Invoice status, payment status, and email status mean different things
Understand what finalized, partial, paid, queued, and accepted tell you—and which customer actions those states cannot prove.
An invoice can be finalized, partly paid, and waiting in an email queue at the same time. Those states answer different questions. Reading them separately helps you choose the right next action.
The short version
- Document state describes whether a document is a draft, finalized, or void.
- Payment state describes the remaining balance and its timing.
- Email state describes Klaq's sending workflow.
None of these states should be presented as proof that a customer opened an invoice.
Document state: what was issued?
A draft is a working document. A finalized document has an assigned number and stored issued details. A void document remains part of the document history but is no longer treated as an active issued invoice for financial totals.
Customer edits do not replace the issued customer or financial details. However, authorized users can change the PDF style and update finalized invoice notes. Classic PDFs use the current workspace brand color. A later download can therefore look different; keep a copy of the PDF you actually sent.
Payment state: what remains outstanding?
Klaq calculates collection states such as unpaid, partial, paid, and overdue from the invoice and its financial records. A partial payment reduces the amount outstanding without requiring you to replace the original invoice.
Review credits and refunds alongside payments. A credit reduces the amount owed; a refund records money returned. A fully credited invoice can have zero outstanding and appear as paid even though the original amount was not collected as cash.
Use the history when the label alone does not answer your question.
Email state: what happened in the sending workflow?
Queueing an invoice email creates a sending request. The configured sending service must process it. Provider acceptance means that service accepted the request.
It does not prove recipient delivery, opening, agreement, or payment. Failed and review states need attention to the sending workflow rather than an assumption about the customer's behavior.
Klaq records views of the invoice link included in customer emails, with a count and first and last view times. This tracks access to that link, not reading the email or its attached PDF. Forwarded links and automated requests can also produce views; they do not identify who read the invoice or prove payment.
Pick the next action from the right state
If the document is still a draft, review and finalize it when ready. If the balance is partial, check the actual payment record and remaining amount. If the email is waiting or failed, inspect the sending request before sending a duplicate.
Keep customer follow-up grounded in the invoice number, dates, and balance you can verify.
Common questions
Does accepted mean delivered?
No. Accepted is a provider processing state in this implementation.
Does paid always mean the entire original total arrived as money?
No. Review the credited amount and payment history, especially when the invoice was adjusted.
Continue with partial payments or a manual invoice follow-up.