Vendor bills & the cost inbox

A vendor bill is what a vendor charges you — a Bill to pay later, an Expense you already paid, or a Receipt from the field. Each bill is a Record. As you approve it and pay it, its amount flows into the actual cost on your Budget.

Create a vendor bill

From Records, click Create Record (the project's Records tab has the same button).
Pick the Project.
Under the Vendor Finances heading, pick the kind you want — Bill ("Record a bill from a vendor"), Expense, or Receipt.
The bill opens in the builder with a number like VF-0001.

Note

If a vendor sent you an invoice for an accepted vendor order, start from that order and convert it instead — the line items and budget links carry over automatically. See Vendor orders.

The cost inbox: bills without a project

A bill doesn't need a project to exist. A receipt snapped in the field or a bill typed before you know where it belongs sits unassigned until someone codes it — this unassigned pile is your cost inbox. To file one, open it and pick a Project; the bill then joins that project's Records.

Note

There's no camera scan or receipt OCR — bills and receipts are entered by hand (or attached as a file). The cost inbox is the place to triage them, not a scanner.

Code the bill to the budget

"Coding" a bill means saying which budget lines and cost codes it hits.

Confirm the Project, and set the Vendor in the document header.
Add line items with Add line items from budget, so each line keeps its cost code and links to the budget line it spends against.
Set the Due Date chip in the header.
Enter tax if it applies — Subtotal, Tax, and Total calculate for you.

A bill starts as Draft.

Commit the bill

Click Send to email the vendor a payment notice. Sending is the commit moment: the bill flips to Approved and enters your budget's actual-cost roll-up. There's no separate Approve button — a bill can't be committed without a project, a vendor, and at least one cost-coded line, so fill those in first.

Note

Once a bill leaves Draft, its line items lock — the cost is now flowing to the budget. To amend it, remove the payment or void it.

Record payment

Open the bill and click Record Payment in the side panel. (The button appears on any bill that has line items and isn't voided — so a receipt you already paid can be logged straight from Draft.)
Enter the Amount and Payment Date.
Optionally set a Method (Check, Cash, ACH, Zelle, Card, or Other), a Reference such as a check number, and Notes.
Save with Record Payment.

Pay part of the total and the bill shows Partially paid; once payments cover the full amount it becomes Paid. Each payment is what drives the actual cost on the Budget.

Don’t see this?

If you can't create, approve, or pay bills, your role may not include vendor-bill access. Ask your organization owner.