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# Record allocate payment
> Record a customer payment against an invoice, send a receipt, and split a single payment across several of the customer's invoices.
When a customer pays you, you record that payment on the invoice so the balance updates and everyone can see what's been collected. If one payment covers more than one invoice, you can split (allocate) it across those invoices so each one reflects the right amount.
This guide covers recording a payment, sending a receipt, fixing a payment you already entered, and spreading a single payment across several invoices.
Recording a payment is for marking money you've already received (cash, check, card, transfer, and so on). It logs the payment for your records — it doesn't charge the customer's card.
If your workspace syncs payments with QuickBooks, you don't need to record offline payments twice. A check, cash, or bank transfer payment recorded in QuickBooks against a linked invoice comes into Menaia on its own and updates the invoice balance. Card and online payments taken in QuickBooks aren't brought in. See [Payments recorded in QuickBooks](/guides/settings/integrations#payments-recorded-in-quickbooks).
## Before you start
You can record a payment on any invoice that still has a balance owing — a sent invoice, or a **Draft**. Recording a payment on a draft **finalizes** it: the draft moves out of Draft and can no longer be edited or deleted, so you'll be asked to confirm before the payment window opens. Because it can't be undone, Record Payment stays turned off on a draft until you've **saved your changes** and added **at least one line item**; hover the button and it tells you what's missing.
Finalizing a draft this way records the money and takes the invoice out of Draft — it does **not** email the customer or count as sending the invoice. If you want the customer to get a copy, send the invoice as well.
Your branch also needs at least one **payment method** set up (for example Cash, Check, or Card). If none exist yet, the Record Payment button is disabled and the screen will tell you to add one in settings first. See [Set up payment methods](#set-up-payment-methods) below.
## Record a payment
Go to **Invoices** from the main navigation and open the invoice the customer paid. (Need help finding it? See [Browse invoices](/guides/billing/browse-invoices).)
Press the **Record Payment** button at the top of the invoice. You can also open it from the **More options** menu (the three-dots button) on the invoice.
In the **Record Payment** window, enter:
* **Payment Amount** — how much the customer paid.
* **Method** — how they paid (the list comes from your branch's payment methods).
* **Reference #** — an optional check number, transfer ID, or confirmation code.
* **Payment Date** — the day the payment was received (defaults to today).
* **Internal Notes** — an optional note for your team. This stays internal and isn't shown to the customer.
Tick **Send receipt** to email the customer a receipt for this payment. If the customer doesn't have an email on file, a **Recipient Email** box appears so you can type one in. Leave the box unticked to record the payment without sending anything.
Click **Record Payment**. The payment is logged, the invoice balance goes down, and the payment appears in the invoice's **Transaction History**. If you chose to send a receipt, it's emailed to the customer (delivery may take a moment).
When the full balance is paid, the invoice marks itself as paid automatically — you don't need to flip a separate switch. Just record payments until the balance reaches zero.
## See recorded payments
Every payment, credit, and refund for an invoice is listed in the **Transaction History** section on the invoice. Each row shows the **Date**, the **Type** (Payment, Refund, or Credit Note), the **Method** (payments taken online show the card or payment type with a **Stripe** badge), a **Status** badge, the **Credit Reason** for credits, a **View Note** link when there's an internal note, the **Amount**, and the **Invoice** it applies to. Refund and credit amounts are shown as negative. This is your running record of what's been collected and when.
A refund row appears when you record a refund in Menaia, or automatically when an online payment is refunded in Stripe. Refund rows are a record only, with no actions menu of their own. To give money back on a payment, see [Refund a customer](/guides/billing/refund-a-customer).
To take action on a payment or credit, use the **More options** (three-dots) button on that row.
To see payments across every invoice in one place — rather than one invoice at a time — open the **Payments** page from the main navigation. It lists all recorded payments with their client, project, date, status, method, and amount, and each one links back to the invoice it was recorded on. See [the Payments page](/guides/billing/overview#the-payments-page).
## Edit a payment
Made a typo in the amount, picked the wrong method, or need to move a payment to a different date? You can correct a payment after it's recorded.
Editing only applies to payments you recorded manually. A payment taken online is managed by Stripe — its **Edit Payment** and **Delete Payment** options are disabled, and the row's menu explains: "Managed by Stripe — edit & delete are disabled. Refund in your Stripe Dashboard instead," with a link that opens your Stripe Dashboard.
On the invoice, scroll to **Transaction History** and find the payment you want to change.
Click the **More options** (three-dots) button on that row and choose **Edit Payment**.
Change the amount, method, reference, date, or notes, then click **Save Changes**. Balances update to match.
## Delete a payment
If a manually recorded payment was entered by mistake, you can remove it. (Online payments can't be deleted here — refund them from your Stripe Dashboard using the link in the row's menu instead.)
In **Transaction History**, click the **More options** (three-dots) button on the payment and choose **Delete Payment**.
Review the amount in the confirmation window and click **Delete Payment**. The invoice balance goes back up by that amount.
Deleting a payment can't be undone. If the payment was split across more than one invoice, the window warns you which invoices are affected — deleting it reverses the payment on all of them.
## Allocate one payment across several invoices
Sometimes a customer sends a single payment that covers more than one of their invoices — for example, one check that pays two outstanding invoices at once. The invoices don't have to be on the same project: a payment settles the customer's balance, so the list spans every open invoice the customer has in the branch, across all their projects. You can split that payment so each invoice gets the right share. This is called allocating the payment.
You set allocations from the **Edit Payment** window, which shows every open invoice the customer has in the branch that can still take part of the payment. Each row names the project its invoice belongs to, so you can tell them apart.
To split a new payment in one step, start from the project instead. On the project's **Financial Summary** tab, click **Record Payment**, enter the payment, and split it across the customer's open and partially paid invoices before you save. See [Record one payment across the customer's invoices](/guides/billing/project-financial-summary#record-one-payment-across-the-customers-invoices).
Record the payment as usual on one of the invoices, then reopen it from **Transaction History** with **Edit Payment**. (Allocation lives in the Edit Payment window.)
In the Edit Payment window, scroll to the **Allocate to Invoices** section. Each of the customer's invoices is listed with its number, the project it belongs to, its status, and how much it can still take (**Available**).
Type the portion of the payment that should go to each invoice. As you do, the **Remaining** figure at the top of the section counts down so you can see how much of the payment is still unassigned.
Keep entering amounts until **Remaining** reaches zero — the amounts you assign must add up to the full payment amount. Then click **Save Changes**. Each invoice's balance updates by the amount you gave it.
The total you assign across invoices has to match the payment amount exactly. If it doesn't, the window tells you the assigned total and the payment total so you can spot the gap, and it won't let you save until they line up.
You can allocate across all of the customer's open invoices in the branch, not just the ones on this project — each row names its project so you can tell them apart. The amount available on each invoice already accounts for anything this payment was previously assigned to it, so editing existing splits is safe.
## Apply a credit instead
A payment records money received. A **credit** lowers what the customer owes without money changing hands — for example, a goodwill discount or a correction. If that's what you need, use **Add Credit** rather than Record Payment. See [Add a credit](/guides/billing/add-a-credit) for the full walkthrough.
## Set up payment methods
The **Method** list in the Record Payment window comes from your branch's payment methods. If the list is empty, you'll need to add at least one before you can record a payment.
Go to **Settings**, then to the payment methods area for your branch.
Choose **Create Payment Method**, give it a name (such as Cash, Check, or Card), and save. It will then appear in the **Method** dropdown when you record a payment.
Payment methods are set per branch. If you work across branches, each one keeps its own list, so add the methods you need wherever you record payments.
## What's next
Reduce a customer's balance without recording a payment — a discount, goodwill, or correction.
Email the invoice to the customer so they know what's owed and how to pay.
Find any invoice, check its status and balance, and open it to record a payment.
Cancel an invoice that should no longer be collected.