Attachments on Invoice Emails in LeanLaw

LeanLaw invoice emails can include attachments beyond the invoice PDF itself, such as expense receipts, LEDES billing files, and Excel detail sheets. This article covers how each attachment type works and how to manage them.

The Invoice PDF Attachment

Every invoice emailed through LeanLaw’s email service includes the invoice PDF as an attachment by default. This is your LeanLaw-branded invoice, built from your configured template and sent directly to the client’s inbox.

Expense Receipt Attachments (Pro & Elite)

LeanLaw Pro and Elite subscribers can include expense receipts with invoice emails. When receipts are attached to expenses, they automatically travel with the invoice to the client.

How Expense Attachments Work

• Soft costs (created in LeanLaw): Add attachments directly to the expense from the Expenses tab. Use the attachments field when creating or editing the expense.
• Hard costs (synced from QuickBooks): Add the receipt as an attachment to the expense in QuickBooks Online. When the expense syncs to LeanLaw, the attachment syncs too. Review and manage synced attachments from the Expenses tab in LeanLaw.

Controlling Which Clients Receive Expense Attachments

You can send expense attachments to all clients or only to selected clients.

To send attachments to all clients:

1. Go to Settings → Invoice Email → Email Settings.
2. Enable Expense Attachments for All Clients.

To send attachments to specific clients only:

1. Go to the Clients tab and open the client’s record.
2. Under Lean Align Settings, select Attach expense receipts to invoice emails for this client.
3. Click Save Changes.

Expense Attachments with Email Invoice Group

When you send several invoices to the same client with Email Invoice Group, LeanLaw combines the expense attachments from every invoice in the group into one ZIP file. The email includes a single link to download it.

This is the fastest way to deliver expense backup for a batch of invoices. Your client gets every receipt in one download, and you don’t have to collect backup invoice by invoice.

How the group ZIP file works:

• One file for the whole group. The ZIP file is named for the invoice range and client, in the format FirstInvoice#_LastInvoice#_Client#_ClientName-expenses.zip. For example: 1001_1012_C045_SmithCo-expenses.zip.
• Receipts aren’t sorted by invoice. All receipts sit together in the ZIP file rather than in a folder for each invoice.
• Duplicate file names are renumbered. If two receipts share a file name, the later one gets a number added (for example, receipt_1.pdf, receipt_2.pdf).
• The same settings apply. The link is included only when expense attachments are enabled for all clients or for that client (see above).
• No attachments, no link. If none of the invoices in the group have expense attachments, the email is sent without an expense link.

LEDES File Attachments

For clients using LEDES e-billing, the LEDES file can be automatically attached to the invoice email when the invoice is submitted to QuickBooks Online:

• When an invoice is synced to QuickBooks Online with LEDES enabled on the matter, the LEDES file is automatically attached.
• From Manage Invoices, you can also download a LEDES file manually (Deliver → LEDES) and attach it to an email yourself.
• If an invoice has both a LEDES file and expense attachments, use the LEDES & Expenses button to download them together in one ZIP file. This download works one invoice at a time.