Invoices and payments
Compose invoices with a live preview, share the public link, record payments, and understand overdue detection and the reminders YourDesk can email for you.
4 min readUpdated Oct 17, 2026Applies to YourDesk 1.0.0
On this page
The invoice composer
Invoices → New (or Raise invoice on a project) opens the composer: the form on the left, the live "paper" on the right, exactly as the client will see it.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Client | Pick one, or type a new name |
| Project | Optional; links the invoice to a project |
| Due date | The date used for overdue detection |
| Due label | Free text printed on the paper, for example "On receipt" |
| Tax % | A whole percentage, default 10, with an Inclusive tick box (on by default) |
| Currency | Any code you type; defaults to the studio currency (AUD until you change it in Settings) |
| Look | One of 20 designs, from Ledger and Studio to Noir and Quartz |
| Lines | A description and a fee per line. There are no quantities or unit prices. |
| Deposit | Enter a percentage and press Deposit to add a line worth that share of the current total |
| Note on the terms | Printed under the lines |
| Bank details, PayPal | Prefilled from Settings → Workspace → Studio brand and printed on the paper |
Note
Deposit adds a line; it does not remove the others, so the total grows. To bill only the deposit, delete or zero the other lines after adding it.
Numbers and rounding
- Fees, totals, tax and recorded payments are stored in whole currency units. Cents are rounded away, and the tax rate is a whole percentage.
- With tax inclusive, the lines already contain the tax and it is shown as a part of the total; exclusive adds it on top.
- Invoice numbers look like
INV-3F9A1C: six random characters, not a sequential series. If your tax authority requires consecutive numbering, YourDesk 1.0.0 does not provide it. - Invoices created in the app record their issue date as the word "Today" and keep showing it, on screen and in the PDF. Invoices drafted by the Agent store the real date. Put the date in the due label or the note if the paper must show it.
If the invoice currency differs from your home currency and you have saved an exchange rate, the paper also shows an approximate amount in your home currency.
Sending and the public link
Send link marks the invoice as sent and copies its public link, /i/<token>, to your clipboard. It does not email the client: paste the link into your own message, or use Send reminder with a connected mailbox.
The client opens the link without an account and sees the paper with your logo, accent colour, bank details and PayPal handle, and can download a PDF. On your side, Print and Download PDF are also available. PDFs are built in the browser.
Important
Clients cannot pay online from the invoice link. YourDesk prints your bank details and PayPal handle for the client to pay you directly, and you record the payment. The Stripe and PayPal integrations sell YourDesk plans to studios; they do not collect invoice payments. See Selling it as SaaS.
Recording payments and statuses
| Status | How an invoice gets there |
|---|---|
| Draft | New invoices |
| Sent | Send link, or the Agent's send action |
| Due | Mark due |
| Partial | Record payment with less than the amount due |
| Paid | Mark paid, or payments that cover the total |
| Overdue | Worked out automatically: the due date is more than a day in the past and money is still owed |
Record payment adds the amount you received. A paid invoice is locked and can no longer be edited.
Automatic reminders
When anyone opens the desk, YourDesk checks for overdue invoices that have never been reminded. For each one it writes a short reminder, marks the invoice as reminded, and then:
- emails it to the client through the studio's connected mailbox, but only if the studio owner has turned on Email clients automatically, a mailbox is connected and the client record (matched by company name) has an email address, or
- saves it as a draft in Client updates otherwise, for you to review and send.
Email clients automatically is under Settings → Workspace → Mailbox. It is off by default, for new and existing studios, and only the studio owner can change it. Unopened-proposal follow-ups follow the same setting; see Automatic follow-up.
Each invoice is reminded automatically once. A reminder drafted while the setting was off stays a draft: turning the setting on later does not send it. The Send reminder button on a sent, due or overdue invoice is your own click, so it does not depend on the setting: it drafts a reminder and, if the client has an email address, sends it through the mailbox at once, falling back to opening a Gmail compose window if sending fails.
Note
If the platform admin has switched Mail off in Ops → Product, the Mailbox section is hidden and nothing is emailed automatically, whatever this setting says.
The invoice list
Invoices lists every invoice on the desk with its status. Outstanding and overdue totals also feed the Dashboard tiles and the Agent's financial summary.