Hi everyone,

I’m trying to set up a contract-to-payment flow and want to avoid duplicating invoices or customers in Zoho Books. 

The flow should be: contract generated from CRM, sent via Zoho Sign, client signs, deposit is paid, and the invoice should be tied to the correct customer in Books.

I’m looking at two options:

Option A: The invoice is created once the contract is signed, and I want the system to automatically send that invoice to the client with the payment link included. Let’s say a field trigger the creation of the invoice, is it possible to automate the invoice /payment link sending process?

Option B: Using Zoho Checkout, with a payment field inside the contract. I understand that Checkout will create an invoice when the Client submits payment and sync it to Books, but does it match the Books client using email or name—or could it create a duplicate customer in Books?

I’m concerned about ending up with duplicate invoices and/or customer records. Has anyone tackled this and found a  solution? Thanks!