☝🏼 Before you start
Orders that already had documents in Holded before activation keep the previous behaviour for their whole lifetime. The new behaviour applies to orders that come in from now on.
Holded automatically syncs the orders from your WooCommerce store and creates the corresponding accounting documents. You don’t need to create or fix anything manually.
When an order that has already been invoiced changes, we don’t rewrite the invoice. Instead, we issue a new document that includes only what has changed. The total of all documents for an order always matches what that order is worth in WooCommerce at any given time
You can review the previous behaviour in the article WooCommerce: sales and order sync – FAQ.
The two rules behind everything else
The original invoice is never touched. A document that has already been issued and reported to the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) can’t be modified or deleted. Every correction is a new document, linked to the original.
Each document includes only the difference. If you add a product, we issue the added product. If a product is returned, we issue that product as a negative amount. We never reissue the whole order.
Corrective invoice or credit note: in Holded you’ll always see “corrective invoice”
In Holded, every document that corrects an invoice is called a corrective invoice, whether you’re refunding money or the customer is paying more. What changes is the sign of the amount:
Negative corrective invoice: when money goes back to the customer, such as a return or a refund. In accounting, this is usually called a credit note.
Positive corrective invoice: when money comes in because the order’s value goes up. You add a product, a price goes up, or the customer switches to a more expensive product.
We deliberately use the same document type in both cases. This way, all of an order’s documents are linked to each other and to the original invoice, and you can follow the entire order from any of them.
What’s different from before?
Before | Now |
Editing an invoiced order created a corrective invoice for the order total plus a new document with the updated order | A single document is created with the difference |
If the “Approve documents automatically” option wasn’t enabled, documents arrived as drafts and were edited with each change | Invoices and receipts are always issued already approved. That option no longer applies to new orders |
A draft invoice was rewritten with the order’s changes | An issued invoice is never rewritten; every change is a corrective invoice |
What does Holded issue in each case?
This table summarises the behaviour when your store syncs orders as an invoice or sales receipt. The following sections explain each case with an example.
What happens in WooCommerce | What Holded issues | When |
An order changes to Completed | One document with all the order lines, already approved | When the order syncs |
You add a product or raise a price | A corrective invoice with only the difference | When the order is saved |
You remove units or lower a price | A negative corrective invoice for the difference | When the order is saved |
You refund part of the order | A negative corrective invoice for the refunded products | When the refund is recorded |
You refund the entire order | A corrective invoice that brings the order to zero | When the refund is recorded |
The customer exchanges one product for another | A single document with the returned product and the new one | When the order is saved |
You change the order note | It’s updated on the existing document; nothing new is created | Immediately |
You change the shipping status or address | No document | — |
You save the order without real changes | No document | — |
How does Holded detect changes in WooCommerce?
WooCommerce doesn’t send a specific notification when you process a return. Every time you save or refund an order, WooCommerce sends the full order again with its current quantities and amounts. Holded compares it with what has already been issued and creates a document with only the difference.
Products with a SKU are identified by their SKU. If you change the price or quantity of a product, the corrective invoice includes only the difference for that product.
Lines without a SKU (shipping, fees or products without a SKU) are identified by their content. If they change, you’ll see the full old line as a negative amount and the full new line as a positive amount. This prevents totals from going out of balance.
☝🏼 For sync and stock to work correctly, we recommend that all your products have the same SKU in WooCommerce and in Holded.
When is the document for a new order created?
We create a single document (invoice, sales receipt or sales order, depending on your store’s settings) with all the order lines: products, shipping, fees and discounts.
Invoices and sales receipts are issued already approved. They don’t go through a draft stage.
Situation | What happens |
Your store issues invoices or receipts and the order is Completed | The document is created with all lines, already approved and with the payment |
Your store issues invoices or receipts and the order is in another status (On hold, Processing…) | Nothing is created until the order changes to Completed |
Your store issues sales orders | It’s created in any status and updated with every change to the order |
The invoice date is the moment the order was marked as Completed. Numbering, template, warehouse, taxes and accounting account are set according to your store’s settings, as before.
How are payments recorded?
The document is created with the payment already attached. WooCommerce payment methods are mapped to the banks you have in Holded (not to payment methods), so you can reconcile each payment with its bank account.
The original payment is never rewritten. If the order amount goes down after it has been invoiced, the difference is reflected in the corresponding corrective invoice, with its own payment.
If the order was synced as pending payment and later changes to paid, the payment is added to the same document, without creating any new document.
☝🏼 If you edit an order that hasn’t been paid yet in a store that issues invoices or receipts, the correction waits: we don’t issue anything until payment is confirmed. The amount isn’t lost; it builds up. As soon as payment is confirmed, we issue a single document with the full difference accumulated up to that point.
What happens when you edit an order that’s already been invoiced?
We issue a corrective invoice with the difference. The original invoice stays untouched.
If you add a product. Example: an order invoiced for €50.00 to which you add a €30.00 product.
Document | Amount |
Original invoice | €50.00 |
Corrective invoice | €30.00 |
Order value | €80.00 |
If you change a price. Example: a €100.00 invoice where you raise the price to €120.00.
Document | Amount |
Original invoice | €100.00 |
Corrective invoice | €20.00 |
Order value | €120.00 |
If you make several edits in a row. Each edit creates its own document with the change from the previous state. Example: an order that goes from €100 to €80, then to €120 and finally to €90.
Document | Amount |
Original invoice | €100.00 |
Corrective invoice 1 | −€20.00 |
Corrective invoice 2 | €40.00 |
Corrective invoice 3 | −€30.00 |
Order value | €90.00 |
If you only change the order note, we update that field on the existing document. We don’t create any document or touch prices, taxes or totals.
A change to the shipping status or delivery address doesn’t create any document.
If the same order arrives twice with no changes, no second document is issued.
Returns and refunds
Every return results in a negative corrective invoice. The original invoice keeps its full sale amount; the sum of the invoice and its corrective invoices reflects the order’s actual net amount.
☝🏼 For Holded to reflect a return, process the refund from the order itself in WooCommerce, specifying the products and quantities being returned. Holded receives it as an order update with fewer units.
If part of the order is returned. Example: a customer buys a €29.95 T-shirt and €89.90 trainers, with an invoice for €119.85. They return the T-shirt.
Item | Amount |
T-shirt | −€29.95 |
Corrective invoice total | −€29.95 |
The final value of the transaction is €89.90. The corrective invoice applies only to the returned product; shipping and discounts aren’t affected.
If the entire order is returned. Example: you refund an order with a €119.00 jacket and a €24.95 cap.
Item | Amount |
Jacket | −€119.00 |
Cap | −€24.95 |
Corrective invoice total | −€143.95 |
The order is brought to zero. If you cancel an order that hadn’t been invoiced yet, we don’t issue any document.
If there are several returns on the same order. Example: on a €100.00 order, the customer first returns €30.00 and, weeks later, another €20.00.
Document | Amount |
Original invoice | €100.00 |
Corrective invoice 1 | −€30.00 |
Corrective invoice 2 | −€20.00 |
Order value | €50.00 |
If the customer exchanges one product for another. We issue a single document with the returned product and the new one, already netted off. Example: the customer returns a €30.00 item and takes another one for €35.00.
Item | Amount |
Returned item | −€30.00 |
New item | €35.00 |
Document total | €5.00 |
If you sync orders as sales orders
A sales order isn’t a tax document, so it works differently:
It’s created in any order status and updated on the same document with every change. No corrective invoices are created.
Refunds don’t create any document: the sales order already reflects the order’s current state.
If you’ve already converted the sales order into an invoice in Holded, the sync doesn’t touch that converted document.
Taxes
The tax rate for each line is set according to your account and store settings:
Situation | Tax applied |
WooCommerce reports the line’s tax | The equivalent rate in Holded |
WooCommerce reports an equivalence surcharge | The corresponding equivalence surcharge is applied |
The line arrives without tax | The store’s default tax |
The order is in another currency | It’s converted to your account’s currency and the exchange rate used is saved |
The reconciliation adjustment line. When closing each document, we check that the sum of the lines exactly matches the order amount in WooCommerce. If there’s a difference of a few cents due to rounding, we add a visible adjustment line so the document closes at your store’s exact amount. It’s a rounding adjustment, not an actual charge or discount.
When do we not issue any document?
Situation | Reason |
The order isn’t Completed and your store issues invoices or receipts | We wait for the order to be completed |
You edit an invoiced order that hasn’t been paid | We wait for payment confirmation; the amount builds up and isn’t lost |
You refund an order synced as a sales order | The sales order already reflects the current state |
The shipping status or delivery address changes | It doesn’t affect the document’s content |
The order arrives twice or you save it without real changes | There’s no difference to reflect |
You cancel an order that hadn’t been invoiced yet | There’s nothing to correct |
You don’t need to set anything up
The whole process is automatic: there are no documents to create or corrective invoices to issue manually.
Every sale, edit or refund recorded in WooCommerce is reflected in your documents.
Invoices that have already been issued are never modified. Every correction is a new document linked to the original.
The total of all documents for an order always matches what that order is worth in WooCommerce.
A note on scope
This behaviour is enabled per account and applies to all the e-commerce stores integrated with it. You can see how it works in general in the article Ecommerce – How e-commerce document sync with Holded works.