An invoice, a quotation, a purchase order, a receipt — these are all documents, and they all move through the same few states. Understanding those states explains most of what the system will and will not let you do.
The two states that matter
Every document starts as a Draft and, when you are happy with it, becomes Confirmed.
- A draft is yours to play with. Only your team can see it, nothing is counted anywhere, and you can change or delete any part of it.
- Confirming is the moment it becomes real. The amounts are recorded in your accounts, the document appears in your reports, and — if it involves goods — your stock moves.
Raise a document
- Open the list for that kind of document and click Add.
- Pick the customer or supplier. Their address, payment terms and currency fill in by themselves.
- Check the Date. This is the date the document counts from, so it decides which month it lands in.
- Click Add First Item and add a line. Use Add row for each one after that.
- Click Save Draft if you are not finished, or Confirm if you are.
What you can do once it is confirmed
- Print or email it. Print opens a printable copy; the arrow beside it offers Email.
- Create the next document from it. This is the part most people miss — a confirmed document grows buttons that build the following one for you, with the lines already filled in. See Turning one document into the next.
- Take or make a payment. Create Receipt and Create Payment open a cash entry already matched to the document.
- Copy it. Duplicate makes a fresh draft with the same lines and no connection to anything else — useful for a repeat order.
- Unlock it. Reset to Draft takes it back out of your accounts and your stock so you can change it. It is refused once anything depends on it.
The tabs under the lines
- Linked Documents lists everything created from this document, and everything it came from. The quickest way to understand where a document sits in a chain.
- Attachments holds your files — a signed delivery note, a supplier's original bill.
- Activity Log shows who changed what, and when.
Other states you will meet
- Pending Approval means it is waiting for sign-off before it can be confirmed. Whoever needs to approve it gets an alert.
- Partially Paid and Paid track money against a bill; you never set them by hand.
- Closed on an order means you have decided nothing further will come of it.
- Cancelled means it was called off and counts for nothing.
If the system refuses a change you expected to be able to make, Why can't I edit or delete this? lists every reason.