Managing invoices

An invoice starts as a draft, gets its number when it is completed, goes to the customer by email or as an e-invoice, and is closed by the payments you record on it. The Invoices page in the main navigation lists every invoice, and each invoice has a page of its own with the document, its payments, comments and activity.

The invoice list

The list can be filtered, for example by status, customer or date, and the summary above it adds up the totals of the invoices shown, by currency when more than one is in use. See Filtering and customising list views and Exporting documents.

From an invoice's row you can do most of what the invoice page offers: complete, send or download it, duplicate it, make a credit note or a recurring invoice from it, and delete it. Selecting several rows shows the bulk actions; see Bulk status changes on invoices, estimates and recurring invoices.

Making an invoice

A new invoice opens with your business details, the numbering and the dates already filled in from your settings. Pick the customer, add the lines, and the totals and taxes are calculated as you type. Line names search your products, and a line typed in by hand can become a product; see Managing products and Managing customers. The full walk-through is Sending your first invoice.

Number format, payment terms, late fees, the notes that print on every invoice and the columns of the line table are set once in your business settings; see Customising invoices and estimates and Invoice and estimate numbering. A single invoice can still differ: another language, another currency or its own appearance. See How do I send an invoice in a different language than my account?, Multi-currency invoicing and exchange rates and Per-document appearance overrides.

Status

A draft has no number. Marking it completed, or sending it, assigns the number and makes it an issued invoice. From then on the status follows what happens: Sent when it goes out, Viewed when the customer opens it, Partially paid or Paid as payments are recorded. An unpaid invoice past its due date is also shown as overdue. The status badge on the invoice can be clicked to set a status by hand, for example Mark as paid for an invoice paid outside Sliptree. See How does invoice status work?.

Sending

An invoice goes out by email, as a PDF attachment or as a link to view it online, or as an e-invoice delivered straight into the customer's accounting software where the customer supports it. See Sending invoices and estimates by email and Sending e-invoices to customers. Every invoice also has a public link that the customer can open without an account; see The public view link for invoices and estimates.

Payments

Add payment on the invoice page records a payment with its date, amount and method, and the status moves to Partially paid or Paid on its own. A paid or partially paid invoice is locked against editing until its payments are removed. See Recording payments and managing transactions and Why a document is locked (and how to fix it).

Credit notes and copies

An issued invoice is corrected with a credit note, not by editing it. Add credit note on the invoice page creates one that cancels the invoice in full or in part, and the two stay linked on both pages. Duplicate invoice makes a new draft with the same content. See Duplicating documents and creating credit notes.

Deleting an invoice

A draft can be deleted freely. A completed or sent invoice can also be deleted, after a warning about the legal risk and the gap it leaves in your numbering, and the dialog offers a credit note instead. A paid, partially paid or credited invoice cannot be deleted until its payments or credit notes are removed. See Can invoices be deleted?.

Common questions

• The customer says they never got the invoice. See The customer didn't receive my invoice — what to check.
• The invoice is wrong but already sent. Make a credit note; see How do I issue a credit note against a paid invoice?.
• The bank account is missing from the invoice. See How do I add my bank account / payment instructions to invoices?.
• The same invoice goes out every month. See Setting up recurring invoices.
• A payment reference number is needed. See Invoice reference numbers.
• Who changed what, and when? See Document activity and Comments and internal notes on documents.