# Invoices and numbering - Folioline 1.x documentation

> When Folioline issues an invoice, how to issue one by hand or in bulk, how numbers run without gaps, and why an issued invoice never changes.

## When an order gets its invoice

Folioline issues an order's invoice when the order first reaches one of the statuses ticked under **WooCommerce → Folioline → Documents → Issue invoices at**: Processing and Completed to start with. An order note says "Invoice INV-2026-00001 issued.", and the invoice shows in the **Documents** box on the order screen.

- An order gets one invoice. Reaching another invoice status later, or the same one again, doesn't issue a second.
- Orders with a total of zero get none while **Free orders** is ticked.
- An order **On hold** or **Pending payment** gets its invoice once it's marked Processing, unless you tick those statuses too. Tick **On hold** if you want invoices for bank transfer orders before the money arrives: the invoice then shows a due date (see **Payment terms** in [Settings](settings)) and your bank details.

> [!TIP]
> Folioline also issues the invoice the moment one of the emails under **Attach invoices to** is sent for an order at an invoice status, so the invoice is never missing from that email.

## Issue an invoice by hand

On the order screen, the **Documents** box shows "No invoice yet." and an **Issue invoice** button. Click it: the invoice is issued at once, whatever the order's status or total, and you're back on the order with a notice.

## Issue invoices in bulk

1. Go to **WooCommerce → Orders**.
2. Tick the orders.
3. Choose **Issue invoices** from **Bulk actions** and click **Apply**.

The notice says how many invoices were issued, and how many orders already had one. The **Invoice** column shows each order's invoice number, linked to its PDF.

Developers can do the same with `wp folioline issue <order ID>` (see [Hooks](hooks)).

## How numbers work

Each document type has its own series: invoices `INV-2026-00001`, `INV-2026-00002`…, credit notes `CN-2026-00001`…. A number is taken only once its document is saved, one document at a time, so there are no gaps and no repeats, even when two orders are paid in the same second.

You set the format under **WooCommerce → Folioline → Numbering**:

- `{number}`: the next number in the series, padded with zeros to **Digits**. It must be in the format.
- `{year}` and `{month}`: the issue date's year (`2026`) and month (`04`).
- Anything else is printed as you type it: `RE-{year}/{number}`, `{year}{month}-{number}`.

With **Yearly reset** on, each year starts again at 1. Keep `{year}` in the format then, so `INV-2026-00001` and `INV-2027-00001` are different numbers.

**First invoice number** and **First credit note number** set where a series starts. To carry on from another tool, set it to the number after your last invoice there. With **Yearly reset** on, that number counts for the current year only, and the next year starts at 1 by itself. Switching **Yearly reset** on or off once documents exist never repeats a number: a number already printed on another document is skipped, and the series carries on after it. You can raise it later, but the numbers in between are skipped for good, and a series never goes back down.

> [!NOTE]
> Changing the format changes the numbers of documents issued from then on; documents you already have keep theirs. Change it at the start of a year if you can.

## An issued invoice never changes

When an invoice gets its number, Folioline keeps a frozen copy of everything it says: your company details and logo, the customer's address and VAT number, every line, the VAT per rate and the totals. Its PDF and e-invoice files are made from that copy.

So editing the order, changing a product's name or price, or changing your settings afterwards never changes an invoice that exists. Invoices can't be edited or deleted in Folioline.

To correct an invoice, refund the order, or the part that was wrong, in WooCommerce: Folioline issues a credit note for the refund. See [Credit notes](credit-notes).

## What an invoice shows

- Your logo, company name, store address, VAT ID, tax number, email and phone, from **Seller** settings.
- The customer's billing address, company and VAT number, and the shipping address when there is one.
- The invoice number, date, order number, delivery date, and how and when the order was paid, or the due date and your bank details when it isn't paid yet.
- Every product, shipping and fee line with its quantity, unit price, net amount and VAT rate, then the VAT per rate and the totals.
- For a business customer in another EU country: "Reverse charge" and the legal wording, the VIES consultation number, and VAT at 0%. Exports and intra-EU deliveries of goods get their own wording too. Goods sent outside the EU without VAT are an export wherever the customer is billed: Folioline goes by the shipping address (your store's country for local pickup, the billing address when there's no shipping address). Services without VAT go by the customer's billing country.
- Your footer text, and page numbers.

The invoice is in the language your site was showing when it was issued.

![An invoice for a business customer in another EU country](https://storage.extendiment.com/media/838/screenshot-2.png)

## Where to find invoices

- On the order screen, in the **Documents** box, with links to the PDF and an e-invoice file.
- On **WooCommerce → Orders**, in the **Invoice** column.
- On **WooCommerce → Invoices**, with every invoice and credit note: filter by **Type** and issue dates (**Filter**), search by document number, order number or VAT number, and sort by number, date or total.

![WooCommerce → Invoices](https://storage.extendiment.com/media/839/screenshot-1.png)

### Download several at once

1. On **WooCommerce → Invoices**, filter the list, for example to last month.
2. Tick the documents, or the box in the header row for the whole page.
3. Choose what goes in the ZIP: **PDF**, an e-invoice format on its own, or **PDF and** an e-invoice format.
4. Choose **Download as ZIP** from **Bulk actions** and click **Apply**.

If a file can't be made for a document, the ZIP has an `errors.txt` saying why. Raise **Number of items per page** under **Screen Options** to select more at once.

Source: https://extendiment.com/plugins/folioline/docs/1.x/invoices-and-numbering