Create and Send Recurring Invoices
- Lifecycle of Recurring Invoices
- Creating a New Recurring Invoice
- Associate Project(s) to Recurring Invoice
- Customer Details
- Item Details
- Payment Options, Terms & Conditions, Templates
- Preferences for Sending Invoices
- Configuring Auto-charge Settings
Lifecycle of Recurring Invoices
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Active | Recurring Invoice is in active status and generate invoices. |
| Stopped | Recurring Invoice has been stopped and will not generate invoices until resumed again. |
| Expired | Recurring Invoice has expired of its date and will not generate further invoices. |
Creating a New Recurring Invoice
Navigate to the Sales tab and click on the + icon either next to the Recurring Invoices or the icon placed on top of the invoice list to create a new invoice.
A new recurring invoice will open up for entering the criteria or conditions based on which you wish to have Zoho Books create invoices for you on a regular basis.
Associate Project(s) to Recurring Invoice
You can associate the unbilled hours of your Project(s) to a Recurring Invoice.
- Navigate to the Sales tab and click on the + icon either next to the Recurring Invoices.
- Click the Choose Project(s) option in the recurring invoice creation page.
- Check the project(s) that you wish to associate to the recurring invoice and click Add.
- Choose the desired schedule by when the invoices should be generated from the project(s) and click Save.
Customer Details
You will now learn about filling up the fields related to your customers in the recurring invoice creation form.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer Name | This field should contain the name of the customer to whom the recurring invoice is raised. You can either pick the customers from the list you have already created or you can add a new customer by selecting the New Customer option. |
| Profile Name | Enter the desired name you would like to associate with the invoices generated. The profile name will only be visible to the organization users. |
| Repeat Every | Choose the desired schedule by when the invoices should be generated from the recurring invoice. |
| Date | Starts On: By default, this is the date when the recurring invoice is created. this field can also be customized. Ends On: This is the date you wish to end the billing cycle of the recurring invoice. The Never Expires option will keep generating invoices as per the scheduled cycle and will not have an end date. |
| Payment Terms | You can set the due date of the invoices generated from the recurring invoice by selecting one of the options in the Terms drop down. Learn more about Payment Terms in Customer Details |
| Price List | Select the price list you wish to associate to the invoices. Learn more about Creating Price Lists P.S: Price List field will appear in the recurring invoice only if price lists feature is enabled. Learn more about Enabling Price List. |
| Sales Person | You can type to add a sales person or choose a name that already exists. This field is very helpful in identifying the sales person who closed a deal. |
Item Details
You will now learn about filling up the fields related to the items you wish to add in the invoice creation form.
Select an item from the list of items shown in the drop down. If you wish to add a new item, you can select the Add New Item option from the drop down list. Learn more about Creating New Items.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Item Details | Item Name: Name of the item you are selling to your customer. Item Description: Description of the item you are selling to your customer. |
| Quantity | The number of items to be billed in the invoice. |
| Discount | Discount can either be applied to the invoice at the item level or at the invoice level. Learn more about Discount Settings . At item level, you can set discounts for each item you add in the invoice. |
| Tax/Tax Group | Apply the tax rate to the item you are adding if applicable. Choose the tax/tax group from the drop down. Learn more about Taxes. |
| Amount | The final amount of the item after calculating the discount and taxes. |
Invoice Level Discount / Charges
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Adjustment | You can adjust your total invoice amount by entering a +ve or a -ve charge which you like to be applied. |
| Discount | Discount at an invoice level will be applied to the sub total of all item rates put together. |
| Shipping Charges | Charges you wish to apply for shipping the product to your customer. |
Payment Options, Terms & Conditions, Templates
You will now learn about selecting payment options, filling up terms and conditions and setting up templates.
| Fields | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer Notes | Enter notes relating to the recurring invoice which will be displayed on the invoice when sent to the customer. |
| Payment Options | Select the payment option that should be used for charging the customer or for the customer to make payment for the recurring invoice. You can also choose to provide the customer with the option of making partial payments for the invoices by checking the Allow customers to make partial payments for this invoice option. You can also configure payment gateways directly from the recurring invoice.  Click on the Select Payment Modes and select the payment gateway that needs to be configured from the Configure and add more gateways from here section to add more payment gateways. |
| Terms & Conditions | Customize the terms & conditions section that will be displayed on the invoice. To automate the terms & conditions in all the invoices, navigate to Settings > More Settings > Preferences > Invoices and fill in the Terms & Conditions box. |
| Template | You can also change the Template of the invoice, by clicking on the Change and select another template you create. You can create and edit templates from Settings > More Settings > Templates and selecting templates under Invoice Templates.  |
Preferences for Sending Invoices
Choose the process of sending the invoices from the recurring and also configure the Auto-charging option for the invoices you send to your customers.
To select the process navigate to Settings > More Settings > Preferences and select the Recurring Invoices tab.
- When you select the Create Invoices as drafts option, the recurring invoices created will be saved as draft. It allows you to review and edit the invoice before being sent to the customer.
- When you select the Create and Send Invoices option, the recurring invoices created will be directly sent to your customer.
- When the Create, Charge and Send Invoices is selected, your customers will be automatically charged for the invoices created by associating their card and an invoice will be sent to them for reference. By choosing this option you can also configure the settings for successful and failure payment notification and retry setting on payment failure.
Note: Payment reminders will be disabled for the invoices generated from the recurring invoices with Create, Charge and Send Invoices option.
Configuring Auto-charge Settings
The Auto-charge feature lets your customers save their payment credentials and takes care of their future payments for your recurring invoices all by itself. Here you will learn about configuring the Auto-charge settings, once you have selected the Create, Charge and Send Invoices option.
Currently the Auto-charge feature is supported for the following payment gateways.
- Stripe
- Authorize.Net (Prerequisites for using with Auto-charge)
- PayFlow Pro (Prerequisites for using with Auto-charge)
- Payments Pro (Prerequisites for using with Auto-charge)
- Forte (Prerequisites for using with Auto-charge)
- Worldpay (Prerequisites for using with Auto-charge)
Successful & Failed Invoice Payment
On successfully charging your customer, a thank-you mail with the invoice for reference will be sent to the customer and on the instance of customer’s card being declined, a reminder mail informing the customer about the decline and to make a manual payment will be sent to the customer.
- If you wish to send a thank-you mail along with the invoice to your customer, select the send payment thank-you along with the invoice option from the drop down.
- If you do not wish to send any email to the customer on the successful payment, you can choose the do nothing option from the drop down.
- If you do not wish to retry after a failure while charging the customer, you can choose the send failure notification option and retries will be disabled. Selecting the send failure notification and retry will allow you to have retry options for charging your customer.
- If you wish not to send any failure notification to the customer and retry the charging process, choose the retry without failure notification option.
The content of the mail can be edited by clicking on email content.
Retry Settings
- In case of a payment failure while charging the customer’s card, a maximum of 3 attempts can be made in order to charge your customer. You can also choose the number of attempts to be made.
- First Retry is made after failure to charge your customer.
- Second Retry is made if First Retry is a failure.
- Third Retry is made if Second Retry is a failure.
- You can set the number of days taken for retry after failure according to your own convenience to charge your customer and between each retry by changing the number next to the retry tab. You can also choose not to send a retry notification mail to your customer by choosing the don’t send email option from the drop down.
- To suspend or make the recurring invoice inactive after all the retries have failed, choose the After all retries, suspend the recurring invoice option.
- Click the Save button to save all your changes.
After saving your recurring invoice settings, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Online Payments. Set up the payment gateway that supports Auto-charge feature for receiving your payments.
How to Receive Payments for Recurring Invoices
Back to Recurring Invoices Overview
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