Invoicing is off by default. Nothing about invoices appears until you turn it on, so if you have never seen an invoice button, that is expected — start with the first question below.
How do I turn on invoicing (enable invoices)?
- Open Settings (you must be a Global Admin or Admin).
- Find the Invoicing section and switch Invoicing enabled on.
- Save. From now on you can issue a sales invoice for any shipped order, and voiding an in-store sale will produce a credit note.
While invoicing is off, no invoices are generated, the Sales invoice button stays hidden on your orders, and voiding a sale does not create a credit note. Turning it on does not retroactively invoice your past orders on its own — see "Can I create invoices for past orders?" below.
How do I create or issue an invoice for an order?
You issue a sales invoice from a shipped order:
- Make sure Invoicing enabled is on (see above).
- Open the order (or the Shipping page) — the order status must be Shipped. You cannot invoice an order that is still Unshipped, Pending, or already Cancelled.
- Click the Sales invoice action. Flow allocates the next invoice number and produces the printable invoice.
- Open or print the invoice from the same place afterwards.
Each order gets one invoice number — clicking again returns the same invoice, it does not make a second one.
Why is there no invoice button on my order?
The most common reasons, in order:
- Invoicing is turned off. Turn it on in Settings (see the first question). The button is hidden entirely until then.
- The order is not Shipped yet. Invoices are only issued for shipped orders. Ship it first.
- The order was voided/Cancelled. A cancelled order cannot be invoiced; a void creates a credit note instead.
Why does my invoice number look strange or have today's date in it?
Because your invoice number is built from a template, and the default template includes the date. The default is:
{prefix}-{yy}{mm}{dd}-{seq:4}which produces numbers like `INV-260814-0001` — that is INV, then the two-digit year, month and day (26 08 14), then a 4-digit counter. So a number such as INV-260814-0003 is not a mistake: it is the 3rd invoice issued on 14 August 2026. If you would rather have a plain running number with no date, change the template (next question).
Can I change how invoice numbers are formatted?
Yes. In Settings → Invoicing you can edit two things and see a live preview of a sample number before you save:
- Prefix — 1 to 6 characters, letters/numbers/
-/_only (for exampleINV,FV,2026). - Number template — the pattern the number is built from. It must include a sequence placeholder (
{seq}or{seq:4}), otherwise it is rejected.
Changing the format only affects invoices issued from now on — numbers already issued never change.
What do the placeholders like {seq}, {yy}, {mm} mean in an invoice number?
You can use any of these in the number template:
{prefix}— your chosen prefix.{seq}— the running counter, e.g.7. Use{seq:4}to zero-pad it to a fixed width, e.g.0007(any width works:{seq:5}→00007).{yyyy}— 4-digit year (2026);{yy}— 2-digit year (26).{mm}— month (08);{dd}— day (14).{hh}— hour;{ss}— seconds.{channel}— the sales channel the order came from.{order_id}— the last part of the order's own id.
All date and time parts use UTC, so a late-evening sale can show the next day's date. A worked example: with prefix INV and template {prefix}-{yyyy}-{seq:5}, your invoices read INV-2026-00001, INV-2026-00002, and so on.
When does the invoice number counter reset back to 1?
That is controlled by the reset policy in Settings → Invoicing:
- Daily (the default) — the counter restarts at 1 each day.
- Monthly — restarts on the 1st of each month.
- Yearly — restarts on 1 January.
- Never — one continuous counter that keeps climbing forever.
This is why, with the default daily reset, you often see numbers like ...-0001 again the next morning. If you want a single unbroken sequence, choose Never (and a template without the date, so the number stays readable).
Are invoice numbers guaranteed to have no gaps?
Not strictly. Invoice numbers are drawn from a fast counter, so on rare occasions (two invoices issued at the very same instant) a number can be skipped. Credit note numbers, by contrast, are strictly gap-free. If your accountant needs a provably unbroken invoice sequence, use the Never reset policy and raise it with support.
What is a credit note, and when is one created?
A credit note is the record of a reversal. When you void an in-store (manual) sale, Flow cancels the order, puts the stock back, and — if invoicing is enabled — issues a credit note against the original invoice. The original invoice is never deleted or renumbered; the credit note sits beside it so your books show both the sale and its reversal.
Credit note numbers look like `INV-CN-2026-00001`: your prefix, then -CN-, the 4-digit year, and a 5-digit counter that resets each year. They are always gap-free.
Why didn't voiding a sale create a credit note?
Because invoicing is turned off for your account. When invoicing is off, a void still does everything that matters — the sale is cancelled, the stock is returned to your inventory and pushed back to your channels, and the reversal is recorded in the activity log — but no credit note document is produced, exactly as no sales invoice is produced while invoicing is off. Turn invoicing on (see the first question) if you want future voids to issue a credit note.
Can I create invoices for past orders (backfill)?
Yes. When invoicing is enabled, Settings → Invoicing offers a backfill so you do not have to invoice historical orders one by one. You choose how far back to go:
- From now on — issue numbers only for new orders (generates nothing for the past).
- Last 30 days, This month, or This year — issue invoices for the shipped orders in that window.
Backfill only works once invoicing is enabled, and it only touches shipped orders. It never changes a number that was already issued.
Who is allowed to change invoicing settings?
Only Global Admin and Admin can turn invoicing on/off, change the prefix, template, or reset policy, or run a backfill. Any team member can view and print an invoice that already exists.