The same data, typed twice
Buyer, seller, line items, quantities and values already exist in the order — and get typed into a template again for every invoice.
Trade documents
Commercial invoices and packing lists, drafted from your records
Most invoice generators hand you an empty template. Senda starts from the order and the shipment you already keep: the commercial invoice is drafted from the order, the packing list from the shipment, and you review both before they go anywhere.
The problem
What this usually looks like today.
Placeholders that ship
A template field nobody filled in leaves the office as “[CONSIGNEE]”, and the first person to notice is the customs officer.
Invoice and packing list drift
Two documents describing the same cargo, edited separately, that no longer agree by the time they are sent.
In Senda
How the work gets done instead.
- 1
Start from the order
The commercial invoice is drafted from the order's parties, line items and values. A missing required field stops the draft rather than printing a blank.
- 2
Packing list from the shipment
The packing list is drafted from the shipment and its containers, so it describes the cargo that is actually booked.
- 3
Gaps say so
An optional field with nothing on file reads “Not on file”, never a fill-in-the-blank token that could slip through.
Where it stops
What it will not do.
Worth knowing before you book anything.
- Senda drafts exactly two documents: the commercial invoice and the packing list. It does not create certificates of origin, bills of lading, shipper's letters of instruction or licences.
- Drafts are drafts: you review them and send them. Senda files nothing with any customs authority.
- Senda drafts from records, not from a blank form. For a one-off invoice with no order behind it, use the free commercial invoice generator on this site: no sign-up, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Questions
What people ask us.
Is there a free commercial invoice template?
Yes, separately from Senda itself. The free commercial invoice generator on this site is a blank form you fill in, preview and print or save as a PDF, with no sign-up. Senda works the other way round: it drafts the invoice from an order already recorded in your workspace, so the data is there before you start.
What format are the drafts in?
Drafts are Word (DOCX) documents, so you can review and adjust them before sending them from your own email or portal.
Can Senda read the invoices my suppliers send?
Yes. Uploaded invoices, packing lists and certificates are read on upload, with each value pointing to where it sits on the page — see document data extraction.
Start with your real workflow
See it on one of your own orders.
Tell us how your team works today and we'll walk one real order-to-shipment workflow with you before anything is signed.