How To Create And Send An Invoice in WorkZen
Go to Invoices, click New Invoice, pick the client, and add your line items. Then click Send Invoice to email it; if Stripe is connected, the client can pay online right from the invoice.
Unbilled jobs are interest-free loans you didn't agree to give. Sending the invoice the same day the work wraps up is the biggest cash flow win in a service business, and in WorkZen it takes about two minutes.
Create the invoice
Go to Invoices and click New Invoice. Pick the client in the Create New Invoice modal (or use or create a new client), then click Create Invoice. You can also create invoices from a job's Finance tab, or by converting an accepted estimate.
New invoices start as Unsent. There is no separate draft state; until you send it, you can edit everything freely.
If the invoice was created from a job that has a PO number, the PO is copied onto the invoice automatically. Edit it in the invoice's Bill to section; changes there apply only to that invoice.
Add line items
In the Items section, click Add item. The Add items picker has a search box on top: leave it empty to browse your price book folders (Services, Products, Warranties), or type to search it. The Packages folder lists your bundles, and Custom item at the bottom left adds a one-off line. Pick a package and every item in the bundle lands on the invoice in one click, quantities and prices included.
Build packages once on the Price Book page and stop re-typing the same five lines on every install.
Each saved line item also takes internal comments: the small comment icon on the item's row opens a thread only your team sees. Use it for the "client wants brass, not steel" details that belong with the line, never on the document. Clients never see these comments, on screen or on the PDF.
Send it by email or text
Click Send Invoice at the top right of the invoice. At the top of the send modal, choose Email, Text message, or Both. Email shows the client's Email address and a prefilled Email message you can edit, and you can enter several addresses separated by commas. Text message shows the client's Mobile number and a prefilled Text message with a secure link to the invoice, which you can edit too: the link is always included, and if you delete it, WorkZen adds it back at the end. In the mobile apps the text goes out as your message template reads. Either way the status flips to Sent and the client lands on the live invoice page.
Texting needs a number to send from: your company's default texting line if you have a ZenPhone number, otherwise the shared WorkZen number on ZenGrow and ZenAI. On Zen with no line, the Text message option is refused with a message saying why, and email still works.
Whether your client can reply depends on which number sent it. From your own ZenPhone line the text appears in Messaging, in that client's conversation, and anything they write back lands in the same thread. The shared WorkZen number has no inbox, so the text itself tells your client that replies to it are not monitored.
If WorkZen asks you to verify a phone number by text before emailing documents, a banner walks you through it: enter the code once and you're cleared to send from then on, for your whole company.
What your client sees
The invoice your client opens has Print, Download PDF, and Share buttons. If your company has Stripe connected, it also offers Pay with Card and, when enabled, Pay by Bank. Online payments update the invoice balance automatically, and WorkZen records when the client opens the invoice.
Invoice statuses
| Status | Meaning | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Unsent | Created, the client hasn't received it | Edit freely, send, delete |
| Sent | Emailed to the client | Record payments, resend |
| Partially Paid | Some money received, balance remains | Record more payments |
| Paid | Fully paid | View, refund |
| Overdue | Past the due date with a balance owing | Record payments, resend |
| Void | Cancelled, no longer payable | View only; totals excluded from reports |
Once the money arrives, record the payment so the status and your books stay honest.
Delete an invoice
Created an invoice by mistake? On the web, open it, click the ⋯ (Actions) menu at the top right, then Delete. Admins and Managers can delete invoices by default. The mobile apps don't offer this yet.
An invoice can only be deleted while it has no payments recorded against it. Once money is attached, the option no longer appears, because the payment needs an invoice to belong to. Invoices synced to QuickBooks can't be deleted here either; delete them in QuickBooks first.
A deleted invoice disappears from your lists, and the link your client received stops working. This cannot be undone.
Want it out of the way but kept on file? Use Archive in the same menu instead. Archived invoices leave your lists and can be restored at any time, and you can still delete one later from its ⋯ menu.
Step by step
- 1
Create the invoice
Go to Invoices, click New Invoice, and select the client. You can also create one from a job or convert an estimate.
- 2
Add line items
In the Items section, click Add item, then browse your price book, search it, open the Packages folder, or click Custom item.
- 3
Send it
Click Send Invoice, choose Email, Text message, or Both, confirm the address or mobile number, adjust the prefilled Email message or Text message if you like, and send. The status changes from Unsent to Sent.
See it in action
Frequently Asked Questions
This article answers:
- How do I create an invoice?
- How do I send an invoice to a client?
- Can my client pay an invoice online?
- What do the invoice statuses mean?
- Is there a draft invoice in WorkZen?