What your customers see when you send an invoice

In this article, you'll learn what your customer sees after you send them an invoice: the message they get, the invoice page in your customer portal, how they pay it, and what you hear back. It helps when a customer calls with a question, or when you're deciding whether to take card payments online.

To see exactly what a customer sees:

  1. In the menu, click Invoices and open the invoice.
  2. Click Preview. The invoice opens in your customer portal, the way the customer gets it.
Opening the customer's view of an invoice

The text or email they get

When you send an invoice, your customer gets a text, an email or both, depending on what you picked. The words are what you typed on the send screen, or the invoice wording from Settings › Templates if you typed nothing. A View Document link follows the message.

The link opens that one invoice in your customer portal, at customer-portal.page followed by your company's name. They don't sign in or look through a list. The link signs them in and lands them on the invoice.

Back on your side, the invoice page stamps each send under the button, like 9/7/2026 2:34pm texted or emailed, and the button changes to Send invoice again. Until it goes out, the invoice page and the Invoices list both say Not sent.

Tip: To change the default wording, see Editing the messages sent with estimates and invoices.

What the invoice looks like

On a computer

The invoice opens in a pane beside their inbox. At the top they see:

  • The invoice number, like Invoice #INV-1042
  • Total due: and the amount still owed, or Total: once nothing is owed
  • A Pay invoice button, when the invoice can be paid online
  • A ⋮ menu with Print and Download as PDF

Under that is the invoice itself, laid out the way your invoice template looks.

On a phone

On a phone the invoice gets its own page. The bar at the top has ⟵ Back to homepage and Download PDF. Below that are the invoice number, a status chip and the date it was sent, plus the due date if it has one. The invoice sits in its own scrolling box.

A panel fixed to the bottom of the screen shows Total invoice and Total due, with a full-width Pay invoice button.

Download PDF works a little differently on a phone. Instead of saving a file, an Email the PDF box asks where to send it, with their email already filled in. They tap Send, and the PDF goes to that address.

The status chip

The chip next to the invoice number tells them where things stand:

  • Pending: sent and not paid yet
  • Partly paid: some of it has been paid
  • Overdue: the due date has passed
  • Paid: nothing is owed
  • Refunded: the money was given back

How they pay

When they click Pay invoice, they get a short checkout page headed Pay Invoice and the invoice number:

  1. Add a tip? They pick No Thanks, one of your suggested percentages, or Custom, then Continue. This step only shows when you collect tips, and it's skipped on recurring and deposit invoices.
  2. Add your signature They sign in the box and click Continue. They can tick Get a copy via email first.
  3. Make a payment They see the amount due and enter their card. They can tick Save this card for future charges to keep it on file. The button reads Pay and the amount.

If you charge a card service fee, the amount says includes the fee, with a line explaining the percentage.

Online payments only work once you've connected Stripe. Until then, a customer who clicks Pay invoice sees Online payment isn't set up yet, with a note asking them to get in touch with you to settle the invoice. To fix that, see Connecting Stripe to take online payments.

Note: If you unticked credit card payments when you sent the invoice, there's no Pay invoice button. The email tells them you'll arrange payment with them directly, and the pay page says Payment is arranged directly.
Warning: If you change the invoice while the customer has the pay page open, they're shown the new amount and asked to check it before paying. They're never charged a figure they didn't see.

After it's paid

Once the invoice is paid in full, a green banner says This invoice was successfully paid and the chip changes to Paid. A Download receipt button appears, and the PDF download gives them the receipt instead of the invoice. If they've paid part of it, they get a Receipt so far button instead.

Depending on your notification settings, you're told when they first open the invoice (Invoice viewed) and when money comes in (Payment received). Both show up on the customer's conversation timeline too.

A refunded invoice shows the Refunded chip and a note that nothing is owed. There's no pay button and no receipt to download.

Coming back later

The link in their text or email keeps working, so most people just tap it again. If they go to your portal directly, they sign in with their Last name and the Last 4 digits of your phone number, meaning the phone number you have on file for them. Once signed in, they see everything you've sent them. If they owe anything, the greeting counts their unpaid invoices and a Pay Now button takes them straight to the first one.

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