# Create and send an invoice

### Creating an Invoice

Autobooks allows you to create invoices (both one-time and recurring) and send them via email. Invoices can be paid electronically by your customers with a credit card, debit card, or by bank transfer (ACH).

To create a new invoice:

1. Click the **Invoices** tab
2. Click the **New Invoice** button

3. Complete the desired fields within the invoice template. Your progress is automatically saved as a draft in your Invoice list.

_Please note that fields marked with a red asterisk_\* _are required._

- **Customer**– This is the person or business that will receive this invoice. Click on this field to view a list of previous customers to choose from OR add a new customer.

_If you would like to learn more about adding a customer,  
please click here to view: [How to Add a Customer](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/how-to-add-a-new-customer?hsLang=en)_ _article_

- **Add additional recipient** \- Click this link to send a copy of your invoice to another email address. You can add up to four additional recipients.
- **Due Date** – This is the date that payment of this invoice from your customer is due.
- **Make Recurring** \- This toggle will enable options for creating a recurring invoice. _Click here to view the article [Creating a Recurring Invoice.](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/create-and-send-a-recurring-invoice?hsLang=en)_
- **Product/Service** – This is the product your business is selling or the service your business is providing as part of this invoice. Click on this field to select the Product/Service you are selling. You may add new products/services from here if needed.

_If you would like to learn more about how or why to add a new **Product / Service** for your business, please click here to view: [How to Add a Product/Service article](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/adding-a-product-or-service?hsLang=en)_
- **Quantity (Qty)**– Indicates how many items of the product you are selling to the customer.
- **Price**– The dollar amount you are charging for the Product/Service. This field will default to the standard price of the product, but you can edit the dollar amount here.

_Please note that the **Amount** field is an automatic calculation that is based off of the **Quantity** times unit **Price**._
- **Description (optional)** – Add more details about a specific Product/Service here.
- **Add line item (optional)** – You may itemize additional Products or Services by clicking this link. Click the Trash icon at the right of the line item to remove it.
- **Add Discount** \- You may add a discount (either a percentage of the total invoice OR a flat dollar amount) by clicking this link.
- **Add Service Charge** \- You may add a service charge (either a percentage OR a fixed amount) on a per-invoice basis. _[Click here to read more about Adding a Service Charge to an Invoice.](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/how-to-add-a-service-charge-to-an-invoice?hsLang=en)_
- **Add/Edit sales tax**\- If you have not globally enabled sales tax within your invoice template, click

- **Add sales tax** to enable it. If you have enabled sales tax, you may edit the percentage rate.
  - Click **Edit sales tax** to change the sales tax rate for this invoice.

_If you would like to learn more about how to enable sales tax, [please click here to read more](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/how-to-set-up-payment-reminder-emails-and-late-fees?hsLang=en)._  
- **Message (optional)**– Add a message to your customer in this field.
- **Attachments (optional)** \- Add as many as 20 file attachments to your invoice. File size for each attachment is limited to 25MB. Just drag/drop your files to the template, or click the Attachment box to upload a file (if using a mobile device, click the **Add Attachments** link).

### Sending an Invoice

After you have completed the necessary information above, you will need to take one of the following steps to finish the invoice creation process:

- Click **Send Invoice** to email this invoice to your customer.

_Please note that if the customer does not have an email address on file, you will be prompted to enter one before you can send out this invoice._

_

-  Click the **Preview Invoice** option to see what your customer will see when receiving this invoice.
- Click the **Save to list** option to fully create this invoice, but **not** send it out via email to the customer in question.

Please note that once an invoice is fully created (either sent through **Send Invoice** or **Save to list** options), it **cannot** be edited. If you need to change an invoice after it has been sent or saved to the invoice list, you can easily copy this invoice from the **Invoice List** page and then make the necessary changes.

To learn more about the **Copy Invoice** feature, please click here to read the [How to Copy an Invoice](https://help.autobooks.co/knowledge/how-to-copy-an-invoice?hsLang=en) article.