How to Create and Send Invoices
This article walks through the full process of preparing, finalizing, and sending an invoice in Factor.
Prerequisites
You need permissions to access BILLING and prepare invoices. If you don't see these options, contact your administrator.
To appear on the Prepare Invoices page, a project must have billable work — uninvoiced fixed fee phase amounts, unbilled hourly time entries, or unbilled expenses. If you can't find a project, flip the Show All Projects switch to Yes to see all open projects.
Step 1: Start a New Invoice
Go to BILLING > Prepare Invoices.
Use the filters and search at the top to find your project.
Click New on the right side of the project row.
Step 2: Info Tab — Set Header Details
The Info tab captures the information that appears in the invoice header:
Invoice number — Typically auto-generated. Must be unique across all invoices in the system.
Billing date and service date range — The invoice date and the period of services being billed. If this is the first invoice for the period, you'll set the start date. If invoices already exist, the dates default to the last used date.
Due date — Calculated automatically in days after the invoice date, based on the payment terms configured for the project.
Billing contact — Confirm the selected contact. If none is set, you'll need to add one to the project first.
Summary Info — An optional text field for describing the work or project on the invoice.
Step 3: Fixed Fees Tab — Bill Fixed Fee Work
This tab shows all fixed fee phases in the project, along with any expense budgets or subconsultant phases included in your service fee. For each phase you can see:
Budgeted amount
Previously invoiced amount
Remaining amount
WIP (work in progress — the value of time logged since the last invoice, based on billing rates)
You can switch the WIP calculation to show time since your last invoice or during the service dates, and compare it to the earned percent complete (typically updated by the project manager).
Enter billing amounts as a dollar value or percentage — the other field calculates automatically. When parent-child phases exist, you can see the breakdown at each level.
Once you begin invoicing a project at either the parent or child phase level, that level is locked and cannot be changed without voiding all previous invoices.
You can close a phase directly from this tab, which prevents further time entry or billing to that phase.
Step 4: Hourly Tab — Bill Hourly Time
This tab shows all unbilled time entries logged to hourly phases. You can filter to entries within the service dates. For each entry, choose:
Bill Now — Adds the entry to the invoice
Bill Later — Defers the entry to the next invoice
Write Off — Removes the entry from billing. Written-off entries can be shown using the Show Written Off toggle.
If you select Bill Now but don't want to bill the full amount, you can adjust the hours to bill — this affects only the invoice line item, not the employee's timesheet. You can also edit descriptions directly on this tab before billing. Use Bill All to add all shown entries to the invoice at once. You can close a phase from this tab as well.
Step 5: Expenses Tab — Bill Expenses
This tab shows all unbilled individual expenses. For each expense, choose Bill Now, Bill Later, or Do Not Bill. You can add new expenses to the project without leaving the invoicing process, including attachments. Attachments can be included in the generated PDF invoice.
Step 6: Adjustments Tab — Apply Retainers, Deposits, or Credits
If the project has adjustment types set up (like retainers or deposits), apply them here. The table updates as you apply amounts, showing the remaining balance. You can add a description that will be visible on the invoice.
Step 7: Preview Tab — Review and Finalize
Select an invoice template and review the generated document. The template controls which sections appear — sections with no content won't show. From the preview:
Save as Draft — Saves the invoice but keeps it editable. You can return to modify it later.
Finalize — Locks the invoice, assigns the invoice number, and syncs to your accounting system if connected.
If you close the invoice without saving, no invoice record is created. However, any expenses and time entries added or modified through the invoice preparer are saved to the project regardless.
Printing and Emailing Invoices
Draft invoices can be viewed or printed with a draft watermark from the prepare invoices page.
Finalized invoices can be printed or emailed to the billing contact.
Voided invoiced can be viewed or printed with a watermark on the view invoices page, with filters set to show voided invoices.
Batch printing — From the Prepare Invoices page, use the Print All option to queue multiple invoices. Factor generates a single PDF with all queued invoices. You can choose whether to include hourly detail reports.
Batch emailing — On the View Invoices page, filter to unsent invoices and use the email option to send multiple at once.
Voiding an Invoice
If you finalized an invoice by mistake, you can void it. Voiding maintains the audit trail, releases time entries for re-billing, and syncs the void to your accounting system. If the invoice is linked to QBO, voiding it in Factor automatically voids the receivable in QBO.
You also have the option to void and re-draft from the Prepare Invoices page, which restores the invoice to a draft in the exact state it was in before finalizing.
Viewing Past Invoices
Go to BILLING > View Invoices to see all invoices. Use filters to search by status, project, or date range. Click an invoice number to view details.
If QBO is integrated, the paid amount is received from QBO and cannot be edited in Factor. If you are not integrated, you can manually update the amount paid.