Billing placeholders
TL;DR: Placeholders let you automatically insert billing period dates and workload quantities into invoice line descriptions. Add them to a product, contract, or invoice description, and Uku replaces them with real values when the invoice is created.
Who can do this
Any member with permission to create or edit products, contracts, or invoices.
Permissions depend on your company's billing settings (see Billing Settings in Uku).
Available placeholders
##{{invoice_previous_period}} — Previous billing period
##{{invoice_period}} — Current invoice period
##{{invoice_next_period}} — Next billing period
##{{quantity_as_time}} — Workload displayed as time (e.g., 2h 30min)
##{{quantity_as_number}} — Workload displayed as a number (e.g., 2.5)
For prepayment invoices, the ##{{invoice_next_period}} placeholder is especially useful since it automatically shows the upcoming billing period.
How to add a placeholder to an invoice line
Placeholders can be added in the Product, Contract, or Invoice view.
Open the Product, Contract, or Invoice you want to edit.
In the description field, type the placeholder exactly as shown above (e.g., ##{{invoice_period}}).
Click Save.
When the invoice is created, Uku automatically replaces the placeholder with the actual value.
Example
If a product description contains:
Accounting services for ##{{invoice_period}}
The generated invoice line will display something like:
Accounting services for January 2026
Troubleshooting
Placeholder text appears literally on the invoice instead of being replaced
Double-check the placeholder syntax. It must start with ##{{ and end with }} with no extra spaces inside the braces. Copy and paste the placeholder from this article to ensure accuracy.
The period shown on the invoice is wrong
Verify that the correct placeholder is used. ##{{invoice_period}} shows the current billing period, while ##{{invoice_previous_period}} and ##{{invoice_next_period}} show the adjacent periods. Also confirm that the contract's billing period is configured correctly.
Workload placeholder shows zero
The ##{{quantity_as_time}} and ##{{quantity_as_number}} placeholders pull data from tracked time entries. If no time has been logged against the relevant tasks for that billing period, the value will be zero.
