Every appointment in Lupa comes with an invoice attached from the moment it's booked. While the appointment is open, that invoice sits in Estimate state — services and products can be added and removed freely, nothing posts to the client's balance, and stock counts stay unchanged. Once the appointment wraps up and the invoice is Completed, the charges land on the client's balance, inventory movements lock in, and the invoice becomes payable. This article covers the full lifecycle: how to find and open an invoice, how to move it through its statuses, how to download a PDF copy, and how to review invoices across the practice.
💡 In short: Open the appointment → click Plan & Invoicing → add your items → set the status to Completed. Paying the resulting balance is a separate step — see .
Why this matters
⚠️ Complete the invoice before the client leaves, not hours later. An invoice in Draft or Estimate state has no financial impact — it doesn't appear on the client's balance, cannot be paid, and won't trigger automated reminders. Practices that complete invoices at checkout have cleaner debt records and faster payment collection than those that batch-complete at end of day.
Benefit | What it does for the practice |
Live balance visibility | The moment an invoice is Completed, the client's outstanding balance in Lupa reflects reality. Reception can answer "what do they owe?" instantly, without checking appointment notes |
Stock accuracy | Completing an invoice triggers the corresponding stock movements — dispensed medications and sold products are decremented in real time, so inventory counts stay accurate without manual reconciliation |
Payment-ready immediately | Only Completed invoices can be paid or have a payment link sent. Completing the invoice as the client heads to reception means the payment can be taken right away, with no delay |
Reminders and statements work | Automated payment reminders and client statements are based on Completed invoices with outstanding balances. Drafts and Estimates never appear on a statement or reminder |
Full audit trail | Every status change, line item edit, and completion is logged with a timestamp and the user who made it. If a question comes up during an audit or client dispute, the history is complete |
Invoice statuses at a glance
Status | What it means | Editable? | Financial impact |
Estimate | Invoice is attached to an open appointment with no items committed yet. The default state for all new appointment invoices | Yes — freely | None — no charge to client balance, no stock movement |
Draft | Items have been added and the invoice is in progress. Can still be edited before finalising | Yes — freely | Stock reserved; client balance not yet affected |
Completed | Invoice is finalised. Invoice number is assigned at this point | Locked — requires Unlock Invoices permission to reopen | Charges post to client balance; stock movements recorded |
Archived | Manually hidden from default views. Keeps the financial record but removes the invoice from the Billing debts table | No | Charges remain on the client's balance |
📍 Financial locking is a separate layer on top of status: a practice manager can close off a date range so that no invoice within it can be edited, backdated, or reversed regardless of its status. This is configured under .
Finding an invoice
From an appointment
Every appointment has an invoice accessible from its Plan & Invoicing tab. Navigate to the appointment from the Appointments list or the Calendar, then click the Plan & Invoicing tab along the top of the appointment page.
The tab shows the complete invoice: line items, billing summary, invoice date, tags, and a set of action icons (copy, history, edit name) in the toolbar above the items. The status badge in the appointment header — for example Estimate — reflects the current invoice status.
From the client page
Every completed invoice also has its own standalone page. You can reach it by clicking the word invoice/estimate from the client's Transactions tab or the 3 dots and vie details. The standalone page shows the same content as Plan & Invoicing but adds the full client card, pet card, and clinical notes panel alongside the invoice.
From Billing
Apps → Billing shows all completed invoices with an outstanding balance, grouped by client. Click the invoice number to take you back to the invoice or appointment (if relevant)
Adding items to an invoice
Click + Add Item inside the Plan & Invoicing panel to add a service, product, or bundle to the invoice. Adding specific item types — services, products, vaccines, bundles, and prescriptions — is covered in detail in .
While in edit mode, you can drag line items up or down to reorder them. Bundles move as a unit — dragging a bundle header moves all its items with it. The order you set is saved and reflected in the invoice detail view and on the PDF.
Completing an invoice
Completing the invoice is the step that posts charges to the client's account and locks the invoice for editing. Do this when treatment is finished and the client is heading to reception.
Open the appointment and click the Plan & Invoicing tab
Confirm all items are correct and the billing summary total is right
Click the status badge in the appointment header (e.g. Estimate or Draft) to open the status dropdown
Select Completed Lupa locks the invoice immediately, assigns an invoice number, and posts the total to the client's outstanding balance. A To Be Paid badge appears in the invoice header showing the amount due and the payment deadline.
⚠️ Completing the invoice is not the same as taking a payment. Completing moves the balance onto the client's account — it doesn't record any money coming in. After completing the invoice, use Add Payment to record how the client paid. See for the full steps.
The invoice detail page
Navigating to an individual invoice opens the full invoice detail view.
The page is split into two columns:
Left (invoice panel): Status indicator, line items, billing summary, invoice date, due date, and action buttons (Add Payment, Add Claim)
Right (clinical notes panel): A rich-text notes area shared with any linked appointment
If a product on the invoice has linked services attached (for example a dispensing fee or lab charge that runs alongside the product), its amount in the line items table appears with a dashed underline. Hover over that amount to see a Combined Total breakdown — each component listed with its individual price, and a Total at the bottom showing what the whole line costs the client. Products without linked services show no underline and no tooltip.
The toolbar above the line items contains additional actions. If the invoice includes prescribed products and you have prescription permissions, a prescription icon button appears — click it to print or download all dosage labels for every prescribed item on the invoice in a single combined PDF, with each label on its own page. If the invoice has recorded payments, an email icon appears next to each payment row: click it to send the client a payment confirmation email, or — if one has already been sent — to view the details of that sent email.
The header shows:
Invoice title — auto-generated as Client : Pet @ Date — invoice, editable at any time while the invoice is open
Invoice date — the date the invoice was created, or the date you've overridden it to
Supervisor — the staff member the invoice is attributed to, editable via the picker next to the name
Responsible — when one or more line items have an assigned clinician, their avatar chips appear here automatically, derived from the items on the invoice. This row only shows when at least one item has a clinician assigned
Department — if your practice uses departments, you can assign one to the invoice while it is in edit mode; the assigned department is shown as text in view mode. This is used for reporting and does not affect the invoice total
Payment status badge — To Be Paid, Partially Paid, or Paid, with the amount and due date
Status dropdown (top right) — the current invoice status, clickable to change it
Editing invoice details
While an invoice is in Estimate or Draft state, you can freely update:
Invoice name — click the pencil icon next to the title
Tags — click Tags in the invoice panel toolbar to add searchable labels for filtering and reporting
Invoice date — set the date the invoice should be dated (defaults to today at time of creation)
Due date — set a custom payment deadline, shown below the line items in the invoice panel
Supervisor — the staff member the invoice is attributed to
Responsible — this row is derived automatically from the clinicians assigned to individual line items; it cannot be edited directly. To change who appears here, update the assigned clinician on the relevant line items
Department — if your practice uses departments, pick one from the list in the invoice header to attribute the invoice to that department for reporting. You can also clear the department by choosing No department
On a Completed invoice, all fields are locked until you unlock it (see below).
If you navigate away from the invoice while it is in edit mode and you have unsaved changes, Lupa shows a pop-up asking what you'd like to do:
Return to appointment — stays on the invoice so you can keep editing
Discard — leaves the page without saving; your unsaved changes are lost
Save — saves your changes as a draft and then navigates away
The Save button also has a dropdown option, Finish, which saves your changes and completes the invoice before navigating away. This option is not available for standalone estimates that haven't been converted to an invoice yet.
If your practice has more than one store, you can only edit invoices that belong to your currently active store. Invoices created at a different store are read-only — the edit icon shows the message Invoices from a different store cannot be edited and the status dropdown is disabled. To edit such an invoice, switch to the store it belongs to.
Downloading and sending the invoice PDF
To give the client a copy of their invoice:
Open the invoice from the appointment's Plan & Invoicing tab, or the standalone invoice page
Click Download Invoice at the bottom of the page
Lupa generates a PDF of the invoice and opens a download prompt. The PDF includes the practice logo, client and pet details, all line items, billing summary, and invoice number. The file is named automatically using the invoice date, document type, invoice number, client name, and pet name — for example 20260428_Invoice22_Jane Doe_Milo.pdf. Emailed copies use the same filename format.
You can control how bundle items appear on the PDF under Settings → Templates → Invoice template → Line items table. The Group by Bundle toggle (on by default) groups bundle items under their bundle name. Turn it off if you'd prefer those items to appear as plain line items without the bundle heading — useful if your practice considers bundle names internal.
📍 The PDF is generated at the moment you click Download and reflects the invoice as it stands right then. If you update the invoice afterwards, click Download again to get the refreshed version.
Reviewing invoices in Billing
Apps → Billing → Debts tab shows all completed invoices with an outstanding balance, grouped by client.
The Aged Debts panel at the top breaks outstanding balances into age brackets — 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 91+ days — so you can prioritise follow-up on the oldest debt. The table below lists each client's total amount overdue and their current account balance (red = net debt, green = net credit). Click the ▶ expand arrow on any client row, or use Expand All at the top right, to see the individual invoice lines with invoice number, pet name, due date, and overdue amount. Invoice numbers are links — click one to jump directly to that invoice's detail page.
📍 The Billing Debts table only shows Completed invoices with a positive outstanding balance. Draft and Estimate invoices, fully paid invoices, and archived invoices don't appear here. To see a client's complete transaction history including drafts, open the client's profile and check the Transactions tab.
Unlocking a completed invoice
If you need to correct a Completed invoice — to fix a line item, update the due date, or add a missed service — you must first unlock it:
Open the invoice detail page
Click the COMPLETED status dropdown in the top right of the page
Select Draft (or Estimate to fully remove it from the client's balance)
Make your corrections
Set the status back to Completed when done
🔒 Unlock Invoices permission required. The status dropdown won't offer Draft or Estimate as options unless your employee role includes the Unlock Invoices permission. If those options are greyed out or absent, ask a practice manager to either unlock the invoice for you or grant the permission to your role via Settings → Roles and permissions.
⚠️ Reopening a Completed invoice reverses its financial impact. Moving a Completed invoice back to Draft removes the charges from the client's balance and reverses the stock movements. If a payment has already been recorded against this invoice, that payment will sit as unallocated credit on the client's account while the invoice is in Draft. When you re-complete the invoice, Lupa automatically re-attaches the payment — so the balance clears as expected. If the payment was refunded or reallocated elsewhere in the meantime, you may need to handle it manually: see .
Archiving an invoice
Archiving moves an invoice out of the default Billing view while keeping the financial record intact. Use it for invoices you've resolved but want to declutter from day-to-day reporting — for example a superseded invoice that was replaced by a corrected one.
Open the invoice detail page
Click the status dropdown (top right)
Select Archived Archived invoices still appear in the client's Transactions tab and full invoice history — they're hidden from the Billing debts table but not deleted.
Troubleshooting
Problem | What to do |
A pop-up appeared when I tried to leave the invoice page | You navigated away while the invoice was in edit mode with unsaved changes. Choose Return to appointment to go back and keep editing, Discard to leave without saving, or Save to save your changes before leaving. If you also want to complete the invoice as you go, use the Finish option in the Save button's dropdown |
The invoice shows Invoices from a different store cannot be edited and I can't make any changes | This invoice was created at a different store in your practice. You can only edit invoices that belong to your currently active store. Switch to the store the invoice belongs to and try again |
The status badge does nothing when I click it, or Draft / Estimate options aren't showing | Changing a Completed invoice to a lower status requires the Unlock Invoices permission. Check your employee role in Settings → Roles and permissions, or ask a practice manager to make the change |
Add Payment is not available on the invoice | Only Completed invoices can be paid. If the invoice is in Draft or Estimate, complete it first (status dropdown → Completed), then use Add Payment. See |
The invoice doesn't appear in Billing / Debts | Billing only shows Completed invoices with a positive outstanding balance. Drafts, Estimates, fully paid invoices, and archived invoices are hidden from this view. Open the client's profile → Transactions for the full picture |
I can't edit a line item even though the invoice is in Draft | The invoice date probably falls inside a financially locked period. A closed cashup or month-end lock prevents any edits to transactions within that range. Ask whoever manages financial locking at the practice, or see |
I completed an invoice in error and no payment has been taken | Unlock it: open the status dropdown and select Draft (requires Unlock Invoices permission). Make your corrections, then set it back to Completed. If a payment was already taken, Lupa will automatically re-attach it when you re-complete the invoice. If the payment was refunded or moved elsewhere in the meantime, see |
The client says their PDF invoice shows wrong items after I corrected it | They may have the older PDF saved. Download Invoice again from the corrected invoice and send the new file directly — the PDF regenerates each time you click Download and always reflects the current state |
The invoice number appears blank or not assigned | Invoice numbers are assigned when an invoice moves to Completed status. Estimates and Drafts don't have invoice numbers yet — complete the invoice to generate one |
Frequently asked questions
Does completing the invoice automatically send the client anything?
Does completing the invoice automatically send the client anything?
No — completing the invoice posts the balance to the client's account but doesn't trigger an email. To share the invoice with the client, use Download Invoice to get a PDF, or take a payment with Send payment confirmation ticked — that attaches the invoice to the payment receipt email automatically. If you need to send or resend the payment confirmation email after the fact, open the invoice detail page and click the email icon next to the payment row. Once a confirmation has been sent, the same icon lets you view the details of that email.
What's the difference between Invoice Date and Due Date?
What's the difference between Invoice Date and Due Date?
The Invoice Date is when the invoice was created (or the date you've overridden it to). The Due Date is the payment deadline — it defaults to your practice's standard payment terms but can be set per invoice. The Aged Debts brackets in Billing are calculated from the Due Date, so setting accurate due dates keeps your debt ageing meaningful.
Can I create an invoice that isn't linked to an appointment?
Can I create an invoice that isn't linked to an appointment?
Appointments are the primary way invoices are created in Lupa — every booking automatically gets one. If you need to charge for something that doesn't involve a scheduled appointment (for example a product sold over the counter), the cleanest approach is to create a walk-in or ad-hoc appointment, add the items to its invoice, and complete it.
Why does the client's balance show as negative (e.g. −£239.83)?
Why does the client's balance show as negative (e.g. −£239.83)?
A negative client balance means money is owed — the practice has completed invoices that haven't been paid yet. A positive balance means the client has credit on their account (from an overpayment or a goodwill credit note). The Billing table shows balance in context: red text for debt, green for credit.
Can two people edit the same invoice at the same time?
Can two people edit the same invoice at the same time?
Lupa saves invoice changes in real time. If two team members open the same invoice simultaneously, changes are saved as they're made and the last save wins. In practice this rarely causes problems because invoices are typically handled by whoever is with the client — but it's worth knowing during busy multi-user periods.
Will an archived invoice still affect the client's balance?
Will an archived invoice still affect the client's balance?
Yes — archiving is a display filter, not a financial reversal. An archived Completed invoice still contributes to the client's outstanding balance; it's just hidden from the Billing debts table. If you need to clear the balance, issue a credit note or write-off, not an archive. See .