Creating Invoices
- Creating Draft Invoices,
- Creating Fixed Fee Invoices,
- Creating Split Billing Invoices,
- Creating Retainer Invoices,
- Consolidate Multiple Matters for Invoicing,
- Creating an Invoice Without dates,
- Translate an Invoice,
- Hold Billing Until Next Invoice or Permanently,
- Send an Invoice,
Creating Draft Invoices
This article will walk you through how to create, view, download, and send out draft invoices.
Create
Click on Invoices>Drafts.
Click on New Draft Invoices link to create a new invoice.
Create For - select the required client and matter from the list. Users can filter the list down from All Clients and All Matters to My Matters and Responsible Staff Member. Invoices will only get generated for Clients-Matters that don’t already have an invoice generated against them (i.e. un-billed entries).
Billing Category - generate invoices for a specific billing category. These categories are created under
Date Range - the dates entries were created. Leaving it blank will allow you to bill as far back as possible.
Invoice Date - date to generate invoice on. This will default to the current day.
Include -
Matter billing arrangement - whatever settings are at the Matter-level (Clients>Clients & Matters>Matter Name>Invoice Settings>Billing Arrangement) will determine how the draft invoice is created. For example, if the setting at the Matter-level specifies ‘Expenses only’, upon selecting ‘Matter Billing Arrangement’ here, you will only generate an invoice for Expense entries.
Time & Expense - generate invoices for both time and expense entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Time only - generate invoices for only time entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Expense - generate invoices for only expense entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Split - if selected Client-Matters are the ‘Master Matter’, i.e part of a Split Billing Project, select the Split checkbox to split those entries.
Note: we generally recommend you do not split the entries/invoice in the first draft invoice (i.e. review the draft invoice first, make any edits if necessary to the time/expense entries, void the draft invoice and issue it again with the Split checkbox selected when you are confident the entry details are accurate). This is to make it easier for you to view the invoice and make any necessary changes easily. If you split the invoice and need to make edits, you will have to retrace your steps back and undo split entries first.
The newly created invoices are ready to view under Invoices>Drafts screen.
View
means invoice review is complete
means the draft details have been viewed
means the draft has been edited
Split column -
+ sign - the draft invoice which is a part of a Split Billing Project, has been split.
- sign - the matter is a part of a Split Billing Project but has not yet been split.
Delivery method -
Printer - will download a PDF of the invoice
Email - will email a copy to the client and will CC the firm’s address
AutoMail - TimeSolv charges $1.49 per piece, and additional postage as required. No return mailer is included. Invoices on Automail will be sent out just before 17:00 Central Time
Note: Delivery method checkboxes are selected by default depending on your invoice settings at the Matter-level. Any changes made on this screen will only be effective for this single invoice. If you want to save these settings for all future invoices for a specific client-matter, visit Clients>Clients&Matters>[matter name]>Invoice Settings.
Document icon - to view a summary of the invoice. This icon will only appear for consolidated invoices.
Magnifying glass icon - to preview the invoice without downloading.
Download
There are multiple ways to download a single invoice:
1. Click on the download icon on the far right of the appropriate invoice row.
2. Select the checkbox against invoices and click on the Download button at the top right of the screen. Select download format as 'Zip' to download each invoice into a separate PDF file. This is useful when you need to email out invoices yourself, and to sort downloaded invoices into Client-Matter folders and sub-folders.
Select the checkbox next to the invoice(s).
Click Send button from the top of the screen.
The sent invoice will now appear under Invoices>Sent.
Void
Select the checkbox next to the invoice(s) to void.
Click Void button from the top of the screen.
Creating Fixed Fee Invoices
There are several ways to generate Fixed Fee invoices:
Creating Split Billing Invoices
Click on Invoices>Drafts.
Click on New Draft Invoices link to create a new invoice.
Note: all the Master and Secondary Matters/Projects that will have draft invoices generated against them will include all other time/expense entries outside of this split billing project, i.e. this step will not only generate a draft invoice for the time/expense entries associated with this split billing project, it will also generate draft invoices for all other un-billed time/expense associated with the Master and Secondary Matters/Projects.
Create For - Choose the ‘Master Matter’ (i.e the ‘primary Matter’, or the ‘parent Matter’) that you created the split billing project for. All the secondary Matters are under this ‘Master Matter’ in the system..
Billing Category - generate invoices for a specific billing category. These categories are created under
Date Range - the dates entries were created. Leaving it blank will allow you to bill as far back as possible.
Invoice Date - date to generate invoice on. This will default to the current day.
Include -
Matter billing arrangement - whatever settings are at the Matter-level (Clients>Clients & Matters>Matter Name>Invoice Settings>Billing Arrangement) will determine how the draft invoice is created. For example, if the setting at the Matter-level specifies ‘Expenses only’, upon selecting ‘Matter Billing Arrangement’ here, you will only generate an invoice for Expense entries.
Time & Expense - generate invoices for both time and expense entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Time only - generate invoices for only time entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Expense - generate invoices for only expense entries. This will override any Matter-level invoice settings.
Split - if selected Client-Matters are the ‘Master Matter’, i.e part of a Split Billing Project, select the Split checkbox to split those entries.
Note: we generally recommend you do not split the entries/invoice in the first draft invoice (i.e. review the draft invoice first, make any edits if necessary to the time/expense entries, void the draft invoice and issue it again with the Split checkbox selected when you are confident the entry details are accurate). This is to make it easier for you to view the invoice and make any necessary changes easily. If you split the invoice and need to make edits, you will have to retrace your steps back and undo split entries first.
Once created:
Split column -
+ sign - the draft invoice which is a part of a Split Billing Project, has been split.
- sign - the matter is a part of a Split Billing Project but has not yet been split.
Creating Retainer Invoices
Click on Invoices>Retainers.
Click on New Retainer Invoice.
Title -
Client - Matter - type or double-click to pull a list to choose from. If you select a Client-Matter for which invoice and payment settings are 'Email' and 'Client Portal' related, two new checkboxes will appear towards the bottom after having selected the Client-Matter. For your Retainer Invoice to not be sent out directly to the client after hitting Create on this page, you will have to unselect the 'Send By Email' checkbox first.
Date -
Retainer Number
Retainer Amount -
Message Text - refers to a line placed on the Retainer. This is NOT the text shown on the email message.
Include From Address - the firm’s address will show on the retainer invoice.
Output Format -
Note: Clicking on Create will send the Retainer Invoice directly to the client if ‘Send By Email‘ checkbox is selected. It will NOT download for you to review first, unless you have it selected for Print.
Consolidate Multiple Matters for Invoicing
Note: If you created any drafts for the client before these changes were made, you will need to postpone and recreate the draft in order to update the client invoice to consolidated.
Creating an Invoice Without dates
Users can create invoices in TimeSolv without a date appearing on them. But it is important to note the ‘Invoice Period‘ dates must still be defined under the 'General' tab of the draft invoice. The 'Invoice Period' can be unchecked under the 'Cover Page' and 'Main Page' tabs of the flexible billing template.
Translate an Invoice
For firms that want to translate their invoices:
Select English as the language translating from, and your desired language to translate to.
Hold Billing Until Next Invoice or Permanently
To completely hold invoicing for a Matter:
Click on Clients>Clients & Matters>[matter name]>General.
Ensure Hold Billing checkbox is enabled.
Note: Expense or Time entries can be held until the next invoice or permanently.
Click Edit next to each entry you wish to hold.
Note: The ‘Edit’ link will only show if the entry is not part of a Split Billing Project that has been split. In that case, you would have to first undo split entries before you can edit the entry.
Send an Invoice
Click on Invoices>Drafts and create a new draft invoice.
Select the checkbox next to the invoice(s) to send, and click the Send button from the top of the screen.
The sent invoice will now appear under the Invoices>Sent screen.
Note: In case of missing details required to send the invoice(s), an error message may appear. Hover over the yellow error triangle symbol to receive an explanation for why the error occurred. As an example, the user may not have selected an invoice delivery method. Click on the invoice amount to edit and resolve the issue.