How invoices are created
Invoices are created automatically when you send the contract. You can also create them with Create Invoices on the Payment tab.
A draft is not a real invoice yet. The bill date and invoice number are set only when the invoice is sent, so invoice IDs are never used up by drafts.
The blue help box on the Payment tab explains these statuses. It does not mean an invoice was sent or refunded.
Invoice statuses
Created
The invoice has been created and is ready to be sent to the payer. You can Record Payment. The invoice cannot be paid for by the payer.
Draft
The invoice is currently in draft mode. This means it is only a preliminary version and has not yet been finalized or sent. To make the invoice payable, it must be issued or sent to the payer.
The "Send" button will send the invoice to your buyer from our system. The "Bill" button makes the invoice payable and generates a magic link.
* Once the invoice is sent or billed, it becomes "payable," allowing transactions to be completed.
Billed
The invoice has been approved, and may be scheduled to be sent along with the contract. The invoice can be paid.
Sent
The invoice has been sent to the payer and is waiting to be paid.
Paid
The Invoice has been paid. You can no longer change amounts on the invoice without voiding.
Voided
The Invoice has been voided. The money that was allocated to this invoice can be used on another invoice.
Refunded
The Invoice has been paid, and refunded. The money that was allocated to this invoice can be used on another invoice.
Checking whether an invoice was sent
If the attachments panel on an invoice is empty, the usual reason is that the invoice is still a draft. A draft has no document behind it yet, so there is nothing to attach or download — and nothing has been sent.
Check whether your invoice is actually created
Open the booking and go to the Payments tab.
Open Invoices and find the invoice in question.
Look at the invoice number and issue date. If both are blank, it's still a draft — no document exists, nothing was sent, and the empty attachments panel is exactly what you'd expect.
To turn it into a real document, click Preview Draft, then click Create Invoice in the Document Preview panel. This locks the invoice number and issue date and generates the document.
Once created, the attachments panel fills in and the invoice row exposes Send and Bill.
If that doesn't work
If the invoice already has a number and an issue date but the attachments panel is still empty, the document didn't render. Start a chat from the messenger, tell us which booking and which invoice, and we'll get the document rebuilt for you.
Good to know
An empty attachments panel is never on its own a sign that sending failed. Delivery is tracked separately on the invoice record, which shows Sent, Delivered or Opened. If you want to know whether your buyer received something, read that status rather than the attachments panel.
Bill creates and records the invoice without emailing anyone. If you used Bill and are now wondering why nobody got it, that's why — click the invoice row and use Send when you're ready for it to go out.
Drafts are safe to delete and recreate. If a draft has the wrong figures on it, fix the Terms tabs and start a fresh draft rather than editing around the problem.
If you have any questions or need additional help, please reach out to support@gigwell.com or use the chat widget on your screen.