Accept paymentsInvoices & payment links

Invoice statuses and lifecycle

Understand how an invoice moves from draft to paid, and what each status means for follow-up

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An invoice’s status tells you where it’s on the path from created to paid. Use it to decide what to do next: send a draft, follow up on an unpaid invoice, or confirm that a completed one is reconciled. Invoices represent money your customers owe you, so the status is also your view of outstanding accounts receivable.

Invoice statuses

This status is returned as invoiceStatus when your query involves an invoice. For example, the value "invoiceStatus": 1 means that the invoice is open.

ValueKeyDescription
Draft0The invoice is in draft format and hasn’t been sent yet.
Active/ Open1The invoice is created but hasn’t been paid yet.
Partially Paid2The invoice has been partially paid.
Paid/ Complete4The invoice has been paid and is complete.
Canceled99The invoice has been canceled.

How an invoice moves through statuses

Invoice status lifecycle from Draft through Active (Open) and Partially Paid to Paid, with a Canceled end state

Diagram: Invoice status lifecycle

The diagram shows how an invoice moves between its statuses:

  • A Draft (status 0) invoice becomes Active (Open) (status 1) when you send it.
  • An Active (Open) invoice becomes Partially Paid (status 2) when a partial payment is received, or Paid (status 4) when it’s paid in full or you mark it as paid.
  • A Partially Paid invoice becomes Paid when the remaining balance is paid.
  • A Draft, Active (Open), or Partially Paid invoice can be Canceled (status 99) through the API. A Paid invoice can’t be canceled.

Past Due isn’t shown because it’s a derived view of an Active (Open) or Partially Paid invoice past its due date, not a status.

Most invoices follow the same path:

  1. Draft — You create the invoice but don’t send it. Your customer can’t see it yet, and you can keep editing it.
  2. Active (Open) — You send the invoice. It’s now awaiting payment, and your customer can pay it from the link you sent.
  3. Partially Paid — Your customer pays part of the balance. The invoice remains active for the remaining amount.
  4. Paid — The full balance is paid and the invoice is complete.

When you create an invoice, you choose how it starts. Save it as a draft to keep editing, send it right away so it becomes Active (Open), or charge the customer at creation to record it as Paid.

An invoice can also reach a status outside this path:

Canceled — You stop collecting an invoice you no longer expect to be paid. You can cancel an invoice that’s Draft, Active (Open), or Partially Paid, but not one that’s already Paid. Canceling is available through the API only. A canceled invoice keeps its record for your history but stops requesting payment.

When a customer pays through Payabli, the status updates on its own. For a payment you collect outside Payabli, such as cash or a check, use Mark as Paid in the Invoices report so the record matches what you actually received. See Manage invoices in the UI.

Past Due is a view, not a status

An invoice that passes its due date without full payment is Past Due. Past Due isn’t a separate status. It’s a way to see Active (Open) or Partially Paid invoices whose due date has passed. Past Due overrides the displayed status — it doesn’t replace the invoice’s underlying status value. An Active invoice that’s past due is still Active (status 1) underneath. The report flags it so you can follow up. Filter the Invoices report by Past Due to find every invoice that needs attention.

See these related resources to help you get the most out of Payabli.