The Billing and Invoices area in the Vanilla Dashboard provides a centralized place to manage invoices created within your Vanilla account. From this section, you can review invoice activity, search for specific invoices, send payment links, record offline payments, and create one-time or recurring invoices.
Accessing Billing and Invoices
To open Billing and Invoices:
Log in to the Vanilla Dashboard.
From the left-hand sidebar, click Billing and Invoices.
You will land on the Invoice Management page.
Invoice Management page overview
The Invoice Management page displays a complete list of invoices created within your Vanilla account.
At the top of the page, you will see summary metrics for the selected period, including:
Total number of invoices
Total number of paid invoices
Total amount paid
Total open invoice amount still outstanding
These summaries provide a quick snapshot of invoice activity and payment status.
Searching and filtering invoices
Use the tools at the top of the page to quickly locate invoices.
You can search by:
Customer name
Invoice number
You can also filter invoices by:
Invoice date range
Minimum invoice amount
Maximum invoice amount
Invoice status
Depending on the invoice state, available statuses may include items such as:
Paid
Open
Draft
Voided
Pending
Partially paid
Uncollectible
Past due
Understanding the invoices table
Each row in the invoices table represents a single invoice.
The table may include the following details:
Customer name
Clicking the customer name opens the related customer record.Invoice number
Invoice date
Displays when the invoice was created.Invoice amount
Amount paid
Amount remaining
Due date
Status
Delivery
Indicates whether the invoice has been sent to the recipient.
Customer details page
When you click a customer name from the invoices table, you are taken to that customer’s details page, where you can view:
Basic customer information
Transaction history
Subscriptions
Billing and invoicing history
Actions available on invoices
Each invoice row includes an Actions menu.
Available actions include:
View invoice
Open the selected invoice to review its details.
Download invoice
Download a PDF copy of the invoice.
Generate payment link
Create a shareable payment link for the invoice. This link sends the customer to a Stripe-powered payment page where they can:
View the total due
Review invoice details
Download a copy of the invoice
Complete payment using the payment methods enabled in your Stripe configuration
Record payment
Use Record Payment to document a payment collected offline.
This is useful for payments received outside the online invoice link, such as in person or by separate transfer.
Available payment methods include:
Cash
Check
Other
For cash and check payments, you can also enter:
Payment amount
Date payment was received
Reference number or check number
Internal notes
If Other is selected, you can enter free-text payment details such as:
Wire transfer
Zelle
Venmo
Cash App
Resend invoice
Resend the invoice to the customer.
Void invoice
Voids the invoice.
Please Note: Voiding an invoice is permanent and cannot be undone. Once an invoice is voided, it cannot be edited, resent, or marked as paid.
Creating a new invoice
To create a new invoice:
From the Invoice Management page, click Create Invoice in the upper right.
Select the appropriate store or vendor using the type-to-search field.
Select an existing customer, or create a new customer.
Creating a new customer during invoice creation
If you choose to create a new customer, enter the following information:
First name
Last name
Email address
Phone number
Mailing address
Unique ID (optional)
Completing invoice details
After selecting a customer, complete the invoice details as needed:
Invoice date
Customer email address
Additional email recipients
Due date
Customer mailing address
Option to print and mail a physical invoice copy
You can also set invoice terms. Available terms may include:
Due upon receipt
Charge immediately
First of the month
Net 10
Net 15
Net 30
Net 60
Net 90
Adding line items
Invoices can include either existing products or custom line items.
Existing product line items
If you add an existing product:
Search your product library.
Select the product.
Vanilla will pull in the pricing already configured for that product.
For each line item, you can choose whether it is:
Taxable
Non-taxable
Custom line items
If you add a custom line item, you can enter:
Title
Quantity
Unit rate
The total price will calculate automatically based on the quantity and unit rate.
Custom line items can also be marked as taxable or non-taxable.
Reordering line items
You can reorder line items using the drag-and-drop control on the left side of each row.
Please Note: Memberships or subscriptions cannot be added as invoice line items.
Customer notes and invoice footer text
At the bottom of the invoice, you can add:
A note to the customer
Invoice footer text
Invoice footer text can be managed in Settings. Once footer text has been configured there, it can be displayed at the bottom of the invoice.
Saving, downloading, or sending an invoice
After completing the invoice, the available options at the bottom of the page may include:
Download PDF
Save as Draft
Save as Completed Invoice
Review and Send
Use Save as Draft if the invoice is not ready yet.
Use Review and Send when you are ready to send the invoice to the customer.
Creating a recurring invoice
When creating an invoice, you can also configure it as a recurring invoice.
A recurring invoice will be sent automatically based on the schedule you define.
When recurring invoicing is enabled, you can configure:
Invoice name or title
Terms
Invoicing frequency
Billing anchor or start date
Duration
Invoicing frequency
You can choose how often the invoice should recur. Available options may include:
Weekly
Bi-weekly
Monthly
Annually / yearly
Billing anchor or start date
You can choose whether the recurring invoice should begin:
Immediately
On a specific start date
If you select a specific date, the first invoice will be sent on that date.
Recurring duration
You can set the recurring schedule to:
Continue indefinitely
End after a specific number of invoices
The duration follows the same frequency unit selected for the invoice schedule.
For example:
If the frequency is monthly, duration is based on months
If the frequency is weekly, duration is based on weeks
Important notes
The Billing and Invoices page is the central location for managing all invoices in your Vanilla account.
Customer names in the invoices table are clickable and link to the customer record.
Invoice PDFs can be downloaded directly from the Actions menu.
Payment links take customers to a Stripe-powered payment page.
Offline payments can be recorded manually.
Voiding an invoice is permanent.
Subscriptions or memberships cannot be added as invoice line items.
Invoice footer text is managed through Settings.
Recurring invoices can be set to start immediately or on a future date.