A client or a company asks for a real invoice, and a receipt won't do. You issue that invoice from the sale itself: you attach the client, check the details, and the app builds the document in the right format. It can also do that on its own the moment you check out. Here's how both work.
What's the difference between a receipt and an invoice?
You get a receipt automatically as soon as you check out a sale – the record of what your client took and paid for. An invoice is a formal financial document with stricter requirements. It always has to carry your client's address, and you issue it when a client or a company asks for one.
For most transactions the receipt is enough. If you work with business or medical clients, the invoice is the document they need. You don't have to pay the sale off first either: a sale that's still outstanding can be invoiced too, with a payment term.
What customer details do I need for an invoice?
A customer profile with an address: street, postcode and city. The app won't let you issue the invoice while that's missing. If something's missing, the customer block says so and you fill it in right there with 'Add missing info'.
On a medical invoice the app also looks for your client's date of birth, personal registration number and insurance provider. If those are missing you only get a warning and a button to add them – you can still issue the invoice. Fill them in where you have them, because they belong on a complete medical invoice.
How do I issue an invoice from a sale?
Everything you need sits in one window, with the sale's number above it.
Go to 'Register' > 'Sales' or to a customer profile, and open the sale.
Pick 'Issue invoice' from the sale's actions.
Under 'Invoice details', check the 'Sale date' and the 'Issue date'. If the sale is still outstanding you'll also see 'Due in' there: the payment term, 14 days by default and anything from 1 to 365.
Check the client in the customer block and fill in anything that's missing.
Want to email the invoice straight away? Turn on 'Send to customer' and check the email address, the subject and the message.
Look over the preview, then click 'Issue invoice' – or 'Issue invoice and send' if you turned emailing on – and confirm once more.
Can the app issue an invoice automatically?
Yes. Turn it on and the app turns a checked-out sale into an invoice instead of a receipt, with a payment term on it. It's off by default, so it's your call.
The checkbox is 'Automatically generate an invoice for register sales and online payments', under 'Settings' > 'Invoices' in the invoice settings block. Switch it on and a field for the payment term appears underneath it, set to 14 days.
Two things worth knowing before you turn it on:
The app only issues the invoice when the sale has a client with a complete address on it. When it can't, you'll see a warning after checkout with a button to issue the invoice by hand instead. So you lose nothing – the steps above keep working.
It covers online payments too. A deposit or a full prepayment on an online booking gets an invoice the same way.
When it works, the checkout window tells you the invoice has been issued and attached to the sale, with a button to email it straight away.
Where do I find my invoices?
The issued invoice sits on the sale under the documents, next to the receipt. You can open it, print it or send it to your client (again) from there. One sale can carry several documents that way: a receipt on payment, an invoice you issue, and after a correction or a credit either a correction receipt or a credit invoice.
When do I get a credit invoice?
Once a sale carries an invoice, the app creates a credit invoice when you refund or change that sale afterwards. If the sale only carries a receipt you get a correction receipt; if it carries an invoice as well, the invoice takes priority.
The credit invoice appears on the sale under the documents, next to the original invoice. That original stays put and gets corrected rather than changed, so your books still add up. There's more on this in Crediting a sale.
Can I change an invoice after I've issued it?
No, and the invoice window warns you about that before you confirm. If something isn't right, change the sale first or credit it, then issue a new invoice if you still need one.
You issue one invoice per sale: as soon as a sale carries an invoice, the action drops out of the menu. If you can't see the action, there's an invoice already or you don't have the rights to issue invoices.