ConnectWise Invoicing
If you're searching for help building invoice templates in ConnectWise Report Writer, you're not alone. Most MSPs try Report Writer first. Most MSPs also give up, hire someone, or settle for invoices that don't represent their business.
The problem isn't you. It's Report Writer.
Report Writer isn't a template editor. It's a reporting engine that ConnectWise repurposed for invoices. To build a custom invoice, you need to know HTML, CSS, SQL-style data source queries, and ConnectWise's own repeater and subtotal syntax — which is documented three different ways, only two of which actually work.
There's no tutorial that takes you from zero to a working custom invoice. ConnectWise University covers the basics of Report Writer, but invoice templates require a specific combination of data sources, joins, and template structures that aren't covered in any official training.
The person who gets stuck with this is whoever drew the short straw — the MSP owner, the office manager, the senior tech who's "good with computers." It doesn't matter who tries. Report Writer doesn't reward effort. You can spend hours, even days, and still not get a working result.
The worst part isn't the learning curve. It's what you get after climbing it. MSPs who manage to build a Report Writer invoice template consistently describe the same problems:
Wrong details at the wrong time. Report Writer has no conditional logic for showing or hiding line items based on invoice type, agreement, or billing method. Every invoice shows the same fields whether they're relevant or not.
Things in the wrong place. Report Writer forces page margins you can't override. Columns don't align the way you'd expect. Grouped line items break across pages unpredictably. Getting a simple two-column layout to behave requires nested HTML tables and trial-and-error.
It still doesn't look professional. Even after all that work, the output looks like a 1997 Excel spreadsheet. Forced margins, default fonts, crude table borders. Your invoices are one of the most frequent touchpoints with your clients, and Report Writer makes them look like an afterthought.
This is why consultants charge thousands of dollars to build a Report Writer template for you. Not because the tool is powerful — because it's painful enough that MSPs will pay to avoid it.
Report Writer's pain doesn't end after the initial build. Every change goes through the same cycle: edit raw HTML in a small textarea with no preview, save, generate a test invoice, wait 20 to 40 seconds for the PDF, discover it's wrong, repeat.
A client asks you to break out backup line items separately. You rebrand and need new colors and a new logo. You switch from T&M to managed services and need different line item grouping. Each of these changes means reopening Report Writer and fighting the same battle again.
Most MSPs don't make the change. They live with invoices that don't reflect their current business because the cost of fixing them in Report Writer is too high.
Report Writer was built for reports. Dashboards. Data exports. It was never designed to produce client-facing documents that represent your brand. ConnectWise added invoice support to it because they needed something — not because it was the right tool.
Better Invoice was built from scratch for one purpose: professional ConnectWise invoice templates that any MSP can configure without developer skills, without consulting engagements, and without the 20-second wait to see if your change worked.
The first thing MSPs notice when they try Better Invoice: every change shows up instantly. Toggle a setting, change a color, hide a column — the preview updates in real time. No saving. No waiting. No generating a test PDF to see if it worked.
That instant feedback loop changes everything. Instead of spending hours on trial-and-error, you spend minutes dialing in exactly what you want. You can experiment. You can try three different layouts in the time it takes Report Writer to generate one PDF.
And when you need to make changes later — a rebrand, a new service line, a client request — it's the same experience. Open the editor, make the change, see it immediately, done.
| Report Writer | Better Invoice | |
|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | HTML, CSS, SQL, CW syntax | Visual settings, no code |
| Time to first invoice | Hours to days | Minutes |
| Preview | None — generate PDF to check | Instant live preview |
| PDF generation | 20–40 seconds | Under 1 second |
| Output quality | Forced margins, limited fonts | Full branding, modern layout |
| Making changes | Edit HTML, regenerate, repeat | Toggle setting, see result |
| Conditional logic | Manual CASE statements | Built-in per invoice type |
| Cost | Free (your time isn't) | Free / $29 / $99 mo |
| Version history | No | Yes, with one-click restore |
Try Better Invoice free. See your actual ConnectWise invoices with professional templates in minutes — not hours.
Get started free →No credit card required. No Report Writer skills needed.
Don't believe us?
"We gave up on figuring out how to use the Report Writer. Your time is of better use. Learning how to use the CW Report Writer has no other benefit to your business."
"Generating any invoices using ANY custom report takes about 20–40 seconds! …a system template takes 3–4 seconds."
"Our clients regularly inform us they find our invoices confusing and difficult to read… that's a formatting problem, not an 'us' problem."