Invoice lifecycle and bulk actions

Quick answer

Invoices in Uku follow a five-stage lifecycle: Draft → Approval → Created → Sent → Paid. Voided invoices go to a separate Cancelled tab. You can advance invoices one step at a time or process many at once with bulk actions — from creating and sending to marking paid, exporting, and generating revenue split reports.

Who can do this

• Company Owners and Company Admins can perform all invoice actions, including voiding, restoring, and deleting.
• Company Members with invoice editing rights can create and edit drafts for their assigned clients.
• Company Members with send permission can send invoices to clients.
• Company Members with export permission can export invoices to accounting software. Permissions are controlled by the toggles in Settings & Apps > Billing > Settings. See Billing permissions and settings.

Invoice statuses explained

Draft

The starting point. When Uku calculates an invoice from a contract, it lands here as a Draft. The invoice has rows and totals, but no invoice number has been assigned. You can freely edit content, add or remove rows, and recalculate as many times as needed.

Approval

After a draft is calculated, it moves to Approval — a review step where someone with the right permissions can inspect it before it becomes official. The invoice content is still editable at this point.

Created

When you create an invoice from Approval, Uku assigns an invoice number and locks the billing period. This is the official document stage. From here you can send it to the client, export to accounting software, or mark it as paid. Editing is still possible (via the pencil icon) but should be done carefully if the invoice has already been shared or exported.

Sent

After sending the invoice to the client (by email or e-invoice), it moves to the Sent tab. Uku records when it was sent, to whom, and from which address. You can resend if needed.

Paid

Once payment is received, mark the invoice as paid. Uku records the payment date and amount. If you have accounting software connected, you can also pull payment status updates automatically.

Cancelled (voided invoices)

Voided invoices move to the Cancelled tab. A voided invoice is not deleted — it is preserved for audit purposes but excluded from active billing totals. The Cancelled tab appears only when there are voided invoices.

Advancing an invoice through the lifecycle

The standard flow moves left to right through the tabs:

1. Draft to Approval — click Recalculate on a draft invoice. Uku runs the billing calculation and moves the invoice to Approval.
2. Approval to Created — click Create invoice. Uku assigns an invoice number and locks the billing period. A confirmation dialog appears first.
3. Created to Sent — click Send to client. Choose recipients and confirm. The invoice moves to Sent.
4. Created or Sent to Paid — click Mark paid. The invoice moves to Paid with a payment timestamp.

Each step is available as a button in the invoice toolbar when viewing a single invoice, or as a bulk action when selecting multiple invoices from the list.

Voiding and restoring invoices

Void an invoice

You can void an invoice at any status (except when it is already voided). Open the invoice, click the three-dot menu, and select Void invoice. The invoice moves to the Cancelled tab.

Voiding preserves the record and unlocks the billing period so the work can be re-invoiced if needed.

When to use Void vs. Credit note:

• Void — for invoices that have not yet been sent or exported. Use when you want to cancel a draft or unpublished invoice.
• Credit note — for invoices that have already been sent, exported, or paid. Creates a formal reversal document for accounting purposes. See Credit notes and corrections.

Restore a voided invoice

1. Open the Cancelled tab in the invoice list.
2. Open the voided invoice.
3. Click the three-dot menu and select Restore invoice. The invoice returns to its previous status. For contract-based invoices, you can also click Calculate invoice directly from the Cancelled tab to restore and recalculate in one step.

Marking invoices as paid or unpaid

Mark as paid

Click Mark paid on invoices in Created or Sent status. This records payment manually — use it when you have confirmed payment outside of an accounting integration.

If you have accounting software connected, use Update payment status from the three-dot menu to pull payment status directly from your accounting system.

Revert to unpaid

Open a Paid invoice, click the three-dot menu, and select Mark unpaid. The invoice returns to its previous status (Created or Sent).

Bulk actions

Select multiple invoices using the checkboxes in the invoice list, then use the action buttons in the toolbar.

Primary actions (always visible in toolbar)

Action	Available on	What it does
**Recalculate**	Draft, Approval	Re-runs the billing calculation on selected invoices
**Create**	Draft, Approval	Moves invoices to Created, assigning invoice numbers
**Mark paid**	Created, Sent	Marks selected invoices as paid
**Send to client**	Created, Sent, Paid	Emails invoices to clients
**Delete**	Cancelled	Permanently deletes voided invoices

More menu actions

Action	Available on	What it does
**Void**	Draft, Approval, Created, Sent, Paid	Voids invoices and moves them to Cancelled
**Restore**	All tabs	Restores voided invoices to their previous status
**Mark unpaid**	Paid	Reverts paid invoices to unpaid
**Update payment status**	Created	Checks payment status from connected accounting software
**Export to accounting**	Created, Sent, Paid	Exports invoices to the connected accounting vendor
**Download to Excel**	All tabs	Downloads invoice line details as an Excel file
**Revenue split**	Created, Sent, Paid	Downloads a revenue split breakdown as an Excel file

Revenue split export

The revenue split export generates an Excel file breaking down invoice revenue by team member. Useful for commission calculations, revenue attribution, or understanding which team members generated which revenue.

Select one or more invoices in the Created, Sent, Paid, or All tab, then choose Revenue split from the More menu. The file downloads immediately.

Additional single-invoice actions

When viewing a single invoice, the three-dot menu also offers:

• Credit note — creates a credit note against this invoice. Available on Created, Sent, and Paid invoices with a positive total.
• Show all lines — displays all billable lines for contract invoices in draft status, including zero-amount lines normally hidden.
• Recalculate invoice — available on Created contract invoices. Voids the current invoice and recalculates it, refreshing the content while preserving the billing period.
• Delete invoice — permanently removes a non-contract invoice. Contract invoices must be voided instead.

Changing invoice numbers

Invoice numbers are assigned automatically when an invoice moves from Approval to Created. You can edit the number in the invoice edit form before or after creation — useful when aligning the numbering with your accounting system.

To set the starting number for all future invoices: open Billing > All Invoices, click the three-dot menu in the Billing view, and select Set the Next Invoice Number.

Troubleshooting

A restored invoice appeared in the wrong tab

This is expected. Restored invoices are placed in Approval or Created based on the billing period the invoice belongs to, not the current date.

Bulk Create is not appearing for selected invoices

The Create bulk action only appears when the selected invoices are in Draft or Approval status. Invoices already in Created, Sent, or Paid status cannot be created again.

The Cancelled tab is not visible

The Cancelled tab only appears when there are voided invoices. If no invoices have been voided, the tab does not show in the tab bar.