What your customer sees
When you email an invoice or a quote, your customer gets more than a PDF attachment — they get a link to an online page branded with your logo and colours. This article explains what that page looks like and what your customer can do there.
An emailed invoice
The email includes your invoice as a PDF attachment and a link to view it online. Opening the link shows a branded page (your logo and brand colours) with:
- Your organisation and the customer's billing details.
- The invoice number, invoice date, due date, and amount due.
- The line items, subtotal, any discount, tax, total, amount paid, and amount due.
- Any notes and terms you added.
- A status badge — worded for the customer as Awaiting Payment, Partially Paid, Overdue, Paid, or No Longer Payable.
- A Download PDF button.
Your customer does not need a Sales Scribe account or a password to view it.
[Screenshot required: Online invoice view showing the branded header, details, status badge and Download PDF button]
Note: Paying the invoice online by card is not available in this version. The page lets your customer view and download the invoice; they then pay using the bank details or payment instructions shown on it. See Online payment availability.
An emailed quote or estimate
A quote or estimate email includes the PDF and a link to a similar branded page, where your customer can:
- View the full quote and Download PDF.
- Accept it — they enter their name (required) and an optional note.
- Decline it — they can add an optional reason.
They can respond while the quote is still open (the page shows Awaiting Response). After they respond, the page updates to Accepted or Declined and shows a short confirmation — for an accepted quote, that you will be in touch with next steps. If the quote's valid-until date has passed, the page shows Expired and invites them to contact you for an updated version.
Other states your customer might see: Invoiced (you have turned the quote into an invoice), Superseded (you issued a newer version — they should use the most recent link), or Withdrawn.
An emailed proforma invoice
A proforma invoice is emailed as a PDF attachment, together with your payment instructions in the email itself. Unlike a quote or estimate, a proforma has no online accept-or-decline page — it is a request for payment up front, so your customer simply pays using the instructions you provide.
Link expiry
- Invoice view links are valid for a limited time — 30 days by default. (An organisation can set links never to expire.) After that, the link shows a Link Expired page asking the customer to contact you for a new one.
- Quote and estimate response links stay valid until the end of the quote's valid-until date. They also stop working if you supersede, convert, or cancel the quote.
If a customer reaches an expired or cancelled link, the page simply tells them to get in touch with you — no sensitive detail is shown.