Create an invoice

Build a draft from hourly time, fixed-fee project balances, expenses, and custom lines, then review and create it.

The invoice builder turns a client's hourly work, fixed-fee contracts, expenses, and custom charges into a draft you can fine-tune before sending.

Before you start

Role: OwnerAdminManager

Creating an invoice is a manager-tier action. Members never see invoices. On Free you can create up to 5 invoices per month.

Need the same fee or eligible usage billed on a cadence? Studio and Agency workspaces can create a recurring invoice. A recurring series creates an ordinary invoice only when each occurrence is due.

Ready-to-invoice amounts

Active client-list rows and the New Invoice client/project pickers show an advisory, all-time ready-to-invoice amount in the effective billing currency. Client amounts combine eligible hourly time (each entry rounded up to a quarter-hour), same-currency unbilled billable expenses, and reconciled fixed-fee balances after draft reservations. Project choices show only that project's hourly or fixed-fee source, not an expense total.

Archived/ineligible hourly work and Fixed fee/Non-billable delivery time are not billed as hourly time. These amounts are money-redacted for Members. They do not reserve work or guarantee an invoice total: dates, selection, grouping/cent rounding, and the final availability check can change the preview.

Build the draft

Open the builder

Go to Invoices → New invoice (/invoices/new).

Choose the client

Pick the client you're billing. Hoursmith loads that client's billable, un-invoiced hourly time, billable expenses, and fixed-fee projects with a remaining balance. Optionally set a date range to limit the hourly entries shown; it does not change fixed-fee balances.

Choose a grouping

Pick how time entries roll up into lines — for example By project & task (the default) or Itemized. Each entry is rounded up to the nearest quarter-hour before it's grouped. See Grouping.

Select what to bill

Every billable entry starts selected. Deselect any you want to leave off — they stay un-invoiced and available next time. Expenses are opt-in, so tick the ones you want to include. See Add expenses.

Choose fixed-fee work

In Fixed-fee projects, select a reconciled contract and enter the Amount to invoice now. You can bill all of the available balance or a partial installment. Fixed fees are independent of the date range and tracked hours. See Invoice fixed-fee projects.

The invoice is created as a Draft and assigned the next number in your workspace sequence (the builder shows an advisory preview — the real number is assigned when you create). See Statuses.
The time entries and expenses you included are locked so the invoice and your timesheet stay in sync. See Invoiced & locked time.
A selected fixed-fee amount is reserved while the invoice is a Draft, so another draft cannot allocate the same contract value.
You can keep editing the draft, then send it.

Tips

No billable time showing up? Confirm the entries are billable and not already on another invoice. See Billable vs non-billable.
A fixed-fee project that says Confirm previous invoicing must be reconciled from the project's Edit page before you can select its fee.
Quarter-hour rounding only ever rounds up, so a 12-minute entry bills as 15 minutes.

Troubleshooting

"This workspace has reached its monthly invoice limit." You've hit your plan's cap (5 on Free). Upgrade or wait for the next month. See Plans & limits.
An entry I expected is missing. It may be non-billable, outside your date range, or already invoiced. Check the timesheet.
A fixed-fee project is missing. Its client may be archived, its billing history may still need reconciliation, or its full fee may already be invoiced or reserved in another draft.

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