Invoice statuses explained

Every Dispatch Bros invoice is in one of five statuses: Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue, or Cancelled. The status decides which actions are available (send, record a payment, edit, delete) and drives the tabs and totals on the Invoices page. Overdue is automatic — a sent invoice past its due date flips on its own.

The five statuses

Where you see statuses

The Invoices page has filter tabs — All, Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue — plus summary cards for Total Outstanding (the balance still owed on unpaid invoices), Paid This Month, and Overdue. Each row shows a status chip; overdue rows get a red left edge and a red due date.

Two icons ride each row:

• The eye icon turns green once the customer opens the public link (hover shows when).
• The pen icon turns green once the customer signs.

Sent invoices also show a small audit line under the status — when the last send ran and who pressed Send.

What you can do at each status

• Draft — Send, Mark Paid (the customer already paid you — pick how they paid; the invoice is then sent as their receipt), edit, or delete. Deleting asks for confirmation and cannot be undone.
• Sent / Overdue — Record Payment (amount, method, date, notes, and an optional check/receipt photo), Mark Paid (pick Cash, Credit Card, Zelle, Venmo, or Check), Send Reminder / Remind to nudge the customer, Resend, and edit.
• Paid — locked against edits; Send receipt (or Resend receipt once it has gone out) delivers the paid invoice as the customer's receipt: the email reads "Amount Paid" with a Paid badge and a "View Receipt" button, the text says it is paid in full, and the PDF prints a PAID mark — no payment button anywhere. Marking an invoice paid, or a payment that settles the balance, asks "Send the receipt?" right away. Refunds happen on the payment, not the invoice — see Refund a paid invoice.
• Cancelled — view only.

Clicking anywhere on a row opens the invoice — the editor while the status still allows editing, the read-only view otherwise.

Archive — hide without deleting

Every invoice (any status, Paid included) can be moved out of the way without deleting it. Open the row's ⋯ menu and choose Archive; a confirmation explains the move, and the invoice disappears from the list and the stat cards.

Archiving never touches the money: the invoice keeps its status, its payments stay on your ledger and reports, and the customer's payment link keeps working — an archived unpaid invoice can still be paid.

To see what you've archived, use the Active / Archived toggle under the page title (the same pattern as the Jobs page's Deleted view). Each archived row shows when and who archived it, and a Restore button puts it straight back in the active list. In the mobile app, swipe an invoice card left and tap Archive; the archived list lives behind the archive icon next to New, where swiping left restores.

Delete remains a separate, permanent action — archive is the safe default when you just want a clean list.

Partial payments and Balance Due

Recording a payment smaller than the total keeps the invoice in Sent (or Overdue) with the Payments section showing Total, Paid, and Balance Due. The invoice flips to Paid only when the balance reaches zero. The Total Outstanding card on the list counts the remaining balance, not the face value.

Troubleshooting

• I sent the invoice but it still says Draft — the send failed (bad email address, no phone). The status only flips after a successful delivery; check for a "failed to send" message and resend.
• An invoice went Overdue that shouldn't have — check its due date. Payment terms set at creation compute the due date; edit the invoice to change it, or record the payment that settles it.
• I can't delete a Paid invoice — by design. Paid invoices are financial records; refund or cancel instead.
• "No invoices yet. Create your first invoice." — the empty state on a fresh account. "No invoices match your filters." means your current tab, search, or date filter is excluding everything — reset the filters.