Number your clients, invoices and quotes

To Bill gives a unique number to every client, invoice and quote. You choose its format, for example INV-000042 or FA-2026-000042, and the number to continue from if you are coming from other software.

Choose a format

1. Open Settings › Numbering. The page has three parts: Clients, Invoice and Quote Settings.

   

2. Click a format. Each card shows an example with your next number, and the Preview line confirms the result.

3. Click Save, at the top right.

Format	Invoice	Quote	Client
Simple	INV-000042	DEV-000042	000042
With year	INV-2026-000042	DEV-2026-000042	C-2026-000042
Compact	INV2026000042	OFF2026000042	C2026000042
Year/Month	2026/10-000042	2026/10-000042	2026/10-000042
Classic	FACT-000042	QU-000042	CL-000042
With month	FA-202610-000042	QU-202610-000042
With prefix			CLI-000042

The number always has six digits, padded with zeros. The year and month are those of the day the document receives its number, that is, the day it is created.

The counter does not restart at 1 each year

The counter continues from one year to the next: with the With year format, the last invoice of 2026 may be INV-2026-000187 and the first of 2027 INV-2027-000188. To Bill never resets a counter, so that two documents can never carry the same number.

Choose the next number

Under the formats, the counter shows the number of the next document: Client counter, Next invoice number and Next quote number (1).

• You can raise the counter, for example to continue the numbering of your old software: if your last invoice was 1250, enter 1251.
• You cannot lower it below the highest number already used plus one. The numbers of cancelled and imported documents stay reserved.
• The client counter only changes new clients: existing clients keep their number.
• If you delete the last draft created, its number becomes available again.

If the number entered is too low, To Bill explains why: The next number can't be lower than…

Create your own format

1. In the part you want, click Custom.

   

2. Build the format with the variable buttons (the number, the year, the month) and free text: type it in Add custom text..., then click Add. Each element appears as a tag; the cross removes it.

3. Check the Preview line, then click Save.

The number is mandatory in a format: without it, To Bill shows Document number is required to ensure unique references. A format has at most 200 characters.

Changing format during the year

You can change the format at any time. Documents already created keep their number; only new ones take the new format. The counter, for its part, continues.

Credit notes have their own numbering, which is not set here. See Credit notes.

Legal basis

Swiss law does not impose a number format. It requires every entry to be based on a voucher and the records to be traceable: Art. 957a para. 2 no. 2 and 5 CO. A unique number per invoice makes it possible to find each voucher.