Free Invoice Generator, No Sign Up — Every Field Explained

TidyPapers' Invoice Generator lives on the homepage at tidypapers.com/. There is no sign-up, no account, and no watermark — you fill in a form, watch a real invoice preview update as you type, and download a PDF when you're done. This guide goes through every field, option, and button on the page so nothing is a guess.

Before you start: what's saved and what isn't

Everything you type is saved automatically to your own browser as you go — see Setting Up Your Business Details on TidyPapers for the full picture of what carries over between visits (and what doesn't carry over to TidyPapers' other tools).

Step 1 — Set your currency and accent color

At the top of the invoice, two settings apply to the whole document:

1. Currency — a dropdown labeled "Currency," offering: € Euro (EUR), $ US Dollar (USD), £ British Pound (GBP). This changes the currency symbol used throughout the invoice and its totals.
2. Accent color — four clickable swatches: Rust, Blue, Green, Ink. Picks the color used for the invoice's headings and total.

Step 2 — Fill in "From" (your details)

1. Logo — click the circular button (shows your initials until you add a logo) to upload a PNG or JPEG image. A small "×" appears once a logo is set, to remove it.
2. Your name / business — text field.
3. Your address — multi-line text box (street, city, country).
4. Your email — text field.
5. VAT / Tax ID — text field, explicitly optional.

Step 3 — Fill in "Bill to" (your client's details)

1. Client name — text field.
2. Client address — multi-line text box.

Step 4 — Invoice details (the meta box)

1. No. — the invoice number field, editable text.
2. Issued — a date picker for the issue date.
3. Due — a date picker for the due date.
4. Terms — a text field for payment terms, with the placeholder example "Net 14" (meaning payment due 14 days after the issue date — you can type any wording you prefer here, it's a free-text field, not a dropdown).

Above these, a "Balance due" figure updates live as you fill in line items below.

Step 5 — Add line items

Each line item row has:

1. Description — text field, e.g. "Homepage design."
2. Details (optional) — a smaller sub-description text field under the main description.
3. Qty / hrs — depends on which billing mode you pick for that row (see next point): a quantity number, or an hours value in h:mm format like 1:30.
4. Rate — the per-unit or hourly rate, a number field.
5. Amount — calculated automatically from Qty/hrs × Rate; not editable directly.
6. A remove button (×) to delete that row.

Each row can be switched between billing modes — the row offers Qty, or Time (labelled options in the row's own mode toggle) — Qty mode multiplies a plain quantity by a unit price, Time mode multiplies hours (entered as h:mm, e.g. 1:30 for one hour thirty minutes) by an hourly rate.

Click "+ Line item" at the bottom of the table to add another row. There's no fixed limit shown on how many rows you can add.

Step 6 — Totals: discount and taxes

1. Subtotal — calculated automatically from your line items; not editable.
2. Discount — has its own mode toggle: % (percent) or the currency symbol (flat amount), with a number field for the value.
3. Tax rows — each tax row has its own Tax label text field (placeholder example "VAT") and a rate. You can add multiple tax rows (for example, a national VAT plus a separate local tax), and choose whether they display Combined (summed into one line) or Split (each tax shown on its own line) via a display-mode toggle.
4. Total due — calculated automatically from subtotal, discount, and taxes; the figure the client is expected to pay.

Step 7 — Notes

A free-text Notes box, with a placeholder example: "Thank you for your business. Please pay by bank transfer using reference [your invoice number]." Use it for payment instructions, bank details, or a thank-you line — anything you want printed at the bottom of the invoice above the footer.

Step 8 — Optional: show a tax summary on the invoice

A checkbox labeled "Show my-tax summary on invoice (informational)" pulls in your current numbers from the Freelancer Tax Dashboard (income tax, social insurance, etc. — whatever components you've set up there) and prints them as an extra reference block on the invoice. This is informational only: turning it on or off never changes the invoice's Total due. If you haven't set up the Tax Dashboard yet, this section will be empty or absent — see Freelancer Tax Dashboard.

Step 9 — Download or clear

Three actions are available:

1. "📄 Start your invoice →" — visible before you've entered anything, to begin.
2. "📄 Download PDF →" — generates and downloads the invoice as a PDF file, matching exactly what's shown in the live preview.
3. "🗑️ Clear all →" — wipes everything you've entered on this page and resets the form. This does not affect any other TidyPapers tool's saved data.

Where this invoice's data goes next

Once downloaded, this invoice is a standalone PDF file — TidyPapers keeps no copy of it anywhere except in your own browser's local storage for that page. One connection worth knowing: the invoice you build here automatically logs itself into the Freelancer Tax Dashboard (/tax-dashboard/) under the month matching its issue date — see How Your Data Moves Between TidyPapers Tools for exactly how that works and what else is and isn't connected.