Creating, Sending, and Tracking Invoices

Overview

An invoice is the billing document you send to a client to request payment for completed work. In MyApprentice, invoices can be created from an accepted quote, generated at job completion, or built manually. The same Quotes & Invoices area tracks the lifecycle from draft to paid.

Who uses this feature

Sole Traders, Business Owners, and Finance (where permitted). Supervisors can create and send where the business has granted that permission. Tradies and Apprentices do not have invoicing access by default.

When to use this feature

• A job is complete and ready to invoice.
• You need to bill for work that was not tracked through the quote-and-job workflow.
• You need to amend, resend, or follow up on an invoice.

What you can do with this feature

• Create an invoice from a completed job (using the quote-linked details).
• Create a manual invoice from scratch.
• Edit a draft or sent invoice (with a warning on sent).
• Download an invoice PDF.
• Send an invoice to a client by email (and through the Client Portal if enabled).
• Track invoice status: Ready to be invoiced, Draft, Sent, Overdue, Xero Draft, Xero Authorised, Paid.
• Mark an invoice as paid (when not connected to Xero).

How the feature works

Create an invoice from a completed job

1. Open Quotes and Invoices.
2. Find the quote showing status Ready to be invoiced.
3. Open the quote and review details.
4. Select Create Invoice.
5. Choose Create Draft & Go to Invoices to jump straight to the invoice page, or Create Draft to stay on the quote page.
6. Open the invoice from the Invoices page.
7. Review all invoice details — client, line items, payment terms, subtotal, GST, total.
8. Select Email or Email Invoice to send.
9. Review the draft email and amend if required.
10. Select Send Email.

Tip: autocomplete in the invoice editor

As you type in the line items or materials fields on an invoice, the editor suggests matching items and materials from your existing records — select a suggestion to auto-fill the description, unit, and price. If a line item does not yet exist, type it in full and it will be saved for future use. The behaviour mirrors the quote editor.

Create a manual invoice

1. From the dashboard, select the Create Invoice Quick Action, or navigate to Quotes and Invoices and select Create Invoice.
2. Enter or select the client.
3. Add line items, materials, and labour as required.
4. Review subtotal, GST, and total.
5. Select Save as Draft or Save & Send.

Edit an invoice

• Draft invoice: open Invoices → select the invoice → Edit → make changes → Save invoice.
• Sent invoice (not recommended): open Invoices → select the invoice (status Sent) → Edit in the pop-out → confirm the warning to proceed → edit and save. Re-send the invoice to the client after editing.

Download an invoice PDF

1. Open Quotes and Invoices and select the invoice.
2. In the actions bar, select Download.

Send an invoice

1. Open the invoice.
2. Select Email.
3. Review the email draft — client email, subject, invoice details, and payment information. (Optional: have AI draft the email body — set a tone, then review and edit. The AI writes the prose only, not the Pay Now button, signature, or amounts; each draft uses 1 AI call. See Using AI in MyApprentice.)
4. Select Send email. The status updates to Sent, and the invoice is emailed from MyApprentice. If Xero is connected, sending also authorises the invoice in Xero so the client can pay it. When online payments are set up, the email carries a Pay Now link — which link the client sees and how they pay depends on your Stripe, Xero, and Client Portal setup; see Connecting Stripe for Online Payments.

Invoice status reference

Status	Meaning
Ready to be invoiced	The quote or job is complete but no invoice yet exists
Draft	Invoice exists but has not been sent
Sent	Invoice has been emailed
Overdue	The due date has passed and no payment has been recorded
Xero Draft	Pushed to Xero as a draft (Xero connected)
Xero Authorised	Approved in Xero, awaiting payment
Paid	Payment has been recorded

Mark an invoice as paid

• Not connected to Xero: Finance (or the Business Owner) opens the invoice page, opens the three-dots menu next to the amount, and selects Mark as paid. The status updates to Paid.
• Connected to Xero: payment settlement is managed in Xero — Mark as paid does not appear. A card payment taken through MyApprentice’s Stripe is pushed to Xero automatically (when the Xero payment account is set); a payment made on Xero’s own rail reconciles in Xero. Either way the status syncs back to MyApprentice — use Sync All on the Quotes & Invoices page to pull the latest. See Connecting and Using Xero and Connecting Stripe for Online Payments.

Role-specific notes

• Business Owner / Sole Trader: full invoicing access including delete.
• Finance / Admin: create, edit, and send invoices — but cannot delete (only the Business Owner deletes).
• Supervisor: create, edit, and send invoices; cannot delete.
• Tradie / Apprentice: no invoicing access.

Related workflows

• Creating and Sending Quotes
• Recording Quote Acceptance and Converting to a Job
• Creating and Managing Jobs
• Connecting and Using Xero
• Using the Client Portal

Important notes

• Editing a sent invoice is not recommended — if you must, expect to re-send the invoice afterwards. Discuss with the client before re-issuing.
• Only the Business Owner can delete an invoice.
• If Xero is connected, the Mark as paid button is intentionally hidden because payment is reconciled in Xero.
• When you complete a job, the invoice prompt offers Create as draft (saves the invoice without sending) or Create & send (emails the invoice now — and authorises it in Xero when connected).
• For how Stripe, Xero, and the Client Portal change the way clients pay, see the setup scenarios in Connecting Stripe for Online Payments.