Start with the thing most likely to be misread, because assuming otherwise would cost you real money.
The upside of that constraint is straightforward. There's no commission, no processing cut, and no platform sitting between you and your client's bank. What you agreed is what you're paid, because Acumin was never in the transaction.
Two kinds of invoice
Booking invoices attach to a Delivery Room. The brand is the party, and moving the invoice from draft to sent emails them a print link.
Standalone invoices have no booking and no brand party. They're for off-platform clients: the work you found yourself, the retainer, the job that never touched the network. You type the client details, and the status moves manually because there's no other party in the system to move it.
That second one matters more than it sounds. It means Acumin can be where all your invoicing lives, not just the portion that came through the network. Most freelancers' invoicing is scattered across a spreadsheet, a template and three email folders.
Numbering is handled for you
Invoice numbers are minted server-side, per creator, per year: ACU-2026-0007.
Sequential numbering is one of those unglamorous things that's genuinely important: most tax authorities expect it, gaps and duplicates cause questions, and hand-numbering reliably produces both eventually.
You don't manage it. It's assigned when the invoice is created.
Only drafts are editable
An invoice is editable while it's a draft. Once sent, it's fixed.
That's not friction for its own sake. An invoice that can be silently edited after it's been sent is not a record, and the whole point of a numbered invoice is that both parties are looking at the same document.
Get it right in draft. Check the line items, the currency, the client details and the terms before you send.
The share link, and how to close it
A standalone invoice can carry a revocable share token, which powers a public page at /i/<token>.
Two things about that:
The token is the capability. Anyone with the link can view the invoice. That's what makes it work without your client needing an account. Same doctrine as public pitch and referral links.
It's revocable. If a link ends up somewhere it shouldn't, revoke it. That's the control, and it's worth knowing exists before you need it.
What to put on it
Acumin handles the numbering and the format. The content is yours, and four things earn their place:
Line items that match the quote. If you quoted production and usage as separate lines (as pricing usage rights argues you should), invoice them the same way. An invoice that collapses an itemised quote into one number invites the question you'd already answered.
Payment terms, from the first invoice. A payment period and a late fee. You can choose not to enforce a late fee; you can't invoke one that was never stated. This is the single most useful thing on the document when a client goes quiet.
What it covers. Deliverables and usage granted, briefly. The person paying is frequently not the person who read the agreement.
Your details for actually paying you. Bank details, tax number, whatever your jurisdiction needs. Acumin isn't moving the money, so this is how it moves.
Chasing
Because Acumin records rather than processes, chasing is yours. The ladder from when a client goes quiet applies: a reminder at due date, a second at seven days restating the terms, a third naming the next step.
What the record gives you is the thing that actually resolves late payment: an unambiguous account of what was delivered, when, against which invoice number. Most late payment clears the moment it reaches someone in finance, and what they need is a clean record rather than a persuasive email.
Where it sits
My invoices holds all of them, room and standalone. Room invoices are also visible from the booking itself.
One asymmetry worth knowing: on the brand's side of a Delivery Room, only sent and paid invoices are counted. Your drafts are yours until you send them.
How to use this tomorrow
Create a standalone invoice for your next off-platform job, even if you already have a template you like.
You'll get sequential numbering, a fixed record once sent, and a link you can revoke. Your invoicing stops living in three places.
Related: Delivering through a Delivery Room is the step before. When a client goes quiet is what to do when the invoice isn't answered.