Invoice items
Invoice items are used when creating customer invoices. This support article covers what they are, how to create invoices with them, how to manage them, and how to create reports using them.
In this article:
What is an invoice item?
Invoice items are goods or services you provide to customers, for which you invoice. This may include things such as:
Building hire:
- Room 1 (£30 per hour)
- Room 2 (£25 per hour)
- Main hall (£50 per hour)
- Lunch (£7.50 per person)
- Late packdown fee (£50)
Weddings:
- Church service (£500)
- Flowers (£150)
- Verger (£50)
Other items:
- Printing (2.5p per sheet)
- Bouncy castle (£50 per event)
Invoice items appear on the invoices you create.
Top Tip: It's common to want to include additional details for the customer, e.g.
12/08/2025 - Room 1 (9am -11am)
14/08/2025 - Room 2 (2pm - 4pm)
However, details like this should be included in the 'customer notes' section (not within invoice item names).
Each invoice item has a unit price associated with it.
When creating invoices, as well as selecting the invoice item, e.g. 'Room 1, £30 per hour', you can also enter an invoice quantity, e.g. '3' for the number of units used (which in this example is the number of hours).
Note: If you have goods or services that have different unit prices for different customers or scenarios (e.g. Room 2 has a regular unit price of £25 per hour, but £20 per hour for regular bookings of more than 4 hours), then you can either:
- create two separate invoice items for that resource, e.g. 'Room 2 (£25 per Hour)' and 'Room 2 (discount rate) (£20 per hour)'
- or, have one unit price for each resource, but apply an invoice discount.
Managing invoice items
Within Invoicing Settings, click the 'View Saved Items' button.
This will allow you to see saved invoice items.
Saved Invoice Items
On this screen, you will see your saved invoice items. Saved invoice items are goods and services that are used for multiple invoices, e.g. 'Room 1 (£30 per hour)'.
Good to know: When creating invoices, in addition to selecting saved invoice items, you can type free text to add new invoice items, including one-off invoice items. An example of a one-off invoice item could be something bespoke for a specific customer, e.g. 'Sale of 50 chairs'.
To view all items you have ever used, select the 'View All Invoice Items' button at the top of the screen.
To remove an invoice item from the 'Saved Invoice Items' list, click the 'Unsave Invoice Item' button ('x' symbol) to the right of the invoice item.
To turn an unsaved invoice item into a saved invoice item, in the 'All Invoice Items' screen, select the 'Save Invoice Item' button ('tick' symbol) to the right of the invoice item.
Top Tip: Invoice Items that are needed for future invoices, 'Room 1 (£30 per hour)' need to be 'saved invoice items'.
Note: It is not possible to delete invoice items that have been used in one or more invoices.
Editing invoice items
To edit an invoice item, click on the item row in the table.
Top Tip: The 'Quick Search' box at the top of the screen makes it easy to filter the list of items.
Within the 'Edit Item' pop-up, you can edit the name, unit price and add invoice item tags.
Find out more about invoice item tags later in this support article.
Note: It's not possible to edit an invoice item price if the item has been used within an invoice. It's also not possible to alter an invoice item name if it's been used for multiple invoices.
Instead, you will need to create a new invoice item. If you want to replace an invoice item with a new one, you can do this through the 'Edit Item' screen as highlighted below.
Note: For invoice items that have never been used, or haven't been used in over 2 years, ExpensePlus will offer a clean-up reminder. Please see the screenshots below.
Creating invoices using items
When creating invoices, in the 'Invoice Items' section, you need to select or add the invoice items you wish to include in the invoice.
To do this, simply click on the invoice item field and start typing the item name.
- If the item is in the list of saved invoice items, you can simply select it.
- If it isn't already in the list, then once you have typed the invoice item name, you can click the 'add' button at the top of the dropdown list (as shown below) to add the item name you have just entered.
The item name you have just entered will appear in the confirmation pop-up (see below). Simply enter the unit price, and then click 'Submit'.
Top Tip: For invoice items that you are going to want to use again for future invoices, tick the 'Add to Saved Items' checkbox.
To add rows to your invoice for other items used, click the 'Add Row' button within the create invoice screen.
Note: the 'Add Item' button provides an alternative way to add invoice items while creating invoices, using the free-text function.
Creating reports using invoice items
The Invoice Items Report allows you to generate reports for your different invoice items. This report is at the top of the invoicing screen.
The Invoice Items Report allows you to view income for your different invoice items by month.
You can also view quantities (the total number of units an invoice item has been used).
Good to know: any invoice items used within credit notes will appear as negatives within this report (ensuring the report provides an accurate picture of the actual quantities/amounts of each of the different invoice items shown).
Note: This report shows the quantities (and amounts) for each of the different invoice items used. The 'amount' shown is prior to any discounts that may have been applied to the invoices that have been created.
Invoice Item Tags
The invoice item reports will show all invoice items that have been used at least once during the financial year.
Note: To include invoice items that haven't been used, uncheck the 'Exclude Nil Balances' option at the top of this report.
To create a custom report of particular items, e.g. the items that relate to 'Room Hire', you can create one or more invoice item tags, which then can be applied to invoice items.
Then, within the report you can filter by item tag.
Invoice item tags can be set up within the Manage Invoice Item Tags screen, then applied to invoice items within the Invoice Items screen.
Note: You can apply more than one tag to an invoice item to help you generate customised invoice item reports.
To help you better understand the Invoicing module, please visit the module overview page here.