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Voiding and Adjusting Invoices in LeanLaw

How to void, undo, and adjust invoices in LeanLaw — including undoing invoices from QuickBooks Online, handling paid invoices, fixing duplicate invoice numbers, and changing invoice dates after QuickBooks Online submission.

Sometimes an invoice needs to be corrected, voided, or adjusted after it has been approved or synced to QuickBooks Online. This guide covers every scenario — from bringing an invoice back to Draft to fixing a date error.

 

Scenario 1: Undo a Draft or Approved Invoice (Before QuickBooks Online)

If an invoice hasn't been submitted to QuickBooks Online yet, undoing it is straightforward:

  1. Open the invoice from the Draft or Approved tab.
  2. Click Undo on the Draft invoice.
    1. If the invoice was in the Approved tab, you'll need to send it back to Drafts first, then Undo.
  3. The invoice is dissolved. All time entries, expenses, and fixed fees return to Ready to Bill status.

💡 Tip: If you only need to adjust one or two line items, use the draft editor to make changes directly — you don't need to undo the entire invoice back to Ready to Bill.

 

Scenario 2: Undo an Invoice Already in QuickBooks (Unpaid)

If the invoice has been submitted to QuickBooks but has not yet been paid:

  1. Find the invoice in the Manage Invoices tab in LeanLaw.
  2. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) next to the invoice and select Back to Drafts.
  3. LeanLaw disconnects the invoice from QuickBooks Online and returns it to Draft status in LeanLaw.
  4. The corresponding QuickBooks Online invoice is removed.
  5. Edit the draft as needed, then re-submit to QuickBooks Online when ready.

⚠️ After re-submitting: When you resubmit an undone invoice to QuickBooks Online, a new QuickBooks Online invoice is created. If invoice numbers are sequential in your QuickBooks Online setup, verify the new invoice number doesn't create a gap or duplicate. See the Duplicate Invoice Numbers section below.

 

Scenario 3: Undo an Invoice That Has Been Paid

If the invoice has already been paid (through trust or a client payment), you must disconnect the payment in QuickBooks Online before LeanLaw can undo the invoice:

  1. In QuickBooks Online, go to Sales → Invoices.
  2. Open the paid invoice. One or more payments will be linked to it.
  3. For each linked payment, click on the payment and remove it from the invoice. If there are multiple payments, repeat for each.
  4. Return to LeanLaw. The invoice now shows as unpaid and can be undone back to Drafts. This may take a few minutes for the systems to communicate and sync.
  5. Once back in Drafts, make your corrections and re-submit to QuickBooks Online.
  6. Reapply the original payment to the corrected invoice in QuickBooks Online to maintain accurate records.

⚠️ Trust payments: If the payment was made from a trust account, the trust disbursement may also need to be reversed. Consult your accountant before reversing trust-funded invoices.

 

Scenario 4: Change an Invoice Date After QuickBooks Online Submission

If you need to change the date on an invoice that's already in QuickBooks (without undoing it):

  1. In LeanLaw's Manage Invoices tab, find the invoice.
  2. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) → Open in QuickBooks.
  3. In QuickBooks Online, change the date on the invoice.
  4. Click the dark Save button. Do NOT click Save and Send — that would re-deliver the invoice to the client.
  5. Return to LeanLaw and refresh. The updated date will reflect.

📋 Note: Changing the invoice date in QuickBooks Online does not change the date LeanLaw used to stage the invoice. Revenue reports in LeanLaw reflect the date set in QuickBooks Online after this change.

 

Scenario 5: Fix a Duplicate Invoice Number Error

The 'Invoice number already in use' error occurs when you try to submit an invoice to QuickBooks Online but that invoice number was already used — typically because the invoice was previously undone and other invoices were submitted in the meantime.

To fix it:

  1. In LeanLaw, go to Manage Invoices and ensure all filters are cleared to show ALL invoices.
  2. Click the Number column header to sort invoices in descending order (highest number first).
  3. Note the highest invoice number currently in your system.
  4. Open the draft invoice with the duplicate number error.
  5. Manually set the invoice number to a value higher than the highest number in your system.
  6. Re-submit to QuickBooks.

📋 Prevention tip: This error happens when invoices are undone and re-submitted out of sequence. Consider a policy of sequential billing runs to minimize gaps that cause number conflicts.