# Drafting an invoice > Start an invoice for a customer or a job, add its lines, claim milestones and set up recurring drafts. *This article is being updated.* Invoices live in **Invoicing**, on the **Invoices** tab. Invoicing is on for every business. ## The invoices list The tiles across the top show **All invoices**, **Issued**, **Overdue** and **Paid this month**. Below them: - Search by invoice number, customer, reference or notes. - Use the filter button to filter by **Status** or **Issue date**. If your role can see contacts, you can also pick a customer to see only their invoices. - Select a column heading to sort. The newest invoice is at the top by default. If your role can't see amounts, the figures read **Restricted**. If your role can raise invoices and see sell prices, **Run T&M billing** bills time and costs across your time and materials jobs in one run, the way **Bill time** does for one job (below). ## Start an invoice 1. Go to **Invoicing → Invoices** and select **New invoice**. 2. Under **Customer**, search for the person or organisation you're billing. If they aren't in your contacts yet and your role allows it, select **+ New contact** at the foot of the search list. Once you save them, they're picked for you. 3. If the invoice is for a job, pick it under **Job**. If the job has more than one scope, pick the scope too. For a one-off invoice, leave it at **Select job** or pick **No job** from the list. Nothing is saved until you pick the customer, and the scope if the job needs one. Then the invoice is saved as a draft and opens on its own page. A draft has no number yet, so the page reads **Draft (number on issue)**. You only see **New invoice** if your role can raise invoices. ## Start an invoice from a job If your business uses **Jobs**, open the job. On a **Project**, go to its **Invoicing** tab. The tab shows if your role can see the job's financials. It lists the job's invoices and payment milestones by scope. A **Quick job** has no tabs - its invoice shows in its **Price** section instead. Select **New invoice**. If the job has more than one scope, you can select **Invoice for this scope** beside the one you want instead. The job is filled in for you, and so is the customer when the job has one. If the customer has paid booking deposits, Prevarro first shows **Booking deposits**. Each ticked deposit comes off the invoice as a line. Untick one to keep it for a later invoice, then select **Continue**. **Cancel** creates nothing. ## Bill a job's time On a time and materials job, the **Invoicing** tab also has **Bill time**, if your role can raise invoices and see sell prices. It bills the job's approved, unbilled time, and its unbilled costs, as one draft invoice per job scope. 1. Select **Bill time**. Check the **Period**, and change the date it bills time up to if you need to. If the job has no one to bill, pick the **Customer**. 2. Under **Review time entries**, untick any time or **Costs** you don't want to bill, then select **Next**. 3. Under **Confirm**, check the drafts and select **Create draft**. The button counts the drafts when there's more than one. Any booking deposits the customer has paid are listed under **Booking deposits**. Ticked ones come off the first draft. Each draft shows **Draft created** with **Open draft** beside it. Select **Done** to close. ## Fill in the draft A draft saves as you go. The footer shows **Saving...**, then **Saved**. At the top of the page: - **Invoice date** shows today and **Due date** follows the payment terms, until you pick a date yourself. To go back to the default, clear the date. - **Customer reference** - select **Edit** to add the customer's reference, such as their order number, and choose its **Reference type**. - **Payment terms** - the terms the due date follows, marked **(from customer)** or **(default)**. A customer's own terms are set on their contact record. On a draft billed to a job, the job's own terms apply. - **Job** - while the invoice is a draft, you can change the job or clear it. A draft you opened from a job stays with that job. ## Add lines 1. Select **Add invoice line**. 2. Choose **Manual line** to type one in, or **From price book** to pick one of your price book items. On a draft billing a time and materials job's scope, **Add costs** and **From time entries** bring in the scope's unbilled costs and time. 3. Fill in the **Description**, **Qty** and unit price, and pick the **Tax** rate or **No tax**. The price headings say whether you enter prices excluding or including tax, such as **Unit price (excl. GST)**. That follows the **Our prices include tax** setting in **Settings → General**. The totals under the lines show the tax and the **Total**. You can change the order of the lines. Remove a line with the cross at the end of its row. Select **Undo** if you removed it by mistake. If your role can't see sell prices, the lines can't be edited. Below the lines, add **Notes for the customer**, **Internal notes** for your team, and files under **Attachments**. The side panel holds the invoice's activity and comments. ## Scope ceiling warnings When a draft bills a job scope, a banner warns you if it's close to the scope ceiling, uses up what's left, or would go over it. Once the draft uses up what's left or would go over, and your role can add variations, the banner offers **Add variation**, which opens the job's scope so you can add more. A similar banner shows when the invoice draws on a customer purchase order. ## Claim milestones The **Payment milestones** tab lists the payment milestones on your jobs' scopes. 1. When a milestone is ready, select **Mark claimable**. It shows as **Ready to bill**. 2. Select **Claim** on the milestone, or tick several and use the **Claim** button above the list, which shows how many you've ticked. The ticked milestones must all be for one customer. If they aren't, no button shows, only a note asking you to select payment milestones from one customer. To claim only some of a milestone, open the arrow beside its **Claim** and choose **Claim part**. If the customer has paid booking deposits, **Booking deposits** shows first, as it does for a new invoice from a job. Prevarro creates the draft invoices and opens the last one. Claiming needs a role that can raise invoices and see sell prices. ## Retention Retention holds back a share of each progress claim on a scope, released later by key dates. To use it, turn on **Retentions** in the **Progress claims** card of Invoicing's settings. Then, on a fixed-price job's **Invoicing** tab, each scope's payment schedule shows its retention. If your role can change the scope's ceiling, select **Retention: none** (or the retention already set), enter the **Retention (%)** and, if you like, a **Cap (ex-tax) (optional)**, and select **Save**. **Clear retention** removes it. A claim invoice on that scope shows the amount held as **Less retention held** in its totals. ## Recurring drafts If your role can raise invoices, a draft billed to a job can become a template for regular drafts. 1. Select **Set as recurring** beside the draft's status. 2. Pick the **Frequency** - **Weekly**, **Fortnightly**, **Monthly** or **Quarterly** - and the day it falls on. 3. Select **Enable recurring**. Each period a new draft is created with this invoice's lines. The first one comes on the next due date, never backdated. Only the lines you added by hand carry over. Lines that came from somewhere else, such as a milestone or time, are left out. If the draft has any, a confirm lists them before you set the schedule - select **Proceed** to carry the hand-added lines only, or **Cancel**. To stop, select the **Template** pill on the template, which also shows its frequency, then **Disable recurring**. Under **Stop drafting**, choose **Now**, **At the end of the current period** or **On a date**, and confirm with **Disable recurring**. ## Discard a draft Open the draft's menu (the three dots at the top of the page, or beside **Send** at the foot on a phone) and select **Discard draft**, then confirm. The draft leaves your invoices list. It was never issued, so nothing was sent.