Auto-Invoicing
Overview
Auto-Invoicing creates a proper invoice the moment a sale happens — whether that's an order placed in a WhatsApp chat, a converted estimate, or a manual entry — and sends the buyer a branded PDF without you lifting a finger. Each invoice has a sequential number, is immutable once issued, and rolls into your payments and revenue reporting.
Pairs with: a payment link so the same message that delivers the invoice also lets the customer pay it, and the AI CRM Copilot for “record a payment” and “what's outstanding?”.
How an Invoice Gets Created
Invoices are generated from any of these triggers:
| Trigger | What happens |
|---|---|
| WhatsApp order | When a customer completes an order in chat (via the catalog, storefront or an ordering flow), an invoice is generated for the order total and its line items. |
| Accepted estimate | Converting an accepted quote to an invoice carries over the line items, tax and total. |
| Manual | Create an invoice by hand for a contact or company with your own line items — useful for offline or one-off sales. |
Numbering & Immutability
- Sequential numbers. Each invoice gets the next number in your workspace's series (e.g.
INV-0007), so records stay ordered and audit-friendly — no gaps, no duplicates. - Immutable once issued. An issued invoice's totals don't silently change. Corrections are made as new documents (or credit adjustments), keeping the trail clean for accounting.
- Line items & tax preserved. The invoice records exactly what was sold, at what price, with the tax applied at issue time.
Branding the Invoice
- Your logo. The PDF carries the logo you set in Checkout Settings, so it looks like your business, not WaDesk.
- Support email in the footer. The buyer's support contact appears on every invoice so customers know where to ask questions.
- Currency & formatting. Amounts use your workspace's currency and formatting, computed from exact minor units so the printed total is always correct.
Set it once: configure the logo and support email in Checkout Settings; every generated invoice picks them up automatically.
Automatic Sending
As soon as the invoice is generated, WaDesk delivers the PDF to the buyer — typically right in the WhatsApp thread where the order happened, so it lands where the customer already is. The send is mirrored into the inbox so your team sees it went out. You can also re-send an invoice from its detail page at any time.
Recording Payments & Status
- Full or partial payments. Record a payment against an invoice; when the paid amount reaches the total, the status flips to Paid automatically. Partial payments show the remaining balance.
- Via payment link. A successful payment-link charge is recorded automatically against the invoice — no manual entry.
- Via the copilot. “Record a payment of 5000 for invoice INV-0007” does it by chat, with confirmation.
Aging & Revenue Reporting
- The payments ledger shows what's outstanding and an aging breakdown — 0-30 / 31-60 / 61-90 / 90+ days — so you chase the right accounts first.
- Paid invoices feed your revenue reports and the AI CRM Copilot's money answers (“revenue this month”, “what's outstanding?”).
- Every invoice ties back to its customer (and any originating deal/quote), so you can see lifetime value per account.
Tips & Edge Cases
- Set branding before your first sale so early invoices aren't unbranded.
- Don't edit an issued invoice to “fix” a price — issue a corrected document so the audit trail is intact.
- Reconcile partials promptly; the aging report is only as accurate as the payments you record.