A saved invoice can be corrected: a wrong quantity, a missed line, the wrong price or tax, a later date. SeroBooks re-posts the invoice with the change and, if the invoice was already paid, asks how to settle the difference — collect more, refund, or issue a credit memo. An invoice that should never have existed is voided — it keeps its number, drops to zero and is marked VOID — or deleted. This article covers each of these, and what cannot be changed.
Opening an invoice to edit it
Open the invoice from the Invoices list, a customer's ledger, a report or the Income Tracker. If your role has Edit Saved Invoice, it opens in Edit Invoice — the same form as Create Invoices, holding the saved invoice. In Multiple Windows mode each invoice you open gets its own window, and each keeps its own unsaved changes until you save or leave it.
A band across the top says what you are editing:
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| EDITING (number) | The invoice open in the form. |
| Payment line | How it stands: Unpaid — edit freely, only the balance due changes.; Paid $… of $… — edits adjust the balance; money moves only if the total drops below what was paid.; or Paid $… — (how) · only the difference moves. |
| ‹ › | Previous (older) invoice / Next (newer) invoice — unsaved changes here are discarded. |
| Duplicate | A new invoice copied from this one; this one is not changed. See Invoice actions. |
| Memorize | Keeps it in the Memorized Transaction List. |
| Go Back / Back to (where you came from) | Leaves without saving. Nothing has been written, so it does not ask. |
The status pill under the date reads Unpaid, Partly paid or Paid. The panel shows Payments and BALANCE DUE, and a Payments on this invoice card lists each payment (click one to open its receipt).
Making a correction
- Change what is wrong: lines, quantities, prices, discounts, tax, terms, note, shipping, job, class or the date.
- Watch the box under the total. It tells you what saving will do:
| Box | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BALANCE DUE | Nothing has changed yet. |
| NO PAYMENT CHANGE | The change moves no money (for example a new note or date, or a paid invoice whose total is unchanged). |
| BALANCE AFTER UPDATE | The invoice is unpaid or part-paid: the new balance the customer owes. |
| COLLECT MORE (amber) | A paid invoice's total went up by this much. |
| REFUND CUSTOMER (green) | The total fell below what was paid, by this much. |
- Save with the button that appears (or F9):
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Update (number) — no payment change | Saves the correction. |
| Update (number) — $… due | Saves it; the balance stays in Accounts Receivable. Unpaid balance stays in Receivables — nothing is collected or credited by this update. |
| Collect $… & Update (number) | Choose the method under Collect difference by, then save: the extra is recorded as a payment. |
| Refund $… — (method) | Refunds the difference to how the customer paid. If a card took less than the refund, SeroBooks says so and you refund the rest another way. |
| Issue Credit Note for the returned items | For items removed from a paid invoice: Leaves (number) exactly as sold and records a separate credit note. It asks Issue a credit note? — the returned lines and their value are credited to the customer, the invoice stays as sold, and stock goes back to the location each line came from. Needs a named customer (Credit notes need a named customer account.). If the total fell through a price or discount change rather than returned items, refund the difference instead. |
| Save & New | Saves the update and starts a new invoice. |
When you remove a line that was on the saved invoice, SeroBooks asks Returning "(item)" — What happens to the item? — Keep on invoice, Damaged (written off) or Restock — sellable.
If someone recorded a payment against the invoice while you had it open, SeroBooks says The payments on this invoice changed since it was opened. The figures are updated — check them and press Update again.
Ctrl+S on an invoice being edited reminds you to use Update (F9) or the buttons on the right, so a correction is always a deliberate choice.
What a correction does to the books
An edit re-posts the invoice: its journal entry is replaced by one for the corrected invoice, on the invoice's date. Collecting more records a payment (debit the Deposit To account or Undeposited Funds, credit Accounts Receivable); a refund records a refund payment the other way; a credit note posts as a credit memo (see Create Credit Memos and Refunds). Every change is recorded in the Audit Trail.
Cancelling a paid invoice (returning everything)
If you remove every line from a paid invoice, it cannot simply be emptied. SeroBooks offers Cancel invoice (number)…, which asks Cancel invoice (number)? — This abandons your edit and opens the return for the whole invoice. Nothing moves until you confirm there. Click Choose how to reverse… to open the return:
| Part | What to choose |
|---|---|
| Quantities | What is coming back (all of it, when cancelling). Select all / Clear. |
| ITEM CONDITION | Restock (sellable) or Damaged — write off. |
| REFUND AS | Refund — (original method) to give the money back the way it was paid, or Credit note (customer account) to leave it as a credit for the customer. |
Record Return records it. The invoice stays on record; the return is a credit memo against it.
Void an invoice
Voiding keeps the invoice with its number, at zero, marked VOID, and puts any stock on it back on the shelf — as QuickBooks Desktop does. Use it for an invoice raised by mistake.
- Open the invoice read-only (see below) and click Void invoice….
- Confirm Are you sure you want to void this invoice? with Void.
If the invoice has payments applied, SeroBooks offers Void the sale and its payment? — This sale was paid. Voiding it as a sales receipt takes the payment off as well: both stay on record, marked VOID, at zero. Choose Void both, or Keep it.
The server refuses to void an invoice dated in a closed period, or whose payment has been cleared in a bank reconciliation, and says which. Invoice voided. confirms it. Voided invoices are listed on the Voided/Deleted Transactions reports.
Voiding needs the Cancel Invoice right on Invoices.
Delete an invoice
Deleting removes the invoice for good, as QuickBooks Desktop's Delete Invoice does: its stock goes back on the shelf, and it comes out of the books and the customer's balance. Its number is not kept. To keep the invoice on record at zero instead, void it.
- Open the invoice in Edit Invoice and click Delete (beside Memorize), or open it read-only and click Delete invoice….
- Confirm Delete invoice (number)? — It is removed for good: its stock goes back on the shelf, and it comes out of the books and the customer's balance. To keep it on record at zero, Void it instead. — with Delete, or Keep it.
Invoice (number) deleted. confirms it, and you return to where you came from. Anything typed into Edit Invoice and not saved is dropped with it.
SeroBooks does not delete an invoice that has payments on it: Invoice (number) has payments on it. Delete them first (open each under Payments on this invoice), or Void the invoice instead. (QuickBooks would leave such a payment as a credit; here the payment would be deleted with the invoice.) The server also refuses an invoice with a return recorded against it, and one dated on or before the closing date — anyone with the closing date password can enter it first. Who deleted it, and when, stays in the Audit Trail.
Deleting needs the Cancel Invoice right on Invoices, the same right as voiding.
Documents that never posted — a pending invoice, an estimate or a sales order — are deleted from their own lists, and credit notes raised by mistake with the Delete Credit Note right.
The read-only invoice page
An invoice opens read-only when your role cannot edit saved invoices, when it has no item lines (for example an opening balance brought across from your previous system — Opening balance — no item lines), or when it is reached from Cancel invoice. The page shows the lines (ITEM, QTY, U/M, PRICE (INC TAX), LINE DISC, TOTAL), the totals, the Payments, and any Delivery details, with:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit Invoice | Opens it in Edit Invoice (if your role allows). |
| Return / Refund… | Returns some items: the return dialog above, with the quantities you choose. |
| Cancel invoice… | Returns everything. |
| Void invoice… | Voids it. |
| Delete invoice… | Deletes it. See Delete an invoice. |
| Print Invoice, Package slip, Print Pack, Email, WhatsApp | As in Invoice actions. |
| Repeat… | Sets it to repeat on a schedule. |
| Receive $… (cash) | Shown while money is owed by a named customer: records a payment against this invoice (Receive payment — (number): amount, tender, and optionally a foreign currency and exchange rate; Record payment). For anything more than a simple payment, use Receive Payments. |
| Apply a credit note… | Applies one of the customer's unused credit memos to this invoice. |
| Attachments | Files kept with the invoice — a signed delivery note, the customer's purchase order. |
What cannot be changed
| Restriction | Why / what to do |
|---|---|
| The date, or anything, on an invoice dated on or before the closing date | The period is closed: This sale is dated …, which falls in a period closed on … Record it in the current period instead, or ask an administrator to move the closing date. Anyone with the closing date password can enter it to save. See Set Closing Date and Year-End. |
| The invoice date, if your role lacks Change the Invoice Date | Ask an administrator. |
| Editing at all, without Edit Saved Invoice | The invoice opens read-only. |
| Voiding an invoice with a reconciled payment | Undo the reconciliation first, or record a credit memo instead. |
Permissions
| Right (Sales ▸ Invoices) | Allows |
|---|---|
| Edit Saved Invoice | Reopening and changing a completed invoice. |
| Refund / Credit Note | Returns, refunds and credit notes. |
| Cancel Invoice | Voiding, deleting or reversing a whole invoice. |
| Take Payment | Receiving payment from the invoice itself. |
| Email / WhatsApp | Sending the invoice. |
Common problems
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| The invoice opens read-only. | Your role lacks Edit Saved Invoice, or it has no item lines. |
| …falls in a period closed on… | Record the change in the current period, or ask an administrator. |
| Void is refused because payments are applied. | Choose Void both, or record a credit memo and refund instead. |
| The refund total is not what you expected. | The box compares with the invoice as it was rebuilt; an amber note explains any charge the original recorded but did not itemise. |