Every payment milestone on a project carries a small status badge that tells you where that payment stands — from “still waiting on the client” to “money’s in.” Most of the time it’s self-explanatory, but one status in particular trips people up: Payment Processing. This article walks through each status, what actually triggers it, and clears up the most common point of confusion.

If you haven’t set up your payment schedule yet, start with Setting Up Your Payment Schedule. This article picks up after the schedule exists and invoices start moving.

A milestone moves through a simple lifecycle. You’ll see one of these badges on it:

The single most important thing to know: Payment Processing does not mean the money is in your account. It means a payment is in motion and waiting on a final confirmation. There are two everyday situations that land a milestone here.

1. The client paid online and it’s clearing. When a client pays by bank transfer (ACH) or card through Eano, the funds take a little time to settle. During that window, the milestone sits in Payment Processing — the payment is real and on its way, it just hasn’t fully landed.

2. The client is paying offline (check or Zelle). When a client chooses to pay by check or Zelle, they let you know through Eano that the payment is on the way. The milestone moves to Payment Processing to reflect “this one’s been arranged” — and it stays there until you confirm the money actually arrived. This is the key difference from an online payment: with an offline method, nothing has been charged or transferred through Eano. Processing simply means it’s been recorded and is awaiting your confirmation.

So a milestone in Payment Processing is best read as: “A payment has been recorded here, but it’s not done until it’s confirmed received.”

Getting to Payment Processing happens one of two ways: - The client opens the payment request and pays online, or tells you they’ve sent an offline payment (check or Zelle). - You record a payment against the milestone yourself using Mark as Paid — for example, when a client hands you a check directly or pays in cash. You’ll enter the amount, date, and payment method.

Getting to Complete is the confirmation step: - For an offline payment that’s sitting in Processing, open the milestone and use Mark as received once the funds are actually in hand. That’s what moves it to Complete. - Online payments move to Complete on their own once the funds finish settling.

There’s no separate “mark this milestone done” step beyond the payment itself — recording and confirming the payment is what advances the milestone.

Two situations trip people up more than any status badge does. Both are quick fixes once you know where to look.

You recorded a payment with the wrong details. Say a client told you they’d pay cash, so you recorded it that way — then they handed you a check instead. Or you fat-fingered the amount or the date. You don’t need to delete anything to fix it (and deleting isn’t how you correct a recorded payment anyway — zeroing out the amount just leaves an empty payment sitting there). Instead, edit the entry: find the payment, either on the Payment Milestones tab or on the Finance tab under Income, and click Update. From there you can change the Payment Method (cash, check, Zelle, and so on), the Payment Amount, and the Paid Date. Change whatever’s wrong, save, and the correction takes hold.

While you’re in there, the same panel lets you record a Reference — the check number, Zelle confirmation, or last four digits of the card — and a free-form Payment Memo. Filling those in is what turns “paid by check” into “paid by check 1044,” which is the difference between a record you can reconcile and one you can’t. See Recording Check Numbers and Payment Notes for the full rundown.

A tiny balance won’t clear. Every so often a project shows a stubborn few-cents balance due — like $0.96 — even though you and the client both know it’s paid in full. Almost always this means your payment schedule doesn’t add up to your contract total: the milestone amounts sum to a hair less than the full price, usually a rounding leftover from when the schedule was built in percentages. Eano reports that gap as an outstanding balance. To clear it, true up the milestone that’s short — open it (Payment Milestones tab, or Finance tab > Income > Update on that milestone) and nudge its amount so your milestones add up to the exact total. Once what was billed and what was collected line up, the balance falls to zero.

A common moment of panic: you open a milestone to request payment, and the Confirm & Send Invoice button isn’t there. Nothing is greyed out with an explanation — the button is simply absent, which reads like something is broken.

It almost never is. That button only appears while a milestone is still at Not started — meaning no payment request has gone out yet. The moment you send one, the milestone flips to Payment Required and the milestone view switches to a read-only summary of the request you already sent. The send button disappears because there is nothing left to send.

So before assuming it’s a glitch, look at the status badge on the milestone itself:

This catches people most often on a freshly signed contract, because the first billable milestone can send its payment request automatically right after signing — look for the blue Automatic send enabled badge on it. If that’s switched on, your client already has the first request before you ever open the milestone, and the button was never going to be there. See Setting Up Your Payment Schedule for how that setting works.

If you genuinely need the client to receive the request again — they deleted the email, say — you don’t re-send from the milestone. Share the invoice link with them directly, or nudge them from the project.

I can’t click “Confirm & Send Invoice” — the button is missing or won’t respond. What’s wrong? Check the milestone’s status badge first. If it reads Payment Required, the request has already been sent and the button is intentionally gone — the milestone switches to a read-only view of the request that went out. This is the most common cause by far, and it’s especially easy to miss on a newly signed contract, where the first billable milestone can send its request automatically.

My client got a payment request I don’t remember sending. That’s the automatic first payment request. When a contract is signed, Eano can send the request for the first billable milestone on its own — the milestone will carry a blue Automatic send enabled badge. It’s a per-project setting, so turning it off on one job doesn’t change the next one.

Does “Payment Processing” mean I’ve been paid? Not necessarily. It means a payment has been recorded or started against the milestone but isn’t yet confirmed as received. For online payments it’s the settling window; for offline payments (check or Zelle) it’s a placeholder until you confirm the funds arrived. Wait for Complete before treating it as collected.

A milestone is in Payment Processing but my client says they haven’t paid through Eano. What happened? That’s normal for offline payments. If a check or Zelle payment was arranged — or recorded on the account as expected — the milestone sits in Payment Processing until it’s confirmed received, even though no money moved through Eano itself. If you don’t recognize the entry at all, reach out to us and we’ll take a look with you.

How do I move a milestone from Payment Processing to Complete? Open the milestone and use Mark as received once the payment is actually in hand. Online payments will complete on their own as the funds settle.

What’s the difference between “Payment Required” and “Pending Approval”? Both show on a milestone that hasn’t been paid. Payment Required appears on a milestone with a dollar amount that’s been billed. Pending Approval appears on a milestone you’ve marked as non-payable — it’s a progress checkpoint, not a payment, so there’s nothing to collect.

I recorded a payment with the wrong method or amount. How do I fix it? Edit it — don’t try to delete it and start over. Find the payment on the Payment Milestones tab or under Finance > Income, click Update, and change whatever’s off: Payment Method, Reference, Payment Amount, or Paid Date. Setting the amount to $0 doesn’t correct it (it just leaves an empty payment behind); changing the specific field that’s wrong does.

My project shows a small balance due — a few cents — but everything’s paid. What’s going on? That almost always means your milestone amounts don’t quite add up to the full contract total: a rounding gap of a few cents left over from a percentage-based schedule. Eano reports the difference as outstanding. Open the milestone that’s a little short (Payment Milestones tab, or Finance > Income > Update) and adjust its amount so the schedule sums to the exact total — the balance will clear to zero.

Do these statuses control the client portal? Yes — your client sees the same status on their end, so keeping milestones current (especially confirming offline payments as received) keeps everyone on the same page.