Getting paid

Send to Client does two things: it marks the invoice as sent and emails your client a link to view and pay it in their portal.

1. Open the invoice and review the total.
2. Open the ⋯ menu in the invoice header and click Send to Client.
3. Choose Portal template for the branded email, or Custom email to write your own subject and message.

The portal template is fixed wording, and you see a preview of the exact email before it goes out. A custom email has your subject and message only, with no automatic greeting, signature, or footer. The portal button is added underneath it either way. That button reads View & pay invoice once online payments are set up, and View invoice online until then.

Both email choices share the same recipient lines and attachment tray.

• Recipients. To starts with the primary contact. Click Add CC/BCC to reveal the other two lines, which take any address you type. A custom email lets you type any address on the To line as well. Any typed address can receive the email, but only an email saved as a contact on this client can sign in to view or pay the invoice. The portal template keeps To on the client's own contacts.
• The invoice PDF. The most recent version you generated is attached already. Remove it with the X, or use the clock icon to pick an older version.
• Your own files. Attach file adds photos, receipts, and anything else the client asked for. All attachments together can total 20MB, and program files are refused.

Every invoice you send this way lands in the client's conversation in your inbox, and their reply comes back to the same place. If an address has hard-bounced or marked one of your emails as spam, the send is refused and OneTool names the address.

Your client signs in to their portal with a one-time code sent to their email, no account or password needed. On the invoice they see a pay button for the amount due, enter their card in a secure payment form, and pay without leaving the page.

The charge goes straight to your own connected Stripe account and pays out to your bank. Setting up payments takes a few minutes and is done once by the organization owner. See Setting up online payments.

When a card payment succeeds, OneTool records the card brand and last four digits on the installment, along with a link to the Stripe receipt. Your client also gets a receipt in the portal they can download or print. Some payment methods take a few business days to clear; while one is settling, the portal shows the client a processing notice with the amount and keeps the Pay button disabled, and the installment turns Paid once the funds arrive.

Money you collect outside the portal still needs to land in OneTool so your records stay right. When a client pays in cash or by check, open the invoice and click Mark as Paid. The invoice becomes paid and every outstanding installment is settled, so the portal never offers to collect the same money twice.