How to Manage Invoices, Design & Share, and Payments
Every order carries its own billing. From inside the order you can raise a proforma quote, generate an invoice, preview it exactly as the customer will see it, then finalize, email, or WhatsApp it — all without leaving the page. Payment status flows back automatically, so a glance at the order tells you whether it’s Paid, Partial, or Unpaid.
How Billing Works on an Order
Billing lives in two places you reach from the order header:
- Invoices & Proforma drawer — a running timeline of every invoice (and the proforma quote) for the order, with amounts, date ranges, and payment badges.
- Design & Share page — the full-page invoice preview where you finalize, send, resend, share, print, or cancel a document.
Billing actions appear once an order moves past Draft. A Draft or Cancelled order has no invoices yet — reserve or start the order first.
Create an Invoice
Open the order. From the Actions menu (the three-dot button in the order header), choose Create Invoice.
The invoice is generated as a draft and you land straight on the Design & Share page, where you can review it before it becomes final.
A few rules the app enforces:
- Create Invoice only appears once the order reaches an invoiceable status — Reserved, Rented Out, Partially Dispatched, Partially Received, Received, or Completed — and only when no active invoice exists yet.
- You need the
orders.writepermission. Without it, the invoice actions are hidden. - Recurring orders don’t use Create Invoice. Their invoices are generated automatically on each billing cycle — see Recurring Orders.
Once an invoice exists, a current-invoice chip shows in the order header with its number. Click the chip any time to jump back to the Design & Share preview, or use the copy button to copy the invoice number.
Create a Proforma (Quote / Estimate)
A proforma is a quotation you can share before final billing — it does not post to your accounts.
Click the Invoices & Proforma icon (the receipt icon) in the order header to open the drawer, then click the Proforma card at the top (View rental quote / estimate).
The proforma opens on the Design & Share page, where you can print it or save it as a PDF to send for approval.
The Proforma card is available for one-time rental and sale orders. It is hidden on recurring/subscription orders and on cancelled orders.
Review Invoices in the Drawer
Click the Invoices & Proforma icon to open the timeline of everything billed on this order. Each row shows the amount, the rental period it covers, and status badges:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Paid / Partial / Unpaid | How much of the invoice the customer has settled |
| v1, v2, … | Version — a refreshed invoice keeps its number but bumps the version |
| Cancelled | The invoice was voided (a credit note was raised) |
| Prorated | Created when a lease was cancelled mid-cycle |
| Recalculated | Replaced an earlier invoice after a rate change or stock swap |
Click View on any row to open it on the Design & Share page. On a subscription, an Upcoming Invoice row marked Scheduled shows the next billing date.
Finalize and Send an Invoice
On the Design & Share page you see the invoice rendered in your organization’s invoice template. While it is still a draft, use the primary button:
Finalize Invoice
Click Finalize Invoice to lock the document. Finalizing permanently assigns the invoice number and locks the billing fields — after this, only the payment status can change.
Finalize & Send
Open the dropdown beside the button and choose Finalize & Send to lock the invoice and email it to the customer in one step. The confirmation names the address it was sent to.
Finalize is permanent. A finalized invoice can’t be edited, and its number is fixed. Get the amounts and dates right on the draft first.
Resend, Share, Print, and Cancel
Once an invoice is finalized, the Design & Share header gives you:
- Email to Customer — resend the finalized invoice to the customer’s email on file.
- WhatsApp — open a share preview and send the invoice to the customer’s phone number via WhatsApp. A valid customer phone number is required.
- PDF / Print — open the print dialog to print the invoice or save it as a PDF. This is available for drafts, proformas, and finalized invoices.
- Cancel Invoice (in the dropdown) — void the invoice. Cancelling a finalized invoice raises a credit note automatically and the confirmation shows its number.
Refresh an Outdated Invoice
If you edit the order after creating a draft invoice, Rentablez flags it. The Design & Share page shows a banner — This invoice may not reflect the latest order changes — with a Refresh Invoice button. Refreshing rebuilds the draft from the current order and opens the updated version.
You can only refresh a draft invoice. A finalized invoice is locked; to change it, cancel it (which raises a credit note) and create a new one.
Record and Track Payments
Invoice payment status (Paid, Partial, Unpaid) is driven by the payments you record against each invoice, and it appears on the badges in the Invoices drawer.
- Rental and lease invoices — record payments from the Payments area. See How to Record Payments? for the step-by-step, and How to Set Up Payment Modes? to add Cash, Bank Transfer, UPI, and other methods.
- Sale orders — use Collect Payment directly from the Orders list; the payment is applied to the sale’s invoice.
When the full amount is covered, the invoice flips to Paid automatically.
Security Deposits
A security deposit is set on the order itself (percentage, fixed amount, or none) when you build it — see How to Create an Order?. The deposit is collected separately from the customer and, following standard practice, is not added into the invoice total.
- A refundable deposit is returned to the customer when the order is closed.
- A non-refundable deposit is retained on closure.
To change the organization default and enforcement rules, see Security Deposit Settings.
If your organization makes deposits mandatory, an order can’t be reserved or started until a deposit is set.
You’re All Set
You can now raise proformas and invoices from an order, finalize and send them, share via WhatsApp, keep them in sync, and track payment status end to end.
To change how your invoices look — logo, columns, terms, HSN/SAC visibility — see Invoice Template Customization.