Yes. If you invoice before the work starts, for example for a fixed-price job paid up front, you can turn the invoice into a project. Each line item becomes a task in the new project.

  1. Open the invoice and choose Actions › Convert to Project.

    A sent invoice for Fernleaf Media, with the Actions button between Edit and PDF

  2. In Create Project from Invoice, check the Project Title. It starts as the invoice's subject. The project is created for the invoice's customer.

  3. Choose any Additional Options (see below) and what the task titles should contain, then click Create.

The new project opens. You're added as a member, along with anyone set to join every new project.

The options

  • Put Total Amount into Project Budget: the invoice total before tax becomes the project budget, and the project's Budget Type is set to Total Project Fees.
  • Put Line Item Quantities into Task Estimated Hours: each line's quantity becomes its task's estimated hours. Use it when the quantities are hours.
  • Create new Section in Project for each Inventory Item Type: tasks are grouped into a section for each item type, such as "Consulting" or "Design". Without it, all the tasks go into one section.
  • Task Titles in the new project should contain: Line Item Type & Description (the default), Line Item Type or Line Item Description.

Each task also gets the line's description, and starts as Not Started.

Good to know

  • Who can do it: you need to be able to open invoices (Administrator or Finance Manager) and to create projects (Administrator, Portfolio Manager or Project Manager). A Finance Manager without a project role doesn't see Convert to Project. It's also hidden when the Projects module is switched off in Settings › General.
  • The invoice isn't linked to the new project. Project reports only count invoice lines that are linked to a project. To link them, switch on Enable Project Invoice Link in Settings › Invoice & Bill Settings, then edit the invoice and choose the project under Link project on each line.
  • Starting from a quote instead? You can also create a project from an estimate.

To plan and run the work from here, see getting started with projects.