Choose Which Billing Emails Clients Receive
Set automatic invoice, receipt, and payment-problem emails, and understand how client portal preferences take precedence.
Open Settings → Billing → Client billing notifications to choose which billing emails your practice sends automatically. Creating an invoice, collecting payment, and emailing a document are separate actions. You can keep bills and receipts available in the portal without emailing them automatically.
A client’s email preferences take precedence. Enabling an email at the practice level does not override a client’s decision to receive fewer emails or use the portal only.
Set your practice’s automatic emails
Choose each option separately in Client billing notifications, then save your billing settings.
| Practice setting | What it controls | Default for a new practice |
|---|---|---|
| Email invoices automatically | Routine invoice emails generated by the billing schedule. AutoPay payment requests are an exception when no usable saved payment method is available | Off |
| Email payment receipts and confirmations automatically | Successful payment receipts, refund confirmations, and notices that a bank transfer has started processing | On |
| Email payment problems, including failed payments and returned bank transfers | Payment-problem alerts, including failed refunds | On |
| Send late payment reminders automatically | A reminder for an eligible unpaid invoice that has already been sent and is past due | Off |
Existing practices keep their existing sending behavior. Review the saved settings rather than assuming these new-practice defaults apply to you.
Turning off invoice emails does not stop scheduled invoice creation or authorized automatic payments. Turning off receipts does not stop payment collection. Payment-problem alerts remain separate, so you can stop routine invoice and receipt emails while still notifying clients when a payment needs attention.
AutoPay exception for a missing or unusable payment method
If a case uses automatic payment and the billing contact has no usable saved payment method, PracticeRunner sends an invoice payment request even when Email invoices automatically is off. The billing contact can open the invoice link to pay or manage their payment method. The invoice remains unpaid until payment is collected.
This exception applies only to automatic-payment schedules. It does not turn on routine invoice emails for manual billing or schedules that create invoices for clients to pay themselves. It uses the existing invoice notification, so there is no separate setting to enable.
The recipient’s Billing emails preference and Portal only choice still apply. The exception does not override an email opt-out. Separate failed-payment and recovery alerts continue to follow the payment-problem settings.
These controls do not replace separate settings for automatic superbills. Client billing-email preferences also apply to superbill emails.
What clients can choose in the portal
Clients open Preferences → Email preferences in their practice’s portal, make their selections, and choose Save preferences.
| Client control | Effect |
|---|---|
| Portal only | Stops emails about messages, bills, receipts, forms, and payment problems. The client checks the portal instead. |
| Email me when I receive a secure message | Controls email notifications about secure messages. Turning this off alone does not turn off billing emails. |
| Billing emails | Controls invoices, statements, superbills, receipts, balance reminders, payment links, refund confirmations, and bank-transfer processing notices. |
| Forms and signing requests | Controls form and signing-request emails separately from billing. |
| Payment problems | Controls failed-payment and returned-bank-transfer alerts separately from routine billing emails. |
Portal only takes precedence over the individual categories. The category controls are disabled while it is selected. Turning it off restores the individual category choices; clients should review those choices before saving.
These preferences do not change appointment reminders or sign-in and account-security emails. They also do not cancel a bill, payment, form, or request.
Email preferences apply to the selected client account within the practice. Someone managing more than one portal account should check which account is selected before saving. The email-preference controls require full portal access with messaging permission; a payment-only link does not provide the full Preferences page.
How the practice and client choices combine
For an automatic billing email to be sent, the practice must enable that type of email (or the AutoPay exception above must apply), the client must allow its category, and Portal only must be off. Usual delivery requirements, such as a usable email address, still apply.
| Example | Result |
|---|---|
| Practice invoice emails off; client billing emails on; no AutoPay exception applies | Scheduled invoices are created and made available in the portal without automatic invoice emails. |
| Practice invoice emails off; case uses AutoPay; no usable saved payment method; recipient allows billing emails | An invoice payment request is sent so the billing contact can pay or manage their payment method. |
| Practice receipt emails on; client billing emails off | Payment can complete, but the client does not receive a receipt email. |
| Practice invoice and receipt emails off; both practice and client allow payment-problem emails | Routine emails stop; payment-problem alerts can still be emailed. |
| Practice enables all automatic billing emails; client selects Portal only | No billing or payment-problem emails are sent to that client. |
| Client turns off secure-message notifications but leaves billing emails on | Secure-message notification emails stop; permitted billing emails can still be sent. |
If a representative or another billing contact receives a document, their own email preferences apply to the email addressed to them. Portal access remains governed by their existing permissions.
Manual actions and staff-collected payments
Create invoice does not mean email invoice. Review a manually created draft before issuing it. Draft invoices are not made public just because a practice allows billing emails.
When staff deliberately choose to send an invoice, the practice’s automatic-invoice setting does not prevent that action. The recipient’s opt-out still applies. Choosing a manual send or changing a message’s delivery method cannot override Portal only or the applicable email-category preference.
A successful online payment follows the receipt settings even when a therapist clicks the payment button. Recording an earlier payment, such as a check already received, does not automatically email a receipt. Recording an outside payment also does not collect money through PracticeRunner.
Bills and receipts remain available
Turning off emails does not remove the practice’s billing history. Issued bills and payment documents remain available through the client’s existing portal billing access. Clients who select Portal only are choosing to check there rather than rely on email notices.
An invoice describes charges and any balance still owed. A receipt confirms a payment. A bank-transfer processing notice does not confirm that the payment has settled.
Current reminder limit: automatic late-payment reminders require a previously sent invoice. A scheduled bill published only in the portal because invoice emails were disabled does not qualify, even if automatic reminders are enabled. Imported invoices are also excluded.
These settings control emails sent by PracticeRunner. They do not change any separate receipt-email configuration in Stripe.