> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Automatic billing
> Automatic billing collects each account's charges into an invoice on a schedule.
Automatic billing turns the charges waiting on each [account](/docs/accounts) into an invoice when the account's cycle comes around. You decide how far Harness goes: leave invoicing to you, make a draft to check, or send the invoice itself. Either way, the account's [next bill](/docs/accounts#next-bill) shows what's coming before it happens.
## Billing cycles
Every account bills on a cycle: daily, weekly on Mondays, or monthly on the 1st. Lessons bill once you [mark attendance](/docs/lessons#mark-attendance), so on a monthly cycle, October's lessons arrive on the November 1 invoice. Set the studio's cycle with **Default billing cycle** in **Settings → Invoicing**, or give one account its own with **Billing cycle** when you edit it. Accounts left on **Studio default** follow the studio's cycle, including when you change it later. Invoices can't go out every two weeks, but a [recurring charge](/docs/recurring-charges) can repeat every two weeks.
## How much Harness does
The **Billing automation** setting in **Settings → Invoicing** decides what happens when an account's cycle closes. It applies to every account.
* **Manual**: Harness makes no invoices. Charges wait on the account until you invoice by hand.
* **Draft for review**: Harness makes a draft for each account and leaves it on the **Draft** tab of **Finances → Invoices**. Nothing reaches families until you send it. New studios start here.
* **Full auto**: Harness makes each invoice and emails it to the family on the close day.
**Draft for review** and **Full auto** are on the Professional plan (see [Your plan](/docs/your-plan)). On the Hobby plan, **Manual** stays selected and the other two show a lock. Whatever you choose, the [Next bill](/docs/accounts#next-bill) column on **Finances → Accounts** shows what each account is about to be billed, and you can bill an account early from there.
## What Harness drafts
An automatic invoice collects everything waiting on the account: lessons you've marked, [recurring charges](/docs/recurring-charges), and [extra charges](/docs/charges). Harness marks it with a robot icon in the invoice list, and you open, edit, and send it like any invoice you made. Its terms, payment instructions, and reminders come from your [invoice defaults](/docs/invoices#invoice-defaults). If you leave a draft unsent, the next cycle's charges join it, so an account never piles up drafts.
## Turn on Full auto
**Full auto** sends each account's invoice on its close day, with no review step. In **Settings → Invoicing**, choose **Full auto**, click **Save changes**, and confirm with **Switch to full auto**. Drafts already waiting don't send right away; each goes out at its account's next close.
At **Full auto**, invoices email families without you seeing them first. Check the [Next bill](/docs/accounts#next-bill) column before a close day if you want to know what's going out.
If an invoice can't go out, like when no one on the account can receive email, it stays a draft and your [inbox](/docs/inbox-and-notifications) says why. If an email fails, Harness tries again for a few days, then tells you so you can [send it again](/docs/invoices#when-an-invoice-cant-send) or void it. Harness never charges a family's card on its own: they pay each invoice from its pay link (see [Online payments](/docs/online-payments)).
## What your families see
Families hear from Harness only when an invoice is sent. At **Full auto**, everyone on the account gets the invoice email on the close day, with a **Pay Now** button when online payments are on. At the other levels, they get nothing until you send it. Drafts never show in the [student portal](/docs/student-portal).
## FAQ
At **Draft for review**, Harness only makes the draft. Send it from the **Draft** tab of **Finances → Invoices**, or [turn on Full auto](#turn-on-full-auto). At **Full auto**, check your inbox: an invoice Harness couldn't send waits as a draft.
An automatic draft that isn't sent keeps collecting charges at each close. Last month's draft picked up this month's charges before it went out.
Yes. Lessons bill only once you mark attendance, so the invoice holds just the lessons you taught. For monthly tuition, lower **First charge** when you [add the recurring charge](/docs/recurring-charges#set-one-up).
Lessons bill once attendance is marked. A lesson marked after the account's close waits for the next bill.
A charge you take off a draft goes back to the account's next bill. To keep it off for good, [void the charge](/docs/charges#change-or-void-a-charge).
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