Creating a draft invoice

This article walks you through creating a draft invoice—from opening the form to previewing your draft.

Step 1: Open the invoice builder

You can navigate to the draft invoice form from three places:

• Dashboard: Click Create Invoice in the top right header.
• Invoices Tab: Click Create Invoice.
• Customers Tab: Open a specific customer profile and click New Invoice (this automatically pre-populates customer details and payment preferences).

Step 2: Select or create a customer

Under the Bill To section:

• Select an existing customer from the dropdown menu.
• If the customer isn't listed, click Create new customer to open a quick setup modal. Enter their Legal Name, Email, and Phone Number, then save to attach them directly to the invoice.

Step 3: Confirm invoice details, numbering, and dates

In the Details card:

Click the pencil icon on the details card to open the Edit Details modal. Adjustments made here apply only to the specific invoice and do not update your organization defaults.

• Invoice numbering:
  • Auto-suggested number: Pre-fills automatically with INV- followed by the proposed next sequential number.
  • Custom overrides: Type a custom number directly into the field if required by your accounting setup.
  • Duplicate warning: If you enter an existing number, a warning will prompt you to enter a unique value to save.
• Invoice date & due date:
  • Issue date: Select the invoice date using the date picker.
  • Due date / payment terms: Choose standard terms (e.g., Net 30) from the dropdown to automatically calculate the due date relative to the invoice date.
• Automatic reminders:
  • Check Send an automatic reminder to set the number of days before the due date (e.g., 7 days) that a reminder should be sent.
• Tax Setting:
  • Exclusive: Tax is added on top of line item prices.
  • Inclusive: Line item prices already include tax.

Important: The invoice number, issue date, and tax settings become permanently locked once an invoice is sent. To modify them after sending, you must void the invoice and issue a new one.

Step 4: Add line items

Line items represent the individual products, services, or hours you are billing on this invoice. All prices and totals are currently calculated in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

For each item or service:

1. Description: Enter a clear free-text description of what you are billing for (e.g., "Consulting services" or "Item #402").
2. Unit price: Enter the price per unit in CAD (e.g., 150 or 85.50).
3. Quantity: Enter the quantity. Both whole numbers and decimals are accepted (e.g., 10, 1.5, or 0.25 for partial hours).
4. Discount: Click Add discount to apply a line-item discount directly to this item.
5. Add tax: Select the Add tax checkbox to apply line-item based taxes to this item. You will typically only want to enable tax on individual line items if each line item on the invoice carries a different tax rate, such as tax-exempt vs. taxable goods.
6. Save for future invoices: Check Save for future invoices if you want to save this line item configuration to reuse on future invoices.

When you click on a new line item's description box, a dropdown menu of pre-saved items will automatically appear, allowing you to perform a live search as you type to select and auto-fill saved items.

Managing line items:

• Click Add line item to insert additional rows/cards.
• Click Delete in the line item card (or the close icon X) to remove an item. (Note: Every invoice must contain at least one line item).
• Click Update (or Save) to confirm any changes or new additions made to the line item.
• The running Subtotal, Tax, Discounts, and Total Due (CAD) update automatically in the summary panel.

Tip: Use one line item per distinct product or service to keep billing clear for your customer's accounting records. If billing hourly work, enter your hourly rate under Unit price and the total hours under Quantity.

Step 5: Configure adjustments, taxes, and notes

• Adjustments & discounts: Apply an invoice-level discount by percentage (%) or flat dollar amount ($) or enter applicable shipping fees. You can also save invoice-level discounts and shipping for future use. Similar to line items, when you click on a new discount or shipping’s description box, a dropdown menu of pre-saved items will automatically appear, allowing you to perform a live search as you type to select and auto-fill saved options.
• Taxes (GST/HST and PST/QST): Manually set specific GST/HST and PST/QST rates based on your customer’s billing region. Tax applies to line items after discounts, and totals update automatically. You will not be able to adjust this if you have added taxes on specific line items.
• Notes: Notes typed on Customer Notes print directly on the invoice sent to the customer. They can also be saved for future use. Internal Notes are private notes visible only to you and your team within ATB Invoicing.

Step 6: Select payment options and optional settings

• Payment options: Pre-populates with your organization defaults or customer-specific preferences if assigned. Click Edit payment options to adjust it for this specific invoice. Click Manage payment options within that module to further configure destination accounts and organizational settings.

• Scheduled send: Select a future date and time to automatically send the invoice. By selecting Sync invoice date with send date all invoice dates and due dates will update to align with the new send date.

• Branding: Confirm your business style, colour theme, and logo under the Style section.

Step 7: Save draft and preview

1. Click See Preview in the top header. It will remain in Draft status until sent or scheduled.

Related articles

• Managing and using saved items
• Handling tax inclusive vs tax exclusive pricing
• Scheduling invoices for automatic sending
• Managing and using quote and invoice templates