Create and send an invoice

For: business owners sending their first invoice. What you need: your company details in Settings > Company. You can create the customer while you write the invoice.

An invoice stays on one sheet while you write, review, issue, send and settle it. The sheet follows the customer's PDF layout.

From 1280 px wide, operational context sits beside the sheet. On narrower screens, click Details in the fixed action bar to open that context. While you edit, the review rail shows readiness and follows the sheet on narrower screens.

Invoices from work

Engagement milestone billing prepares invoice drafts from approved work. Those source-linked drafts cannot be edited or duplicated. Delete an unissued draft to release the work, then prepare another draft from the engagement. Issue, delivery and payment still use this invoice screen.

Invoices prepared through a client

A client connected through MCP or HTTP can prepare an invoice draft within its granted access. The sheet shows Prepared through an agent connection, with the connection name and responsible user. Human edits keep this history.

Under Agent approvals, the sheet lists each request’s state, connection, decision maker and time. Only the delegated person gets Review for a pending request. They open the review page and click Approve issue or Reject.

Approval does not issue the invoice. The client executes the approved request within 10 minutes from preparation. The result assigns the invoice number and freezes it. No email or payment follows from issuance. A changed draft, expired request or lost access can prevent execution.

Check the issued number and record before treating the invoice as issued. See Approve one invoice for the full procedure.

1. Start a new draft

Click Invoices in the navigation. Click New invoice, or press N on any screen. The sheet opens with the title "New invoice". The number reads "Number assigned when issued", and under it "Expected INV-2026-0001". The expected number is a preview.

2. Choose the customer

Search by customer name or email. Choices show a name, a company or person avatar, and available contact details. Initials appear when no image is available. Use the arrow keys and Enter to choose a result. Escape closes the list without changing the customer.

Value dropdowns use the same search control. In New customer, open Country code and search a country name or code. Selecting Germany (DE) stores DE. A refused customer save keeps your entries and identifies the affected fields.

Under Bill to, enter part of the name in Choose a customer. Choose a result. The list shows up to 8 customers with their contact person and email.

The sheet shows the name and the address, with Change customer under them. When changing a customer, the results appear in the sheet below the search field. Cancel remains beside the search field.

Use the arrow keys and Enter to choose a result. Escape closes the results. Cancel keeps the previous customer and returns focus to Change customer. If the lookup fails, the sheet keeps your search text and offers Retry; a failed lookup is not an empty customer list.

If the customer does not exist yet, click New customer at the bottom of the list. The dialog asks for:

Click Create customer. Made with Pepper creates the customer as active, chooses it on the sheet and tells you to save the draft to keep the choice. A customer without an email address gets no recipient in the send dialog until you add one. Open the customer record later to add contacts, a VAT number or a shipping address.

Only owners, admins and employees see New customer. Inactive customers do not appear in the list.

3. Set the dates and the currency

• Issue date: today.
• Due date: the issue date plus your default payment terms from Settings > Invoicing. You can change it.
• Currency: your company currency. Made with Pepper saves the currency and its number of decimals with the document. Once the sheet has a line, the field is locked and says "The currency is locked while lines exist." Remove the lines to change it.

4. Add lines

The sheet starts without lines.

1. Click Add line.
2. Enter the description.
3. Enter quantity, unit price and tax.
4. Add a discount or line note when needed.

Each line has Description, Qty, Unit, Unit price, Tax, Discount and a line note. The cursor moves to its description. Open More actions beside a line description for Move line 2 up, Move line 2 down and Remove line 2. To reorder with the keyboard, focus the move handle and press Up or Down. After moving, focus follows that line.

The description has its own full-width area. It accepts line breaks and up to 1,000 characters. Quantity, price, tax and amount remain together below it. Discount, Unit and Line note follow in a separate row. Long descriptions do not squeeze the numeric fields.

• Type the quantity in your number format, up to four decimals, from 0,0001 to 99999999.
• Type the unit price without tax, in your number format, with no more decimals than the currency has.
• Choose a rate under Tax, or leave No tax.
• Under Discount, choose No discount, % (up to 100, two decimals) or the invoice currency for a fixed amount. A fixed discount cannot be larger than the line amount before discount.

To take a line from your catalog, click Add from catalog and type in Search the catalog…. The list names each item with its unit and, when it differs, its currency. The search results appear below the field. Click Cancel or press Escape to close the picker without adding a line. Focus returns to Add from catalog.

Click an item. Made with Pepper fills in the description, the unit, the price and the tax rate. For an item in another currency, the price stays empty. A message names that currency and asks for the document currency price.

An invoice holds up to 1,000 lines. The Amount of each line and the totals under the lines update as you type, with the same exact rules the server uses. The saved totals are calculated on the server when you save. While a line is incomplete, the total reads "—", and the rail lists the line: "Line 2: unit price is missing or not a valid amount". Click the problem to jump to the field.

5. Add notes and more fields

Under the totals, Notes for the customer prints on the document. Bank account selects the account the PDF shows and the EPC QR code uses. New invoices start with No bank account.

Click More fields for the rest:

Click Fewer fields to fold them away again.

6. Review and issue

The review rail shows the Total, the save state and the checklist Ready to issue?:

Click Save draft to keep your changes. Made with Pepper opens the saved document and confirms the update. Reopen Edit to continue. The rail reads "Saved" until you change a field, then "Unsaved changes". If you leave the sheet with unsaved changes, the browser asks first. A draft has a code such as DRAFT-007 and no number.

When the required checks pass, click Review and issue. Made with Pepper saves the draft and opens the dialog "Issue this invoice?". It says "The number is assigned now, and the sheet can no longer be edited." and lists:

• Customer
• Total
• Number: "Next number, expected INV-2026-0001". Another user may take the expected number first. The message after issue names the number assigned.

Click Issue invoice. Click Keep editing to go back. Made with Pepper locks the draft, recalculates every line from its stored tax rate and checks that the totals match the sheet you reviewed. It then assigns the next number from your sequence.

The message shows the number it assigned, for example "Issued as INV-2026-0001." If another document took the expected number first, the message also says so. The number appears on the sheet, and the status reads Issued.

The issue date cannot be later than today. It also cannot be earlier than the latest issue date in the sequence. See Issue dates.

After issue, you cannot change the number, the lines or the amounts. Issuing does not email the invoice. The Delivery tab says "Not emailed yet." Made with Pepper also freezes the language, the layout and the payment details. See Issued originals and downloads.

To review a saved draft later, open it from the list. The sheet shows it read-only, and the rail shows the checklist with Edit and Review and issue.

How the totals appear

The sheet and the three PDF templates show the same totals rows. The line table shows each line amount after its discount and before tax, under Amount on the sheet. On the sheet, a line with a discount shows "Discount −" under its description.

If the invoice has a discount, the rows are:

1. Subtotal before discount
2. Discount, shown as a minus amount
3. Net total
4. One row for each tax group, with the rate name and percentage, for example "Sales tax (8.25%)". Lines without a tax rate show in a row named No tax.
5. Total

Without a discount, the rows are Subtotal, the tax rows and Total. Subtotal before discount minus Discount equals Net total. Net total plus the tax rows equals Total.

Example: an invoice in USD has 8 hours of consulting at $150.00 with a 10% discount and sales tax at 8.25%. It also has $60.00 of travel without a tax rate.

A payment or a credit note adds rows under Total on the sheet, in the email and on the current copy of the PDF. This applies to an issued invoice that is not cancelled. The issued original PDF keeps the rows it had at issue.

The rows are Paid, Credited, Refunded, Balance due and Credit owed. Each row shows when it has an amount; Balance due always shows with them. Balance due is Total − Paid − Credited + Refunded, never below zero. See Issue a credit note.

On a PDF, the tax breakdown lists every tax group, 0% groups included, with its taxable amount and tax. The PDF shows the country name in the document language, from the saved country code. The sheet shows it in your interface language.

After issue

The invoice rail shows Balance due, the current state and one lifeline. Open Payments to see the total and recorded payment, credit and refund amounts. Its buttons follow the state:

The header has Edit for a draft, Preview PDF and More actions, the button with three dots. More actions holds Download PDF, Download current copy, Export XML, Send invoice, Duplicate, Issue credit note, Cancel invoice and, for a draft, Delete draft. Each item shows only when your role and the document allow it. Below 1024 px, Preview PDF moves into the menu.

7. Send by email

Issuing does not email the invoice. To email it, open the issued invoice:

1. Click Send invoice. The send dialog opens at the side.
2. Select a Template.
3. If needed, change the Subject.
4. If needed, change the Message.
5. Under To, select one or more recipients.
6. Optional: click Add CC or BCC.
7. Optional: type up to 5 addresses in each field, separated by commas.
8. Check the Preview under the message. The line "The issued original PDF is attached." confirms the attachment.
9. Click Send email.

To lists the customer's active contacts with Receives invoices, in contact order. If no contact has Receives invoices, the dialog offers the customer's own email address as Customer email address. It does not offer that address when an active contact with the same address turned Receives invoices off. A primary billing contact gets the email only when it has Receives invoices.

If nobody can receive the email, the dialog says "No contact receives invoices. Turn on Receives invoices for a contact, or add an email address to the customer." You cannot click Send email. Click Open the customer and fix the contacts.

The subject can have up to 255 characters and the message up to 10,000. Variables such as {document_number} stay in the text until Made with Pepper sends it. The Preview shows the result in the document language and lists unknown variables. See Email templates.

What the email contains

• The issued original PDF as the attachment. See Issued originals and downloads.
• An HTML part and a plain-text part with the same content. The email loads no remote images.
• A summary: the number, the Date (the issue date), the Due date and the Total, with the same labels as the PDF. After a payment or a credit note, it also shows Paid, Credited and Balance due.

The email uses the document language. The sender is the From name and From address from Settings > Email. If those fields are empty, Made with Pepper uses the mail configuration of the installation.

Owners and admins can email every document. Employees can email the documents they created. Accountants cannot email documents.

What you see after Send email

Made with Pepper tries to send the email at once. The page then shows the result of that first attempt:

A double click sends one email. If Made with Pepper refuses the send, the dialog stays open with everything you typed. Set up email delivery explains the retries.

The inspector

The inspector keeps the financial state above distinct tabs. From 1280 px wide, it sits beside the sheet. On narrower screens, click Details in the fixed action bar. Escape closes the sheet and returns focus to that button.

Use the arrow keys to focus a tab. Press Enter to open it.

While you edit a draft, the review rail replaces these tabs. A saved draft's Summary lists tax rates to check before issue. Open the XML check disclosure to read its problems and correction links. XML checks do not block invoice issue; they control whether an XML export is available.

Document connections lists saved source and resulting documents. Each link includes its reference, state and exact total. Click Show connections for the optional relationship view. Its lines run no action. The same links remain available if the diagram cannot load. Documents without saved relationships show no connections section.

Track the delivery

The Delivery tab of an issued document shows its state. The document list shows the same state under the status.

Emailed means that the mail server accepted the email. Made with Pepper cannot see what happens after that. It has no "opened" or "read" state.

When your mail setting writes emails to the log file, the list shows Not emailed. The tab says "The mail setting writes emails to the log. No email left this server."

Under the state, the tab lists the Email history. Each email and each recorded delivery shows its status, time, recipients, number of attempts and reason.

Common delivery transitions:

Send again

If the email failed or its result is unknown, the Delivery tab shows Send again. Home lists the document under Needs attention. Click Review, then Send again.

Caution: if the result is unknown, the customer can already have the email. Check the sent log of your mail provider first. If you send again, the customer can get the email twice.

1. Click Send again. The send dialog opens with the template, subject, message and recipients of the earlier email.
2. Change what you need to.
3. Click Send email.

Record delivery

Record a delivery when the customer got the document another way, for example by post. Made with Pepper sends nothing.

1. On the Delivery tab, click Record delivery.
2. Select the Channel: Post, By hand, Another email program, Portal or Other.
3. Enter the Date. It cannot be before the issue date or later than today in the company time zone.
4. Optional: type a Note of up to 500 characters.
5. Click Record delivery.

The tab then shows Delivered with the date. A recorded delivery counts as delivered for automatic payment reminders. The same people who can email a document can record a delivery. You cannot record a delivery on a cancelled document.

Issued originals and downloads

Choose the PDF for the facts you need. A current copy does not replace the issued original.

flowchart TD
    accTitle: Issued original and current copy
    accDescr: Both PDFs use the frozen issued details. Recorded payments, credits and refunds affect the current copy, not the original. A current copy is not stored and does not replace the original.
    details["`Frozen
issued details`"] --> original["`Original PDF
fixed at issue`"]
    details --> current["`Current copy
balance now`"]
    settlement["`Payments
credits
refunds`"] --> current

The current copy uses the same frozen issued details. It adds the balance after recorded payments, credits and refunds. Made with Pepper does not store this copy or replace the original.

When you issue a document, Made with Pepper freezes how it looks and what it asks for. This includes the language, the PDF template, the brand color and the logo position. It also includes the number and date formats, and the payment details with the bank name. Later changes to settings, bank accounts, company details or customers apply to new documents only. They do not change the PDF, the XML file or the emails of an issued document.

Made with Pepper stores the first PDF after the issue as the issued original, with a SHA-256 fingerprint. For an invoice or a credit note that passes the XML checks, it also stores the XML file. Made with Pepper never changes or deletes an original.

• Preview PDF and Download PDF give the stored original after Made with Pepper checks its fingerprint. A draft shows a live preview.
• Export XML gives the stored XML file in the same way.
• Issued originals on the Summary tab lists each original with its date and the first 12 characters of its SHA-256. Before the first download, it says "The original is not stored yet. Download PDF stores it."

The original shows the invoice as issued: no Paid or Balance due rows, and an EPC QR code for the total. After a payment or a credit note, Download current copy appears next to the originals and under More actions. The current copy has the Paid, Credited and Balance due rows and a QR code for the balance due. Every page says "Copy generated on {date}. This is not the issued original." Made with Pepper does not store the copy.

If a stored file is missing or changed, the page says "The issued original (PDF) is missing or changed. Restore it from a backup." The buttons change to Download regenerated copy and Export regenerated XML. A regenerated PDF says "Regenerated copy. The issued original is not available." on every page. A regenerated XML file has a name that ends in -regenerated.xml. An email never attaches a regenerated copy. The audit log records the problem.

Originals are in storage/app/private/documents. Every backup includes them.

Duplicate an invoice

Click More actions, then Duplicate, on any invoice, whatever its status. Confirm with Duplicate. Made with Pepper creates a new draft invoice and opens it in the editor. The new draft belongs to you.

The draft copies the customer, the currency, the language, the notes, the internal notes and the tags. It copies the bank account while that account is still active. It copies each line: description, quantity, unit, price, discount, the saved tax rate and the line note.

The draft does not copy the number, the reference, the dates, the payments, the payment link or the links to other documents. The issue date is today and the due date follows your default payment terms. Made with Pepper calculates the totals again from the copied lines.

A copied line can use a tax rate that changed or is no longer active. The Summary tab then lists the line under "Check the tax rates before you finalize". Select the rate again on the line to use the current values. Otherwise the line keeps its saved rate.

Cancel an invoice

You can cancel an issued invoice that has no payment and no credit note. Click More actions, then Cancel invoice. The dialog reads "Cancel this document? It keeps its number and stays in the list as cancelled." Click Cancel invoice. The invoice keeps its number, shows Cancelled, has no balance due and gets no reminders.

If the invoice has a payment or an issued credit note, the same menu item opens "Cancellation is not available" with the reason. Issue a credit note to reduce the invoice, or reverse a payment that you recorded by mistake. See Document statuses.

Delete a draft

Only a draft can be deleted. Click More actions, then Delete draft. The dialog reads "Delete draft DRAFT-007?" and "The draft is removed. Nothing was issued, so no number is used." Click Delete. The list opens.

The invoice list

Click Invoices in the navigation. The list is one ledger of your invoices. The Views control in the global bar opens quotes, credit notes and pro-formas. Search this control to find a document type.

Views and tags

Status tabs sit above the register at every screen width, with counts: All, Draft, Issued, Overdue, Partially paid, Paid and Cancelled. Empty views show zero and stay available. Overdue lists issued invoices with unpaid money past their due date, most overdue first. It is a calculation, not a stored status.

Use the searched Tags dropdown, or click a tag on a row, to filter the invoices. The selected tag appears after the Tags dropdown. Click that tag to remove only the tag filter. Changing the status tab keeps the tag and search. Financial summaries live in Reports.

Search, grouping and sorting

• Type in Search invoices… to search the number, the draft code, the reference, and the customer name or email. The list updates as you type.
• Group by has No grouping, Customer and Currency. A group shows a heading with its count.
• Click the Number, Customer, Status, Lifeline or Total heading to sort by that column. Click it again to reverse the order. New invoices come first by default.
• Per page shows 25, 50 or 100 invoices.

The page address keeps the view, tag, search, sorting, grouping and page. A bookmark or the browser's Back button returns to the same list. After opening a record number, the document's Invoices back link keeps those filters and returns focus to that number. If no invoice matches, the list says "Nothing matches these filters". Click Clear filters to remove search and tags while keeping the status tab, sorting and grouping.

Columns

Owners, admins and employees see a pencil at the end of a draft's row. It opens the draft in the editor. Click the number to open the document.

The table shows its lifeline column when at least 760 px is available. On laptops, inspection opens over the register and keeps its comparison columns in place.

Below 640 px, each invoice is a stacked row: the number and the balance due first, then the customer, the status and the lifeline.

The row inspector

In the table, click the round mark before a number to select the row. From 1560 px wide, the inspector sits beside the list. At narrower table widths, it opens as a panel. On a phone, click the number to open the document, then click Details to open its context sheet.

It shows the number, the customer, the status and the delivery state, and the lifeline. Under them come Issued, Due or Valid until, Total, Balance due for financial roles and the Reference. A converted document links to its invoice. Open opens the document. Edit opens a draft in the editor.

Close the panel to clear the selection. Escape returns focus to the selection mark. At wide desktop sizes, click the mark again to clear it.

First use

With no invoice yet, the list says "No invoices yet" and "Write the first one on the sheet the customer receives. It takes about two minutes." Click New invoice.

What can go wrong

Made with Pepper refuses a change instead of saving something wrong. The document opens again with the reason at the top, and the browser keeps what you typed.

• No customer selected. The checklist says "Choose a customer". Review and issue stays off until you choose one.
• No line items. The checklist says "Add at least one complete line".
• A price or quantity in the wrong format. The rail names the line and the problem, for example "Line 1: quantity is missing or not valid". Type it again in your number format, for example 1.234,56 when your number format is 1.234,56.
• The draft changed after you reviewed it. The lines or totals differ from the sheet you had open, for example after a colleague's edit. Made with Pepper refuses to issue it. Nothing is numbered. Open the draft again, check it, and issue it.
• This document changed after you opened it. A colleague saved the draft while you edited it. The sheet says "This document changed after you opened it. Your input is kept; review the changes and save again." Made with Pepper saves nothing. Review the changes, then click Save draft again.
• The issue date is refused. The date is later than today, or earlier than the latest issue date in the sequence. The reason names the date you can use. Change the issue date and issue again.
• Already recorded. You sent the same issue form twice, for example with a double click. Made with Pepper numbered the invoice once and shows that number.
• An amount too large to store. Made with Pepper refuses a line or invoice total above 92,233,720,368,547,758.07 in a two-decimal currency before anything is saved. The limit is the same number of minor units in any currency. The rail says "amount is larger than Made with Pepper can store".
• Issue this document before you email it. You cannot email a draft. Issue it first.
• This document is cancelled. You cannot email it. A cancelled document gets no email.
• The customer of this document is deleted. You cannot email this document or record its delivery. Made with Pepper has no action that restores a deleted customer. Download the PDF and deliver it another way.
• Choose at least one recipient. Select a recipient under To. CC and BCC do not replace To.
• The recipient list changed. Reload the page and choose again. Someone changed the customer's contacts while the dialog was open.
• Email failed. Read the reason on the Delivery tab. Check the recipient addresses and your email delivery settings. Then click Send again.
• The issued original (PDF) is missing or changed. The stored file does not match its SHA-256. Restore it from a backup. Made with Pepper does not email a regenerated copy.
• The customer could not be created. The New customer dialog shows the field that is wrong, for example a country code that is not on the country list. Fix it and click Create customer again.

Follow document connections

Open a saved document. Find Document connections on the Summary tab of its context. On a phone, open Details first. The list shows its visible source and linked documents with their totals.

Click Show connections to open the diagram. Read the main path from top to bottom: a source document appears above the current document, and its converted invoice or credit notes appear below. Extra records branch to the right, or to the left in Arabic. Click a document number to open that record. On a keyboard, press Tab to reach a record link in the diagram or the list, then press Enter.

Click Show as a list to close the diagram. The list stays available if the diagram cannot load.

A line shows a saved conversion or credit-note relationship. It does not send, issue, pay or cancel a document.

You see only records your role permits. A document with no visible relationships says No connected documents are visible.

Related pages

• Configure document numbering
• Set up email delivery
• Record a payment

Reorder draft lines

Open a draft invoice and click Edit. Use the handle beside a line to drag it into position.

For keyboard use, focus Move line 2, using the number of the line. Press Up or Down. For touch, open More actions beside the description and choose the numbered move action.

Click Save draft to keep the order. Each line keeps its price, tax, discount and note. Moving a line leaves the total unchanged.

Issued documents keep their saved order. An invoice prepared from approved engagement work keeps its source lines locked.