Quotes & Invoices

Invoices

CoPortal handles the full invoice lifecycle — from creating a draft to getting paid — with PDF generation, email delivery, payment tracking, overdue alerts, and partial payment recording.

Invoice statuses

DraftBeing built. Not sent yet. Editable.

SentEmailed to the client. Visible in their portal. Generates reminders if overdue.

PaidFully paid. Either marked manually or auto-marked when partial payments total the full amount.

CancelledVoided. Stays in history but is excluded from revenue reports.

Creating an invoice

Go to Invoices and click New invoice. Select the client, add line items, and CoPortal calculates subtotal, VAT, and total automatically.

Each line item needs a description, quantity, and unit price. VAT is applied at 15% by default. Click Mark exempt to set VAT to 0% for the entire invoice.

Tip: Set your invoice prefix and starting number in Settings → Invoice & Tax (e.g. INV → INV-001). Each new invoice auto-increments from your last number.

Sending an invoice

Click Preview & send to see exactly what the client will receive before sending. The preview shows the full invoice layout with your branding.

Once sent, the invoice status moves to Sent and the client receives a branded email with a PDF download link. If Paystack is configured, the client can also pay online directly from their portal.

PDF download

Every invoice has a Download PDF button. The PDF includes your logo, business address, VAT number, bank details, and payment terms — all from your settings. Share it, print it, or attach it to your own emails.

Partial payments

If a client pays in instalments, use the Payments received panel on the invoice detail page to record each payment:

•Click Record payment on any Sent invoice
•Enter the amount, date, payment method (EFT, Paystack, cash, cheque), and an optional reference
•The panel shows total paid, balance remaining, and a payment history
•When total payments equal the invoice total, the invoice is automatically marked as Paid

Manually marking as paid

Click Mark as paid on any Sent invoice to mark the full amount as received. Use this for EFT payments or when payment has been confirmed outside of Paystack. This records today's date as the paid date.

Overdue dashboard

The Overdue tab on the invoices page shows all invoices past their due date, grouped by how overdue they are:

1–3 daysYellow — recent, likely just needs a nudge

4–7 daysAmber — send a firm reminder

8–14 daysOrange — escalate the conversation

14+ daysRed — urgent action needed

The top of the Overdue tab shows a count card for each bucket so you can see at a glance how many invoices are in each stage.

Send reminder

On any Sent invoice, click Send reminder to manually trigger a reminder email to the client. The tone of the reminder email automatically adjusts based on how overdue the invoice is — see Email notifications.

Recurring invoices

Make any draft invoice recurring before sending. Enable the Recurring invoice toggle and set:

•Frequency — Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly
•First invoice date — when the first auto-generated invoice should be created
•End date — optional stop date

CoPortal auto-generates the next invoice as a draft on the scheduled date. Review and send it manually.

Note: Recurring invoices are different from retainers. Use recurring invoices for fixed-fee engagements. Use Retainers for ongoing hourly engagements where you track hours used per cycle.

Invoices from quotes

There are three ways to create an invoice from an accepted quote:

•Convert to invoice — creates a full invoice with all line items from the quote
•Deposit invoice — creates a partial invoice for your configured deposit % (default 50%)
•Milestone invoice — creates a custom partial invoice for a specific amount with a label

Invoices from time & expenses

In the project Time panel, select billable time entries and click Add to invoice or Create invoice from selected. This pre-fills the invoice with line items calculated from your time entries — description, hours, hourly rate, and totals.

Xero & QuickBooks sync

If connected, a Sync to Xero or Sync to QuickBooks button appears on invoices. Push invoices to your accounting software with one click. See Integrations.

Quotes →Payments & Paystack →Notifications →Retainers →Integrations →