Overview
You can create a document without setting up a client or project beforehand. The flow guides you through all of it, selecting or creating the project, linking or adding the client, and choosing the document type. Once those are set, TCB pulls your data from your Base and loads a draft ready to use.
Step by step
Click New Document from anywhere in the app.
Select a project, existing or created on the spot. TCB loads the scope for that Base Service automatically.
Select a client, existing or added in the same flow. Only the name is required, and TCB will ask for the email when you send the document.
Select a document type, proposal, contract or invoice, each with a short description of when to use it. Then pick a visual template. There are five families, Origin, Studio, Ink, Editorial and Atelier, plus any you have designed yourself. Read Design your own document templates.
In the Document Builder, review the live preview. The document arrives filled with your project and client data: name, scope, pricing, timeline and client details. The editing column shows the Base block your document inherits from, the deliverables that come included in the package, and the optional ones you can switch on or off. You can also apply a discount.
Click Export for a client-ready PDF, or send it by email or for signature.
Writing your own content, and adding images
Most of the document fills itself from the project. The parts that are yours to write live in the Content tab of the builder.
What appears there depends on the template you chose, because a template decides which blocks are left open for the document to fill. A block can be a paragraph, a list, or an image.
The proposal templates ship with image fields already in them, a portrait on the About page and two case images on the work page. Open the Content tab and upload PNG, JPEG or WebP, up to 4MB each. If you want images somewhere else, or more of them, open the template in Base Setup, under Templates, and add image blocks where you want them.
Blocks you leave empty simply print blank, and you can still send the document. Once it is sent or signed, the content freezes along with the layout.
Creating a document from an existing one
You can create a new document based on a previous one from the same project. After a proposal is accepted, a contract pulls the scope, pricing and deliverables straight from it, with no copy-pasting. Your past work becomes the foundation for the next document.
Which document types exist
Proposal, scope, deliverables and pricing for a new project
Contract, the formal agreement between you and your client
Invoice, the billing document, with payment tracking
Which documents need an Active project
While a project is in Pipeline, only proposals and contracts can be created, since those are the tools for the negotiation. Creating an invoice requires activating the project first, and TCB will prompt you. Read Understanding project states.
What you can adjust
Updates automatically: project name, client details, scope, pricing, payment terms and timeline all come from your project. Change them there.
You control in the builder: which optional deliverables are included, a discount on the total, the visual template and its accent colour, and everything in the Content tab. You can also add a deliverable that exists only for this job, and it is saved to the project straight away.
On invoices: the Bill a portion control charges 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the project total in one click, or any custom amount. Perfect for deposits and milestone payments, and the project keeps tracking how much has been invoiced.
Comes from the template: the fixed text of the page, headings and contract clauses, is written in the template rather than in the document. To change it for every future document, edit the template. To change it for one document only, that is not possible yet.
Also on invoices, once your bank details are saved in My Account, under Getting Paid, you can show them on the document. And if you connected Stripe there, invoices sent by email carry a secure Pay now button so your client can pay by card. Read Getting paid online.
Have a clause or section you would like to add? Send us a message in the chat. It helps us prioritize what to build next.
Tips
You do not need to set up clients or projects in advance, it all happens inside the flow.
Get your Base Services in shape first, in Base Setup, or run Refine. The document is only as good as the Base it comes from.
You can create several documents per project, one of each type if you need.
Everything stays linked to the project and the client, so nothing gets lost.
TCB suggests the next document type based on what already exists in the project.