Invoicing is the last step of the same record you have been working on since the estimate. Nothing is re-entered: the invoice is created from the completed order, inherits its number, and freezes what was billed.
Creating the invoice
Once an order is marked completed, the sidebar's next action is Send invoice. It does three things in one go: creates the invoice, moves the order to invoiced, and emails the customer.
Two properties are worth understanding, because both are deliberate:
- The number follows the job. The invoice carries the order's number under
your invoice prefix, so
EST-1043becomesINV-1043. The customer never has to reconcile two numbers. - The invoice is a snapshot. Its lines and its printable copy are captured at the moment it is issued. Change a labor rate, a tax rate, a matrix or your shop supplies percentage next month and this invoice does not move — it still shows what the customer was actually charged.
Note
An order has at most one invoice. Invoicing an order that already has one simply hands back the existing invoice rather than issuing a second.
Invoicing and payments are limited to owners and managers.
Payment terms and the due date
The due date is not typed in — it comes from a payment term, which is a name and a number of days. "On Receipt" is zero days; "Net 30" is thirty. Terms are managed in Settings → Payment terms, where you also pick the shop-wide default.
When the invoice is issued, the term is resolved in this order:
The term on the order
Set per order, usually inherited from the customer record.
Your default customer term
The shop-wide default from Settings → Payment terms.
A zero-day term
The last resort — due immediately.
Whichever wins, the invoice stores the term's name and day count as its own copy, alongside the resulting due date. Renaming "Net 30" to "30 days end of month" later does not rewrite what an issued invoice says it agreed to.
Warning
A payment term that is set as a shop default cannot be deleted. Choose a different default first, then remove the old term.
Recording a payment
Record payment on the invoice takes an amount, a method — cash, card, bank transfer or check — and an optional note.
Payments are cumulative, so partial payments are normal: a deposit today and the balance on collection are two payment rows against one invoice. The invoice tracks the running total and moves itself:
| Situation | Invoice status |
|---|---|
| Issued, nothing paid yet | Draft |
| Part paid | Sent |
| Paid in full | Paid |
The status tracks money, not mail: an invoice you emailed but that nobody has paid still reads draft. It is settled once the payments reach its total, which is why an overpayment does not leave a balance hanging.
Taking card payment online
If you have connected a card processor in Settings → Payments, the estimate link the customer already has doubles as a payment link — they open their copy of the document and pay by card. Successful payments come back as ordinary payment rows against the invoice, so a card payment and a cash payment settle the same invoice the same way.
Note
The customer can only pay once an invoice exists. Before that, their portal copy is an estimate and there is nothing to charge — the payment button is not offered.
Chasing what's overdue
Payment reminders are configured per shop in Settings → Payment reminders and are off until you turn them on — no shop starts emailing customers because of a default. Once enabled you choose:
- Channels — email, WhatsApp, or both.
- Before due — how many days ahead to remind. Three days is the starting point.
- On the due date — a reminder the day it falls due.
- After due — the overdue cadence, starting at 3, 7 and 14 days.
- Notify staff — an in-app alert to owners when an invoice goes overdue, independent of what the customer receives.
Reminders go out once a day and only for invoices that are issued and not yet settled. An invoice paid in full drops out of the run immediately, so nobody is chased for money they have already sent.
Troubleshooting
"The invoice total isn't what the order shows now." The order was edited after the invoice was issued. The invoice holds what was billed; that is the document to trust.
"Send invoice isn't offered." Either the order is not on completed yet, or your role is not owner or manager.
"The due date is wrong." Check the payment term on the order before you invoice — the shop default only applies when the order does not carry its own. After issuing, the date is part of the snapshot.
"The customer says the pay button isn't there." No invoice has been issued, or no card processor is connected in Settings → Payments.
"Reminders aren't going out." They are off by default. Check that the toggle in Settings → Payment reminders is on and that at least one channel is selected.