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Issuing and numbering

Every invoice starts as a draft that you can still change. When it is ready, you issue it: it takes its invoice number and becomes the document your customer pays against. This page explains what changes at that moment.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”
What an invoice’s status can become: a draft is deleted or issued; an issued invoice is Unpaid, becomes Partial Paid and then Paid as payments arrive, or Credited when a credit note clears the rest; an Unpaid invoice can be voided and becomes Cancelled.Deleteddrafts onlyDraftproforma number PF-Cancelledvoided · a credit notereverses itUnpaidissued · invoicenumber INV-Partial Paidpart receivedPaidpayments cleared itCrediteda credit note clearedthe restDeleteIssueVoidpayment receivedpaid in fullcredit note clearsthe rest
  • Draft. The invoice carries a proforma number starting PF-, not an invoice number. You can edit anything or delete it. Its PDF is headed PROFORMA INVOICE and marked DRAFT, so you can send it to a customer who needs to arrange payment first.
  • Issue. You choose the invoice date — today, or an earlier date — and the invoice takes its number starting INV-. The proforma number stays on it as a reference. The customer, currency, dates, tax, exchange rate and every line are now locked.
  • After issue. The status follows the money: Unpaid, then Partial Paid and Paid as payments arrive, or Credited when a credit note clears what is left. Removing a payment or cancelling a credit note moves the status back.
  • Void. If an issued invoice should not stand at all, void it. easySales raises a credit note for the whole invoice, and the invoice becomes Cancelled; its number stays on the record.

Example

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Harbour Café asks for a proforma invoice on 25 September so it can arrange payment. Here is how the numbers work.

  1. Create the invoice. The draft shows the proforma number PF-10000003.
  2. Select Preview and send the PDF, headed PROFORMA INVOICE, to the café.
  3. On 30 September, select Issue, keep today’s date and confirm. The invoice takes the number INV-10000042 and its status becomes Unpaid; the due date moves with the invoice date, keeping the same number of days.
  4. Select Preview again. The PDF is now your invoice, and it lists PF-10000003 as a reference so the café can match it to the proforma it received.

Good to know

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  • Issuing cannot be undone. Check the draft before you confirm.
  • You can date an invoice earlier than the last one you issued. easySales warns that the numbers will then be out of date order, and still lets you issue.
  • An issued invoice cannot be deleted, only voided. A draft cannot be voided, only deleted.
  • Invoice numbers are never reused, even when an invoice is voided.

Terms

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  • Draft: An invoice still being prepared, identified by a proforma number.
  • Proforma number: The PF- number a draft carries.
  • Issue: The step that gives the invoice its invoice number and locks its details.
  • Invoice number: The INV- number an invoice takes when it is issued, and keeps.
  • Void: Cancelling an issued invoice, which raises a full credit note against it.

Common misunderstandings

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  • A proforma invoice is not an issued invoice, and its PF- number is not the invoice number.
  • Issuing does more than change the PDF heading. It locks the facts of the charge.
  • Voiding does not delete the invoice or free its number.

Where to find it

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Issue and Preview are at the top of a draft invoice; Void is in the ··· menu of an issued one. The steps are in Issue an invoice and Void an invoice.

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