Sending an invoice

A freelancer or a small business needs to bill a client: who it is from and to, a number, the lines charged, the tax and the date it is due. These tools make the invoice as a PDF and get it ready to email, in your browser. The client’s name and your bank details aren’t uploaded anywhere.

Take care with secrets. This runs only in your browser: what you enter isn't uploaded, stored or put in a link, and the page is built so that it can't send it anywhere else. Your browser's extensions and other software on your device can still see what's on screen, so use a device you trust and real secrets only when you need to. Disconnecting from the internet once the page has loaded gives the most protection. Use is at your own risk: see the terms.

1. Work out the dates

Terms such as “30 days” or “10 working days” are easy to miscount. Open Date Calculator and use Add or subtract: pick the issue Date, enter the Amount (30), and choose the Unit: Days, or Business days (Monday to Friday) for working days. The result gives the date with its weekday. Business days skip weekends but not public holidays, so adjust for those yourself. A due date that falls on a Saturday is worth moving, so the payment doesn’t slip to the following week.

2. Make the invoice

Open Invoice Maker. Fill in From, Bill to, the Invoice number and the Issue date and Due date from step 1. Set the Currency (a three-letter code such as GBP, EUR or USD, which also decides the decimal places) and what tax is called under Tax is called.

Each line has a Description, Quantity, Unit price (before tax) and Tax rate %; Add a line gives another. The Subtotal, the tax for each rate and the Total are worked out as you type, so lines taxed at different rates are handled. Put your payment details and the reference to quote in Notes, and add a Logo (optional) if you have one. Save PDF downloads it on A4 or US Letter, as chosen under Paper.

Before sending, check what an invoice has to include where you work: a tax number, a sequential number or particular wording may be required, and the tool doesn’t know which rules apply to you. Prices that already include tax, discounts and deposits aren’t handled. Each line’s tax is rounded to the smallest unit of the currency, which can differ by a unit from tax worked out on the total, so check it against your own books.

Nothing is kept except the currency, tax name and paper. To carry on later, or to start next month’s invoice from this one, Save invoice to carry on later (JSON) keeps it as a file, and Open a saved invoice loads it again, and then you change the number and dates. The file holds everything typed, including your payment details, in plain text.

3. Sign it if the client asks

Some clients want a signed invoice. Open the PDF in Sign PDF, choose Draw it, Type it or Open a picture of it under Your signature, drag the signature next to the total or the notes, and use Use today’s date for the date. Save the signed PDF gives the signed copy. A picture of a signature is not a digital signature, and whether it is accepted is up to the person receiving it. Don’t use a signature that you rely on for important documents.

4. Protect it before it goes by email

An invoice holds your bank details and the client’s address. In Protect / Unlock PDF, choose Protect it with a password and type an Open password twice; the PDF is encrypted with AES-256 and saved as -protected. Agree the password with the client by another route, such as a phone call or message, never in the same email, and use a long one that isn’t the client’s name or the invoice number. Open the protected copy in a PDF reader to check that it asks for the password. A forgotten password can’t be recovered, so keep the unprotected original.

Some clients’ accounts systems can’t open a protected PDF, which would make the invoice slower to pay, so ask whether yours can before you use this routinely. Under What a reader may do, the print and copy options are requests that some readers ignore.