Make an invoice recurring
Create a copy of an invoice on a schedule, as a draft or sent to the customer.
- Who can do this
- Owners, or people with Create invoices; sending each one also needs Send invoices
- Where
- Sales, then Invoices
- You'll need
- An invoice that is not void, for an active customer
On this page
Repeat an invoice, such as a monthly retainer. Each copy gets a new number and is dated on its scheduled day.
Make the schedule
- Open the invoice from Invoices, then open its additional-actions menu.
- Select Make recurring.
- Check the copied lines under What repeats.
- Enter a Schedule name.
- Choose Repeats and Every, then the day in On for weekly or On day for monthly.
- Enter a Start date of today or later.
- Under Ends, choose Never, After a number of times or On a date.
- Choose Save as a draft or Send to the customer.
- Check the Person each invoice is created as. It's you, unless you're an owner and choose someone else.
- Select Save schedule.
The schedule opens with its first date. Monthly dates past the end of a short month use its last day. Last day of the month is also available.
What each invoice gets
Each invoice copies the customer, project, currency, addresses, ship-to state, discount, notes, terms, footer and lines with their tax, as Duplicate does. When the original has no ship-to state, each new invoice takes the customer's state when it is made. The P.O. number is not copied. Tax exemption isn't copied either: each invoice is exempt only if the customer's exemption is still valid when it's created. The due date stays the same number of days after the invoice date as on the original. Nonprofit lines keep their coding.
Send to the customer posts each invoice and emails it to the customer's email address. Saved cards are never charged. You need Send invoices to choose it, and so does the person it runs as. If invoice emails are turned off or the customer has no email address, that date fails and creates nothing.
If the customer is on hold, or the invoice would take them over their credit limit and the business saves those as drafts, the invoice is still created. It is saved as a draft and not sent, the run history says why, and the business owners are emailed once. An owner can open the draft and send it with a reason. See Set a credit limit or put a customer on hold.
Every run checks the lines again with the invoice form's rules, so an inactive customer, or an account or tax on a line that is no longer active, makes that date fail. After 3 such failures in a row, the schedule pauses. See Recurring invoices, bills and journal entries for run history and failure emails.