Send invoices with Acuity Scheduling

You can send clients invoices for appointments or other charges. Clients pay directly from the invoice through the payment processor you have integrated with Acuity.

The invoices feature isn't compatible with Acuity’s HIPAA-enabled setting.

Note: Invoices are an Acuity feature. It's not possible to send an invoice for a Squarespace Commerce transaction with Acuity invoices.

What’s in an invoice

Each invoice includes:

• A header listing your business name or logo and email. If you upload a logo in the Scheduling page settings panel, it's displayed. If you haven't uploaded a logo, the business name in the Scheduling page settings panel displays instead. The email address is the same one the account owner uses to log in.
• An invoice ID number. You can customize this number, but it's not possible to reuse an invoice ID number, even if you delete the invoice that used the number.
• Line item charges, including the item name, price per item, and quantity for each line.
• The total amount due.
• The payment area.

You can also add these items to an invoice:

• A message to the client, if you're on any paid Acuity plan.
• Tax due. Invoices including tax show the tax, subtotal, and the total amount due.
• Discounts for a set dollar amount or percentage amount off the invoice subtotal.

Create a new invoice

To create a new invoice:

1. In Acuity, click Invoices.
2. Click Create invoice.
3. In the Client field, choose a client from the drop-down menu or click Enter new client to enter information manually. The client’s name and email address are required. Their phone number is optional. Each invoice can be sent to only a single email address.
4. In the Line item section, click Add new item.
5. Click into the new item and start typing the item you want to add to the invoice.
6. Choose an appointment type, package, or add-on from the list that appears, or enter your own custom entry of up to 255 characters. Using special characters, such as the acute accent, decreases your character limit.
7. Change or set the quantity and price, if necessary. If you choose an appointment type or add-on in step 6, the price will autofill and the quantity will be set to one. You can change both numbers. The cost must total at least one unit of your currency. For example, if you’re using US dollars, the line must total at least $1.
8. Repeat steps four through seven until you’ve added all the line items you want to the invoice.
9. Optional: Click Add Discount to lower the invoice subtotal by a set dollar amount or percentage amount.
10. If you need to collect tax as a separate line, add it by clicking Add Tax. You can enter a percentage, which will be automatically calculated, or a flat amount. You can also enter a name, which is how the surcharge will be listed on the invoice. Choose a due date from the drop-down menu.
11. Optional: Add a message for the client to appear on the invoice. This feature is only available on paid Acuity plans.
12. Optional: Check the box for Get notified when invoice is paid to receive an email when your client pays. To change where the notification goes, update the Email address field.
13. Use the Share via drop-down menu to decide whether the invoice will be sent by email or by a link that you share with the client manually.
14. Optional: If you choose email in Step 11, add a message for the client to appear in the email body.
15. After you’ve entered your information, you can save your invoice as a draft, open a preview to check your work, or generate your invoice:
    1. To save as a draft, click Done and then Save.
    2. To preview your invoice, click Preview.
    3. To generate your invoice, click Create (if you chose to manually share a link) or Send (if you chose to automatically send an email).

Tips:

• If you’re invoicing for appointments that have tax built into the price, you don’t need to add a separate tax line to the invoice.
• You can collect only one line of tax per invoice. Percentages apply to the invoice subtotal. Values are applied once for the entire invoice, not once per item or line item.

Send an invoice

When you create an invoice, you can generate a link to send to your clients or send an email with the invoice. When you click Create (for a link to share manually) or Send (to send an email), the link pops up or the email is sent immediately.

It's not possible to resend the email, but for all active invoices, you can retrieve the link to share manually. To get the link to an invoice you created earlier, go to the Invoices panel, and find the invoice you want to send in your list of invoices. Then click … and Share.

If you edit an invoice you already sent by email, when you click Save, you'll be asked if you want to send your client an email with the updated invoice.

Invoice emails

If you opt to send your invoice through an email, the email will come from an Acuity email address, not your email address.

The email will include:

• your business name or logo.
• any email message you included when you created the invoice. This feature is available on any paid Acuity plan.
• an invoice summary with invoice number, due date, and total due.
• a button to view and pay the invoice.

How clients pay invoices

If you choose to manually send a link to your clients, the link will take them directly to the invoice. If you choose to send your clients an email, they can access the invoice by clicking View & Pay Invoice in the email .

• If you’re using Stripe or Square as a payment processor, your client can enter their card information.
• If you’re using PayPal as a payment processor, there will be a Pay with PayPal button that either opens a pop-up window for payment, or redirects the client to PayPal to pay, depending on your PayPal connection.

Note: If you're using Stripe, Acuity Scheduling uses invisible Google reCAPTCHA on the payment page to protect you and your clients. Your clients don't have to do anything extra when they pay. When they begin to enter their personal information and payment details, the Google reCAPTCHA badge appears in the bottom-right corner of the page.

What happens when clients pay

When the client completes payment through the invoice, the invoice status changes in the Invoices panel, and the client is shown a confirmation message.

If a client pays outside of your invoice, you can mark the invoice as paid to keep your records up to date. 

For the client

When the client completes payment:

• The payment options on the invoice disappear.
• A confirmed payment statement appears at the top of the invoice. It includes the invoice ID, amount, and date.

The client can view the paid invoice anytime by following the link they originally used to reach the invoice.

For you

When the client completes payment:

• If you check Get notified when invoice is paid while creating the invoice, you'll receive an email letting you know the client has paid.
• The invoice’s status in the Invoices panel updates to paid, and a link to the transaction in your payment processor displays next to the amount.
• If you filter invoices by status, it will appear among your paid invoices.
• If you follow the invoice link you sent your client, the paid confirmation will appear at the top of the invoice.

Appointments and packages

Invoices aren’t connected to specific appointments or packages.

If a paid invoice covers an appointment, the appointment record won’t update. If you want the Acuity revenue report to reflect revenue from paid invoices, manually mark the relevant appointments as paid with cash.

If your client used an invoice to pay for a package, the package code won't be manually generated for them. Instead, purchase a package for them and mark it as paid with cash.

Invoice due dates

When you draft an invoice, you set the due date. When an unpaid invoice passes the due date, its status on the Invoices panel changes from unpaid to past due. An invoice passing its due date doesn’t trigger a notification for you or the client. You can check the Invoices panel for past due invoices you need to follow up on.

Manage your invoices

Use the Invoices panel to review your invoices or view specific subsets of your invoices, such as your unpaid invoices or your canceled invoices. You can also create new invoices or find invoices you’ve already created to edit or share them.

View your invoices

Your invoices are listed in a table, with the following columns:

• Status - The invoice has one of three statuses: draft, canceled, or link created
• Date - The date the invoice was last updated
• ID - The invoice ID number you set while drafting the invoice
• Client - The client’s name
• Payment - The invoice is unpaid, past due, or paid
• Due - The due date
• Amount - The total due

You can use the arrows next to each column header to sort your invoices.

Search your invoices

You can use the search bar at the top of the Invoices panel to search the client name field of your invoices. It’s not possible to search other parts of your invoices, like email addresses, messages to clients, or appointment type names.

You can use the drop-down menus at the top of the panel to view invoices by status or date range.

Manage your invoices

To take action on an invoice in the Invoices panel, click the … at the right end of the invoice’s line. Then choose one of these actions:

Mark an invoice as paid

If your client pays through your invoice, the invoice is automatically marked as paid. If they pay you separately, including if you record the payment through Acuity, you can manually mark the invoice as paid.

To mark an invoice as paid:

1. In Acuity, click Invoices.
2. Find the invoice you want to mark as paid, and click ... .
3. Click Mark as paid, then click Mark as paid to confirm.

After you mark an invoice as paid, it isn't possible to mark it as due again. If you need to reinstate the charge, click ... , then click Duplicate to generate a new invoice with the same information.

Refund an invoice

To refund an invoice payment, send the client a refund through your payment processor. It’s not possible to send refunds from Acuity.

Delete an invoice

After you delete an invoice, it's not possible to undelete it.

To delete an invoice:

1. In Acuity, click Invoices.
2. Find the invoice you want to delete, and click ....
3. Click Delete, then click Delete to confirm.

Invoice data

Invoices aren’t connected to specific appointments. If you want the Acuity revenue report to reflect revenue from paid invoices, manually mark the relevant appointments as paid with cash. Consider adding a note that the payment came via invoice.

It’s not possible to generate a report about invoices in Acuity. The Acuity revenue report doesn’t include revenue from invoices.

To find out how many outstanding invoices a client has, search for their name in the Invoices panel. Client records in the client list don’t include invoices.