How to Send an Invoice on Shopify: Paid, Unpaid and Bulk Orders

A customer emails you: "Can you send me an invoice for my order?" You open the order in Shopify, look for a Send invoice button and don't find one. That's not you missing something. Shopify only has a built-in invoice email for orders that haven't been paid yet.

So how you send an invoice on Shopify depends on one question: has the customer paid? This guide walks through each case step by step, and shows how to stop answering that email for good by sending a PDF invoice for every order automatically.

The short answer#

Your situation	How to send the invoice	What the customer gets
The customer hasn't paid yet (a quote, B2B order)	Shopify draft order → Send invoice	An email with a link to pay at checkout
The order is paid and you need one invoice	An invoice app, such as Invoicepak: More actions → Send invoice email	An email with the PDF invoice attached
Several paid orders for your records	Select them in Orders → Print	A print run with one invoice per page
Every future order	Turn on automatic invoices in an invoice app	A PDF invoice by email after every order

The rest of this guide covers each one in detail.

1. Send an invoice for an unpaid order (draft orders)#

Use a draft order when you've agreed a sale outside your online checkout, such as a phone order, a custom quote or a wholesale order, and you want the customer to pay online.

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Orders → Drafts.
2. Open an existing draft order, or create a new one with the products and the customer.
3. Make sure the customer has an email address on the draft.
4. In the Payment section, click Send invoice.
5. Write a short message, for example the payment deadline, then review the invoice email and send it.

The customer gets an email with a link to a checkout page with the order already filled in. They enter their details, choose shipping and pay. Once they've paid, the draft becomes a normal order.

2. Send an invoice for a paid order#

This is the case behind most "can I get an invoice?" emails. The customer has already paid through your checkout and now needs a proper invoice, usually a PDF they can save or forward to their accountant.

Shopify doesn't have a button for this. The order confirmation email is the closest thing, but it isn't laid out as an invoice and it isn't a PDF. You have two options.

Option A: Print it with Shopify's Order Printer and email it yourself#

Shopify's free Order Printer app can print an invoice for an order:

1. Install Order Printer from the Shopify App Store if you haven't already.
2. Open the order and click More actions → Print with Order Printer.
3. Choose the invoice document and click Print documents.
4. In your browser's print window, choose Save as PDF.
5. Attach that PDF to an email to your customer.

It works, but every invoice takes five steps and a manual email. Order Printer doesn't email the invoice for you.

Option B: Send it straight from the order with an invoice app#

An invoice app adds the missing button. With Invoicepak, it's one click on the order page:

The customer gets an email with a PDF invoice attached, made with your default invoice template. It carries the order number as the invoice number, and on the Basic plan or higher it can show your logo and your tax or VAT number. This works for orders placed before you installed the app too. See Send an invoice email from an order.

3. Print invoices for many orders at once#

At the end of a month or a quarter, you or your accountant may want invoices for a whole batch of orders. Opening them one by one doesn't scale.

With Invoicepak:

1. In the Shopify admin, go to Orders.
2. Tick the box next to each order you need, up to 50 at a time.
3. Click Print, then Invoicepak.
4. Click Continue to print. Each order's invoice starts on a new page.

Choose Save as PDF in the print window and you get one PDF with all the invoices in it, ready to send to your accountant. Printing doesn't email anyone and doesn't use any of your plan's invoice emails. See Print invoices for several orders.

4. Send an invoice for every order automatically#

The three methods above are all reactive: a customer asks, and you send. The simplest fix is to send the invoice before anyone asks.

With automatic invoices turned on, every new order gets a numbered PDF invoice by email as soon as it comes in, without you opening the order at all:

1. Install Invoicepak and pick a plan. The Free plan includes automatic invoices.
2. Go to Settings → Business details and add your company name. On the Basic plan or higher you can add your logo and, if you're registered, your tax or VAT number too.
3. On the Templates page, pick one of the starter templates and set it as the default. Paid plans can also create custom templates with your own colours and layout.
4. In Settings → Invoice automation, make sure Send invoices automatically is on and click Save.

From then on, every order gets its invoice by email. The quick start guide walks through the full setup, and our guide to automatic PDF invoices on Shopify explains what each setting does.

What to check before you send an invoice#

Whichever method you use, a quick check saves an awkward follow-up email:

• The customer's email address is on the order. Without one, there's nowhere to send the invoice.
• Your business details are right: legal name, address and tax or VAT number. Many tax authorities expect these on an invoice.
• The invoice number is unique and in sequence. Invoicepak uses your Shopify order number, so order #1042 gets invoice #1042 and there are no gaps.
• Tax is shown separately, even when your prices include it. Selling in the UK or EU? Read our VAT invoice checklist.

Frequently asked questions#

Can Shopify send invoices automatically?#

Not as PDFs. Shopify sends an order confirmation email after each order, but not a numbered PDF invoice. To email an invoice for every order automatically, you need an invoice app such as Invoicepak.

How do I send an invoice to a customer who already paid?#

Shopify's Send invoice button is only for unpaid draft orders. For a paid order, either print the invoice with Order Printer, save it as a PDF and email it yourself, or use an invoice app that adds a Send invoice email action to the order page.

Does a Shopify draft order invoice include a PDF?#

No. The draft order invoice is an email with a link to checkout so the customer can pay. If your customer needs a PDF invoice too, send one once they've paid.

Can I resend an invoice on Shopify?#

For a draft order, open it and click Send invoice again. For a paid order with an Invoicepak invoice, click Send invoice email on the order again, or Resend on the Invoicepak Invoices page.

Is there a free way to send invoices on Shopify?#

Yes. Shopify's draft order invoices and Order Printer are both free. Invoicepak's Free plan includes automatic invoices for new orders, with 5 invoice emails a month, and printing invoices never counts towards that limit.

Can I send invoices for several orders at once?#

You can print invoices for up to 50 selected orders at once from the Shopify Orders list. To email them, set up automatic invoices so each order is sent its own invoice as it comes in.

Stop sending invoices by hand#

Answering "can I get an invoice?" one email at a time is fine for a few orders. At scale, it's hours a month. Set up automatic invoices once, and every customer gets a branded, numbered PDF invoice the moment they order, while you print batches for your accountant in a couple of clicks.