Invoice and get paid

From accepted proposal to invoice

Once a proposal is Accepted, you can create an invoice from it without re-entering line items. You choose what to bill:

• Full balance: the entire proposal total.
• Deposit: a portion of the total, set either as a percentage (for example, 50%) or a fixed amount.
• Remaining balance: whatever your earlier invoices on the proposal have not covered. Once you have invoiced a deposit, this replaces Full balance, so the deposit is never billed twice.

Creating a deposit invoice lets you collect up front and invoice the remaining balance later: create a second invoice from the same proposal and choose Remaining balance. Catertoo shows how much is left to invoice and will not let a proposal's invoices add up to more than its total. A voided invoice no longer counts, so you can void one and invoice that part again.

Send the invoice

When a Draft invoice is ready, click Send on the invoice, or Send invoice at the bottom of its document editor (unsaved edits are saved first). A dialog opens so you can email the invoice to your client in the same step:

1. To: pick one of the client's contacts that has an email address. The primary contact is chosen for you.
2. Template: the Send invoice template is chosen for you. Pick another invoice or general message template to start from different wording. To change the wording every invoice email starts from, edit the Send invoice template under Settings, Message templates.
3. Subject and Message: already filled in with your client's name, the event, the balance due and the due date. Change anything you like.
4. Click Send.

The email comes from your business name, and your client's replies go to you. It has a View and pay invoice button that opens the invoice's payment page, and a PDF copy of the invoice is attached. The email is saved in the invoice's Conversation section, where your client's replies show up too.

Until you connect Stripe, the dialog says so and the button reads View invoice: your client sees the amount due but cannot pay online.

If the invoice has no due date, the dialog warns you that the due date in the message is blank. Edit the message, or set a due date first: a draft invoice shows a Due Date field with a Save due date button, and the dialog's Set a due date button takes you to it.

To mark the invoice as sent without emailing it, untick Email it to the client and click Mark as sent. If none of the client's contacts has an email address, the dialog says so and offers only Mark as sent.

Email it again

To email a sent or partially paid invoice again, or to another contact on the same client (for example, their accounts team), click Resend email on the invoice, then Send email. On a partially paid invoice the message states the balance still owed. Resending never changes the invoice's status.

If an email cannot be delivered, the message at the top of the page says so and the invoice stays sent. Use Resend email to try again.

From the invoice you can also download a branded PDF, or Void an invoice issued in error.

Collect payment online

Catertoo generates a secure pay link for the invoice, hosted on your payment site. The client opens the link and pays by card through Stripe Checkout, with no account required. When the payment completes, Catertoo records it against the invoice automatically.

Online payments require connecting your Stripe account first. Open Settings → Payments to connect, then your pay links can accept cards.

Recording payments

Card payments collected through the pay link are recorded for you. To log a payment a client made another way (cash, check, or bank transfer):

1. Open the invoice and click Record Payment.
2. Enter the amount, method, and date. Catertoo updates the balance automatically.

The invoice detail page shows Amount Due, Amount Paid, and the remaining Balance at a glance, along with the full payment ledger below.

What's next?

• Track your revenue to see what you've collected, invoiced, and what's still outstanding.