Create Recurring Billing from a Template Bill

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Create Recurring Billing from a Template Bill

Use a Recurring Template Bill to start one schedule for a client, or bulk create the same schedule for many clients at once from Bills & Payments.

Before you start

  • You need at least one active Recurring Template Bill with line items. Create these under Templates - Template Bills. Choose Recurring billing as the bill type. Standard (one-off) Template Bills do not appear in this picker.

  • Owner, Admin, and User roles can create recurring billing if they are not in read-only mode. Read-only staff will not see New Recurring Bill or Options.

  • This article is for OnboardMe Recurring Billing. It is not for Xero Repeating Invoices.

For how to build a Recurring Template Bill, see Create and use Template Bills.

Single schedule: start from a Template Bill

When you create one Recurring Bill, you can optionally load a Recurring Template Bill. Frequency, due days, bill details, branding theme, send options, and line items are filled in. You can then change anything before you save.

From Bills & Payments

  1. Open Bills & Payments from the main menu.

  2. Select the Recurring Billing tab.

  3. Click New Recurring Bill.

From a client record

  1. Open the client.

  2. Go to the Bills tab.

  3. In Recurring billing, click New Recurring Bill.

Apply the template

  1. In the New Recurring Billing modal, choose a client if you opened from Bills & Payments.

  2. Under Start from Template Bill (optional), select a Recurring Template Bill. The list only includes active recurring templates.

  3. If that template has more than one schedule, Which schedule appears. Choose Schedule 1, Schedule 2, and so on.

  4. Review and edit frequency, start date, end date (optional), due days, bill details, line items, and billing options as needed.

  5. Click Save.

Placeholders such as [Month] and [ClientName] in bill details are filled in when each bill is generated. See Bill Narration placeholders.

The Template Bill picker is only shown when you create a new schedule. It is not shown when you edit an existing one.

Bulk create from a template

Use bulk create when many clients should get the same Recurring Template Bill (same frequency, amounts, and line items), each with their own schedule. You pick the template and dates first, then the clients. Line items are taken from the template as they are. After create, you can still open any client's schedule and edit it.

You can create for up to 300 clients in one run.

Step 1: Choose the template and dates

  1. Open Bills & Payments and select the Recurring Billing tab.

  2. Click Options, then Bulk create from template.

  3. In Bulk create from template, select a Template Bill.

  4. If the template has more than one schedule, choose Which schedule.

  5. Check the preview (template name, frequency, and number of line items).

  6. Set Start date (today or a future date). Set End date only if the schedules should stop on a date.

  7. Click Choose clients.

Step 2: Choose clients

  1. Search by name, email, or code, or filter by entity type, group, partner, manager, office, and (if you use them) a custom field.

  2. The list defaults to Company clients when that entity type exists. Change Entity type if you need trusts, individuals, or another type.

  3. Tick the clients you want, or use the header checkbox to select all clients currently shown.

  4. Confirm the selected count, then click Create for X clients.

Each selected client gets their own active Recurring Billing schedule. The schedules are not attached to a proposal.

After you create

  • If every client succeeds, you will see a success message such as Created recurring billing for X clients.

  • If some fail, OnboardMe still keeps the ones that worked and tells you how many failed. Open those clients and create or fix their schedules individually if needed.

  • New schedules appear on the Recurring Billing tab. Click a row to edit dates, amounts, or line items for that client.

Which option should I use?

  • Single Recurring Bill from a template: one client, and you want to tweak amounts, dates, or lines before saving.

  • Bulk create from template: the same template and dates for many clients, with no per-client edits until after create.

Tips

  • Name Recurring Template Bills clearly (for example Monthly bookkeeping or Annual tax review) so staff pick the right one in bulk.

  • If the Template Bill list is empty, create an active Recurring Template Bill first, and make sure it has at least one line item.

  • Bulk create does not replace existing schedules. If a client already has recurring billing, they will get another schedule.

  • This is separate from Client Subscriptions recoup billing and from Xero Repeating Invoices.

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