Editing and Voiding a Bill
Correcting a posted purchase document — what Update really does, when it is offered, and how a void behaves.
A saved bill has already posted a journal. Trabalance therefore never edits one in place — correcting a posted purchase document means voiding the original and issuing a replacement, in a single confirmed action. This page covers that action, the states that block it, and how voids and restores behave.
Update = Void + Replace
More → Update on a saved bill does three things in order:
A dialog states plainly that the original will be voided and a replacement created. Nothing happens until you choose Continue to update.
Its journal is retired. The document keeps its number and remains in the audit trail with the status Voided.
You are taken to the form, pre-filled from the original. Saving issues a new document number and posts a fresh journal.
Saving a corrected bill as a new document while the wrong one is still live posts the cost twice and doubles the payable. Always correct through Update — it is the only path that retires the original journal at the same time as it posts the new one.
When Update Is Offered
Update appears only when the document is in an editable state and you hold update permission.
| Status | Editable? |
|---|---|
| Draft | Yes — a draft has posted nothing, so it is edited in place rather than replaced. |
| Unpaid | Yes. |
| Partly paid | Yes. |
| Open | Yes — purchase orders and goods received notes. |
| Partly fulfilled | Yes — purchase orders. |
| Unmatched | Yes — payment vouchers. |
| Paid | No. Settle first, correct second: void the payment, then update the bill. |
| Matched / Fulfilled | No. The document is closed by what was created from it. |
| Voided | No — but it can be restored. |
A document returned by an approver is editable regardless of status, so the change the approver asked for can be made.
Four Things That Block It
| Blocker | What you see | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Awaiting approval | Update, Convert and Void are all withheld while approval is pending or in progress. | Wait for the decision, or ask the approver to return the document. |
| The document is voided | Update is replaced by Restore. | Restore it, then update. |
| A payment or receipt created from a bank feed | A disabled Update button, so you can see why rather than seeing nothing. | Void it and record a new one. The ledger is authoritative for bank-fed documents and re-posting would drift from the original statement line. |
| You hold read-only permission, or the Portal role | No Update in the More menu. | Ask an administrator. |
Voiding
More → Void Document retires the bill and its journal together. The cost is reversed, the payable is removed, and the document stays in the audit trail reading Voided.
| What voiding a bill does | What it does not do |
|---|---|
| Retires the journal — cost, tax and payable all reverse. | Does not void the payments made against it. Those are separate documents with their own journals. |
| Leaves the number permanently consumed. | Does not delete anything. Nothing is removed from the audit trail. |
| Can be undone — More → Restore. | Does not restore a period that has since been closed. Voiding inside a closed period is blocked. |
A bill with payments against it should be unwound in the order it was built: void the payment vouchers first, then void the bill. Voiding the bill alone leaves vouchers pointing at a retired document.
Restoring
A voided purchase document can be brought back with More → Restore. You confirm, the document returns to its previous status, and its journal is posted again. Use this when a void was a mistake — not as a way to reopen a document that was correctly closed.
Related
- The form you are returned to: Creating a bill.
- Clearing a balance you will never pay, without voiding: Writing off a bill.
- Unwinding the settlement first: Voiding a payment.
- The full detail page and its actions: Bills.