Invoices
Invoices track what you bill customers and what they owe. Create invoices, send them for payment, and monitor outstanding balances — all connected to the jobs and customers they belong to.
Open Invoices from the main navigation.
When to use Invoices
Use Invoices when you need to:
- Bill a customer for completed work or materials.
- Track what has been paid and what is still outstanding.
- Send payment links so customers can pay online.
- See overdue balances at a glance.
Before you start
- At least one customer must exist in ToolbagCRM before you can create an invoice. Each invoice requires a customer.
- Stripe connection — to send invoices or generate pay links, connect your Stripe account in Settings → Integrations → Stripe. Without Stripe, you can still create and manually mark invoices as paid.
- Verified email — the account owner's email must be verified before invoices can be sent or pay links shared.
- If you plan to tie invoices to jobs, make sure the job and customer are already in the system.
The invoice list
The invoice list opens with three summary cards at the top:
| Card | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Outstanding | Total unpaid amount and count of unpaid invoices |
| Overdue | Sum of overdue balances and count of overdue invoices (highlighted in red) |
| Paid (30d) | Total collected in the last 30 days |
Status tabs
Filter by status: All, Draft, Sent, Paid, or Overdue. Each tab shows a count badge. "Overdue" is a derived status — unpaid invoices past their due date, excluding drafts and voided invoices.
Search and pagination
Search by invoice number, customer name, or line item descriptions. The invoice list loads in pages of up to 100 invoices. When your account has more invoices than the current page, the header still shows the full total and the pagination controls move between pages, but the search box changes to Search this page… so you know it is filtering the invoices currently loaded.
If the full invoice list is not loaded yet, the Outstanding, Overdue, and Paid (30d) summary cards may show — with a note that the summary needs all records. Move through the pages or use the detail views for exact invoice-level balances until account-wide summary totals are available.
What each row shows
- Invoice number in monospaced font.
- Customer name — clickable link to the customer detail.
- Issued date
- Due date — shown in red if overdue.
- Amount — the invoice total.
- Balance — remaining amount due, shown in red if overdue.
- Status badge
Create a new invoice
- Click New Invoice.
- Select a Customer (required).
- Optionally select a Linked job — the dropdown lists only jobs that belong to the selected customer, and it stays disabled until a customer is chosen. Leave it on "No job attached" for a customer-only invoice.
- Enter a Description (required).
- Enter the Amount in USD (required).
- Optionally set a Due Date.
- Save the invoice.
New invoices default to Draft status. The form creates a single line item with quantity 1 at the entered amount.
You can also start a new invoice from a job's detail page: click New Invoice in the job's Linked invoices section, and ToolbagCRM pre-fills the job's customer plus the current job. The customer field stays locked to that job's account, while Linked job can stay selected or be changed to No job attached before you create the draft.
Invoice detail view
Click any invoice row to open the full detail. The detail view includes:
Action bar
- Print — Opens the browser print dialog for a print-friendly invoice card. Navigation, action buttons, flow graph, and activity timeline are hidden from the printed copy so customers only see the invoice details, your company's name and contact information, bill-to information, line items, totals, and balance due. If the printed invoice is missing your company details, go to Settings → Company and fill in your phone, website, and address.
- Send — Transitions the invoice to "Sent" status. Requires a connected Stripe account.
- Copy Pay Link — Generates a public payment URL you can share with the customer. Requires Stripe.
- Open Pay Link — Opens the customer-facing payment page in a new browser tab so you can preview what the customer sees. Requires Stripe.
- Charge Card — Charges the customer's card on file for the balance due. Hidden once paid.
- Mark as Paid — Manually marks the invoice as paid for cash or check payments collected outside Stripe.
- Void — Cancels the invoice and excludes it from receivables. Requires a reason (e.g., "duplicate invoice" or "customer disputed charge"). Voided invoices cannot be sent or paid.
Header
- Invoice number and status badge with an inline StatusSelect dropdown for manual status changes.
- Issued date and due date.
- Total amount and balance due (or "Paid in full" in green).
From section
Your company logo (or initials if no logo is set), company name, phone, website, and address pulled from your Settings → Company profile. If no contact info is configured yet, a no-print link guides admins to fill it in.
Bill to section
Customer avatar, name (linked), email, phone, and address.
Linked job
If the invoice is tied to a job, the job title, status, and a link to the job detail are shown.
Line items table
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Description | What was billed |
| Qty | Quantity |
| Unit Price | Price per unit |
| Total | Quantity times unit price |
Totals footer
- Subtotal
- Total
- Paid — any payments already applied (shown in green)
- Balance Due — what is still owed (shown in red if overdue)
Status history
Every status change with timestamps and who made the change.
Activity timeline
A chronological feed of all activity on the invoice — sends, payments, status changes, and other events.
Sending and payment
Stripe connection
Sending invoices and generating pay links require a connected Stripe account. If Stripe is not connected, ToolbagCRM shows a gate modal directing you to Settings → Integrations → Stripe to set it up.
How customers pay
- Send the invoice from the detail view.
- ToolbagCRM generates a public pay link (
/pay/{token}). - The customer opens the link and pays by card through Stripe.
- The payment is recorded automatically and the invoice status updates to Paid.
Manual payments
For cash, check, or other offline payments:
- Open the invoice detail.
- Click Mark as Paid.
- Confirm the payment.
The invoice status changes to Paid and the payment is recorded in the payments ledger.
Invoice statuses
- Draft — Created but not yet sent. Editable.
- Sent — Delivered to the customer. Awaiting payment.
- Paid — Payment received in full.
- Voided — Cancelled and excluded from receivables. Requires a reason when voiding.
- Overdue — Unpaid and past the due date (derived status). Voided invoices are excluded from overdue calculations.
Tips
- Use Print from the invoice detail when a customer needs a PDF or paper copy; the printed layout removes internal navigation, action controls, and activity history so the document stays customer-facing.
- When the invoice list says Search this page…, use the pagination controls to check other pages before assuming an older invoice is missing.
- Set due dates so overdue invoices are flagged automatically.
- Use the summary cards at the top of the invoice list to monitor receivables at a glance; if a card shows —, use invoice rows and detail views until all records are included in the summary.
- Link invoices to jobs so the financial picture stays connected to the work.
- Check the activity timeline to see the full history when investigating a payment question.
Troubleshooting
"Connect your Stripe account before sending invoices"
ToolbagCRM requires a connected Stripe account to send invoices or generate pay links. Go to Settings → Integrations → Stripe and complete the connection. Once connected, retry the send action.
"Verify your email address before sending invoices"
The account owner's email must be verified. Check your email for a verification link or re-send it from your account settings.
Invoice total exceeds the $1,000,000 limit
Individual invoices are capped at $1,000,000. Split large amounts across multiple invoices if needed.
Line item errors
"Linked job must belong to the selected customer"
Invoices can only be linked to a job that belongs to the same customer. If you change the customer after selecting a job, the job field resets — pick the job again from the filtered list, or leave it unlinked for a customer-only invoice.
Each line item must have a positive quantity and a non-negative unit price. Check that neither field is zero or negative.
Cannot share a Draft invoice
Pay links can only be generated for invoices that have been sent. Click Send on the invoice detail first, then use Copy Pay Link.
Customer cannot find the payment link
Payment links are public URLs (/pay/{token}). If the customer reports a broken link, the invoice may have been voided or the token may have expired. Generate a fresh link from the invoice detail.