Before you start
- The customer exists in Zentive.
- Connect Stripe first if you want the customer to pay online from the invoice.
What you'll do
Open Financial Management → Invoicing → + New Invoice (or Invoice on the dashboard, or Create invoice on a customer card). The builder has six sections; the footer shows the running total, the readiness state, Save Draft, and Send Invoice. Sending emails and texts the customer a pay link that works without a portal account.
Start with
- 1
From scratch
Blank invoice. Pick the customer and add lines yourself.
- 2
From completed job
Pick a completed job; its services, expenses, and materials become the lines and the invoice stays linked to the job. The Select Job dropdown appears after you choose the customer.
- 3
From quote
Pick an accepted quote with unbilled value; milestones and remaining balance are respected.
- 4
From template
Load saved services and notes from Settings → Billing invoice templates.
1 · Customer and 2 · Invoice details
- 1
Select a customer → Use Customer
Search name, email, phone, or address. Ready only hides customers with missing email or address. The customer's next invoice remembers the PO number you enter here.
- 2
Invoice number and issue date
Auto-numbered (INV-0059 and so on); issue date defaults to today.
- 3
Payment terms
Due on Receipt, Net 15, Net 30 (default), Net 45, Net 60, Net 90. The due date drives past-due status and the reminder schedule.
- 4
PO number
Optional; shown on the invoice, email, and PDF.
3 · Services & pricing
- 1
Add your first service / Add service / Add labor
Each line has a service search (Type to search…), quantity, unit price, markup %, line total, tax category (Standard by default), and optional line notes.
- 2
Expenses, Discount, Tax
+ Add Expense for materials or fees passed through; Add Discount (amount, percent, or a saved code); Add Tax (a rate from Settings → Tax Management). Internal notes here are team-only.
4 · Terms & delivery
- 1
Billing structure
Full amount now, Deposit + balance (a percentage now, the rest later), or Milestones (use the project's payment schedule).
- 2
Delivery mode and channel
Digital, Print, or Both; Email and/or SMS. The shareable pay link exists either way.
- 3
Send timing
Send now, Best-open time (weekday mornings), or Schedule for later with a date and time.
- 4
Online payments and Auto-pay
Online card, ACH, Apple Pay, and Google Pay need Stripe. Auto-charge on due date uses the customer's saved card if they enrolled in autopay.
- 5
Tips and recurring
Allow tips shows 15/20/25% (or your business default) on the pay page. Recurring invoice → Auto-generate creates a schedule for regular billing.
5 · Notes & attachments and 6 · Review & send
- 1
Message to customer and Shared notes
The message goes in the email and on the pay page; shared notes print on the invoice. Attachments (receipts, before/after photos) are shown to the customer; save the draft first.
- 2
Readiness
Needs: Customer, Needs: Services, Needs: Total, Ready: Delivery. The panel also shows this customer's open AR by age and warns if online payment is off.
- 3
Preview
Email and Portal tabs show exactly what the customer receives.
- 4
Send Invoice
The confirmation shows the Payment Link to copy, plus Back to Invoices, Create Another, Print / PDF, and Copy Payment Link.
The Invoices page
Financial Management → Invoicing shows totals, outstanding, overdue, and collected percentage, a count of invoices ready to send, readiness warnings (for example Missing due date) with Fix first issue, an aging summary you can click to filter, and the list with All, Unpaid, Past Due, Paid, and Paid Externally filters.
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Include your business name, account email, what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and a screenshot if possible. For billing, sync, or login issues, include the exact error message if shown.