QTC-05Service / PSAUser

How to Create and Send Invoices in CrmLeaf

All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.

Part 3 · Quote to Cash7 min readIncludes a Service / PSA lens

Availability: All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.

Overview

Invoices are how CrmLeaf asks a client for money and tracks whether it arrived. An invoice can be created by hand, created automatically when a client accepts an estimate, generated from an order, or built from billable time logs and expenses. Clients pay on a branded public page, and the invoice status follows the money.

How It Works

An invoice starts as a draft or as an unpaid document, is sent to the client, and moves through its statuses as payments are recorded.

Create → Send → Client pays → Record payment → Paid

Invoice statuses are draft, unpaid, partial, paid and canceled.
Four documented sources: manual creation; automatic creation from an accepted Estimate; generation from an Order; and billing from billable time logs or expenses.
The client pays on a signed public page at /invoice/{hash} with the configured gateways embedded, or pays offline.
Recording a payment moves the invoice to partial or paid depending on the amount received.
Credit notes can be applied to an invoice, and the invoice can be downloaded as a PDF with attachments.
Numbering prefix, due-after days and the PDF template come from the invoice settings area.

Who Can Use This Feature?

User

Create invoices manually or from an order, time logs or expenses.
Send invoices and payment reminders to clients.
Record payments received and apply credit notes.
Download the invoice PDF.

Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator. Invoice visibility follows the ownership-based permission scope set for your role.

Prerequisites

A client record must exist.
Invoice settings, including the numbering prefix and due-after days, should be configured.
Currencies and tax rates must be configured.
To collect payment online, at least one payment gateway must be configured for your company.

For Users

Step 1: Open the Invoices screen

Go to: Sales → Invoices

What to do: Review the invoice list and use Filter to check the outstanding invoices for the client before raising a new one.

What to verify: Each invoice shows its status.

Step 2: Create the invoice

What to do: Select Add. Select the client and the currency, set the invoice and due dates, and add the line items with their tax rates and any discount. Complete every mandatory field, then select Save.

What to verify: The invoice number follows your configured prefix and the totals are correct.

Step 3: Or bill from existing records

What to do: Instead of entering lines by hand, generate the invoice from an existing record: generate it from an Order, or bill approved billable time logs and billable expenses onto the invoice. An accepted Estimate creates its invoice automatically, so no manual step is needed there.

What to verify: The invoice lines match the source records, and the source records are marked as billed.

Step 4: Send the invoice

What to do: Send the invoice to the client. The client receives the signed public payment page where the configured gateways are available. Send payment reminders for invoices that stay unpaid.

What to verify: The invoice status is unpaid and it is no longer a draft.

Step 5: Record the payment and close the invoice

What to do: When the client pays online the payment is captured on the public page. For an offline payment, record the payment against the invoice. Apply a credit note where a credit is being used against the balance.

What to verify: The status is partial if part of the amount is outstanding, or paid when the full amount is settled.

Field and Option Reference

Field / Option	Description	Required
Client	The client being invoiced. Determines who receives the public payment page.	Yes
Currency	The currency the invoice is raised in.	Yes
Due date	When payment is due. Derived from the due-after days configured in invoice settings.	Yes
Line items	The products, services, time logs or expenses being billed.	Yes
Tax	Named tax rates applied per line item.	No
Discount	A reduction applied to the invoice total.	No

Expected Result

The invoice is saved and appears in Invoices with the correct status. After it is sent the status is unpaid, and once payment is recorded it becomes partial or paid.

Service / PSA lens

Why This Matters for Service Organisations

A service organisation sells effort, and effort is only revenue once it has been billed. The leak is well known: hours are worked, timesheets are approved, and a proportion of that time never reaches an invoice because billing is assembled from a spreadsheet at month end. Building the invoice from the billable records themselves closes that gap, because the invoice is derived from delivery rather than reconstructed alongside it.

How It Supports Professional Services

An invoice can be built from billable timelogs and billable expenses, which is the time-and-materials billing path: the client is billed for the hours and recoverable costs actually recorded against the engagement.
Timelog earnings come from an hourly rate, so a rate applied consistently on the delivery side carries through to the invoice line without a separate pricing step.
Only approved records are available to bill, which makes timesheet and expense approval the real gate on revenue rather than an administrative afterthought.
Billed source records are stamped, so the same hour or the same cost cannot be billed on a second invoice.
An accepted estimate has already produced its unpaid invoice, so a fixed-price engagement and a time-and-materials engagement end up in the same invoice list with the same statuses.
The client pays on a signed public page, and the Client record is a real user account, so the client organisation can also see its invoices in the portal.

Typical Service Workflow

Delivery → Timesheet → Approval → Invoice → Payment

This is the bill step. The product links approved billable time and expenses onto the invoice and stamps them as billed; deciding the billing period, and reviewing what was written off rather than billed, remain practices the organisation operates.

Other Product-Type Use Cases

The same screen bills goods and orders, not only effort. An order can generate its invoice, and Manufacturing, Solar and Construction accounts bill material alongside labour, so a product business and a service business share one receivables list.

How to Bill Tracked Time on an Invoice — the mechanics of moving approved billable hours onto an invoice.
How to Submit and Approve Weekly Timesheets — the approval that makes time billable in the first place.
How to Manage Expenses and Reimbursements — the other billable source that can be recovered on an invoice.
How to Invoice a Completed Project Milestone — the deliverable-based alternative to billing a period of time.
How to Use Time Log and Task Reports — billable against non-billable hours by person, project and period.

Important Notes

Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
An invoice created automatically from an accepted estimate arrives with status unpaid, not draft.
Cancelling an invoice sets the status to canceled. It does not delete the record.
Online payment requires a payment gateway configured for your company. Gateway credentials are held per company.

Common Scenarios

Example: billing a services month. Your team logged billable time against a project. You raise an invoice and bill the approved billable time logs onto it, so the invoice matches the hours actually worked.

Example: part payment. The client pays half the invoice as a deposit. You record that payment, the invoice moves to partial, and the remaining balance stays visible until it is settled.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Possible Cause	Resolution
The client cannot pay online	No payment gateway is configured for the company	Ask your Administrator to configure a gateway in the payment gateways settings area.
The invoice stays `partial` after full payment	Not every payment received has been recorded against the invoice	Record the remaining payment, or apply the relevant credit note.
Time logs are not available to bill	The time logs are not approved, are not marked billable, or have already been billed	Have the time logs approved and confirm they are marked billable and not already stamped as invoiced.
The invoice number does not follow the expected format	The invoice numbering prefix has not been configured	Ask your Administrator to set the prefix in the invoice settings area.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to create an invoice after a client accepts an estimate?

No. Accepting an estimate auto-creates an unpaid invoice, and the creation is idempotent so only one invoice results.

Yes. The invoice is shared on a signed public payment page.

Can I bill expenses as well as time?

Yes. Billable expenses flow into invoices in the same way as billable time logs.

Still need a hand?

Our support team answers on business days. Reference QTC-05 so we can jump straight in.

Contact support