Creating and sending invoices
Building an invoice
From a project's Invoices tab, click New Invoice. You can compose it from any mix of:
- Approved items — pulled in from the project's rooms, priced at client price.
- Your studio's services catalog (Design Phase, Workshop, Site Visit, etc. — set up in Settings), pre-filled and editable per invoice.
- Free-form lines — description, quantity, unit price, tax, typed straight in.
Invoices are always in the project's currency. Set the issue date, due date, and any notes. Tax is applied per your studio's tax settings (inclusive or exclusive, with your configured rate and label).
An invoice starts as a draft — nothing is sent or visible to the client until you explicitly send it.
Editing a draft invoice
Drafts aren't locked in. Click Edit on any draft invoice (from the list, or its detail page) to change line items, quantities, prices, the issue/due dates, or notes — it reopens the same builder you used to create it. Once you send an invoice, its lines are locked (see below); editing is only available before send.
Invoice statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being built, not sent |
| Sent | Delivered to the client, awaiting payment |
| Paid | Payment received |
| Overdue | Past its due date, unpaid |
| Void | Cancelled — this can't be undone |
You can Void a draft, sent, or overdue invoice (with a confirmation, since it can't be undone). Once an invoice is paid, it stays paid — void isn't offered.
Sending an invoice
Click Send on a draft invoice. It goes out as a branded email with a payment link.
Getting paid online
Online card payment requires connecting your studio's Stripe account (Settings → Billing). Before that's connected, you can still build and send invoices — you'll see a reminder that clients need your Stripe connection in place before they can pay online. Everything else — building invoices, sending them, and downloading PDFs — works today regardless of Stripe status; the "pay by card in the portal" experience is what's specifically gated on Stripe.
Once connected, payment goes straight to your studio's own Stripe account — Mortar takes a small transaction fee on the payment, the rate depends on the payment method. Clients can also pay directly by bank transfer (US ACH / AU BECS, depending on your studio's Stripe account country) from the same portal pay page as card payments — no separate setup beyond your existing Stripe connection.
Downloading a PDF
Click Download PDF on any invoice, at any status, to get a branded PDF for your own records or to send outside Mortar.
The invoice detail page
Click into any invoice to see its full picture in one place: status and outstanding/paid amounts, line items, complete payment history (including any manually recorded payments), and an activity trail (created, sent, edited, payments recorded, reminders sent, and so on) — useful when a client asks "did you get my payment" or "when did you send this."
Resending, recipients, and a personal note
When you send (or resend) an invoice, you're not limited to the project's default contact:
- Add up to 5 recipients and 5 CC'd addresses.
- Write a short personal message — it's added to the email as-is, above the invoice details.
- Preview the exact email before it goes out.
Lost the original email, or does your client say they never got it? Use Resend on the invoice — it reuses the existing payment link where possible, or generates a fresh one if the old one expired or the invoice's balance has changed since. Resend is rate-limited (5 sends per hour, per invoice) so it can't be used to spam a client.
Searching, sorting, and filtering invoices
The invoice list supports:
- Free-text search across invoice number, project, and client
- Sorting by any column
- Filters for status, client, amount, and date
- Natural-language search — type something like "unpaid invoices over $5,000 from last month" into the search box and Mortar interprets it into the right filters
FAQ
Can I edit an invoice after sending it? No — only drafts are editable. Once sent, void it and create a new one (or a corrected draft) if something needs to change. See "Editing a draft invoice" above for what you can change before sending.
Does an invoice's total ever change on its own? No — an invoice locks in its line items and amounts when created. Later item price changes in the room don't retroactively change an already-created invoice.
What if my client wants to pay by bank transfer instead of card? Clients can pay directly by bank transfer (US ACH / AU BECS) from the same portal pay page as card payments, once your Stripe connection is set up. If a client pays you outside Mortar entirely (a wire, a cheque, cash), record it yourself — see Recording, editing, and voiding payments.