The Invoices section — preview, edit, raise, mark paid
Every stage invoice on your dashboard has its own detail page. Preview what the customer will see, edit the details before you send, and record payments as they land.
Where invoices come from
When a customer accepts a quote, TradesOps records the acceptance but doesn't create an invoice yet. The trade reality is that jobs almost always come in different to the quote — extras, materials you didn't budget for, a change on site. So the invoice waits until you're ready to lock in the actual number.
When the work is done, open the accepted quote in your dashboard and look for the Convert to invoice panel. Tap the button and TradesOps mints a draft invoice pre-filled with the quote's total. You can then edit the amount, description and due date before sending it to the customer.
If you convert by mistake or want to redo it, cancel the draft invoice and the panel switches back to the Convert button — one active invoice per quote.
The invoices list
Open Dashboard → Invoices to see every invoice for your business — draft, sent, paid, overdue and cancelled. The list shows the outstanding total across all open invoices at the top so you always know your current exposure.
Filter the table by status using the pills at the top. Tap any row to open the detail page.
The detail page
Each invoice detail page shows:
- Reference (like
TI-2026-000042), status, customer, linked job. - Amounts — subtotal, VAT (if you're VAT registered), and total.
- Sent / paid timestamps.
- Actions in the right-hand panel.
The actions available depend on the status:
- Draft: Edit · Raise and send · Preview · Cancel.
- Sent or overdue: Edit · Resend updated · Mark paid · Preview · Cancel.
- Paid or cancelled: Preview only.
Previewing the customer email
Before you send an invoice, tap Preview email on the detail page (or from the actions panel). You'll see exactly what the customer will read in their inbox — the subject line, the amount, the reference, the pay-by-card link, and your BACS details if you've added them.
Nothing is sent to the customer when you preview.
Editing an invoice
You can edit draft, sent and overdue invoices. Paid and cancelled invoices are frozen — the customer has a legal record of what they paid, so those can't be changed.
Open the detail page, tap Edit invoice, and you can change:
- Stage label — the description the customer sees, for example “Deposit”, “Interim”, or “Final payment”.
- When this stage is due — a short descriptor: on acceptance, at a milestone, or on completion.
- Payment due date — the deadline you want to give the customer. Leave blank to fall back to your standard payment terms when the invoice is sent.
The invoice starts pre-filled with the quote total when you tap Convert to invoice, but the whole point of a manual convert is that the trader adjusts it. Change the amount to whatever the job actually came in at. VAT recomputes automatically if you're VAT-registered.
If you edit an invoice you've already sent, the customer still has the old version in their inbox. Use Resend updated invoice on the detail page to email them the corrected copy.
Raising and marking paid
Tap Raise and send to customer on a draft invoice. TradesOps:
- Mints the invoice reference (
TI-YYYY-NNNNNN). - Creates a Stripe checkout link (if Stripe is connected).
- Emails the customer the invoice with pay-by-card and BACS details.
- Moves the invoice to sent.
When the customer pays by card, Stripe's webhook marks the invoice as paid automatically and TradesOps sends the customer a receipt. If they pay by bank transfer, open the invoice and tap Mark paid — same receipt fires, and if this was the final stage, a review request email goes with it.
Cancelling an invoice
Cancel is available for draft, sent and overdue invoices. Once cancelled, the invoice cannot be reopened — raise a fresh one from the job if you need to.
Related
- How stage invoicing works
- Taking card payments with Stripe
- Taking payment by bank transfer (BACS)
- Configurable payment stages
Stuck? Email help@tradesops.uk.