Recover a saved invoice without creating a duplicate
Find and reopen a saved draft after leaving the editor or seeing an error, then finish the same invoice safely without billing the work twice.
- Updated
- Content owner
- Customer education team
- For
- Freelancers · Small business owners · People returning to an unfinished invoice
At a glance
Look for the original saved invoice before starting again, reopen that record and finish it; a later PDF or send error does not necessarily mean the invoice was never saved.
Before you begin
- The client and billing period you were working on
- Any invoice number, saved link or error message you kept
What you will achieve
- The original saved invoice located and completed
- No duplicate invoice for the same work
On this page
You started an invoice, saved it, then navigated away. Or an error appeared and you are unsure what happened. Before choosing Nouvelle facture, look for the original record. An invoice may have been saved even if a later PDF or delivery step failed.
This guide covers recovery of saved customer invoices. The Peppol section applies to OrdoGrid's supported outbound flow for Belgian suppliers. Text that was never saved is a different case: do not assume that reopening the browser will restore it.
Gather enough information to identify it
Keep the client name, billing period, approximate creation time and any invoice number or saved link. If an error appeared, retain its wording. You do not need to understand an internal error code to tell support what happened.
Check that you are viewing the correct company in OrdoGrid. A consultant working with several company records can easily search the wrong company's invoice list.
For example, you prepared September consulting for Client A, eight agreed days at €600, then left after saving. Your first task is to find that September record, not to prepare another eight-day invoice.
Find the original in Factures
Open Factures and look for the invoice using its number or client. Review the date, description, period and total to confirm that it is the document you were preparing. Similar totals are not enough; two months may have the same agreed fee.
Open its details or choose the pencil action, labelled Edit in English. Check whether it is still an editable draft, already issued, or associated with a delivery attempt or payment.
If there is more than one possible record, compare them before sending anything. Keep the numbers and ask for help if you cannot tell which one is valid. Do not delete an issued or paid record merely because it looks like a duplicate.
Finish the same editable draft
When the original draft is still editable and has not been issued:
- Open that saved invoice rather than the new-invoice screen.
- Check the selected client and required purchase reference.
- Review dates, currency, descriptions, quantities, prices and the VAT treatment confirmed for the transaction.
- Use Aperçu du PDF and check the result.
- Choose Save. If saving returns you to the list, reopen the same invoice and verify the changes.
Keep the existing number. Do not renumber the invoice to get past a problem or edit an older month's issued invoice to represent the missing draft.
Check attachments and any agreed work evidence before sending. A saved invoice does not prove that every last change or pending upload completed. Verify the actual record rather than relying on what you remember typing.
When saving appeared to fail
Saving the invoice and generating its PDF are separate steps. A message can therefore report a later failure while the invoice already exists. OrdoGrid keeps the saved identity when it knows a record was created, so a retry in that editor can continue with that record.
If you left or reloaded the page, find and reopen the saved invoice first. If its PDF is unavailable, keep its identity and ask support to resolve that problem; do not create a second invoice just to obtain a PDF.
The same caution applies after converting a quote or invoicing tracked time. Look for the destination invoice before repeating the action. Work already linked to a saved invoice must not be billed again because a later step failed.
If you find no record and cannot establish whether creation completed, give support the company, client, approximate time and error. Resume creation only once you know there is no saved invoice for that work.
Check delivery before pressing Send again
A saved invoice, an email send and a Peppol transmission are different events. For a Belgian Peppol invoice, open Peppol → Outbox, then use Actualiser or Vérifier to read the result.
If it is pending or uncertain, ask support before retrying. Do not create a replacement invoice or send through another channel to work around an unknown result. A failed PDF preview is also not proof that the customer never received anything.
Retry only a confirmed transmission rejection, using the same unchanged original when the app allows it. Do not overwrite an issued invoice's original amounts or VAT. Ask your accountant how to make a correction linked to that invoice if its content needs changing. A transport failure alone does not require a credit note.
Confirm that recovery is complete
Reopen the final record and check its number, client, period, totals and files. If you sent it, verify the delivery outcome separately. If the customer paid, record only the confirmed receipt in Settlement.
You should have one identifiable invoice for the work, with its saved details and any delivery or payment history. Keep that number for future questions and follow payment follow-up or accountant handover as needed.