# How customer invoices work

The life of an invoice from draft to paid or reversed, its numbers, what confirming locks, how discounts and the payment link for several invoices work, what the app leaves to other apps, and who may do what.

**Customer invoices** gathers what a firm bills: invoices, credit notes and the payments that settle them, with two additions of its own, a discount on the whole invoice and one payment link for several invoices. This page explains how the pieces hold together.

## Two statuses on every invoice {#statuses}

An invoice has a status, shown at the top right, and a payment status, shown as a ribbon and in the list.

| Status | Meaning | Next |
|---|---|---|
| **Draft** | Being prepared; everything can change. It has no number. | **Confirm**, **Cancel**, or delete it |
| **Posted** | Confirmed: numbered, locked, in the books. | **Send**, **Pay**, **Credit Note**, **Reset to Draft** |
| **Cancelled** | Withdrawn before it counted. | **Reset to Draft** |

| Payment status | Shown when |
|---|---|
| **Not Paid** | Nothing has been paid; a grey **Sent** ribbon tells that it was e-mailed. |
| **Partially Paid** | A payment or a partial credit note covered part of it (**Partial** ribbon). |
| **Paid** | Payments or credits cover the whole amount (**Paid** ribbon). |
| **Reversed** | A credit note for the whole amount cancelled it (**Reversed** ribbon). |
| **Blocked** | Payment was put on hold with **(Un)Block Payment** in the **Actions** menu. |

## Numbers {#numbering}

A document receives its number when it is confirmed, never before: **INV** for invoices and **RINV** for credit notes, then the year and a five-digit counter that starts again each year. The number stays when the invoice is reset to draft, so the sequence keeps no gap. Payments have their own numbers (**PBNK1** for the **Bank** journal), and each payment link for several invoices gets a reference of the form **BATCH**, year, counter.

## What confirming locks {#locking}

Confirming writes the invoice's entries in the books: income, taxes and the amount the client owes. From then on the client, the lines, the amounts and the **Total Discount** are read-only. A correction goes through **Reset to Draft**, which takes the entries back out until the invoice is confirmed again, or through a credit note, which keeps the invoice as issued and adds a second document ([Issue a credit note](issue-a-credit-note)). A payment settles the amount the client owes; matching it with the bank statement is the work of [Banks, cash and currencies](/docs/banks-and-cash).

## Discounts {#discounts}

Each line can carry one discount: a percentage (**Disc.%**) or an amount (**Disc. Fixed**), never both. **Total Discount** sits above them: a percentage written on every line, or an amount spread from the largest line down. While it is set, it rewrites the line discounts at each recalculation, including the discounts copied from a sales order. The two kinds are not booked alike: a percentage can be sent to a discount account chosen in [Customer invoice settings](customer-invoice-settings), and it shows as a discount column on the printed invoice; a fixed amount lowers the income of its line and prints as a lower amount. How to set them: [Give a discount on an invoice](give-a-discount-on-an-invoice).

## The payment link for several invoices {#payment-link}

Generating a link for several invoices creates a small record behind the scenes: the client, the company, the currency, the invoices, their total and what is still due, and a status (**Open**, **Partially Paid**, **Paid**) that follows the invoices. The link carries a secret key, so the client opens the page without an account, and it always asks for what remains due on its invoices. The records have no screen of their own: a link is used from the message it was sent in, and a new one is generated when needed ([One payment link for several invoices](one-payment-link-for-several-invoices)).

## What the app leaves to others {#elsewhere}

- The chart of accounts, the journals, the taxes and the general accounting settings: [Accounting: start here](/docs/accounting-start-here).
- Matching payments with bank statements: [Banks, cash and currencies](/docs/banks-and-cash).
- Payment providers, the customer portal and the payment link of a single invoice: [Online payments](/docs/online-payments).
- Overdue invoices, client statements and follow-up: [Accounting reports](/docs/accounting-reports).
- The Saudi e-invoice and its QR code: [E-invoicing (ZATCA)](/docs/e-invoicing-zatca).
- Invoices of cases, consultations, contracts and executions: the legal apps fill the **Case**, **Consulting**, **Contract** and **Execution** fields of **Other Info**, as explained in [Cases](/docs/law-cases), [Consultations](/docs/law-consulting), [Contracts](/docs/law-contract) and [Executions](/docs/law-execution).

## Who may do what {#access}

| Access right on Accounting | Can |
|---|---|
| Read-only on all documents | Open every invoice, credit note and payment, and print them. Changes nothing. |
| **Invoicing** on the user's own documents | Open and edit the invoices and payments the user created or is the salesperson of. **Confirm**, **Pay**, **Credit Note** and **Reset to Draft** do not appear for this right. |
| **Invoicing** on all documents | Every invoice, credit note and payment of the company, with every action, payment links included. |
| **Administrator** | All of the above and the configuration. The settings page also needs the **Administrator** role on the user. |

Each company keeps its own invoices, sequences and settings; a user sees those of the companies they work in.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/customer-invoices/how-customer-invoices-work
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Customer invoices 19.0.1.1.1