An invoice is what you send so a customer can pay you. You need a customer and at least one line to finalize. You do not need an estimate or sales order first.
Sales in the sidebar usually lands on this tab. If you are on Estimates or Recurring Invoices, switch tabs first.
How to open it
| Step | Click |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sales |
| 2 | Sales Invoices |
| 3 | New Invoice |
Have a customer and something to bill. You can Add a customer from the invoice picker (code and name). Products are in Products. Tax rates and Output VAT accounts are in Sales and purchase posting accounts.
What the invoice uses
| This | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Invoice number | Settings → Sales → General (seeded SI-00001) |
| Customer | Required. Quick-add is enough to save; add email later to send |
| Lines | Pick a product (copies price and tax) or type a description. Quantity and unit price required |
| Tax | Org Tax tab and the product, then this document’s tax price basis and line override |
| Location / sales person | Optional. Location copies onto the auto-posted journal |
Choose the customer. Set invoice date and due date (both required). Payment terms, reference number, location, and sales person are optional. Use Add address & contact, Add notes & terms, and Add attachments only if you need them on the PDF.
Add lines. Picking a product fills description, price, and tax from that product. You can still change quantity, discount, and Override line tax (another tax type or VAT exempt). On VAT workspaces, a taxable line needs a tax type.
Tax on this invoice
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Starts from | Organization → Tax and each product’s tax config — not a VAT card on the customer |
| Tax price basis | Inclusive or exclusive for the whole invoice. Seeded from the org Tax tab |
| Override line tax | This line only. Zero tax means no Output VAT journal line |
You can also pull an existing sales order into the invoice. Estimates and sales orders are optional; see Estimates and sales orders.
The Save button is a split control. Save keeps a draft. Save & Finalize locks the invoice and is what auto-post watches. Sending email does not finalize.
Document status
| Status | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Draft | Edit freely. Lines can be empty. Cannot record a customer payment. Row menu Cancel deletes the draft (cannot be undone) |
| Finalized | Not editable. Auto-post can create the sales journal (and COGS if inventory is tracked). You can pay, void, preview, email, or make recurring |
| Void | Stopped. No further payments. May need the journal reversed — the app enforces this when you void |
| Cancelled | Draft that was cancelled. Closed |
Payment status (separate from document status)
| Payment status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | Balance still equals the total |
| Partially paid | Some receipts allocated; balance remains |
| Paid | Balance is zero. List also has an Overdue filter from the due date |
Auto-post runs when you finalize, not when you save a draft and not when you email. It needs Auto-Post Transactions on and Accrual on Settings → Accounting → General. Cash method does not create an invoice journal.
The journal uses Sales Journal accounts (AR, income, Output VAT; COGS and inventory if Track Inventory is on and the line is an inventory item). Do not also key the same sale as a manual journal, or the books will double.
If finalize fails to post
| Likely cause | Where to fix it |
|---|---|
| Missing AR, income, or Output VAT account | Settings → Sales → Sales Journal, or product Configure |
| Closed fiscal period / backdating limit | Settings → Accounting → General |
| Auto-post off or Cash method | No invoice journal by design. Post a journal yourself if you need one |
Open Preview from the invoice or the list. From there you can download PDF or Excel. Send email is available after the invoice is saved (it needs an id). The message goes to the address you type, or to the customer’s email if you leave it blank. Seedflow creates a share link in that email so the customer can view or download — emailing does not change draft vs finalized.
Put an email on the customer if you send often. See Customers and suppliers.
Use Post Payment on the row when the customer pays. That updates the invoice balance; it does not auto-journal the receipt yet. Details are in Record a customer payment.
Make Recurring copies this invoice onto a schedule. That is a separate path: Recurring invoices.
Other guides in Sales