Overview
Not every payment comes through the platform. When a customer hands your tech a check or pays cash at the door, you record that payment manually against the invoice so your books match reality.
Manual payments sit in the same Transaction Log as online payments, count toward the invoice balance the same way, and can be edited, deleted, or printed as a receipt.
Available in the Web App and the Mobile App.
When to Use This Feature
A customer wrote a check on completion and your tech brought it back to the office.
You collected cash on a small repair call.
A commercial customer paid by bank transfer directly into your account.
A customer ran a card through a separate terminal and you need the payment reflected on the MotionOps invoice.
You need a record of who on your team actually took the money.
How It Works
A manual payment is a record, not a transaction. MotionOps isn't moving any money - you already did that. You're telling the system what happened so the invoice, the customer's balance, and your reporting all line up.
Manual payments are easy to tell apart from online ones in the Transaction Log. Online payments carry a status of Pending, Paid, or Failed. Manually recorded payments show Manual instead.
The log also tracks two different people on each manual payment:
Collected By - the team member who physically took the money.
The user who created the record - which may be someone else entirely, like the office manager entering a check your tech brought in.
How to Record a Manual Payment
Open the invoice the payment applies to.
Start the Record Manual Transaction flow from the invoice. [confirm: exact button or menu path that opens the Record Manual Transaction window]
Enter the Amount you collected.
Choose the Payment Method - for example cash, check, or bank transfer.
Set Collected By to the team member who took the money. This defaults to you, and you can search for a different team member by first or last name.
Save the payment.
The payment appears in the Transaction Log immediately and the invoice balance updates. If the payment covers the full amount, the invoice moves to Paid.
Reading the Transaction Log
The Transaction Log appears on the internal invoice page whenever at least one payment exists. It's your complete payment history for that invoice.
Each row tells you:
Date - when the payment was recorded, with the time.
Type - whether the entry is a Sale or a Refund.
Payment Method - how the money came in.
Status - Pending, Paid, or Failed for online payments; Manual for recorded ones.
Amount - the value of the payment.
Collected By - who took the money, on manual payments.
Payments your customer made themselves through the invoice payment link are labelled Paid via Public Page rather than naming a team member.
The Transaction Log doesn't appear on the customer-facing invoice page.
Editing or Deleting a Manual Payment
Made a typo, or recorded a check that bounced? You can correct or remove a manual payment.
Find the payment in the Transaction Log.
Open the More Actions menu on that row.
Choose Edit to reopen the Record Manual Transaction window with the existing details filled in, or Delete to remove the payment after confirming.
Editing and deleting are only available on manually recorded payments, and only while the work order is open. Online payments can't be edited — refund them instead. See Refunding a Payment.
Printing a Receipt
Every payment has its own receipt, including manually recorded ones.
Click the reference number on a row in the Transaction Log to open that payment's receipt. From there you can print it or download it as a PDF - handy when a customer wants proof they paid the check.
Seeing All Payments for a Customer
To review every payment across a customer's whole history rather than one invoice, open the account and go to the Transactions tab.
This list covers both manual and online payments. The work order and invoice columns link straight through to those records, so you can jump from a payment to the job it belongs to.
Tips & Best Practices
Always set Collected By accurately. If your office manager enters a check that a tech collected on site, change Collected By to the tech. It's the only field that tells you who actually handled the money.
Record payments the same day where you can. The Date reflects when you recorded it, so same-day entry keeps your aging and cash reports honest.
Pick a specific payment method rather than a generic one. "Check" versus "Cash" makes bank reconciliation far easier at month end.
Delete rather than adjust for a bounced check. Removing the payment restores the balance cleanly and leaves your invoice status correct.
Record it before closing the job. Once the work order closes, you can't edit or delete manual payments without reopening it.
Things to Know
Recording a manual payment doesn't move any money. It's a record of a payment you already collected.
Manual payments show Manual in the Status column instead of Pending, Paid, or Failed.
Editing and deleting are available on manual payments only. Online payments can't be edited or deleted — use a refund.
Once a work order is closed, the actions on its manual payments are disabled. Hover the menu to see the tooltip explaining why. Reopen the work order to make changes.
The Transaction Log is internal only. Customers never see it on their invoice.
Manual payments work alongside partial payments — you can record several instalments by check against one invoice. See Partial Payments on Invoices.
Manual payments can be refunded, and MotionOps records the refund for your books. You return the money yourself.
Troubleshooting
The More Actions menu on a payment is greyed out.
The work order is closed. Hover the menu to confirm — a tooltip explains the restriction. Reopen the work order if you need to edit or delete the payment. See Canceling and Reopening a Work Order.
I can't edit an online payment.
Online payments are never editable — the money has already moved through the processor. Refund it instead, then record the correct payment.
The invoice didn't move to Paid after I recorded the payment.
Check the amount against the invoice total. If the payment was short, the invoice stays open with a remaining balance. Look at Balance Due in the invoice summary.
Collected By shows the wrong person.
Open More Actions on that payment and choose Edit, then change Collected By. This is only possible while the work order is open.
A customer's check bounced after I recorded it.
Delete the manual payment from the Transaction Log. The invoice balance returns to what's actually owed and the status updates accordingly.
Have questions? Reach out via the support chat or email support@motionops.com.