Account
Settings
How settings work at every level, from the whole account down to one business, one client or one document, and which value wins when several are set.
Almost everything about how Free Invoice Automation behaves is a setting rather than something fixed: your payment terms, number patterns, which sender emails your invoices, whether reminders and late fees are on, the PDF template, your theme. You can set a value once for the whole account, change it for one business, again for one client, and even for a single document. This page explains how those levels work together.
Where you find settings
Open Settings in the sidebar. The settings pages are grouped as:
Account · Business · Team and roles · Billing and plan · Email · Payment methods · Templates and numbering · Taxes · Reminders and late fees · Branding · Integrations · API keys and MCP · Security · Data export and delete
Some settings also live where you use them: client-level settings on the client's page, and document-level overrides in the document editor. Your own preferences, such as theme and language, are in your profile menu.
Levels, from most specific to least
| Level | Set where | Applies to | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Document | The document editor | That one document | Different terms text on one invoice |
| Client | The client's page | Every document for that client | 30-day payment terms for a slow-paying client |
| Business | Settings, with that business selected | Every document of that business | Invoice number pattern, default PDF template, reminder hours |
| Account | Settings | Every business in the account | Default currency for new documents |
| Plan | Set by your plan | Every account on that plan | Members included, platform emails a month, AI credits |
| Platform | Set by us | Everyone | Session and sign-in safety values |
| Default | Built in | Everyone | The starting value when nothing else is set |
Which value wins
When a value is needed, we look from the most specific level to the least, and the first level that has a value wins:
document > client > business > account > plan > platform > default
A worked example with payment terms:
- Your business sets payment terms to 14 days.
- One client, Acme, has 30 days set on their client page.
- You create an invoice for Acme. No override on the document, so the client value is used: due in 30 days.
- You create an invoice for another client with nothing set. The business value is used: due in 14 days.
- For one special job you set 7 days in the editor. The document value wins for that invoice only.
Not every setting can be set at every level. Each one lists the levels where it makes sense. Number patterns, for example, are set per business only, because each business has its own sequences. Plan and platform values are not editable by you; they are shown so you know your limits.
Set things as high up as you can, and override only where you need to. Change the business value once, and every client without their own value follows.
Some common settings and their levels
| Setting | Levels you can use |
|---|---|
Invoice, estimate, credit note and receipt number patterns, such as INV-{YYYY}-{SEQ:4} | Business |
| Payment terms (days until due) | Business, client |
| Terms text and footer notes | Business, client, document |
| PDF template | Business, client, document |
| Paper size (A4 or Letter) | Business |
| Default tax rate | Business, client |
| Currency for new documents | Account, business, client, document |
| Which sender emails your documents (your SMTP or platform email) | Business, client, document |
| Attach the PDF to emails | Business, client, document |
| Accepted payment methods | Business, client, document |
| Allow partial payments | Business, client, document |
| Reminders on or off | Business, client, document |
| Late fees on or off | Business, client, document |
| Theme (light, dark, auto) and language | You, for yourself |
The pages for each feature explain their settings in detail, for example Document numbering, Due dates and payment terms, Your own SMTP and Reminders.
Who can change settings
| Who | What they can change |
|---|---|
Members with settings.manage (Owner and Admin by default) | Account and business settings on the Settings pages |
| Members with a feature's own key | That feature's settings, for example reminders.manage for reminder sequences or late_fees.manage for late-fee policies |
Members with clients.edit | Client-level settings, on the client's page |
Members with documents.edit | Document-level overrides, in the editor |
| Every person | Their own theme and language |
Members with settings.view (every preset role) can read the account's settings, except a few private values that only settings.manage can see. Every change to a setting is written to the audit log.
Account details
The account itself has a name and a few details, shown in Settings > Account. The account is the unit that holds your plan, members, billing and businesses. Your personal login (name, email, avatar) is separate and belongs to you, not to the account.
Through the API
Read settings for one level with GET /v1/settings, naming the scope and the id of the thing at that scope. Change them with PATCH /v1/settings.
curl "https://api.freeinvoiceautomation.com/v1/settings?scope=business&scope_id=0193f2a1-0b0b-7c4e-9a10-2d3e4f5a6b70" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $FIA_API_KEY"Scopes you can use are account, business, client and user (your own preferences). Document overrides are part of the document itself and are changed through the document endpoints.
| Capability | Route | Permission |
|---|---|---|
| Get settings | GET /v1/settings?scope=&scope_id= | settings.view |
| Update settings | PATCH /v1/settings | settings.manage (your own user scope: yourself) |
| Get the account | GET /v1/account | settings.view |
| Update the account | PATCH /v1/account | settings.manage |
PATCH is a partial update: only the values you send change. Values are validated against each setting's type, so an invalid value returns validation_failed with the problem field listed.
Errors
| Code | HTTP | When |
|---|---|---|
permission_denied | 403 | Your role lacks settings.manage (or settings.view to read). |
business_out_of_scope | 403 | The business is outside your business scope. |
validation_failed | 422 | The value has the wrong type or is out of range, or the setting cannot be set at that level. |
not_found | 404 | The scope_id does not exist in this account. |