Document numbering

Written By Timothy Murenzi

Last updated About 14 hours ago

Who this is for: studios juggling multiple projects who want every Estimate, Invoice, or PO to declare which project it belongs to in the number itself.

The toggle

Each project has a "Use project code in document numbers" checkbox under Project Information. When on, every Estimate / Invoice / Purchase Order created on that project from that point forward picks up the new pattern.

The format

With code ACME and the toggle on:

  • Estimate → EST-ACME-001, EST-ACME-002, …

  • Invoice → INV-ACME-001, …

  • Purchase Order → PO-ACME-001, …

With the toggle off (or no project code set):

  • Falls back to the studio-wide sequence: EST-0001, INV-0001, PO-0001.

Numbering scope

  • The number after the code is per-project (EST-ACME-001 and EST-BETA-001 can coexist).

  • The number before any prefix (the studio sequence) is independent and keeps incrementing in the background — that's still what shows on docs from projects without the toggle on.

What happens when…

Scenario

Result

You toggle the setting on mid-project

Existing docs keep their old numbers. New docs use the new pattern.

You toggle it off mid-project

New docs revert to the studio pattern (EST-0042). Old EST-ACME-* docs keep their numbers.

You change the project code while the toggle is on

New docs use the new code. Old docs keep the old code.

Two projects with the same name

The code differentiates them in the doc number — that's the main reason to use it.

How the numbers are computed

  • The studio sequence (EST-0001) walks every doc in your studio and picks max(trailing digits) + 1 — including archived docs — so a deleted number is never reused.

  • The project-scoped sequence (EST-ACME-001) walks every doc on that project and does the same.

Common questions

  • "My next-number suggestion looks wrong" — check whether the toggle changed recently. The suggestion is recomputed live from existing docs.

  • "Can I manually type a number that breaks the pattern?" — yes; the field is editable. You'll get a "number already exists" error if you collide with one in the studio.

  • "Does QuickBooks see the project code?" — yes. The entire document number (INV-ACME-001) gets pushed as DocNumber on the QBO Invoice/Estimate, so it shows up in your QBO register exactly as the client sees it.