Create an invoice

Raise a new invoice to bill a client for a period of tracked time, or to charge a fixed fee that isn't based on hours.

Who this is for

Owners only. Invoicing needs the permission that manages billing, and no role below Owner carries it by default. A manager who can shape clients and projects still can't issue a bill. Without it, the screen shows "Invoicing is restricted to owners", *"Issuing a numbered bill is a different authority from shaping the billable work. Ask an owner if you need billing access."*

Before you start

You need an active client to bill. Create one from Projects and budgets first. If you're raising a time-and-materials invoice, the period you pick needs billable, approved time that hasn't already been invoiced; approving a timesheet is what locks its time and makes it eligible.

Steps

Open Invoices from the sidebar and select New invoice.
Choose the invoice type: Time & materials (*"Derives lines from billable, approved time in a period, at the resolved bill rates."*) or Fixed fee / per mission (*"Creates an empty draft with no period. You add the fee as a manual line."*).
Choose the Client to bill.
For a time-and-materials invoice, also set Period start and Period end.
For a time-and-materials invoice, select Preview to see what the period would bill before committing to anything.
Select Create draft (time-and-materials) or Create empty draft (fixed fee).

What happens next

For time-and-materials: once the preview reads "Ready to bill," creating the draft persists exactly the lines you previewed. Nothing is stamped as billed until you finalize it later. A "Draft created" notice appears and you land on the new invoice's own page, still a draft.

For fixed fee: an empty draft is created with no billing period, in the client's currency. Nothing is derived from tracked time. You then add the fee yourself as one or more manual lines on the invoice's own page. Finalizing a draft with no lines is refused, so add a line before you finalize.

If it doesn't work

Without billing access, the whole screen shows "Invoicing is restricted to owners" (as above).
An end date before its start date: "The end date must be on or after the start date."
A period that can't be billed yet shows "This period can't be billed yet" (*"Resolve everything below, then preview again. No draft can be created until then"*) with the specific reason:
"No bill rate configured": some billable time in the period has no bill rate covering its scope on the day it was worked, so it can't be priced. Add a bill rate on the task, project, client or organization, then preview again.
"Bill rate is a flat or periodic fee": a weekly, monthly, fixed or per-mission fee isn't a function of hours worked, so it can't be derived from time entries. Bill it as a fixed-fee invoice with a manual line instead.
"Currencies don't match": a resolved bill rate is denominated in a different currency from the client. Align the rate's currency with the client's.
"Nothing to bill in this period": there's no billable, approval-locked, un-invoiced time dated inside the period. Time must be approved before it can be invoiced.
A clean preview can still carry a warning that doesn't block anything: "Billable time still awaiting approval". Those entries are billable and un-invoiced but not yet approval-locked, so they're left out of this invoice; they become invoiceable once their timesheet is approved.
"Couldn't preview the period" or "Couldn't create the draft" carry the server's own message when something else goes wrong.

Invoices (overview)
Open an invoice
Finalize an invoice
Add a manual line to a draft