Invoices
Create, finalize and track an invoice
Draft an invoice, finalize it to give it a number, and follow it from issued to paid.
Updated: 2026-10-07
Before you start
- Business name, address and tax identifiers filled in under Invoice settings → Business
- Bank account added under Invoice settings → Getting paid
- A client — you can also create one while drafting
Open related features
How an invoice moves
Every invoice starts as a draft. A draft has no number and saves itself while you work. When it’s ready, you finalize it: numwisely checks it, gives it the next number in your sequence and locks it. From then on it is an issued invoice — you can send it, record payments on it or cancel it, but its content no longer changes.
- Draft — being prepared. No number yet. Edit or delete it freely.
- Issued — finalized and numbered, not sent yet. Locked.
- Sent — emailed or sent as an e-invoice at least once.
- Paid — recorded payments cover the total. Set automatically when you record payments or the client pays by card.
- Overdue — shown automatically when an issued or sent invoice passes its due date unpaid. You never set it yourself.
- Cancelled — voided. The number stays used and the invoice stays in your records.
Create a draft
Go to Invoices and select New invoice. The draft saves automatically — the bar at the bottom shows “Saved” — so you can leave and come back to it from the Invoices list.
- Bill to: search for a client, or create one without leaving the editor.
- Dates and terms: set the issue date, the delivery date or service period, and the payment terms. The due date follows from the terms.
- Line items: description, quantity, unit (pieces, hours, days, …), unit price and VAT rate. You can add a discount to a line, duplicate it or reorder it.
- Tax: check the tax treatment numwisely picked for this client (see “VAT and tax treatment”).
- Message to client: optional text printed on the invoice.
- Payment: the payment reference, EPC QR code, Finnish bank barcode and the client’s own order number, if they gave you one.
Finalize the invoice
The number shown while you draft is a forecast. The invoice gets its real number only when you finalize it, so abandoned drafts never leave gaps in your numbering.
The “Ready to finalize” check lists what must be fixed first and what is worth a second look. When nothing blocks it, select Finalize…, confirm the issue date and select Finalize — or Finalize and send to go straight to sending. The year in the number follows the issue date.
Finalizing assigns the number and the payment reference, sets the due date from your payment terms, and freezes your business details, the client’s details and the template as they are at that moment. Later changes to your settings or to the client don’t change invoices you already issued.
What you can do after finalizing
- Send it by email or as an e-invoice (see “Send an invoice”).
- Record payments and send reminders (see “Get paid”).
- Share a private client link where the client can view, download and pay the invoice.
- Create a credit note to correct or refund it (see “Correct an invoice with a credit note”).
- Cancel it if it was issued by mistake and nothing has been paid.
- Duplicate it as a new draft — handy for repeat work. The dates are reset.
- Download the PDF. Once you have sent the invoice, downloads and resends use the exact copy that was sent.
Correcting a mistake
A draft can be edited or deleted at any time. An issued invoice can’t be edited or deleted: an invoice that has been issued must stay as it was issued. To correct it, create a credit note for the whole invoice or for some lines, then issue a new invoice if needed.
Cancel an invoice only when it should never have been issued and nothing was paid. The number stays used and the invoice is kept, marked Cancelled. For refunds or changed amounts, use a credit note instead.
The activity list on the invoice page shows everything that happened: when it was finalized, each email or e-invoice (and from which address), when the client opened the client link, payments, reminders and credit notes.
Supported languages
Invoices can be issued in English, German (Deutsch) and Finnish (Suomi). The language comes from the client’s invoice language, or from their country, or from the default in Invoice settings; you can change it per invoice under Document language in the preview. It controls all printed labels and the document title (Invoice / Rechnung / Lasku), the email text and the client link. Text you type — descriptions and notes — stays as you wrote it.