I have been billing customers for materials and labor on the same invoice.
I create billable expenses as we purchase material, and billable time if needed, then i create an invoice for the customer selecting the billable expenses, then add additional line items as needed.
Question is… Would it be possible to link the attachments from billable expenses to the invoice created from them so that when the invoice gets emailed to the customer the attachments can also be sent from the invoice?
Some items we buy have warranty information etc. so we pass our receipt onto the customer.
Attachments are specific to the transaction to which they are attached. So, no, you cannot copy a billable expense to a sales invoice and have the attachments carry over. Further, billable time and expenses are converted to sales invoices from the Customers tab, so no copying is involved (in the sense Manager uses the word copy).
However, you can attach the same files to a sales invoice as you attached to a billable time or expense record. It is important to understand that attachment files are not incorporated directly into a transaction record in the database. They are only referenced, then stored separately. They are accessible through the Attachments tab (as well as wherever else you may store them).
I am not saying it would not be feasible to have files linked automatically. But that raises complexities. For example, a billable expense might be supported by a receipt documenting purchase of materials for several customers/projects. That receipt might have supported multiple billable expense entries. You would not want it included on a sales invoice to one customer for one project. So you would need a cumbersome selection process to choose which attachments to include. And that would be just as much, if not more, work than simply attaching the files you actually want, because you would have to individually review and deselect unwanted files. In doing so, you run the risk of accidentally sending information to a customer that is proprietary to another customer. It seems far better to make conscious decisions about what to attach than to risk growing lazy about eliminating unsuitable attachments.
When making suggestions like this, it is important to remember that implementation would have to account for all uses by different types of businesses around the world, not just your personal workflow.