Why Do My Invoices Show Write-In Products?

Modified on Tue, Oct 21 at 2:14 PM

Applies To: Work 365 (Dynamics 365 / Power Platform)
Audience: System Administrators, Billing Teams, Finance Teams

Overview

In Work 365/Dynamics 365, an invoice line appears as a Write-In Product when the billing engine can’t bind that line to a Product Catalog record and a matching Price List Item (PLI). The invoice can still post, but write-ins often break accounting integrations, complicate reporting, and bypass automated pricing logic.

Reference: Work 365 Support Portal – Troubleshooting Invoice Line Issues

Root Causes

Cause	What it means
Subscription (or NRI) missing Product	The Subscription/Non-Recurring Item has a blank Product lookup, so Work 365 creates a write-in line.
Product not on the Billing Contract’s Price List	The Subscription has a Product, but the Billing Contract’s assigned Price List is missing a Price List Item for that Product + Unit (and price).

Quick Diagnosis Checklist

On the Invoice Line: the product shows as Write-In Product.
On the Subscription: Product field is empty.
On the Billing Contract: the assigned Price List lacks a PLI for this Product + Unit combination.

If any of the above is true, fix the configuration and regenerate the invoice.

Step-by-Step Fix

1) Check the Billing Contract’s Price List

Open the Billing Contract → note the Price List.
Open Price List Items and confirm the Product + Unit exists with a Price per Unit.
If missing: + New Price List Item → select Product, Unit, set Price per Unit → Save.

2) Verify the Subscription (or NRI)

Open the Subscription (or NRI) that produced the invoice.
Set Product to the correct catalog item.
Save.

3) Regenerate the Invoice

Void/Delete the invoice with write-ins (per your finance policy).
Regenerate the invoice from the Billing Contract so lines bind to the Product + PLI.

Bulk Correction (many records)

Advanced Find → Subscriptions → filter Product = Does Not Contain Data.
Export/update Product values, then re-import or Bulk Edit.
Recreate affected invoices to replace write-ins with catalog lines.

Best Practices (Prevention)

Complete Product Catalog: Create proper catalog Products with the correct Unit Group before selling.
Pre-map to Price Lists: Add PLIs for each currency/region/unit before assigning Products to Subscriptions.
Avoid ad-hoc entries: Don’t create Subscriptions without a Product; avoid quick-create paths that skip mandatory fields.
Audit regularly: Saved views for invoices with write-ins and subscriptions without Product.
Align with accounting: Ensure catalog Products/SKUs are mapped in your ERP/GL; most accounting connectors reject write-ins.

Key Takeaways

“Write-In Product” = missing link to Product Catalog and/or Price List Item.
Write-ins degrade data integrity and can break accounting sync.
Fix by:
- Setting Product on every Subscription/NRI, and
- Ensuring a matching PLI (Product + Unit + Price) exists on the Billing Contract’s Price List,
- Then regenerating the invoice.