Bulk invoicing

Bulk invoicing lets you create many invoices in one go. You pick the jobs, preview how they will be grouped, then SortScape creates the invoices in the background.

It works with SortScape built-in invoicing, Xero, and QuickBooks Online.

You still use the usual Invoice button when you want one invoice for jobs that share the same billing contact, and you want to edit line items before you submit. See Invoicing customers.

Who can use it

• You must be logged in as an Administrator. Employees and contractors cannot create invoices.
• Invoicing must be set up for your account: SortScape built-in invoicing, Xero or QuickBooks Online. There is nothing else to turn on.
• Requires invoicing must be on for each job you want to bill.

Invoice completed jobs from Invoicing

Use this when the work is already marked complete.

1. Open Invoicing.
2. Select Completed (Xero or QuickBooks Online) or Jobs pending invoicing (SortScape built-in invoicing). Do not use the Invoices tab: that lists invoices you have already created.
3. Tick the jobs you want. You can tick jobs that belong to different billing contacts. Use Select all to tick every job shown on the current page.
4. Click Bulk invoice. The button shows how many jobs you have selected, for example Bulk invoice (6).
5. Review the preview, then click Create 1 invoice (the button shows the count, for example Create 7 invoices).

The usual Invoice button still creates one invoice for a single billing contact. If you tick jobs for more than one contact, that button stays disabled and tells you to use Bulk invoice instead.

Select all only covers the jobs on the page you are looking at. If the list is split across pages, repeat this for each page, or filter the list first so the jobs you want are on one page.

Invoice jobs from the schedule

Use this when you want to invoice the jobs in a job run without going to Invoicing first. Incomplete jobs are allowed here: SortScape marks them complete when the invoices are created.

1. Open Schedule.
2. Select the jobs in a job run. See Bulk selecting jobs on the schedule.
3. Click Actions… at the bottom of the run.
4. Click Invoice.
5. Review the preview, then click Create 1 invoice (the button shows the count, for example Create 7 invoices).

Invoice is unavailable if any selected job is already invoiced, skipped, or a note. Deselect those jobs first.

This is not a way to bill future work in advance while leaving the jobs incomplete. Incomplete jobs in the selection are marked complete on their run date when the invoices are created. If you need to invoice one job without marking it complete, open that job and use ⋮ → Create invoice. See Can I invoice customers before work is complete?.

Review the invoices before you create them

The Bulk invoice dialog shows one row per invoice that will be created.

One invoice per

Choose how jobs are combined:

• Contact: one invoice per billing contact. Jobs at different properties can share an invoice when they bill to the same person.
• Property: one invoice per property.
• Job: one invoice per job.

An invoice can only ever have one billing contact, so Property never merges jobs that bill to different people.

The default follows the Group by setting you last used on the pending list.

Email, text, and attachments

Tick Email invoices and Text invoices if you want SortScape to send each invoice as soon as it is created. Defaults come from Settings → Messaging → Invoice messages. Contacts without an email address or mobile number are skipped when sending.

Text messages are not available if you invoice through QuickBooks Online.

Tick Include attachments to add each job’s photos and files to its invoice. This checkbox only appears when the selected jobs have attachments. It defaults from Automatically add job attachments to new invoices (see Automatically add job attachments to new invoices). Unlike the single Create invoice form, you cannot pick individual files here: it is all of the job attachments, or none.

Exclude a job

Expand an invoice row to see the jobs on it. Untick a job to leave it off this run. It stays on Jobs pending invoicing.

Xero and QuickBooks contacts

If a billing contact is not yet linked to a customer in Xero or QuickBooks Online, the preview handles it the same way as a single invoice:

• No matching customer found: SortScape creates a new one.
• A possible match is found: choose Link to that customer, Create new contact, or Skip, don’t invoice yet (the default).
• SortScape could not check for duplicates: the same choices stay on screen so a possible duplicate is never created automatically.

Skipped invoices stay on the pending list.

What happens after you click Create

The dialog closes straight away. A notification follows the run.

• SortScape built-in invoicing: the notification finishes when the invoices have been created, and tells you how many were created (and skipped, if any).
• Xero or QuickBooks Online: the notification says it is creating invoices in that system, and only finishes once Xero or QuickBooks has accepted them.

The pending list or schedule refreshes when the run finishes. If some invoices fail, those jobs return to Jobs pending invoicing. Successful invoices stay created.

If a Xero or QuickBooks invoice fails to sync, the notification includes the error and what to do next. You can also check the invoicing screen for failure details after a reload.

If the error is You have reached the limit of invoices you can approve, the Xero organisation has used its monthly invoice allowance. See You have reached the limit of invoices you can approve.

You can only have one bulk invoicing run in progress at a time. Wait for it to finish before starting another.

Incomplete jobs (schedule only)

When you start bulk invoicing from the schedule, the preview warns you if some jobs are not complete yet. Those jobs are marked complete on their run date in the same step as creating the invoice. If that invoice is skipped or fails, the job is left incomplete.

Time-and-materials jobs with no hours logged yet may show as Skipped: no billable items. Log the time (or add invoice items) before you include those jobs.

Why an invoice might be skipped

The preview shows a skip reason on any invoice that will not be created:

• No billing contact
• No billable items (nothing to charge, including a time-and-materials job with no logged hours)
• Already invoiced
• Not linked to a Xero or QuickBooks contact (until you choose link, create new, or skip)

A problem with one invoice does not stop the rest of the batch.

Things to know

• You cannot edit line items, notes, due dates, or the invoice date in the bulk preview. Line items come from each job. The invoice date is always today. Use the single Invoice or Create invoice flow if you need to change those details first.
• You cannot change the billing contact on a bulk invoice. Fix the property’s billing contact before you start, or invoice that job on its own. See Changing a property billing contact.
• With SortScape built-in invoicing, new bulk invoices use the Customer view defaults from Settings → Invoicing → Invoices. You cannot change them in the bulk preview. See Choosing what customers see on quotes and invoices.
• You can include up to 200 jobs in one run.
• Totals in the preview match the invoices that will be created. They can differ from the estimates shown on the pending list (for example after hour rounding and tax).
• Once a job is invoiced, it is locked. See Editing time or line items after a job has been invoiced.

If you do not see Bulk invoice or the schedule Invoice action, check that you are logged in as an administrator and that invoicing is set up for your account.