Creating and Sending Invoices

system · March 3, 2026, 3:47am

Getting paid starts with professional invoices. Exoserva lets you create, customize, and send invoices directly from completed jobs or from scratch. This guide covers the full invoicing workflow from creation to payment tracking, helping you maintain healthy cash flow.

Estimated time: 10 minutes

Before You Begin

An active Exoserva account with Owner or Manager role
At least one customer in your account
Recommended: Stripe integration set up for online payments (see “Connecting Stripe” guide)

Step 1: Navigate to the Invoices Page

Click Invoices in the left sidebar under the Financials section. The page opens with several information-dense sections from top to bottom:

Ready to Invoice Banner: If you have completed jobs awaiting invoices, an amber dashed-border banner appears at the top showing the count of jobs ready to invoice with a pulsing badge. Click it to create invoices for those jobs.
Collection Progress Bar: A green horizontal progress bar showing your overall collection rate as a percentage, with milestone markers at 25%, 50%, and 75%. The bar fills from left to right and shows “X collected of Y total” below.
Accounts Receivable Aging: Four clickable bucket cards (Current 0-30 days in green, Past Due 31-60 days in yellow, At Risk 61-90 days in orange, Critical 90+ days in red) showing invoice counts and amounts. Click any bucket to filter the invoice list.
Stats Cards: Five summary cards showing Total Invoiced (blue), Paid (green), Outstanding (orange), Overdue (red), and 90+ Days aged receivables.
Status Tabs: Filter buttons for All, Draft, Pending, Overdue, and Paid – each showing a count badge.

Tip: Sort by status to quickly surface overdue invoices. Following up on overdue payments within the first week significantly improves collection rates. Click the red “Overdue” status tab to see only invoices that need immediate attention.

Warning: The Aging Buckets only include invoices with status “pending,” “partial,” or “overdue” that have a balance due. Draft invoices and fully paid invoices are excluded from the aging calculation.

Step 2: Create a New Invoice

Click the “+ New Invoice” button in the top-right corner of the Invoices page. A full-screen modal opens titled “Create Invoice” with a five-section form. The modal includes a footer bar with a “Cancel” button and a “Create Invoice” button (with a plus icon). A keyboard shortcut hint in the footer shows that you can press Ctrl+Enter (or Cmd+Enter on Mac) to submit the invoice quickly.

If you have completed jobs waiting for invoices, you can also click the amber “Ready to Invoice” banner at the top of the Invoices page to start creating invoices pre-populated with job details.

Tip: You can also create an invoice directly from a completed job’s detail page using the “Create Invoice” action button. This pre-populates the customer, line items, and amounts from the job.

Warning: The modal tracks unsaved changes. If you try to close it after making edits, an “Unsaved Changes” dialog will ask you to confirm whether you want to discard your work or continue editing.

Step 3: Select the Customer

The first section of the Create Invoice modal is “Customer Information” (marked with a blue user icon). Click the Customer combobox dropdown to search and select a customer. The dropdown supports type-ahead search – start typing a customer name and matching results appear below. Select the customer from the filtered list.

The customer’s name and billing details auto-populate on the invoice from their profile. This field is required – the form cannot be submitted without a customer selected, and a red validation error will appear if you try.

Tip: If the customer you need is not in the list, open a new browser tab and add them in the Customers section first, then return to the invoice form and refresh the dropdown.

Warning: Double-check the customer selection before proceeding. Sending an invoice to the wrong customer creates confusion and delays payment collection.

Step 4: Add Line Items

The third section of the modal is “Line Items” (marked with an orange list icon). A column header row shows: Type, Item Name, Qty, Unit Price, and Total. The first line item row is pre-created for you.

For each line item, fill in:

Type (dropdown): Choose “Service,” “Material,” “Labor,” or “Other”
Item Name (text): Description of the work or part
Qty (number): Quantity, defaults to 1
Unit Price (number with $ prefix): The per-unit price in dollars and cents
Total: Auto-calculated (quantity times unit price), displayed in the rightmost column

Click the “+ Add Item” dashed button below the line items to add additional rows. To remove a line item, click the trash icon on the right side of the row (only available when you have more than one item). At least one line item with a name and a price greater than zero is required for the invoice to be valid.

Tip: Line item totals calculate automatically in real time. The subtotal, tax, and grand total update instantly as you add, remove, or modify items. Keep an eye on the Financial Details section below to verify the running total.

Warning: A line item with a zero unit price will not count as valid. Make sure every line item has both a name and a price before submitting the invoice.

Step 5: Review Invoice Details and Financial Summary

Between the Customer and Line Items sections, the “Invoice Details” section (purple document icon) contains:

Invoice Title (text, required): A brief title for the invoice, with a character limit shown
Description (text, optional): Additional context about the work performed
Issue Date (date picker): Defaults to today, controls when the invoice is dated
Due Date (date picker, required): When payment is expected
Payment Terms (dropdown): Select from standard terms (Net 15, Net 30, Net 45, Due on Receipt, etc.) – selecting a term auto-calculates the Due Date from the Issue Date

Below the Line Items, the “Financial Details” section (green dollar icon) shows:

Tax Rate (number, percentage): Enter the tax percentage to apply
Discount (number with $ prefix): Enter a flat discount amount
Totals Panel: A summary box showing Subtotal, Discount (if applied, shown in red), Tax (with rate percentage), and the Total in bold primary color

The final section is “Notes” (grey clipboard icon) with two fields: Notes (visible to the customer on the invoice) and Internal Notes (visible only to your team, with a hint explaining this).

Tip: Use the Payment Terms dropdown instead of manually setting the Due Date. When you select “Net 30” for example, the Due Date automatically calculates to 30 days from the Issue Date, saving time and reducing errors.

Warning: Double-check the tax rate before sending. Incorrect tax calculations can cause compliance issues and customer disputes. The tax rate applies to the subtotal after any discount.

Step 6: Save and Send the Invoice

After completing all sections, click the “Create Invoice” button (with a plus icon) in the modal footer to save the invoice. If validation fails, red error messages appear below the offending fields: “Select a customer” under the customer combobox, “Enter a title” under the title field, “Select a due date” under the date picker, or “Add at least one line item” under the line items section.

Once created, the invoice appears in your list with a “Draft” status badge (grey). Click the invoice row to open its detail panel, then use the action buttons to “Send Invoice” via email, “Send Payment Link” (if Stripe is connected), “Print” the invoice, “Download PDF”, or “Record Payment”. When you send the invoice, the status automatically changes from Draft to Pending (blue badge). A three-dot progress indicator in the invoice row tracks the journey: Sent, Viewed, and Paid – each dot fills green as the milestone is reached.

Tip: Use the Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on Mac) keyboard shortcut to quickly create the invoice without reaching for the mouse. This is especially useful when creating multiple invoices in a row.

Warning: Once an invoice is sent to the customer, changes require either editing the sent invoice (which resends a notification) or cancelling and creating a new one. Review all details carefully before hitting Send.

Step 7: Track Payment Status

Back on the main Invoices list, monitor payment status using multiple visual indicators:

Status Badges: Grey for Draft, blue for Pending (sent but not paid), green for Paid, red for Overdue, and amber for Partial payment
Payment Timeline: A three-dot progress indicator on each row showing Sent (first dot), Viewed (second dot), and Paid (third dot) – filled dots are green, unfilled are grey
Reminder Indicator: If payment reminders have been sent, a small amber bell badge appears with a count (e.g., “2x”) showing how many reminders were sent
Aging Buckets: The four color-coded AR aging cards at the top update in real time as invoices age past their due dates
Collection Progress Bar: The green bar at the top fills as payments are collected, showing your overall collection percentage with celebration particles when you reach 100%

Click any invoice row to open the detail panel where you can view the full payment timeline, record a manual payment, send a reminder, or take other actions.

Tip: Set up payment reminder notifications in Settings to automatically email customers when invoices become overdue. This saves hours of manual follow-up each week. The amber bell badge on the invoice row confirms reminders have been sent.

Warning: Invoices in the “Critical” aging bucket (90+ days) are at high risk of non-payment. The red bucket card pulses with an animation to draw your attention. Consider escalating these to direct phone calls or offering a payment plan.

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve completed this guide, check out:

Need help? Post in the Tech Support category or contact support@exoserva.com.