GreenSailsAlpha

Invoices & Documents

Create invoices, quotes, receipts, and other billing documents, manage customers, collect payments, and automate recurring or batch billing.

Invoices & documents help you bill customers outside the register, wholesale accounts, catering deposits, project work, purchase orders you send suppliers, vendor bills for what they charged you, or any sale that needs formal paperwork. Every document type shares your item catalog, organization branding, and a clear status from draft through paid.

Billing lives under the Money section in the sidebar: Invoices, Recurring invoices, Batch invoices, GCT-01 helper, Service charge pool, Tax & compliance, Customers, and Contracts. Money also covers tax helpers next to operational documents, not a separate module. Configure shared branding under Settings → Organization → Invoice template and automatic follow-ups under Settings → Organization → Payment reminders. Roles that can send documents can also share Customer portal links (portal.*) so customers view invoices or sign contracts by email OTP. That is separate from the Staff portal your team uses to clock in.

Document types

GreenSails supports eight document types from a single list and editor. Use New document in the header to pick the type when creating (vendor bills are usually created from a purchase order).

TypeWhen to use it
InvoiceA bill you expect to collect on.
QuoteA formal proposal, convert to an invoice or purchase order when accepted.
EstimateRough pricing before scope is final, also converts to invoice or purchase order.
ProformaA proforma invoice sent before final billing or shipment.
ReceiptProof that payment was received, often created by converting a paid invoice.
Purchase orderAn order you send a supplier (including ones linked from Inventory).
Vendor billWhat a supplier charged you, see Vendor bills.
Credit noteA refund or account credit. Totals display as negative amounts in the list, editor, and PDF.

All types use the same editor, filters, and delivery tools. Number prefixes for each type are configured in your invoice template.

The documents list

The main Invoices page title reads Invoices & documents. From the list you can:

  • Search by customer name or document number
  • Filter by type, status, overdue, archive, and customer
  • Narrow by issue date or due date ranges
  • Open a quick preview in the side sheet, or open the full editor
  • Jump to Recurring, Batch, or Customers from the header actions

Overdue invoices are highlighted so you can spot collections work at a glance. Use the Archive filter to review documents you've filed away without deleting them.

Customers

Under Money → Customers, manage saved bill-to contacts for billing:

  • Add customers manually with name, email, and address
  • Click a row to edit an existing contact
  • Pick a saved customer when building a document, the editor fills in their details
  • Enter a new customer on an invoice and GreenSails automatically creates or links a record here

Use the customer filter on the main list to see all documents for one contact.

Document lifecycle

StatusMeaning
DraftStill being prepared; not yet sent to the customer.
SentIssued to the customer and awaiting payment.
PartialSome payment recorded; balance still outstanding.
PaidSettled in full.
VoidCancelled; kept for the audit trail but not collectible.

Keep documents in Draft until line items, tax, and dates are final. Move to Sent when the customer receives it so status and reminders stay accurate.

Building a document

Customer

Enter the customer's name, email, and billing address, or pick a saved contact from Customers. The email is required before you can send the document or grant portal access.

Document design (optional)

Override the organization default layout preset and accent color for this document only. Leave Use organization default on to inherit settings from Settings → Invoice template → Document design.

Dates & status

Set the issue date, due date, and status. Summary cards at the top of the editor show amount paid and balance due as payments are recorded.

Line items

Add lines manually or pull from your item catalog with Add from inventory. Each line carries a name, optional description, quantity, and price.

Tax & discount

Set document tax using your organization’s tax regime. On Jamaican Tax Invoices, choose a GCT category per line (standard, zero-rated, or exempt). When shelf prices are tax-inclusive, line amounts stay shelf-exact and GreenSails extracts tax for reporting. Apply an invoice-level discount as needed. Credit notes show signed negative totals. Configure regime, inclusive pricing, and service charge under Money → Tax & compliance.

Deposits (optional)

For jobs that require upfront payment, set a deposit amount with separate due dates for the deposit and the remaining balance.

Notes & terms

Add customer-visible notes and payment terms. Defaults come from your invoice template.

The editor tracks unsaved changes: save before leaving the page or downloading a PDF so the document matches what you intend to send.

Converting between types

When scope or payment status changes, convert without re-entering line items:

FromAvailable conversions
Quote or EstimateConvert to invoice or Convert to purchase order
Invoice (not paid or void)Convert to receipt: marks the document Paid

Conversion copies customer details, line items, and totals into the new type.

Duplicate, archive, and restore

  • Duplicate: create a copy of any document and open it in the editor (available from the list side sheet or the full editor).
  • Archive: file away finished documents to declutter the default list without deleting history.
  • Restore: bring an archived document back to the active list.

Archived documents appear when you set the Archive filter to Archived.

E-signature on documents

From the document editor, open Attach signature to link a signed contract to this bill. You can:

  • Pick an existing signed contract whose customer email matches this document
  • Create a new contract pre-linked to this document
  • Turn on Require signature before payment to block customer portal payments until the contract is signed

See Contracts & E-Signature for the full signing workflow.

Sending, portal access, and payments

Open Delivery & payments on any invoice to:

  • Email the invoice to your customer
  • Manage portal access: add the email addresses that may view the document online
  • Record payments you receive outside GreenSails (deposit, balance, or paid in full)
  • Review payment history

When you email an invoice, the customer receives a secure link. They verify their email with a one-time code, then view totals, line items, deposit schedule, and payment history. On customer invoices they can also notify your team when they've sent payment. Vendor bills and purchase orders linked from Inventory do not show that notify button, your team records payments on vendor bills in GreenSails.

Portal access is separate from sending email, add every address that should be able to open the link, such as an accounts-payable contact in addition to the primary customer.

Preview and PDF

Preview the rendered document anytime, then download a branded PDF for your records or offline delivery. PDFs use your document design settings (or organization defaults) and location branding.

Dual-currency display

On the document editor, set Dual-currency display to Off or pick a listed ISO code (USD, JMD, EUR, GBP, CAD, TTD, BBD). When the selected display currency matches the location’s secondary currency, GreenSails uses the location house rate when set; otherwise it uses the daily reference rate. Converted subtotal, tax, and total are snapshotted at save time for audit clarity. Payments and amount paid stay in the document’s base currency. Configure location house rates under Locations.

Recurring invoices

Under Money → Recurring invoices, set up schedules that automatically generate invoices from a blueprint document you choose:

  1. Pick the source document that defines line items and defaults
  2. Set the cadence, weekly, monthly, or yearly, with an interval and start/end dates
  3. Optionally enable auto-send so each generated invoice goes to the customer without manual steps

Pause or resume schedules from the list. Each row shows the next run date and whether auto-send is on.

Batch invoices

Under Money → Batch invoices, send the same blueprint to many customers at once:

  1. Choose a blueprint document
  2. Add recipients with name, email, and address for each customer
  3. Generate (and optionally send) all copies in one run

Open a completed batch to see per-recipient status (generated, sent, or failed).

Payment reminders

Under Settings → Payment reminders, configure automatic emails that nudge customers:

  • A set number of days before the due date
  • On the due date
  • A set number of days after the due date

Add as many rules as you need. Reminders apply to sent invoices with a customer email on file.

Invoice template

Under Settings → Invoice template, configure the shared look and defaults for every document type. The page has two tabs:

Document design: default layout preset (Classic, Compact, Detailed, and themed presets such as Ocean, Midnight, and Executive) plus optional custom accent color. Individual documents can override these per the document design panel.

Template: logo and business contact details, default currency and tax rate, number prefixes for each document type (invoice, quote, receipt, purchase order, vendor bill, credit note, proforma, estimate), and default terms and footer note.

Individual documents inherit these defaults; you can still override tax, terms, notes, and design per document.

Generate from an order

For settled POS sales that need formal billing, open the order in the order journal and choose Generate invoice. GreenSails pre-fills customer and line-item context from the order so you can review, adjust, and send.

Tags

Assign org-wide tags to invoices, quotes, and other document types from the detail editor. Use the Tags column and filter on the main list to find documents by label, for example "Wholesale," "Past due follow-up," or "Q3 campaign."

Customer records under Money → Customers support the same tags, so you can align billing documents with the contacts they belong to.

What's next

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