Create an invoice from an email

How it works

1. 1

   Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "add Fenwick & Moss as a client and draft them an invoice for the fit-out: 4,200 joinery, 800 electrics, due in 30 days".

2. 2

   The invoice is put together with the customer, every line and the due date from your instructions. In FreshBooks and QuickBooks it is shown to you before it exists and created once you say yes; in Xero and Wave it is drafted straight away.

3. 3

   Nothing goes to your customer. The invoice sits as a draft until you issue it yourself.

4. 4

   You receive a confirmation email containing a link to the invoice, plus an undo button if something doesn't look right.

FAQs

How do I create an invoice from an email?

Forward the email to your ForwardThis address with some simple instructions, like "draft an invoice to Fenwick & Moss for the fit-out: 4,200 joinery, 800 electrics, due in 30 days". ForwardThis puts the invoice together with the customer, the lines and the due date, and replies to confirm with a link. The first time, you will need a free ForwardThis account with your accounting app connected. It takes about 30 seconds.

Which accounting apps does it work with?

FreshBooks, Wave, Xero and QuickBooks. In FreshBooks, Wave and Xero the invoice is created as a draft, which your customer cannot see and which is absent from your books until you approve it yourself. QuickBooks has no draft state at all, so an invoice is live in your accounts the moment it exists: because of that, ForwardThis shows you the whole document there and records nothing until you say yes.

Will the invoice be sent to my customer?

No, and it cannot be. Nothing here emails your customer, approves, authorises or marks an invoice as sent, and no payment is recorded or taken. ForwardThis never moves money.

Can it put more than one line on the invoice?

In FreshBooks and QuickBooks, yes. Give the lines in your instructions, each with a description, a quantity and a price, and each one lands as its own line: FreshBooks prices a line from your own item list when the description matches an item and takes VAT line by line, and QuickBooks matches every line to one of your products or services. Xero and Wave write a single line, so give the total there, and a Wave line has to match one of your products, which ForwardThis can add first.

Can it read the amount off an attached PDF?

No. ForwardThis reads your email, not the inside of the attachment. Put the amounts, the lines and the due date in your message and they are used exactly as written. If a figure only exists inside a file, ForwardThis replies to ask for it rather than guessing at what a customer owes.

Can I change the invoice afterwards?

Yes, while it is still a draft, and that is another forward. FreshBooks can change the amount or the whole set of lines, the notes, the terms, the discount, the due date and the client it is addressed to, and refuses once the invoice has been sent, so a document already in a customer's hands is never rewritten. Xero and Wave can change the due date and the reference or memo. QuickBooks can change the dates and the memo and leaves the lines and the total exactly as they are.

Is this the same as emailing invoices into Xero or QuickBooks?

No, it is the other side of the ledger. A supplier's invoice is money you owe and records as a bill, and each of those has its own page. This one is the invoice you raise: money a customer owes you, drafted from the email that asked for it.

What happens to my email afterwards?

It gets deleted. ForwardThis holds your email briefly in case you press undo, then removes it completely. Nothing is stored long term.