Understand credit note statuses
Every sales credit note has one of three statuses: Draft, Issued or Voided. The status tells you where the credit note is in its life and what you can do with it. Separately, an issued credit note also shows how much of its credit has been used up.
The three statuses
stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> Draft: Create
Draft --> Issued: Issue
Draft --> [*]: Delete
Issued --> Voided: Void
| Status | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. It has no effect on your accounts and is not visible to the customer. | Edit it, delete it, or Issue it. |
| Issued | Finalised and recorded in your accounts (it has reduced your revenue, output VAT and receivables). It has a permanent credit note number and cannot be edited. | Apply it to an invoice, email it, download its PDF, or void it. |
| Voided | Cancelled after being issued. A reversing entry has undone its effect on your accounts, but the record is kept. | View only. |
A few rules follow from this:
- You delete a draft; you void an issued credit note. See Void a credit note.
- Once Issued, a credit note's details and currency are locked. To change it, void it and create a new one.
- A credit note that has been applied to an invoice cannot be voided.
How much of the credit has been used
Applying a credit note does not change its status — it stays Issued. Instead, Sales Scribe tracks how much of the credit has been used and shows this on the credit note and in the list, using the Amount Applied and Balance figures. On the credit note's page you will see one of:
- Not Applied — none of the credit has been used yet; the full amount is available.
- Partially Applied — some of the credit has been applied to one or more invoices; a balance remains.
- Fully Applied — the whole credit has been used and nothing remains.
This is a running indicator, not a separate status: an issued credit note is always Issued, whether it is Not Applied, Partially Applied or Fully Applied. See Apply a credit note to an invoice.