Create, send and manage invoices

An invoice bills a customer for work you've agreed, to be paid later. This article covers the Invoices page from end to end: creating an invoice, sending it, and everything you can do with it afterwards. You'll find it under Sales in the left sidebar.

Tour of the Invoices list

1. Page actions. Customize, Receive payment, Import, Export and New invoice.
2. Totals. Outstanding, Overdue, Received in the last 30 days, and Drafts.
3. Status tabs. All, Draft, Awaiting payment, Partially paid, Overdue and Paid, each with a count.
4. Search. Finds invoices by number, customer or amount.
5. Checkbox. Select invoices to act on several at once.
6. Status. Where the invoice stands.
7. Row menu. Every action for one invoice.

Click anywhere on a row to open that invoice.

A Recurring tag beside the number means the invoice came from a recurring schedule.

Create an invoice

Click New invoice. The invoice opens as a full-screen sheet with the form on the left and a running summary on the right.

1. Invoice details. Type, number, terms and dates.
2. Customer. Who you're billing.
3. Products & services. The lines that make up the total.
4. Invoice summary. Subtotal, sales tax and amount due, with the save buttons.
5. Customize and Preview. Change how your documents look, or see the invoice as the customer will.

Further down the form you'll find Sales tax, Class, Attachments & notes and Online payments.

Invoice details: number, terms and dates

• Invoice type. One-time invoice, or Recurring. See Recurring invoices.
• Invoice number. Tabby suggests the next number in your sequence. You can change it, but each number can be used only once.
• Payment terms. Due on receipt, Net 7, Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Net 60 or Custom.
• Invoice date and Due date. Tabby works out the due date from the terms. If you edit the due date yourself, the terms switch to Custom.
• Purchase order (PO) number. Optional. Add it when the customer needs it to approve the invoice.
• Vendor number. Optional. Your supplier ID in the customer's system.

Choose the customer

Click Bill to and pick a customer, or type to search. Click New in the picker to add a customer without leaving the invoice.

Once you've chosen, a card shows the contact, email and billing address, with an Edit link. Picking a customer also applies their default payment terms and their sales tax settings.

Add products and services

For each line:

1. Choose an Item. Its description, rate, tax setting and category fill in. Click New in the picker to add an item on the spot.
2. Set the Qty and check the Rate.
3. Leave Tax as it is, or switch the line between Taxable and Not taxable.
4. Check the Category. This is the income account the line posts to. You can pick a category and type a description without choosing an item at all.

Click Add line for another line, or the trash icon to remove one. An invoice needs at least one line, a quantity above zero, and a rate that isn't negative.

Sales tax

Tabby suggests a rate from the customer's location. Tax is worked out per line and rounded once per invoice.

• Tax rate. Change the suggested rate if you need to.
• Prices. Choose Before tax if your rates exclude tax, or Include tax if the rates you typed already contain it.
• The line under the rate tells you how the rate was chosen, for example "Default for New York customers".

If the customer is in a state where you aren't registered, Tabby charges no tax and says so. Click Charge tax anyway only if you should be collecting there. If the customer has no address, Tabby uses your business default.

Click See the math for the full calculation: the taxable amount, each part of the rate, the lines that weren't taxed and the reason for each.

Class, attachments and notes

• Class. Click Add class to tag the invoice by client, project or location. Classes appear in the Profit & Loss by Class report.
• Attachments. Add a PDF, PNG, JPG or DOCX file, up to 10 MB each.
• Remarks or notes. Text shown at the bottom of the invoice, such as bank details or a thank-you note. You can format it with bold, italics, underline, lists and links.

Save, send or keep as a draft

• Save and send saves the invoice and emails it to the address shown under the buttons.
• Save as draft keeps it without sending. Drafts stay out of your outstanding total until you send them.

If something is missing, Tabby marks the fields and tells you how many to fix. If you close the sheet with unsaved changes, Tabby asks whether to keep editing or discard them.

To send a draft later, open its row menu and choose Send invoice. You can edit the recipient, subject and message, and choose whether to attach the PDF.

Recurring invoices

For retainers and other repeat billing, set Invoice type to Recurring. Tabby then creates and sends a new invoice on the schedule you set.

• Repeats. Every week, every 2 weeks, every month, every 3 months or every year.
• First invoice on. The date of the first invoice.
• Ends. Never, on a date, or after a number of invoices.

Each invoice the schedule creates uses the tax rate valid on its own date.

If you pick a start date in the past, Tabby asks what you want: Start from today, or Catch up and create the invoices you missed.

The invoice row menu

Click the three dots at the end of a row. The menu changes with the invoice's status.

Preview and download

View details opens the invoice the way your customer sees it. From here you can Download PDF or Receive payment. To change the layout, logo or colors, use Customize documents (in the article "Estimates, sales receipts, customers and products").

Share an invoice and send reminders

Share invoice and Send payment reminder open the same email dialog, with a message already written. Edit anything you like before sending.

• Copy link copies the invoice's payment link, so you can paste it into a text or chat.
• Attach invoice PDF is ticked by default.

To remind several customers together, tick their invoices and use Send reminders in the bar at the bottom of the list.

Issue a credit note

Use a credit note when you need to reduce a sent invoice, for a return, a cancelled session or a billing mistake. Open the row menu, or the invoice itself, and click Issue credit note.

1. Check the Credit note date.
2. Enter a Reason. It's required.
3. Tick the lines to credit and adjust each amount if you're crediting part of a line.
4. Click the Issue button, which shows the number the credit note will get.

Tax is reversed at the invoice's own rate. The credit is reported in the period of the credit note's date, so a sales tax return you've already filed stays as filed.

Edit, duplicate or delete an invoice

Open an invoice to change it. A sent invoice shows Save and resend and Save changes in place of the draft buttons, plus Mark as paid.

Delete invoice asks you to confirm. Deleting removes the invoice and any payments recorded on it, and it can't be undone. If the invoice was sent and you only need to reduce it, issue a credit note instead.

Common questions

Why can't I send an invoice?

The customer probably has no email address. Open the invoice, click Edit on the customer card, add an email, then send again. The line under the save buttons tells you where the invoice will go.

Why is no sales tax being added?

Check the line under Tax rate on the invoice. Either the lines are marked Not taxable, the customer is exempt, or the customer is in a state where you aren't registered. See the math shows the reason for each line.

Can I change an invoice after sending it?

Yes. Open it, make the change and click Save and resend. If you need to reduce an invoice the customer already has, a credit note keeps a clearer record than editing the original.

Updated on: 07/10/2026