Daily Invoice Maker
Training Guide

Three ways to move your data. A .dim backup file is a manual snapshot you control. WiFi Sync (below) pushes straight to your Windows PC on the same network. For hands-off syncing between devices, use Google Drive Sync — Chapter 14.

1. Open Backup & Sync from the menu.
2. Tap Export Data — this creates a .dim file containing everything.
3. Save it somewhere off the device: Google Drive, email it to yourself, or copy to a USB stick.

When you import a backup you get two choices, and they do very different things:

• Restore — makes your data match the file exactly. Each section in the file is cleared and rebuilt from it. Anything you added since that backup is gone. Use this to roll back.
• Merge — keeps what you have and adds or updates from the file. Use this to combine two sets of data.

You do not have to back up everything at once. Export just one section — service log, customers, invoices — when you only need to move that piece to another device or hand it to your accountant.

The WiFi Sync feature lets you spend your day in the field working on your phone — creating invoices, adding job notes, logging service visits — then sync everything to your Windows or Mac desktop the moment you get home. It works in both directions: changes made on the desktop also sync back to the phone.

1. Both devices must be on the same WiFi network (your home or office WiFi).
2. The desktop app runs a local server that your phone connects to directly — no internet required.
3. Data is merged using timestamps — the most recently edited version of each record wins.
4. Photos and images are always merged from both sides and never deleted.

1. Open Daily Invoice Maker on your Windows or Mac computer.
2. Click Settings in the left sidebar.
3. Click the Data & Backups tab.
4. Under WiFi Sync, click Generate Sync QR.
5. A QR code appears on screen. It is valid for 10 minutes.

Light mode — QR code ready to scan

Dark mode — same QR, same steps

1. Open Daily Invoice Maker on your Android or iPhone.
2. Tap Settings → Data & Backups.
3. Tap Sync with Desktop.
4. Tap Scan QR Code — your camera opens automatically.
5. Point your phone at the QR code on the desktop screen.
6. The sync begins immediately once the QR code is detected.

Mobile — tap Scan QR Code and point at the desktop screen

1. The phone shows "Connecting to desktop…" then "Merging data…".
2. When done, a summary shows how many records were synced.
3. The desktop updates automatically — you'll see "Sync complete!" on both screens.
4. Refresh any open pages on the desktop to see the new data.

If your phone's camera isn't available or permission is denied, use the manual entry option:

1. On the desktop sync screen, note the IP address, Port, and Code.
2. On the phone, tap Enter IP address manually below the camera button.
3. Type in the IP address, port (usually 3000), and sync code.
4. Tap Connect Manually.

Everything in your database is included in every sync:

• Customers
• Invoices, line items, and attached photos
• Expenses and scanned receipts
• Transactions
• Estimates and quotes
• Service log entries
• Recurring invoice schedules
• Settings (business info, templates, preferences)

Google Drive Sync keeps your devices in step automatically. It runs entirely through your own Google Drive: there is no account to create with us, no subscription, and no server of ours in the middle. Your data goes from your device to your Drive and back.

1. Open Backup & Sync then Google Drive Sync.
2. Tap Connect and sign in to Google. Use the same Google account on every device — that shared account is what links them together.
3. Approve access when Google asks.
4. Give the device a name you will recognise, like Desktop or Work Phone. It appears in sync messages so you always know which device did what.

Tap Sync now when you finish on one device, then Sync now on the other when you pick it up. Only what actually changed is uploaded, so a normal sync is small and fast — photos already in the cloud are never sent twice.

The Google Drive Sync screen always shows where that device stands — you do not have to press anything to find out:

• Green dot — up to date with the cloud.
• Amber dot — the cloud has newer changes; tap Sync now to pull them.
• Grey dot — cannot reach Google Drive right now (offline or signed out).

Underneath, it shows what that device last did and when — for example “Last sync: Pushed your changes to the cloud (v20) · Today 7:17 PM”. This is saved on the device, so it is still there tomorrow.

• Invoices, their line items and attached photos
• Customers, estimates, expenses and receipts, transactions
• Service logs, mileage, time entries, products, scheduled visits
• Service agreements and templates

Your app settings, license key, and saved email passwords stay on each device and are never uploaded.

Edits to different records merge automatically. If both devices changed the same record, the app asks which version to keep rather than guessing. If they ever drift badly out of step, you can force them back onto one copy:

1. On the device with the correct data, tap Make this device the master.
2. On the other device, tap Replace this device from the cloud, then close and reopen it.
3. Both devices are re-anchored to the same starting point and normal syncing resumes.

Drive keeps recent snapshots. Restore earlier version lists them by date, so you can go back if something was deleted or imported by mistake.

1. Log in to your bank and download your statement as CSV, OFX or QFX.
2. In the app open Transactions then Import, and choose the file.
3. The app detects the format automatically and shows you every row before anything is saved.
4. Review: set each row as Income, Taxable Expense, or Non-Taxable, and assign categories. Bulk-apply a category to many rows at once.
5. Confirm the import.

Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, US Bank, Citibank, Discover, American Express, Navy Federal, USAA, Synchrony store cards, PayPal (CSV and PDF), Venmo, Stripe and Square all have dedicated support. Any bank works via OFX/QFX or a generic CSV with date, description and amount columns.

If you re-import a statement you already loaded, the app spots it and offers Import Missing Only — it skips rows you already have and adds just the new ones. There is also a duplicate checker under Transactions that finds accidental double entries by date, amount and description.

A service agreement locks in the scope, the price, and the cancellation terms before the work starts. Open Agreements then New Agreement and the app walks you through four steps: customer, terms, the agreement body, then review.

• Start from a template — five ready-made starters are built in, covering common service arrangements.
• Let the AI draft it — describe the job in plain language and it writes a full agreement you can then edit.
• Write it from scratch — a formatting editor with headings, bold and lists.

Placeholders like the customer name, address, price and dates fill themselves in from the record, so you are not retyping details you already entered.

1. Hand the customer the phone and have them sign on screen with a finger, or photograph a signed paper copy.
2. The signature is stamped into the agreement with the date and time.
3. Send it as a PDF by email, text, or WhatsApp — or print it.

From any signed agreement: Duplicate for an exact copy with a new number, Use for new customer to keep the body and blank the customer, or Renew to push the dates forward a year and clear the signature — one tap to draft next year’s contract. Save any agreement as your own reusable template.

Most service businesses know their revenue but not their effective hourly rate. The Time Tracker closes that gap: clock in when you arrive, clock out when you leave, and the app divides what you invoiced by the hours you actually worked.

1. Open Time Tracker, pick the customer, and tap Clock In.
2. A live timer runs. Use the quick actions to switch to travel between jobs or take a break without stopping your day.
3. Tap Clock Out when the visit ends.

Visits count as billable by default; travel and breaks do not. Every entry has a one-tap toggle, so a job that genuinely ran door-to-door can be flipped to billable without opening anything.

The analytics section shows your effective hourly rate overall and per customer — this month’s invoiced amount divided by billable hours. Set an optional target rate on a customer and the app shows you the gap: green when you are at or above it, red when an account is quietly costing you money.

1. Open Mileage then Add Trip. Set the date and pick a customer to tie the miles to a specific job.
2. Enter the miles directly, or enter start and end odometer readings and let the app work out the distance.
3. Short on time? Tap the camera icon and photograph your dashboard — the AI scanner reads the odometer number off the picture so you can capture it at the vehicle.
4. Add the purpose and the start/end locations. That is what substantiates the deduction if you are ever asked.

Each trip saves the mileage rate that applied on the day you logged it. When the IRS changes the standard rate, your older trips keep their original value instead of being silently re-priced — exactly what your accountant wants to see.

1. Open Products then Add Product — for example Chlorine Tablets 25lb or Filter Replacement.
2. Set the price you charge. This is what lands on the invoice line.
3. Optionally record your cost — what you pay for it. Kept for your own margin reference; it never appears on anything the customer sees.
4. While adding a line item to an invoice or estimate, pick the product instead of typing. Description and price fill in automatically, and you can still adjust that one line.

Changing a product’s price affects only future line items. Invoices you already issued keep the price they were written at, so your history never shifts under you.

1. Open Schedule and add a visit — customer, date, start time.
2. Set it to repeat weekly, biweekly or monthly for regular accounts. Recurring routes are grouped in their own panel so a long repeat list does not bury your one-off jobs.
3. Turn on a reminder and choose how far ahead you want it — 30 minutes, an hour, whatever suits.

After the visit, log what you did in the Service Log, track the hours in the Time Tracker, and bill it from Invoices — or let a recurring schedule invoice it for you automatically.

Every photo you take or attach — receipts, invoice and estimate photos, service-log images, odometer shots, signatures, your logo — is shrunk before it is saved. A modern phone camera produces 3 to 5 MB per shot; stored full size, a few hundred of those would exhaust the space an app is allowed. You do not need to do anything: it is automatic.

In Backup & Sync there is a Shrink older / imported photos button. It is only for photos that arrived already large — restored from an old backup, or created by a much older version of the app. It re-checks stored photos and shrinks any oversized ones a few at a time, and the app also runs this quietly in the background about once a day.

If a phone ever runs out of memory while the app is starting, the operating system can close the app before it finishes loading. If that happens two or three times in a row, the next launch opens a small Recovery Mode screen instead of the full app. Recovery Mode loads almost nothing, so it opens even when the normal app cannot.

1. Free up space — reclaims room the app is holding but no longer needs. Start here; on most devices this alone is enough.
2. Shrink stored photos — compresses oversized photos a few at a time so the job itself cannot run out of memory.
3. Open the app now — back to normal. No data is lost; only photo resolution is reduced.
4. Remove all photos — last resort. Deletes stored photos while keeping every invoice, amount, customer and record. Restore the photos from a backup afterwards if you have one.

• Export a .dim backup now and then and keep it off the device.
• Turn on Google Drive Sync so a second device always holds a copy.
• Photograph what you genuinely need — six clear shots of a job beat sixty near-identical ones.
• Keep every device on the same app version.