To make things easier for you and your clients, Productive allows you to automate the naming of line items and customize how billable time will be displayed on invoices by adding dynamic fields to the mix.
Dynamic fields are placeholders that automatically populate with relevant information, such as project names, service descriptions, or time entry details.
Any fields and information you input will be visible in the Description section of the invoice.
Adding Fields
To add a dynamic field to your line item description, click on the plus sign in the "Display time as" or "Display expense as" field and a list of options will appear.
Note that you need to have expenses logged on a budget to be able to customize the Expense input.
Useful Tips for Adding Fields
You can start adding fields to the description line by typing the "@" sign and then proceeding to write "person" or "project" or any of the fields you'd like to add.
The maximum number of fields you can add is 5.
Using the Uninvoiced Time and Expenses Method
If you are invoicing using the first method (Uninvoiced Time and Expenses), you can use and combine the following information for the "Display time as" (service description) section:
Project name
Budget name
Service name
Service description
Section name
Service type
Task title
Task number
Person (responsible for the time entry)
Time entry (note added while logging time)
Period (day, week, month, quarter, year)
For incorporating expenses, you can choose to add:
Expense (description)
Project name
Budget name
Service type
Service
Service description
Section name
Person (logging the expense)
Period (day, week, month, quarter, year)
You can also enter any freehand text to further personalize the description.
Using the Total or Remaining Budget Amount Method
If you use the second invoicing method (Total or Remaining budget amount), you can automate the naming of the line items using the following options (and as before, you can add your text as well):
Service name
Service description
Section name
Budget name
Project name
Service type
For expenses, you can add:
Expense (description)
Budget name
Project name
Service type
Service name
Service description
Section name
Using the Percentage of the Total Budget Method
When choosing the third invoicing method (a percentage of the total budget), alongside your input, you can incorporate:
Service name
Service description
Section name
Budget name
Project name
Service type
For invoicing a portion of the expenses, you can add:
Expense (description)
Budget name
Project name
Service type
Service name
Service description
Section name
Automatic Invoice Settings
Productive can save you time by automatically preselecting invoice settings based on the previous invoice drafted or sent to the same client.
This feature helps you avoid manually selecting the same settings again, making your invoicing process smoother and more efficient!
What's Copied?
Preselected settings from the previous invoice for the same client: invoicing method, subsidiary, document template, tax rates, and "Display line items as" information.
What Will You See?
A banner saying "Invoice settings applied from the previous invoice sent to X" ("X" refers to the client company name).
Clicking on the previous invoice hyperlink from the banner opens up a new tab in your browser, showing you the previous invoice in question without losing any work on the invoice you are drafting.
Attaching a Timesheet Report to the Invoice
After saving your draft and finalizing the invoice, if you want to send your client a timesheet report for the invoiced time entries, select "Send to client" and choose the "Attach related time entries .pdf file" option while in the email editor.
Note: Attaching related time entries will only be available when the Uninvoiced Time and Expenses invoicing method has been selected for the invoice.
Tip: Even before finalizing and sending the invoice, you can download the timesheet report while creating your draft by navigating to the three-dot menu in the upper right and selecting the "Timesheet PDF" option.
Using Dynamic Fields in the Email Editor
Dynamic fields can be used to personalize your invoice email templates and can be utilized when sending invoices via email directly from the Invoice module (by selecting the "Send to client" option within the invoice, you'll access the email editor).
To see which fields are supported, first click on "Edit" to bring up the text editor.
You will then notice that certain parts of the email have changed in appearance.
Instead of plain text, they are now shown in {curly} brackets. By clicking on the Information icon (ℹ️), a list of currently supported fields in Productive will be displayed.
Incorporating Dynamic Fields into Your Invoice Notes
To enhance your invoice notes with dynamic fields, simply click the plus sign located in the upper-right corner of the note input box.
This feature allows you to insert any custom field information you've created and attached to your invoice, as well as any freehand text you wish to include.
When the invoice is generated as a PDF, these dynamic fields will automatically populate with the relevant information, eliminating the need for manual data entry.
