Payment reminders
Spot overdue invoices, send a polite or firm reminder or a formal notice, by email and SMS, or let Novadesko chase automatically.
An invoice is overdue as soon as its due date has passed and a balance remains to be paid. Novadesko flags it in red everywhere and lets you chase the customer at three levels, by hand or automatically according to delays you set.
What you will do
- Identify overdue invoices in the list.
- Send a reminder from the document menu.
- Choose the level and adjust the message.
- Enable automatic reminders if you wish.
Detecting overdue invoices
The rule is simple: due date earlier than today and remaining amount due greater than zero. The document receives the red Overdue badge in the list and on its page, and the DOCUMENTS tile counts overdue documents ("10 Overdue" on the demo account). A paid or cancelled invoice is never overdue.
- The Documents tile counts the overdue invoices.
- Every invoice past its due date carries the Overdue badge.
- The red badge stays while a balance is due.
- Open an overdue invoice to send a reminder.
The due date is calculated on creation from the « Échéance factures (jours) » (invoice due date in days) delay in Settings > Documents. You can change it on each invoice.
Send a manual reminder
The Send reminder entry appears in the Options menu of an overdue, unpaid sales document. It does not apply to purchases. If the document has been paid in the meantime, the menu shows a greyed-out Paid entry instead.
- Open the Options menu of the invoice, in the list or on its page, then Send reminder.
- The Send reminder window recalls the number and the customer, then shows Total amount, Remaining, Due date, Overdue (in days) and « Rappels envoyés » (reminders sent).
- Choose the level tab: « Rappel courtois » (polite reminder), « Rappel ferme » (firm reminder) or « Mise en demeure » (formal notice). The subject and message are filled in with the template of the chosen level.
- Check the Recipient (the customer's email address, not editable here), then adapt the Subject and the Message if necessary.
- If an SMS integration is active, tick « Envoyer aussi un SMS » (also send an SMS); the customer's number is shown and read through the SMS message.
- Click « Envoyer le rappel » (send the reminder). The message "Reminder sent" confirms the operation.
| Level | Recommended use |
|---|---|
| « Rappel courtois » (polite reminder) | First contact after the due date, cordial tone |
| « Rappel ferme » (firm reminder) | Second reminder, request for payment at short notice |
| « Mise en demeure » (formal notice) | Last step before debt collection, legal wording |
With the friendly reminder template, the suggested subject is "Rappel - Facture {number}".
On web.novadesko.com, the Send reminder entry is locked on entry-level plans, with the tooltip "Available from the … plan". See Plans.
- Open the Options menu at the top right of the document.
- The menu gathers the actions available for the status.
- Choose Send reminder.
- The menu closes and the reminder window opens.
- It sums up the amount, the due date, the delay and the reminders already sent.
- Choose the level: Friendly reminder, Firm reminder or Formal notice.
- The subject and the message follow the template of the chosen level.
- Click Send the reminder.
Reminders by SMS
Sending by SMS uses credits. Without credit, the message "Insufficient SMS credits to send this message." blocks the sending; top up your balance. If the customer record has no valid number: "No valid phone number for this customer." If a sending fails, web.novadesko.com offers Resend SMS on the document page.
Automatic reminders
In Settings > Documents, the Payment reminders section ("Automatic chasing of unpaid invoices") groups together:
| Setting | Role |
|---|---|
| Automatic reminders | Send the polite reminders without intervention |
| Automatic formal notice | Generates the formal notice once the polite reminders are exhausted |
| « Notification SMS » (SMS notification) | Doubles each reminder with an SMS |
| « Délai avant 1er rappel (jours) » (delay before 1st reminder, in days) | Days after the due date before the first reminder |
| « Nombre de rappels polis » (number of polite reminders) | Reminders sent before the formal notice |
| « Intervalle entre rappels (jours) » (interval between reminders, in days) | Days between two reminders as long as payment has not been received |
Each change is saved immediately ("Saved"). When the maximum number of reminders is reached without payment and the automatic formal notice is enabled, it is generated and sent to the customer without any action on your part. With automatic reminders disabled, you chase by hand as described above.
Reminders by SMS require an active SMS integration (SMS Factor or SMS Notifications), to be configured on web.novadesko.com.
Track the reminders
On the document page, the Activity card counts the Reminders, and the Email history marks each reminder with a Reminder badge and its status (sent, delivered, opened). The unpaid invoices widget on the dashboard shows the number of reminders per invoice and the date of the last one. See Widgets.