Record Payments Against Invoices
Last updated July 6, 2026 · Admins and office staff
When money comes in — a check in the mail, cash on site, a bank transfer — you record it as a payment applied to one or more of the customer’s invoices. This article covers the two ways to record a payment (Quick Pay and the full Receive Payment screen), reviewing a payment afterward, printing a receipt, and deleting a payment. Online card payments made by customers through the Customer Portal record themselves — nothing for you to do there.
Before you start
- At least one unpaid invoice for the customer (see Create and Manage Invoices).
- At least one Payment Method set up (Cash, Check, etc.) — the payment form requires one.
- Know the split if one check covers several invoices: you’ll enter an amount per invoice.
Steps
Option A: Quick Pay (one invoice, fastest)
- Go to Sales. On any Invoice row with a balance, click the Quick Pay button in the Actions column.
- A Quick Pay window opens showing the invoice number, customer, and open balance. It pre-fills:
- Payment Date — today.
- Amount — the full open balance (edit for a partial payment).
- Choose the Payment Method (required) and optionally a Reference (check number, ACH ref, etc.).
- Click Record Payment. You’re taken to the new payment’s summary page.
Quick Pay validates as you go: the amount must be greater than zero and can’t exceed the invoice’s open balance.
Option B: Receive Payment (split across invoices)
- Open the invoice and choose Action → Receive Payment (offered on any invoice that isn’t fully paid). The Record Payment page opens with the customer pre-selected and all of their invoices listed. You can also switch customers using the searchable Customer dropdown — type to filter.
- Enter the Payment Date (pre-filled with today; required) and pick the Payment Method (required). Reference Number is optional.
- In the invoice list, check the box on each invoice this payment covers and type the payment amount for each. The Amount Received and Amount to apply figures update as you type.
- Click Submit Payment.
Validation on this screen: at least one invoice must be checked, each checked invoice needs an amount, amounts must be greater than zero, and no amount may exceed that invoice’s open balance (“Payment amount cannot be greater then Open Balance”).
Review the payment — Payment Summary
After recording you land on the Payment Summary page (“Payment recorded successfully. Review any remaining balance below.”), which is also where the View link on Payment rows in the Sales list takes you. It shows:
- Applied Invoices — each invoice the payment touched, with the original amount and the portion applied (invoice numbers are clickable).
- Payment Details — customer (clickable), payment date, reference #, payment type, amount received, and the customer’s remaining balance.
- Source — an Online badge for portal/Stripe payments or Manual for ones you keyed in. Online payments with a customer-paid card surcharge show it as “+$X.XX processing fee”.
- Memo — if one was recorded.
Print a receipt
On the Payment Summary, click Print Receipt (top right). A print-formatted receipt opens in a new tab — with your company document header, the payment details, and the invoices it was applied to — ready for your browser’s print dialog or “Save as PDF”.
Edit a payment
There is no edit screen for payments. If a payment was recorded with the wrong amount, date, method, or against the wrong invoice: delete it and record it again correctly. Deleting is safe — it simply reopens the invoice balances.
Delete a payment
- Open the payment (Sales list → View on the Payment row, or via an invoice’s Payment History).
- Click Delete (top right) and confirm “Are you sure you want to delete this payment?”.
- You’re returned to Sales with “Payment was successfully deleted!.” Every invoice the payment touched gets its balance restored.
What happens next
- Recording a payment updates each touched invoice’s status immediately: Partial if a balance remains, Paid when fully covered.
- When an invoice reaches fully paid, its linked job is automatically moved to Closed.
- Payments appear as their own Payment rows in the Sales list (with a Manual or Online source badge), and in the invoice’s Payment History table.
- Deleting a payment reopens the affected invoices’ balances — statuses fall back to Partial/Open/Overdue accordingly.
Tips & best practices
- Use Quick Pay for the everyday case (one check, one invoice) and Receive Payment when a single check covers multiple invoices.
- Always capture the Reference for checks and bank transfers — it’s what you’ll search for when the customer asks “did you get my check?”
- Don’t try to “fix” an online payment — portal/Stripe payments arrived on their own and reconcile against your Stripe payouts; the Online/Manual totals at the top of the Sales page keep the two streams separate.
- Overpayments: the forms won’t let you apply more than an invoice’s open balance, which keeps statuses clean. If a customer genuinely overpays, apply up to the balance and handle the remainder as a credit/deposit conversation.
Troubleshooting
- No Quick Pay button on a row — Quick Pay only appears on Invoice rows with a balance greater than zero. Paid invoices and Payment rows don’t have it.
- “Please check at least one Invoice” — on the Receive Payment screen you must tick the checkbox for each invoice you’re applying money to, not just type amounts.
- “Payment amount cannot be greater then Open Balance” — reduce the amount for that invoice; apply any excess to another open invoice.
- “Invoice [number] is already fully paid” — someone (or a portal payment) beat you to it; refresh and re-check the balances.
- Recorded it wrong — delete the payment and re-record; there’s no edit.
- A payment I don’t recognize with an Online badge — that’s a customer paying through the Customer Portal via Stripe. See the Customer Portal overview.
Related articles
- Create and Manage Invoices — the invoices these payments apply to
- Invoicing Overview — statuses and how payments fit the bigger picture
- Batch Billing — generating the invoices in bulk
- Automatic Invoicing — hands-off invoice creation
- Customer Portal overview — online payments, surcharges, and Stripe setup