Projects and their statuses
The statuses a project moves through, what you can change at each point, and when one can be deleted.
A project is one piece of work for one account. It holds the invoices you bill, and it can hold an offer: the proposal you send your client.
The offer is optional. A project without one is a simple project, somewhere to keep invoices with nothing sent to your client. You pick which kind when you create it, and you can add an offer later.
The statuses
Status | What it means |
|---|---|
Draft | You’re building the offer. Nothing sent, everything editable. |
Offer Pending | Offer sent, waiting on your client. |
Active | The work is live. With an offer, it means your client accepted. |
Completed | You marked the work finished. Still invoiceable. |
Rejected | Client declined, or you cancelled it. |
Draft, Offer Pending and Rejected all describe an offer on its way to a client, so a simple project never sees them. It starts Active and moves between Active and Completed.
The offer doesn’t have a status of its own. It shows the project’s. “The offer was accepted” and “the project is Active” are the same thing.
Moving between them
Draft → Offer Pending happens when you send the offer. See Building and sending an offer.
Offer Pending → Active or Rejected is your client’s decision, made on the share link you sent them.
Active → Completed is yours to call, and it’s reversible. See Completing and reopening a project.
Back to Draft is possible while an offer is still Offer Pending. Withdrawing it, or invalidating a signed contract, pulls the project back to Draft and invalidates the link your client has. The offer number is released, and sending again assigns a new one.
Adding an offer to a simple project also lands it in Draft. Billow asks first.
Cancelling works on Active or Offer Pending projects and moves them to Rejected. You’ll see “Project cancelled.” A simple project can’t be cancelled, since there’s no offer for anyone to decline. Complete it instead.
What you can still change
Draft projects are fully editable.
Once a client has accepted, the offer is locked. It’s the document they agreed to, so its deliverables and prices are fixed. Invoices carry on as normal.
The account locks on its own schedule, usually earlier. Once the project has an invoice, or its offer has been sent, the account picker greys out and tells you which one applies:
This project has invoices, so its client can no longer change.
This project’s offer has been sent, so its client can no longer change.
A project still in Draft, or one whose offer was rejected, keeps its account editable.
The main contact is never locked. You can always point a project at a different person at the same account.
Deleting a project
Only admins can, and never once the project has a live invoice.
Invoices you’ve deleted don’t count. They stay in your trash and come off the project, so a project whose invoices have all been deleted can still go.
With an offer, the status has to be Draft, Offer Pending or Rejected as well. An accepted offer is a commitment, so Active and Completed projects stay put. A simple project never made that commitment, so it deletes at any status.
Otherwise you’ll see:
Projects with invoices cannot be deleted.
Active or completed projects cannot be deleted.
Once money is involved, the record stays.
Project limits
Your plan caps how many projects can be open at once. Draft, Offer Pending and Active all count, simple projects included. Rejected and Completed ones don’t.
At the cap you’ll see:
You’ve reached your plan’s limit of x active projects.
To free a slot, complete a project that’s finished, cancel one you’re no longer pursuing, or move up a plan. See Plans and limits.
