Sent Status – Understanding Not Sent, Sent, Viewed, Signed, Paid and Fail

The Sent Status column in HirePOS shows whether a transaction document, such as a Quote, Booking or Invoice, has been sent to a customer, viewed online, electronically signed or paid.

The status helps you track customer interactions and identify documents that still need to be sent.

Important: The Sent Status relates to the current transaction Mode. When you change a transaction from a Quote to a Booking, or from a Booking to an Invoice, the status will generally reset to Not Sent because the new document has not yet been sent.

For example, emailing a Quote does not mean the subsequent Booking Confirmation has also been emailed.

The Sent Status updates automatically as activity is recorded against the transaction.

Sent means the document has been sent or marked as sent in HirePOS.

Viewed means the document has been accessed through its online document link.

A document showing Sent does not necessarily mean the customer has received or read the email. Once the document has been viewed online, the status may change to Viewed.

HirePOS uses the transaction Mode to distinguish between different types of documents, such as Quotes, Bookings and Invoices.

When you change the Mode, HirePOS treats the resulting document as a new document for sending-status purposes.

For example:

• A Quote is a document containing pricing and hire details for the customer to consider.

• A Booking Confirmation confirms the customer's booking arrangements.

• An Invoice is a document issued for payment.

Although these documents may originate from the same transaction record, they serve different purposes.

The Sent Status of an earlier document does not automatically carry forward to the new document Mode.

This allows HirePOS to identify which document has actually been sent to the customer.

1. You create a Quote in HirePOS. The Sent Status displays Not Sent.

2. You email the Quote to the customer. The status changes to Sent.

3. The customer accepts the Quote.

4. You change the transaction Mode from Quote to Booking.

5. The Sent Status now displays Not Sent.

6. You email the Booking Confirmation to the customer.

7. The Sent Status changes to Sent.

Why did the status reset?

The original Quote was sent, but the Booking Confirmation is a different document. HirePOS therefore indicates that the Booking has not yet been sent.

1. You have an existing Booking that was emailed to the customer.

2. The Booking displays Sent.

3. You change the transaction Mode from Booking to Invoice.

4. The Sent Status changes to Not Sent.

5. You email the Invoice to the customer.

6. The Sent Status changes to Sent.

Why did the status reset?

Sending the Booking Confirmation does not mean the customer has received the Invoice. The Invoice needs to be sent separately.

No. A change to Not Sent does not mean an earlier email was unsuccessful, deleted or recalled.

It simply means that the current document Mode has not been recorded as sent.

The Sent Status column is intended to show the current document's status rather than provide a complete history of every document previously sent.

A typical transaction may progress through the following statuses:

Not Sent → Sent → Viewed → Signed → Paid

For example:

1. Not Sent: A new document has been created but not emailed.

2. Sent: The document has been emailed to the customer.

3. Viewed: The customer opens the online document.

4. Signed: The customer electronically signs the document.

5. Paid: The transaction has been fully paid.

Not every transaction passes through every stage.

For example, an Invoice may progress directly from Sent to Paid without being electronically signed. Likewise, an Invoice can be paid without the customer opening the online document.

A transaction may have multiple recorded activities, such as being sent, viewed, signed and paid.

HirePOS displays the highest-priority applicable status.

The priority order is:

1. Paid – The Amount Paid equals the Total Amount.

2. Signed – The document has a recorded Signed viewing status.

3. Viewed – The document has a recorded Viewed status for the current transaction Mode.

4. Fail – A sending failure is recorded.

5. Sent – The document has been sent or marked as sent for the current transaction Mode.

6. Not Sent – No other applicable status is recorded.

If a document has been both sent and viewed, HirePOS displays Viewed, because Viewed takes priority over Sent.

For example, emailing an Invoice again after the customer has already viewed it may leave the status displaying Viewed.

Paid has the highest priority.

When the Amount Paid equals the Total Amount, HirePOS displays Paid, regardless of the previous sending or viewing status.

This means a fully paid Invoice may display Paid even if it has not been emailed.

A zero-value transaction may also display Paid when both its Total Amount and Amount Paid are zero.

Not necessarily.

Changing the Mode resets the Mode-specific sending status, but higher-priority statuses may still apply.

For example:

• If a transaction is fully paid, it may continue to display Paid after changing Mode.

• If its recorded viewing status is Signed, it may continue to display Signed.

• If a sending failure remains recorded, it may display Fail rather than Not Sent.

• If the transaction was manually marked as sent, the status may continue to display Sent.

For ordinary transactions with no higher-priority status, changing from Quote to Booking or Booking to Invoice causes the displayed status to return to Not Sent.

Because the Quote and Booking Confirmation are different documents.

When you change the transaction Mode from Quote to Booking, the previous Quote's Sent status no longer applies to the Booking.

Email the Booking Confirmation to update its status to Sent.

The Booking Confirmation was sent, but the Invoice has not yet been recorded as sent.

Changing the Mode from Booking to Invoice generally resets the Sent Status to Not Sent.

Email the Invoice to the customer to update its sending status.

Yes, normally. The same Mode-specific behaviour applies when changing directly from Quote to Invoice.

The Invoice is treated as a different document and must be sent separately.

Higher-priority statuses, such as Paid or Signed, may still override Not Sent.

The most common explanation is that the transaction Mode has changed.

For example, converting a Quote to a Booking or a Booking to an Invoice causes HirePOS to evaluate the sending status of the new document.

If the new document has not been sent and no other status applies, HirePOS displays Not Sent.

Yes. Where HirePOS provides the option to manually mark a transaction as sent, the Sent Status can display Sent without the document being emailed directly through HirePOS.

This may be useful when a document has been provided to the customer by another method.

No. Sent indicates that HirePOS has recorded the document as sent or manually marked as sent.

It does not guarantee successful delivery to the customer's inbox or confirm that the customer has read the email.

Fail indicates that a sending attempt has failed.

Check the relevant sending or email details before attempting to send the document again.

If the document has a higher-priority status, such as Viewed or Paid, that status may be displayed instead.

HirePOS displays Paid when the Amount Paid equals the Total Amount.

Because Paid has the highest priority, it overrides sending and viewing statuses.

Yes. Viewed has a higher priority than Sent, so sending the same document again does not necessarily change the displayed status back to Sent.

No. Changing the Mode does not automatically email the new document.

For example, changing a Quote to a Booking does not automatically send the Booking Confirmation.

You should send the appropriate document to the customer when required.

• The Sent Status relates to the current transaction Mode.

• A Quote that has been sent does not mean the Booking Confirmation has been sent.

• A Booking that has been sent does not mean the Invoice has been sent.

• Changing the Mode generally resets the displayed status to Not Sent.

• Paid, Signed and other recorded statuses may override the normal Mode-change behaviour.

• Sent does not guarantee that an email has been delivered or read.

• Viewed indicates that the online document has been accessed.

• Paid takes priority over all other statuses.

In summary: HirePOS uses Sent Status to help you track the current document's sending and customer interaction status. When a transaction progresses from Quote to Booking to Invoice, each new document generally needs to be sent separately.

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