How to Use Microsoft Access for Invoicing

By Emily Ediger

Keep track of your invoices using Access tables and reports.
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Keep track of your business transactions with a Microsoft Access database. Using tables and reports, you can log hours, wages and customer information, and display them with an invoice. Instead of manually creating a custom invoice each time you need to bill a client, Access can automatically generate invoices that you can view, print or email. The report you create will contain all invoices, so you won't have to search for documents whenever you need to review previous invoices.

Step 1

Create a "Customer" table that contains all of your customer or client information by clicking the "Table Design" button on the "Create" tab of the ribbon at the top of the page. The "Table Design" tool allows you to create a table from a blank template. Include fields for your customer's name, contact information and unique ID number.

Step 2

Create an "Invoice" table that contains information regarding each business transaction. Add fields for location, cost and other necessary details. To assign a customer to each transaction, add a "Customer Name" field, select "Lookup Wizard" as a data type and link to the "Customer" table.

Step 3

Select the customer's name field in the "Lookup Wizard" to display the names in the "Customer Name" field of your "Invoice" table. This step creates a relationship between the "Customer" and "Invoice" tables, and reduces data redundancy. Instead of typing in the customer's contact information for each business transaction, you store the information just once in the "Customer" table.

Step 4

Create an "Invoice" report by selecting the "Report Wizard" button from the "Create" tab on the ribbon. Select all of your fields in the "Invoice" table and customer contact information from the "Customers" table to display on the report. Select "Modify the Report's Design" on the last screen of the "Report Wizard" to change the layout of the report.

Step 5

Add a page header and footer, and include your company contact information, logo and invoice terms. Increase the size of the report's detail section to display only one transaction per page. Add subtotals and totals by placing calculated controls on your report and inputting an expression such as "=[BillableHours]*[Wage]."

Step 6

Save your report and name it with a descriptive title. Switch to "Print Preview" view to review the content and layout of your report.

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