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 | Your client declined the offer. |
Cancelled | You dropped the work yourself. |
Rejected and Cancelled both close a project short of completing it. Rejected only ever comes from your client declining on the share link. Cancelled is your own call.
Draft, Offer Pending and Rejected only apply to a project with an offer. A simple project starts Active and moves between Active, Completed and Cancelled.
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.
Transitions
Transition | What causes it |
|---|---|
Draft → Offer Pending | You send the offer |
Offer Pending → Active | Your client accepts on the share link |
Offer Pending → Rejected | Your client declines on the share link |
Active → Completed | |
Active or Offer Pending → Cancelled | You cancel the project |
Offer Pending or Rejected → Draft | You withdraw the offer, or invalidate a signed contract |
Completed or Cancelled → previous status | You reopen the project |
Withdrawing to Draft 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
Cancel Project sits at the bottom of the project page and works on Active and Offer Pending projects, simple ones included. You’ll see “Project cancelled.”
Cancelling keeps the offer number, the share link, and both signatures. Your client’s view of the offer turns into a receipt.
A cancelled project is frozen. Editing it is refused with “Cancelled projects cannot be edited. Reopen the project first.” Reopening puts it back where it was: Active for a simple project or one whose client had already accepted, Offer Pending for an offer still out with a client. Like completing, reopening needs a free plan slot.
What stays editable
Draft projects are fully editable.
Offer Date and Offer Valid Until can only be changed while the offer is Draft. Once the offer is sent, the essentials step shows them greyed out.
Once a client has accepted, the offer is locked: its deliverables and prices are fixed. Invoices carry on as normal.
A saved edit that changes something lands in the project’s activity feed as Updated, with who did it and when.
The account locks 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.
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, Rejected or Cancelled as well. Active and Completed projects stay put, and so does a project you cancelled after your client had already accepted. A simple project deletes at any status.
Otherwise you’ll see:
Projects with invoices cannot be deleted.
Active or completed projects cannot be deleted.
This project has a client-accepted offer and cannot be deleted.
Project limits
Your plan caps how many projects can be open at once. Draft, Offer Pending and Active all count, simple projects included. Rejected, Cancelled 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 not pursuing, or move up a plan. See Plans and limits.
