice. For example, if you don't offer any discounts you may consider hiding the Discount column, or if there's no tax applied to any of your products/services, you may hide the tax column as well.
Custom columns
Invoicebus doesn't support adding any custom columns at the moment.
Rows
Add/Insert Empty Row
To add an empty row at the end of the table, click "Add Empty Row".
To insert an empty row between two rows, hover over the lower row and click the green "plus" icon at the left-hand side of the row.
Change Row Order
Hover over the row number and drag the row above or below.
Remove Row
Hover over the row you'd like to remove and click the red "X" icon at the left-hand side of the row.
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Totals
Summarization of totals with breakdown of subtotals and taxes is given below the table. Totals, subtotals, and taxes are automatically calculated and cannot be modified manually.
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Terms and Notes
In this section, you can add various custom notes regarding your invoice. For example, you can include bank details, a note about your preferred payment method, a number of days by which the invoice should be paid (should match the Net terms), late fees (if any), as well as a "thank-you" line. Usually, the terms and notes are re-used on future invoices so you may consider creating a default template for them.
Create a default terms template
- Click "Edit Default Terms"
- Enter the text
- Click "Save"
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Invoice Settings
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Payment Options
Online payment options can be enabled or disabled per invoice. By enabling an online payment option, a Pay button will be added in the online invoice and will allow your client to pay instantly with any Credit Card, Debit Card, or PayPal.
In order to use an online payment option, you first need to connect your payment provider with Invoicebus. Currently, 3 payment providers are supported: Stripe, 2Checkout, and PayPal.
When you enable an online payment option, Invoicebus automatically calculates the fee and shows you an approximation before you send out the invoice. For example, if you are invoicing with Stripe, right next to the credit card logos it will display the fee that Stripe will charge for that invoice.
Partial payments
By enabling a partial payment, your client will be allowed to enter any payment amount until the invoice is paid in full.
Tip: Providing a partial payment option can be an effective way to encourage prompt payments.
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Autopilot Options
There are three autopilot options:
- Invoice scheduler - schedule invoices for later sending
- Payment reminders - schedule a sequence of follow-up emails that will be sent automatically when certain conditions are met
- Thank you note - schedule a thank-you email that will be sent automatically when a full payment is received or recorded
Each of these options can also be set after you save the invoice, but if you use them regularly, it's easier to set them right from the invoice editor.
Note: Invoicebus remembers the last used "Autopilot" selection and applies it on your future invoices. For example, if you typically use the option for scheduling payment reminders, Invoicebus will pre-select your default payment reminders. The same applies for the thank-you note.
You can selectively enable or disable any autopilot option per invoice.
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Document Custom fields
Document custom fields let you include additional data to the document such as project description, shipping info, tax details, etc. All custom fields you add should also be included in the HTML template you are using. Learn how to use custom fields.
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Attach files
You can attach any external file. For example, project report, timesheet, contract, or any additional document. To attach a file, drop the file in an empty area or by clic anywhere to upload. The number of files you can upload is unlimited, but the maximum file size is limited to 25MB.
Note: Files are attached directly on the online invoice, not on the email.
Once you save your first invoice, all settings will be automatically applied to your future invoices.
Learn more how to write invoices the right way.
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3. Edit Invoice
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Edit Invoice" in the right menu
- Make the necessary edits and click "Save"
Notes:
- All changes reflect immediately in the online invoice.
- Invoice link is not changed when you edit the invoice (no need to send a new link or resend the invoice).
- Clients are not aware for any made edits (unless you choose to show the invoice activity history).
- You are not allowed to edit paid invoices. If you still want to do this, you need to reverse the payment first.
- Invoices with a total of 0 are automatically marked as paid and cannot be edited.
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4. Delete Invoice
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Press "Delete" on your keyboard or click "Delete Invoice" in the right menu
- Invoice is deleted*
Note: *Deleted invoices are moved to trash and kept for 15 days. After 15 days, invoices are permanently deleted. You can purge the trash manually at any time.
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5. Duplicate Invoice
Duplicating an invoice is a convenient way to quickly create an invoice copy. This feature duplicates all data from the original invoice except for the invoice issue date and the invoice number. The issue date is set to present date while the invoice number is left empty. It also doesn't duplicate any of the Autopilot Options nor the File Attachments.
Create multi-language invoices by using the duplicate command
The duplicate command can come handy when you need to create multi-language invoices. Below is given a procedure which decribes how to create invoices in French and English.
- Create an empty French invoice (will be used as a template)
- Use any issue date in the future (will keep the invoice at the top of the list so you can easily find it later)
- Add a unique number (example, FR-0)
- Add a description (example, "French Template")
- Leave the itemized table empty to keep the invoice total 0 (keeping the invoice total 0 will not affect your report)
- Save the invoice
- Repeat steps 1-5 for the English invoice.
- Whenever you need to create a French invoice, duplicate the French Template; and whenever you need to create an English invoice, duplicate the English Template.
- Voila!
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6. Email Invoice
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Send by Email" in the right menu
- Fill out the email form
- Click "Preview" to see the actual email (optionally)
- Click "Send Now"
IMPORTANT: Whenever you are sending an invoice by email, don't forget to include the invoice link (or attach a PDF) in your email because Invoicebus doesn't append the invoice by default.
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Email multiple recipients
You can email up to 5 recipients at the same time. To do this, specify each email address delimited with a comma and an empty space. For example: user1@example.com, user2@example.com, user3@example.com, ...
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Schedule invoice
Invoicebus lets schedule invoices for later sending. To schedule an invoice:
- Click "Schedule this invoice for later sending on"
- Pick a date
- Fill out the email form
- Click "Schedule"
Note: Scheduled emails are sent between 7am - 10am, your local time.
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Attach PDF
When you select the option to attach a PDF, Invoicebus will generate a PDF version of your invoice and attach it to your email.
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Use placeholders in emails
Placeholders can be used to customize your email message with custom data from the invoice.
Available placeholders:
| Placeholder | Meaning |
{client_name} | Client name |
{doc_number} | Document number |
{total_price} | Total amount |
{paid_sum} | Paid amount |
{amount_due} | Due amount |
{doc_link} | Password protected link to the document (client will be prompted to enter Access Code to open the document) |
{access_code} | Access Code (required if you are using {doc_link}) |
{direct_link} | Direct link to the document (no access code required) |
{issue_date} | Document issue date |
{due_date} | Document due date |
{net_terms} | Net (given in days) |
{days_due} | Number of due days |
{client_other_info} | Client other info field |
{po_number} | PO number |
To insert a placeholder, you can either copy any of the above placeholders and pase it in your message, or you can type in '{' when you are writing the message and a list with available placeholders will show to choose from (see image below).
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Default email template
You can create a default email template that will be used for all future emails. This can be useful if you don't want to retype your emails every time. You can edit the default email template by clicking "Edit Default Email Template" in the bottom left corner of the Email Window.
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Email tracking
Invoicebus provides a detailed email tracking for all emails you send. You can track the status of each outgoing email either from the dashboard or under the invoice activity history. The legend of symbols is given below:
Note: If you are using your own SMTP server, the email tracking won't work.
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Email Settings
Email Settings can be accessed under Settings → Email Settings
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Invoicebus Mailbox
By default, a unique email address is assigned to your account in a form username@mail.invoicebus.com. This is the email address your customers will see when they receive an email from you (if you want to use your own email address, see the SMTP email server section). The username part of your Invoicebus email address is customizable and you can change it to whatever you like. When a customer replies/writes to this email address, Invoicebus automatically forwards the message to your original email address and records the conversation under the invoice activity history. All messages you send from Invoicebus are linked to a specific invoice (or quote). This lets you better track your conversations and easily find them when you need to.
When using the Invoicebus mailbox, your outgoing emails are authenticated with SPF and DKIM and are sent via secure email servers. The authentication increases email deliverability and prevents your emails to be filtered as spam.
Notes:
- Recipients receive emails from: username@mail.invoicebus.com
- Replies are automatically forwarded to your original email address (your Invoicebus login email)
- Email tracking is available
- Emails are sent using secure Invoicebus email servers
- Emails are authenticated with DKIM and SPF
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SMTP Email Server
You can specify your own SMTP server for sending emails. The following parameters are required: Server, Port, Username, Password, and SSL security.
Notes:
- Recipients receive emails from: username@yourdomain.com
- Replies go straight to your inbox
- Email tracking is not available
- You are responsible for email security and deliverability
Setting up SMTP for Gmail
Gmail has a specific procedure for setting up SMTP. To configure it properly, please follow these steps:
Step 1
Enter the following details under your Invoicebus Settings (section Email Settings → Use Your SMTP Email Server)
- Server: smtp.gmail.com
- Port: 465 or 587 (whichever would work)
- Username: email id (eg, username@gmail.com)
- Password: your Gmail password
- Enable SSL: True
For more info refer to this Google Help Center article about Google Apps SMTP settings.
Step 2
The next step is to enable less secure apps for the email account. Please follow these steps:
- Go to the Email account and navigate to https://myaccount.google.com
- Go to Sing-in and Security and scroll all the way down, until you see Allow less secure apps
- Enable Less secure apps, if off, please turn it on.
- Refresh Gmail account and log out.
Step 3
The last step, please copy this link https://accounts.google.com/DisplayUnlockCaptcha and log in to the Gmail account.
Note: If you have 2-step verification enabled then you need to generate an app-specific password for Invoicebus instead of using your primary password.
Testing SMTP Settings
To test your SMTP configuration, click "Send me a test email" under Settings → Email Settings. If the SMTP is configured properly, you should receive an email like the one below:
Subject: Test email from Invoicebus
Body:
SMTP email settings are correctly set-up in Invoicebus.
The following email service will be used for sending emails from your account:
* Server: smtp.gmail.com
* Port: 587
* Username: username@gmail.com
* Password: [securely stored]
* SSL Enabled: True
Please note that email tracking events won't be available.
Not receiving an email like this indicates that your SMTP setup is not correct and your invoices won't be sent.
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Display Name
Display name is also known as From Name and appears in the recipient inbox when they receive an email from you. If left empty, it will default to the last saved company name.
Note: This setting applies to both: Invoicebus Mailbox and SMTP Email Server.
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Email Notifications
Invoicebus notifies you by email when any of the following events occurs:
- Invoice opened by a client
- Payment received
- Scheduled email sent
- New comment on invoice/quote
- Quote accepted/declined
- Email not delivered
You can turn on/off the email notifications under Settings.
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7. Receive online invoice payment with Stripe
When you enable an online payment, Invoicebus automatically includes a payment button in the online invoice. After clicking the payment button, a simple payment form also known as Stripe checkout will be shown. The Stripe checkout allows your client to pay instantly with any credit card or debit card. The process is fast, secure, and error-free; and usually it results in receiving payments within minutes of sending the invoice.
Here's a demo invoice to see what that looks like. You can use the following credit card to initiate a test payment:
Credit card number: 4242 4242 4242
Expiration: any date in the future
CVV: any number
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Save client billing details for quick payments in the future
Stripe checkout lets you store the billing details of your clients for faster payments in the future.
If they use the same computer, when they come back to pay another invoice from you, their credit card info will already be filled in. They only need to click Pay to confirm the invoice payment. They can edit the card number if they need to.
Their billing info is linked to their email address and their mobile phone number. If they need to pay an invoice on a different computer, a text message will be sent instantly to verify their identity.
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Partial payment
If partial payment is enabled, your client will be allowed to enter any payment amount until the invoice is paid in full.
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8. Online invoice
Each online invoice is optimized to be easily accessible from any device at any time via a unique link. The online invoice contains a set of tools which gives your clients the ability to:
- See the invoice status
- Pay the invoice by clicking a button
- Print or download the invoie as a PDF
- Leave comments
- Track events in the activity history (optional)
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Preview invoice as a client
To preview an invoice as a client:
- Login to Invoicebus
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Double click on the invoice / Click Preview in the right menu
- Click the link at the bottom of the invoice
Notes:
- Payment button(s) are displayed only if an online payment is enabled
- Print, PDF, and Comment* buttons are always visible at the top
- Activity history is shown (optional)
- Comments are displayed as a part of the activity history *
* will not be displayed if the activity history is hidden.
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Send password protected invoice
If for some reason you need to restrict access to an invoice, you can send a password protected link. This is basicly the same link without the "pin_code" parameter.
If you observe the invoice link, you can notice that it includes two URL parameters, "su" and "pin_code". For example, https://invoicebus.com/?su=iKkoBRE6A7&pin_code=tMfnJX.
The "su" is a unique identifier and the "pin_code" (aka access code) is a code required to preview the invoice. When both of these parameters are supplied in the URL, the invoice is opened directly. However, if you remove the "pin_code" parameter, the client will be prompted to enter access code.
Without the pin_code parameter, the invoice link would look like this: https://invoicebus.com/?su=iKkoBRE6A7
When you try to open it, you'll be prompted to enter an access code (tMfnJX). If you prefer to send invoices this way, you can use the {doc_link} and the {access_code} placeholders in your emails instead of {direct_link}. For example:
Hello {client_name},
Here is your Invoice {doc_number} of {total_price}.
To view it, please go to {doc_link}
The access code is: {access_code}
Thanks,
Fred
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Multi language invoice interface [beta]
Invoicebus support translation of the online invoice interface in multiple languages. The translation language can be linked to an invoice, meaning invoices in different languages will have their interface displayed in their corresponding language. This feature is still in beta and if you like to use it, please shoot us an email.
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9. Payment reminders
Payment reminders are an effective way to follow-up on your unpaid invoices and mitigate the risk of late payments. Invoicebus allows you to send payment reminders automatically or manually.
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Automatic Payment Reminders
You can schedule a sequence of up to 3 payment reminders per invoice. Scheduled payment reminders are sent automatically when certain conditions are met. For example, you can schedule the first reminder 5 days before due date, the second reminder 7 days after due date, and the third reminder 14 days after due date. If the invoice is paid in full, the sequence stops.
Schedule payment reminder
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Payment Reminders"
- Select the reminder(s) you'd like to schedule
- Specify sending conditions and messages
- Click "Schedule Reminders"
Note:
- Scheduled reminders are sent between 7am - 10am, your local time.
- For better effect, you can gradually increase the tone in each subsequent reminder. Learn more on the psychology and the effects of payment reminders here.
Edit scheduled payment reminder
The quickest way to edit a scheduled reminder is to cancel the reminder and re-schedule it. You can also edit the reminder by editing the invoice (Autopilot options section), but this requires few more steps (you need to edit the invoice first, edit the reminder under the autopilot options, and save the invoice).
Cancel scheduled payment reminder
You can cancel a scheduled payment reminder from any of the following sections:
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Payment reminders window (at the upper part of the window click "Cancel")
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Dashboard (hover over the reminder icon and click "Cancel")
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Invoice Activity History (hover over the reminder row and click "Cancel")
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Manual Payment Reminders
You can manually send a payment reminder at any time. To send a manual reminder:
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Payment Reminders"
- Customize your email message
- Click "Send Reminder Now"
Note: You can send payment reminders for unpaid invoices only.
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Default Payment Reminder Template
For each reminder in the sequence, you can set default email template. Invoicebus already has pre-written templates, but if you like you can easily replace them with your own. To edit a default reminder template:
- Select any invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Payment Reminders"
- Select the reminder tab for which you wish to edit the template (1, 2, or 3)
- Click "Edit Default Reminder Template" in the bottom left corner
- Customize your message (you can use placeholders)
- Click "Save"
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Tracking payment reminders
Invoicebus provides a detailed email tracking for all payment reminders you send. This gives you a detailed insight of what's happening with your payment reminders at any time. For example, it shows you when a reminder is sent, delivered, and even opened by your client.
You can track the status of each payment reminder either from the dashboard or under the invoice activity history. The legend of symbols is given below:
Note: If you are using your own SMTP server, the reminder tracking won't work.
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10. Thank-you note / Payment receipt
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Send manual thank-you note
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Thank You Note" in the right menu
- Customize your message (you can use placeholders)
- Click "Preview" to see an email preview (optionally)
- Click "Send Now"
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Schedule automatic thank-you note
Invoicebus lets you schedule a thank-you note that will be sent automatically when an invoice is paid i.e., when full payment is received or recorded. To schedule a thank you note:
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Select the option "Send this thank you note automatically when full payment is received / recorded"
- Customize your message (you can use placeholders)
- Click "Preview" to see an email preview (optionally)
- Click "Schedule"
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Send payment receipt
By using placeholders in your message, you can customize your thank-you note to appear as a payment receipt. Here's an idea how to do that:
Subject: Thank you for your payment {client_name}. Here's your receipt
Message:
{client_name},
This is a payment receipt for Invoice {doc_number} generated on {issue_date}.
---------------------------
Document type: INVOICE
Number: {doc_number}
Merchant: Your Company Name
Client: {client_name}
Amount Due: {amount_due}
Amount Paid: {amount_paid}
Status: PAID
---------------------------
Note: This email will serve as an official receipt for this payment.
We deeply appreciate your business. We look forward to doing business
with you again in the future.
Thank you,
John
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Default thank-you template
You can create a default thank-you template that will be used for all future thank-you notes. To edit the default email template:
- Select any unpaid invoice in the dashboard
- Click Thank-you Note in the right menu
- Click "Edit Default Thank-You Template" in the bottom left corner
- Customize your message (you can use placeholders)
- Click Save
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Tracking thank-you notes
Invoicebus provides a detailed email tracking for all thank you notes you send. You can track the status of each sent thank you email either from the dashboard or under the invoice activity history. The legend of symbols is given below:
Note: If you are using your own SMTP server, the thank-you note tracking won't work.
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11. Record Payment
If you are not receiving online payments for your invoices via Stripe, PayPal, or 2Checkout, you need to manually record payments. To record a manual payment:
- Select an unpaid invoice in the dashboard
- Click "Record Payment" in the right menu
- Select a payment date
- Enter amount
- Select to automatically send a thank-you note (optionally)
- Click "Record Payment"
Note:
- If you are receiving online payments, this is done automatically and no action on your end is required.
- If the amount you enter is smaller than the amount due, the payment will be considered partial and the invoice will not be marked as PAID. Yet, the amount due and amount paid values will be updated. A record will be added to the activity history as well.
- Invoices with total 0 (zero) are automatically marked as paid and cannot be edited. If you need to edit or re-use such invoice you may consider duplicating it.
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12. Reverse Payment
You can reverse payments under the invoice activity history:
- Select an invoice in the dashboard
- Click "View Invoice"
- Under the invoice activity history, locate the payment record you wish to reverse
- Hover over the record and click "Reverse"
- Confirm the payment reversal
Note: Refund is automatically issued when you reverse a payment. For more info on the refund, go to Payments in your Stripe account.
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13. Activity History
Activity history is also called invoice autobiography and shows a chronological list of records for a particular document (invoice or quote). The activity history is displayed under the invoice and it is visible to your clients (you can hide it if you want to).
Note: Clients have a limited insight and cannot see all events like you can from your account (see table below for more info).
For some records, you can trigger commands directly from the activity history. For example, for the payment record - you can trigger reverse payment command, for the sceduled email record - you can trigger cancel command, for the sent email record - you can trigger show message command. Commands are displayed at the right side of the activity history when you hover over a record with your mouse pointer.
| Even Icon |
Short Name |
Document Type |
Description |
Available Commands |
Visible to client |
|
created |
invoice, quote |
Document has been created |
|
Yes |
|
edited |
invoice, quote |
Document has been edited |
|
Yes |
|
outgoing-comment |
invoice, quote |
Comment left by you (if the checkbox is selected, the client will be notified by email as well) |
Remove comment |
Yes |
|
incoming-comment |
invoice, quote |
Comment left by client |
Remove comment |
Yes |
|
payment |
invoice |
Payment received/recored |
Reverse payment |
Yes |
|
paid |
invoice |
Invoice marked as fully paid |
|
Yes |
|
payment-reversed |
invoice |
Payment has been reversed |
|
Yes |
|
converted |
invoice, quote |
Invoice has been created from quote / Quote has been converted to invoice |
|
Yes |
|
accepted |
quote |
Quote has been accepted |
|
Yes |
|
declined |
quote |
Quote has been declined |
|
Yes |
|
scheduled |
invoice, quote |
Email scheduled for later sending |
Show message details, Cancel schedule |
No |
|
outgoing-email |
invoice, quote |
Email has been sent by email |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
delivered-email |
invoice, quote |
Email has been delivered |
Show message details |
No |
|
bounced-email |
invoice, quote |
Email has bounced (not delivered) |
Show bounce reason |
No |
|
incoming-email |
invoice, quote |
Email reply from a client |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
viewed |
invoice, quote |
Online document has been opened by a client (link clicked) |
|
No |
|
opened-email |
invoice, quote |
Email has been opened by client |
Show message details |
No |
|
scheduled-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder has been scheduled |
Show message details, Cancel schedule |
No |
|
outgoing-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder has been sent |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
incoming-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder reply from a client |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
delivered-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder has been delivered |
Show message details |
No |
|
bounced-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder has bounced (not delivered) |
Show bounce reason |
No |
|
opened-reminder |
invoice |
Reminder has been opened by a client |
Show message details |
No |
|
scheduled-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you note has been scheduled |
Show message details; Cancel schedule |
No |
|
outgoing-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you note has been sent |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
incoming-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you reply from a client |
Show message details |
Yes |
|
delivered-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you note has been delivered |
Show message details |
No |
|
bounced-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you note has bounced (not delivered) |
Show bounce reason |
No |
|
opened-thankyou |
invoice |
Thank-you note has been opened by a client |
Show message details |
No |
To hide the activity history from a client, toggle off the switch (see image below). Please note, hiding the activity history will also disable the comments on the online invoice.
Start accepting invoice
payments with Stripe
-
14. Dashboard
The dashboard gives you a quick overview of what's going on with your receivables. Here, you can track all your invoices, emails, payments, reminders, thank-you notes, and more. Main menu with commands is integrated directly in the dashboard and provides an easy access to general invoice commands (no need to open an invoice to perform an action such as PDF creation, sending email, scheduling or canceling reminder, recording payment, and more).
-
Invoice status
Each invoice can hold one of the following statuses: Unpaid, Overdue, or Paid. The invoice status is displayed at the left hand side of the invoice (visible to the client) and in the dashboard.
Unapaid/Overdue
When you create an invoice for the firts time, the initial invoice status is set to Unpaid. An invoice remains unpaid as long as the amount due is higher than 0 and the due date is not passed. If the due date pass, the status will be automatically changed to Overdue.
Paid
When full payment is received/recorded, the invoice status is automatically changed to Paid. If for some reason you need to revert the status to Unpaid, you need to reverse the last recorded payment.
Note: Invoices with a total of 0 are marked as paid by default and cannot be edited.
-
Filters
You can apply various filters to the dashboard and easily find a document you need. You can also use filters to create custom reports. There are 3 types of filters:
- date (filters by date range)
- text (filters by number, client, and description)
- status
When you apply more than one filter, the logical conjunction AND is used to perform the search. The totals summary is recalculated on-the-fly, depending on the matching results. The filtered dataset can be exported for accounting purposes or further analysis.
-
Email tracking
You can track the status of each email sent through Invoicebus directly from the dashboard (see image below). The first column tracks emails, the second column tracks payment reminders, and the third column tracks thank-you notes. More information will be displayed if you hover over each icon with your mouse pointer.
Detailed legend of symobols can be found at:
-
Export invoice list, custom reports
Invoicebus allows you to export your invoice list in 3 different formats: XML , XLS, and CSV. The exported list contains data only for invoices shown in the dashboard. In other words, if any filters are applied to the dashboard, the exported list will contain only the matching results. This can come handy if you need to generate custom reports.
To export your invoice list:
- Apply any necessary filters
- Click "Export" at the top right side of the dashboard
The exported list contains the following columns:
- Issue date
- Number
- Client
- Description
- Status
- Currency
- Total
- Amount paid
- Date paid
Start accepting invoice
payments with Stripe
-
15. Automatic Invoicing for Stripe
When you enable Automatic Invoicing (aka Autoinvoicing), Invoicebus automatically generates full invoices for your Stripe charges and emails them to your customers. This can also be used if you need to send custom payment receipts for your Stripe charges.
To enable the autoinvoicing option, toggle on the switch at the top right of your screen.
Note: Invoices will be generated for new charges only.
Customer Details
Invoicebus tries to pull and display all customer details automatically. This includes:
- First Name, Last Name
- Street Address
- City, Zip, State, Country
- Phone
- Email
Please note, displaying this data is only possible when the customer details are properly collected during checkout and passed to the customer object in Stripe.
Items & Totals
Invoicebus automatically displays all items with their correct descriptions in your invoices and provides breakdown of totals.
Taxes
Invoicebus can automatically calculate tax on your invoices and display it as a separate line in the totals section. In order for this to work, the tax must be inclusive (the total price amount you charge should include tax). You can specify one or more taxes under the Automation Options → Taxation.
Automation Options
To configure the Autoinvoicing, go to Settings → Autoinvoicing Settings and click Configure Autoinvoicing.
-
General
Payment Provider
Invoicebus currently supports Stripe as a payment provider for generating automatic invoices.
Online Shop
If you are receiving payments for your products or services through one of the given platforms such as Thinkific, please select it. Otherwise, leave it to "Other".
Autoinvoice Form
The autoinvoice form is your template for generating automatic invoices. The basic details in your invoices such as company info, logo, colors, styling, language, and more, are all fetched from here.
Once you connect your Stripe account, Invoicebus automatically creates this form. You can find it in the dashboard under the number "Automatic" and edit it, if needed.
You can select any manually created invoice to serve as an autoinvoice form (Settings → Autoinvoicing Settings → General).
Note: Make sure to keep the total of this invoice greater than 0 (if the total is 0 the invoice will be marked as paid and become non-editable in the future).
Customizable Fields:
- Company info
- Client details (see Custom Data & Field Mapping for more)
- Document Title
- Document Number (see Numbering for more)
- Field labels, Column names, Column visibility
- Tax (see Taxation for more)
- Terms & notes
- Template
Note: If you wish to include custom data in your invoices, please see this.
Non-customizable Fields:
These fields are charge dependent and are dynamically filled for each invoice. Any data entered by you will be omitted.
- Invoice Terms (Issue Date, Due Date, Currency, PO, Net)
- Items
- Totals
Billing Period in Recurring Invoices
If enabled, the period for which the invoice is issued will be included next to each item. If the charge is not a recurring one, the setting is ignored.
-
Numbering
Numbering Pattern
You can use characters, symbols, numbers, and placeholders to define your own numbering pattern. Besides all standard placeholders, there are two unique placeholders that can be used to form a pattern: {count} and {rand}. While {count} is defined by the Counter property, {rand} generates a random number between 10M and 100M. For example, the numbering pattern: ABC-000-{count} where Counter = 1 and Increment = 1 will generate the following sequence: ABC-000-1, ABC-000-2, ABC-000-3, ...
In case you decide to omit both unique placeholders ({count} and {rand}), Invoicebus will fall back to the standard numbering sequence: 1, 2, 3, ...
Counter
Even though Invoicebus automatically increments the counter for each created inivoice, you still have full control over it. This means, you can adjust/reset the counter every time you need to (example, every year).
Note: If you reset the counter, make sure to add at least one specific differentiator in the numbering pattern that will distinguish the new sequence from the previous one. Even a single character or a number will do the job. Otherwise, duplicate invoice numbers might occur.
Note: Modifying the counter will only affect the future invoice numbers.
Increment
Increment is a value by which the invoice counter is increased. By default, the increment value is set to 1 but you can customize it as you please.
-
Taxation
Here you can specify inclusive taxes, in percentage points, for your automatic invoices. Inclusive means that the price you charge for your products/services should include tax. Invoicebus will then calculate what percentage of each purchase is considered tax and displays it as a separate line under the invoice Totals. The tax will also be clearly shown in the Taxes section where you will have insight on how much tax must be remitted to your government.
There are two types of taxes you can specify in Invoicebus:
- One tax for all invoices
- Multiple taxes depending on the customer’s location
One tax for all invoices
If you are issuing invoices in the same country where your business is based, you may want to use this option. It is simple and doesn’t require any special setup. Just specify the tax name and the tax value in percentage points. The correct tax amount will be calculated on all your invoices, regardless of the customer’s location.
Multiple taxes depending on the customer’s location
If you are issuing invoices in different countries for which various tax rates apply, you may need to use location-based taxation. Here you can specify multiple Taxes that should be calculated on your invoices depending on the customer’s geo-location (real address).
Note:
In order for this to work properly, you need to collect information about Country and/or State/Province/City/Zip from the customer and pass it to Stripe. Depending on the implementation or the e-commerce platform you are using, you may need to collect this data during customer's registration or on checkout.
When specifying a tax in Invoicebus, for the Country and/or State/Province/City, please make sure to use the exact same naming as it is sent to Stripe. For example, if your platform is sending the 2-letter Country/State code to Stripe, specify the 2-letter code here. Or, if a full name of the Country/State is sent to Stripe, specify the full name here.
If a tax is not state-specific and applies to the whole county instead, fill in only the Country field and leave the State/Province/City field empty. The State/Province/City field can also be used to enter ZIP/Postal codes, if needed.
You can specify one or more taxes for the same Country/State.
For example:
Compound taxes
A compound tax, or stacked tax, is calculated on top of a primary tax. This tax is added on top of the price once the primary tax is added, rather than calculated from the untaxed amount.
Here's an example of how compound tax is calculated. The Invoice Total (taxes included) is $115. GST is a primary tax, PST is a compound tax.
To specify a compound tax in Invoicebus, use * in the tax name (for example, PST*). You can specify one or more compound taxes. Prior to specifying a compound tax, make sure to specify at least one primary tax in the list. Otherwise, the compound tax will be considered a primary tax.
-
Emails
You can fully customize the email template for your automatic invoices. You are allowed to use HTML and all standard placeholders in the message body.
-
Custom Data & Field Mapping
You can pass various data in the Stripe metadata object and display it anywhere throughout invoices and emails. There are two ways to do this:
- pass the data in the Customer metadata object (more common)
- pass the data in the Charge metadata object
For each key-value pair passed through the metadata, Invoicebus attaches a hidden field on each generated invoice. The field is associated with a placeholder in a form {client_custom_[key]} when the metadata is sent in the Customer; and {document_custom_[key]} when the metadata is sent in the Charge.
When the customer data is in question, there are two methods to display such fields:
- Fields Mapping - to map the metadata properties with the default customer fields in Invoicebus (faster to do it but has limitations)
- Placeholders in HTML - to include the matching placeholders directly in the HTML code of the default invoice template (slower to do it but more flexible)
What's the difference between these two methods?
The first method (Fields Mapping) allows you to display data only in the default customer fields in Invoicebus. These are:
- Client Name
- Street Address
- City, Zip, State, Country
- Phone
- Email
- Other Info
For example, you can send Customer VAT ID and use the "Other Info" field to disaply it without any modification to the template. Or, with actual data, the Customer metadata object in Stripe would look something like this:
"metadata" : {
"customer_vat_id" : "FR1234567"
}
Then, in Invoicebus, you can do the following mapping (see image below):
When the invoice is generated, this will display "FR1234567" in the "Other Info" field of the Customer. If you wish to add label, in the mapping field, enter any text you wish to be shown before or after the metadata key.
For example, "Customer VAT ID: customer_vat_id".
You are allowed to combine one or more keys in the mapping fields.
If you need to display more than one custom field that cannot be displayed through mapping the default fields, you need to use the second method.
The second method (Placeholders in HTML) allows you to display more fields on your invoices as an addition to the default fields in Invoicebus. This way you can display as many fields as you need.
To display such fields, you need to include their matching placeholders in the HTML code of the default invoice template. You can enclose these placeholders in any HTML element. For example,
<span>{client_custom_[key]}</span>Where [key] is the metadata key passed in Stripe. The actual code from the previous example would be:
<span>{client_custom_customer_vat_id}</span>To modify the template, please follow these steps:
- Edit the Autoinvoice form
- Click the template link in the left (section with dates)
- Download the template you wish to modify
- Extract the files from the archive
- Edit the template.html file with any text editor
- Locate the client-info section in the HTML code
- Add the code in red as shown below
<section id="client-info">
<span>{bill_to_label}</span>
<span>{client_name}</span>
<span>{client_address}</span>
<span>{client_city_zip_state}</span>
<span>{client_phone_fax}</span>
<span>{client_email}</span>
<span>{client_other}</span>
<span>{client_custom_customer_vat_id}</span>
</section>
- Save the template.html file
- Archive all files of the template
- Reupload the archive
- Click Apply
- Save the Autoinvoice form
When invoices are generated, all placeholders are replaced with their actual values. If the value is empty, the placeholder will not be shown.
You can use the same placeholders in the email template.
Webhooks
With webhooks, you can specify an endpoint URL to receive invoice objects on your server in real-time. This is triggered upon each automatic invoice generation. The invoice object you'll receive on your end is sent via HTTP POST method and looks as following:
{
"user_id": 6,
"doc_id": 38,
"doc_type": "invoice",
"doc_title": "INVOICE",
"doc_number": "I-006",
"invoice_type": "manual",
"auto_payment_provider": null,
"auto_charge_id": null,
"attempted": false,
"attempt_count": 0,
"next_payment_attempt": null,
"subscription": null,
"recurring_installment": 0,
"statement_desc": null,
"email_status": "viewed",
"files": [],
"status": "unpaid",
"date_paid": null,
"amount_paid": 0.0,
"paypal_enabled": false,
"credit_card_enabled": null,
"partial_payments": false,
"amount_total": 547.63,
"document_custom_fields": [],
"link_protected": "http://invoicebus.com/?su=iKHO4ye5rL",
"link_unprotected": "http://invoicebus.com/?su=iKHO4ye5rL&pin_code=itICQk",
"url_id": "iKHO4ye5rL",
"url_code": "itICQk",
"memo": {
"logo_url": null,
"company_name": "Dino Store",
"address": "227 Cobblestone Road",
"city_zip_state_country": "30000 Bedrock, Cobblestone County",
"phone_fax": "+1 100 500 5000",
"web_email": "http://dinostore.bed; hello@dinostore.bed",
"other_info1": "Payments:",
"other_info2": "Gravelpit Bank",
"other_info3": "Acc: 200-78005-444",
"other_info4": null,
"other_info5": null
},
"amount_subtotal": 477.5,
"items": [
{
"name": "Frozen Brontosaurus Ribs",
"quantity": 10.0,
"price": 50.0,
"discount": 7.5,
"tax_name": "Tax B",
"tax_percentage": 15.0,
"tax_value": 69.38,
"line_total": 462.5
},
{
"name": "Green Fern Salad",
"quantity": 1.0,
"price": 15.0,
"discount": null,
"tax_name": "Tax A",
"tax_percentage": 5.0,
"tax_value": 0.75,
"line_total": 15.0
}
],
"taxes": [
{
"name": "Tax B",
"percentage": 15.0,
"value": 69.38
},
{
"name": "Tax A",
"percentage": 5.0,
"value": 0.75
}
],
"client": {
"id": "11",
"name": "Fred Flint",
"address": "222 Rocky Way",
"city_zip_state_country": "30000 Bedrock, Cobblestone County",
"phone": "+1 100 799 4040",
"email": "fred@flint.rock",
"other": null,
"custom_fields": [
{
"name": "tax_number",
"value": "VAT123u9005i34"
}
]
},
"terms": {
"po_number": null,
"issue_date": 1507097100,
"due_date": 1508911500,
"net_valid": 21,
"currency": "USD",
"symbol": "$",
"description": null,
"notes": "Fred, thank you very much.\nWe really appreciate your business.\nPlease send payment within {net_terms} of receiving this invoice."
}
}