Why a document is locked (and how to fix it)

A locked document has its Edit and Delete actions disabled. Hovering over the disabled button shows the exact reason. This article describes what each lock means.

Completed and sent invoices

Completed and sent invoices are not locked. They can still be edited and deleted, but with warnings, because a numbered invoice that has been sent is part of the business's legal record.

• Editing a sent invoice is allowed as long as no payments have been recorded against it. The change is logged in the Activity panel.
• Deleting a numbered invoice is allowed; the confirmation dialog flags the legal risk and warns about the gap that will appear in the numbering sequence. The same dialog offers to create a credit note instead.

When a sent invoice turns out to be wrong, a credit note is usually the better answer than a delete — both documents stay on file with a clear audit trail. See Credit note against a paid invoice.

Paid and partially paid invoices

An invoice with a recorded payment is locked against edits and deletion. The lock message reads "This invoice is paid and cannot be edited. Please remove the payments first." (or "…partially paid…").

To make a change, remove the payment from Manage payments first; the invoice then returns to its previous status and becomes editable. After editing, re-record the payment. If the payment was correct but the invoice itself is wrong, issue a credit note instead of removing the payment.

Credited invoices

An invoice with one or more credit notes against it is locked: "This invoice is credited and cannot be edited. Please remove the credit notes first."

To unlock it, open each credit note linked to the invoice and delete it. A credit note is itself a numbered document, so this only makes sense when the credit note was issued in error.

Estimates

Estimates are locked once marked Accepted or Rejected, to preserve the record of what the customer agreed to. To make changes, either duplicate the estimate and edit the copy (see Duplicating documents and credit notes), or move the estimate back to Sent or Viewed using the status menu, edit, and re-send.

Credit notes

Credit notes follow the same numbering rules as invoices. Once completed, they cannot be deleted while still linked to an invoice — remove the link from the parent invoice first, or leave the credit note in place.