Posting an invoice finalizes the sale: inventory is deducted, the sale is recorded, and the invoice can no longer be edited. Sometimes you want the money without that finality. The most common case is a customer who pays in full ahead of their appointment: you want to hand them a receipt showing a zero balance, but the job has not happened yet and you may still need to add parts on installation day.

How to collect without posting

  1. Open the invoice and add the payment(s) in the Collect Payment panel as usual.
  2. When your payments cover the balance, a "Post invoice now" checkbox appears above the button. Uncheck it.
  3. The button reads "Collect Payment". Click it. The payment is recorded, the invoice moves to Paid, and the printed receipt shows a zero balance.

What Paid means here: the money is collected but the invoice is still open. You can still edit it. If you add items later, the invoice moves back to Partial and shows the new balance due; collect the difference the same way. You cannot edit the invoice below what has already been collected; if the total needs to come down, issue a refund for the difference first.

Posting later: open the invoice and click the green Post Invoice button at the top. You will be asked to confirm, because posting is final. Closing a work order linked to the invoice posts it automatically too.

Choosing your shop's default: go to Settings > Payments and find the Posting behavior section. "Post invoices automatically when paid in full" is checked by default, which means the "Post invoice now" box starts checked at every ring-out. If your shop prefers to collect first and post as a separate step (for example, an end-of-day review), uncheck the setting and the box starts unchecked instead. The cashier can always override it on any individual invoice.

Notes

  • Invoices attached to an open work order never post at payment time no matter what; they sit at Paid until the work order closes.
  • If an invoice sits paid in full for three days without being posted, it appears under Needs Your Attention on the dashboard as "Ready to post", with the amount and how long it has been waiting. Click it to open the invoice and post it. This is there because an unposted invoice never reaches the profitability reports, so the salesperson and installer are not credited until it posts.
  • Partial payments and deposits are not affected by any of this; they work the way they always have.
  • If your shop charges cards through Authorize.net, an integrated card charge that covers the balance posts the invoice automatically; the checkbox applies to payments queued with the Add button.