Recurring Invoices

Understand client invoice-generation settings and the current limits of scheduled billing.

Settings and generated behavior are different

Open a client and its Invoice settings section to review Autogenerating, frequency, hourly/fixed-price choices and sending preferences. The separate Finance → Invoice settings page controls document settings such as invoice numbering and branding; it is not the client recurring schedule.

The current scheduled generator builds invoice line items from recorded time and associated expenses. It does not repeat the configured fixed-price amount as a monthly retainer fee. A fixed-price field in the editor is therefore not evidence that fixed-fee recurring billing will run as expected.

For a fixed monthly fee, use a manually reviewed invoice. The design-retainer walkthrough shows a $1,500 monthly fee entered as one Pieces line, quantity 1, and saved as Draft.

Schedule and period selection

The current command is scheduled for Mondays at 00:00. Frequency determines eligibility:

Monthly generation covers the previous calendar month. The first Monday is not always the first calendar day. Existing invoices, including manually created invoices, can affect the last-invoice check. Scheduler execution and date handling depend on the running application's configuration; do not assume a separate per-client timezone schedule.

What the generator does

For an eligible client with billing access, the service collects generated time/expense line items for the period. If there are no line items, it does not create an invoice. If there are line items, it creates a Draft invoice using their amounts, sets a due date 14 days later and links the included time entries.

The generated value comes from the line items. The service does not use the client's configured fixed-price amount to create a flat monthly fee. An empty or zero hourly bill rate may still produce zero-value line items, so do not treat it as a dependable way to exclude work.

The current time-generation query also does not enforce the project's Billable flag as an exclusion. Review which time would be included before relying on a project's billing setup.

Email behavior needs review before activation

The generation path can queue an email to the client's email address, even though the new invoice is Draft. That path does not honor the displayed delay-sending or invoice-send preferences. Draft status is therefore not a guarantee that scheduled generation will avoid email.

This documentation was checked against application source and a manual invoice workflow. Scheduled generation and its email delivery were not executed as part of the walkthrough. Confirm the deployed behavior and intended recipient before activating it for a real client.

Fixed monthly retainer workflow

1. Record the period, fee, included scope and any hour allowance in the project's reference notes.
2. Track delivery and review the correct date range in Time Reports.
3. Calculate allowance usage and any agreed rollover separately; those are manual reviews.
4. Create an invoice with a manual monthly-fee line, quantity 1 and the agreed price. Identify the covered period in the description or notes.
5. Save as Draft, review taxes, discounts, dates and the client, and follow your normal sending process.
6. Reconcile included time before any later time-based invoice generation.

A manually entered fee line does not automatically link or consume the related time records. They can remain uninvoiced in time reports. Avoid charging those same included hours again.

The fictional September example records eight hours against a written 12-hour allowance, $400 of labor cost and a separate $1,500 Draft invoice with $0 paid. Its four-hour balance and 73.3% fee-based contribution margin are manual calculations, not recurring invoice features or cash profit.

Use the retainer worksheet for a period review, or compare hourly, fixed-price and retainer workflows.