Sending documents to customers on WhatsApp
Send any invoice, receipt or voucher to the party on it from your own WhatsApp, with a secure link they can open, download and print without an account.
Open any document you have saved and choose Send. Kaalchakra prepares a secure link to that document and opens WhatsApp on your own phone or computer, already addressed to the party on it, with a short message ready to go. You read it, you press send — the message comes from your own number, in your own WhatsApp.
What the customer receives
A link. Opening it shows them the document on a page carrying your business name — no account, no sign-up, no app to install. They can download it as a PDF or print it straight from that page.
The link stops working on its own
Every link expires after 90 days. You can also switch one off at any time from the same Send window, and it stops working immediately — even for someone who already has it.
Which documents you can send
- Sales side — invoices, estimates and sale orders, to the customer.
- Purchase side — purchase bills, purchase estimates and purchase orders, to the supplier.
- Vouchers — receipts, payments, journals, and credit and debit notes, to the party they concern.
Sending the same document twice is fine. Each Send makes a fresh link, and the earlier one keeps working until it expires or you switch it off.
Where to find Send
- Straight after saving — the print preview that opens after you save carries a Send button.
- From a register — open Print / PDF on any row and send from there.
- Vouchers — on Transactions → Vouchers → Manage, tick one voucher and choose Send.
If the party has no mobile number saved
WhatsApp needs a mobile number, so the Send window tells you plainly when a party has none saved, or has a landline rather than a mobile. Add a mobile number on their account under Masters → Account and it will be ready next time. You can always Copy link instead and send it however suits you — email, SMS, or anything else.
On a journal or a note, the Send window lists every account the entry touches, and some of those are your own ledger heads rather than a customer or supplier — a tax head, for instance, or an expense account. Those are shown but cannot be sent a link, and the window says so, because a link is meant for the person on the other side of the transaction.
Recording that a customer agreed
On a party's account under Masters → Account you can record their answer to a simple question: may you send their bills and receipts to that number on WhatsApp? The question is shown on screen so you can read it out as it stands, and the answer is saved against that account the moment you choose it — you do not need to press Save.
- They agreed — they said yes to that question.
- They said no — they were asked and declined.
- Not asked yet — nobody has put the question to them. This is not the same as a no, which is why it is kept separate.
It is their answer, not your setting, and it belongs to your business alone — a customer you also deal with under another firm is asked separately there. Change it whenever they tell you something different. It is a record of what they said; it does not stop you sending someone a link yourself from the Send window.
Two different questions on the same form
Permission to message on WhatsApp is the customer's answer. Send WhatsApp Updates is your own choice about whether to send that party their documents. They sit next to each other because they are easily confused, and they are not the same thing.
While adding a new account, WhatsApp Permission offers the same three answers, and the question appears beside it so you can read it out as you take their number. Leave it on Not asked yet if you have not put the question to them — nothing is recorded for that, and it is not a no.
Confirming permission for all your customers at once
If your customers have already agreed to get their documents on WhatsApp, you can record that once instead of on each customer's account. Under Administration → Setup → WhatsApp there is a Customer permission box: tick it to confirm that you have your customers' permission to send them their own bills on WhatsApp. The exact sentence you tick is kept with the date, and this page shows when it was confirmed or turned off.
- While it is ticked, a customer who was not asked one by one can be sent their invoices, estimates and sale orders automatically from your connected number.
- It covers nothing else: receipts, payments, journals, contra entries and purchase orders still need that party's own yes on their account.
- A customer marked They said no is never included — their own answer always wins, including when it was recorded on another account that has, or had, this mobile number — even one since deleted.
- The confirmation never covers anyone marked Opted out of all messages under Customers who opted out — because they replied STOP, or someone here switched them off, on any of your WhatsApp numbers. Nor does it cover a party whose Send WhatsApp Updates is off.
- Whether documents go to a mobile number that more than one party in your books uses is a separate setting, which is on unless you turn it off — see Parties that share a mobile number.
- Unticking it stops documents going to customers who were not asked one by one, from that moment. Anything already sent stays sent. A document created while it is off is not sent later — unless it was still waiting for WhatsApp to approve your message template, in which case it is checked again then and sent only if the box is ticked by that time. You can always send a document yourself with its Send button.
It is your confirmation
Ticking the box is your organisation's own statement, not Kaalchakra's. WhatsApp holds the business that sends a message responsible for having permission, and complaints count against your own number. Tick it only if it is true.
Once the box is ticked, the customer's Modify Account page says so in its WhatsApp permission section, so a Not asked yet there no longer reads as though nothing will be sent.
Parties that share a mobile number
Sometimes two parties in your books have the same phone number — two firms run from one shop, or one family keeping two accounts on one mobile. Documents sent automatically still reach each of them on that same mobile number: every message is addressed to the party the document belongs to, by name, and carries only that party's own document, amount and link — never another party's. This is on for every organisation unless you turn it off.
Each party is still checked on its own before anything is sent:
- A STOP from that number — or the number being switched off under Customers who opted out — stops messages to every party that uses it.
- They said no on any party that has, or had, the number stops all of them, not just that one party.
- Send WhatsApp Updates switched off on a party's account stops that party only; the others still get their own documents.
- Permission is needed for each party: its own They agreed, or, for invoices, estimates and sale orders, the Customer permission box.
To change it, open Administration → Setup → WhatsApp and find the Parties that share a mobile number card. Its tick box carries this sentence: “Send each party's documents to its mobile number even when other parties in my books use the same number. Whoever uses that number may receive the documents of all of them.” The box is ticked unless your organisation has turned it off. Untick it to stop sending to a number that more than one party in your books uses; tick it again to start again. Each change is saved as soon as you make it.
Every change is kept on record — who made it and when — and the card shows the date it was confirmed or turned off. Only someone allowed to change your WhatsApp settings can change it. If the card cannot read the setting, it says so and the box cannot be changed until you reload the page.
- A change applies to documents created after it. Anything already sent stays sent, and a document that was not sent while it was off is not sent later — use its Send button if it matters. A document that was still waiting for WhatsApp to approve your message wording is checked when it is released, under the setting as it is then.
- While it is off, a document is not sent to a number that more than one party in your books uses — nor when the check of who else uses its number could not be finished — and Recent messages on the same page lists it as Not sent, with the reason. Giving each party its own mobile number lets their later documents go out.
- The Send button is not affected: it always opens your own WhatsApp, addressed to the party on the document.
Turn it off if one number could reach the wrong person
Whoever holds that phone can read every document sent to it. If two parties share a number but should not see each other's documents, untick the box — or give each party its own number.
Turning it off for one customer
Open their account under Masters → Account and clear the WhatsApp option. WhatsApp is then no longer offered for that party, though you can still copy a link for them if they ask for one.
Switching a link off
Open Send on the same document again and switch the link off. Anyone who opens it afterwards is told the link is no longer active, and nothing of the document is left at that address.
A link works for anyone who has it
The link does not check who is opening it, so treat it like the document itself and send it only to people who should see it. If it reaches the wrong person, switch it off and send a fresh one.
Only message people who expect it
WhatsApp's own rules say you may message someone only if they gave you their number and agreed to hear from you. Having the number is not enough on its own. If people mark your messages as unwanted, WhatsApp restricts your number.
To record who has agreed, see Recording that a customer agreed and Confirming permission for all your customers at once. For people who replied STOP, see Customers who opted out.
Which number it comes from
Your own. Kaalchakra opens WhatsApp on your device with the message ready; nothing is sent until you press send, and nothing goes out from a Kaalchakra number.
The WhatsApp settings page
There is a separate page at Administration → Setup → WhatsApp. It belongs to a different feature — one that messages parties automatically, from your organisation's own connected WhatsApp Business number, when a new document is created. That feature is being switched on gradually, one organisation at a time, and is not on for most organisations yet. Open the page to see whether it is on for yours; until it is, no document is sent automatically.
Nothing there affects Send
The switches on that page have no effect on the Send button described above. Send always works, from your own WhatsApp, whatever that page says.
The daily limit
Automatic sending has a daily limit: once it is reached, nothing more goes out that day. On the Send documents on WhatsApp card, Sent today shows how many have gone out next to the limit that applies to you, and Daily limit lets you set a lower one. Leave it empty to use the standard limit of 500 messages a day; a higher number is treated as 500.
- Every message sent counts: a document that goes to three parties counts three times. The test message from Check the WhatsApp connection does not count.
- The count starts again every day at 5:30 in the morning, India time.
- Once the limit is reached, the rest of that day's documents are not sent, and they are not picked up again the next day. Recent messages lists each one as Not sent — “Your daily message limit was reached.” — and you can still send any of them yourself with its Send button.
WhatsApp has its own limit too
Separately from this limit, WhatsApp itself decides how many different customers a number may message in a day. Verifying your business with Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, is one of the ways to raise it — see Checking your WhatsApp delivery status.
Checking that a WhatsApp number works
If your organisation has it available, the same page shows Check the WhatsApp connection. Type an Indian mobile number, press Send test message, and a short test message is sent to it from the Kaalchakra WhatsApp number.
It sends a plain test message and nothing else — no invoice, no receipt and no customer document. It does not count towards your daily limit.
If the test does not go through, the result explains why. When the reason has nothing to do with the number you typed, it says so plainly — so you can stop checking that customer's number and tell us instead.
Check the handset, not just the screen
A green result means WhatsApp accepted the message. That is not the same as delivered — a number that is not registered on WhatsApp is accepted in exactly the same way. Always look at the phone itself before treating a number as confirmed.
If the test does not arrive
The page shows what WhatsApp said, in its own words, rather than a general failure message. That wording is usually enough to tell whether the number is wrong, or whether something still needs approving on the WhatsApp side. If the number has asked not to receive messages, the page says so and sends nothing.
If you do not see the section at all, it is not available for your organisation — or the page did not finish loading. Reload once; if it is still absent, there is nothing to switch on from your side.
Connecting your own WhatsApp number
On the same page, under Sending number, you can connect your business's own WhatsApp Business number. Documents then reach your customers from your number, showing your business name — not anybody else's.
Press Connect your WhatsApp number. You are asked for a six-digit PIN first, and then WhatsApp opens its own sign-in window where you choose the number and confirm it. Everything you type in that window goes to WhatsApp, not to us.
You can keep the number you already use
If the number already runs on the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, you do not have to give it up. WhatsApp will recognise it during sign-in and offer to connect that same account — you keep your chat history, and you carry on chatting from your phone exactly as before. Nothing is deleted and nothing is moved. If instead you see WhatsApp asking you to disconnect the number from its existing account, you are on the other path — read the next note.
One number, one business
A WhatsApp number can be connected to one Kaalchakra organisation at a time. If you run more than one business here and try to connect the same number to a second, Kaalchakra refuses and tells you so — disconnect it from the first, or use a different number. This protects you: two businesses sharing one sender would mean the wrong business name on somebody's bill.
A number that is already on ordinary WhatsApp is different
A number can only live in one place at a time. If it is on personal WhatsApp rather than the Business app, WhatsApp will refuse it and ask you to disconnect it there first — and doing that loses that number's chats. If you would rather not, the simplest route is a spare number that has never had WhatsApp on it, which needs nothing removed.
About the six-digit PIN
Where the number has to be set up fresh, that PIN becomes its two-step verification PIN. We never create one and we never keep a copy — so if you set a new one, write it down, because WhatsApp offers no way to reset it. Where you are keeping an account you already have, the number is already set up and the PIN is not used for anything; the box still asks for six digits, so type any six you like.
Connecting a number does not start sending
There are two steps and connecting is the first. Once the number is connected you still have to switch on Send documents on WhatsApp at the top of the page. Until you do, nothing goes to any customer — which is deliberate: connecting a number gives you the ability to send, and switching it on is you deciding to.
After connecting, WhatsApp has to approve the wording of the message before anything can go out. That review is done by Meta, the company behind WhatsApp. It is usually quick, but a new account's first review can take up to 24 hours, and the Delivery status card on the same page tells you where it has got to.
If you do not see the button
Where Sending number says this will be available later, the connection is not open yet for your organisation and there is nothing to do from your side. The Send button described at the top of this page keeps working as it always has.
Checking your WhatsApp delivery status
The same page opens with a Delivery status card. It answers one question in a single sentence: can your documents reach your customers right now, and if not, what is standing in the way.
Under that sentence it shows which number your documents go out from, whether WhatsApp has approved the wording of the message, whether replies such as STOP are being picked up on their own, and anything that went wrong in your recent messages.
When your own number is connected, it can also show whether your business is verified with Meta (the company behind WhatsApp). Verifying your business is one of the ways to raise how many customers you can message each day. It is done by you, in your own Meta business settings — the card links straight there. If the card cannot find out, it says nothing about it rather than guessing.
Waiting for WhatsApp to approve the wording
WhatsApp reads and approves the wording of an automatic message before any of it may go out. A document is held only when everything else was ready and the wording was the one thing missing: automatic sending on for your organisation, that kind of document switched on, and your own number connected. Held documents are sent once the wording is approved — when WhatsApp tells Kaalchakra about the approval, or when you press Check again — up to 200 at a time. A document raised when something else was off is not held, and is not sent later, even after you switch that thing on. If you send a held document by hand in the meantime, the customer may receive it twice. If you have connected your own WhatsApp number, Check again asks WhatsApp for its latest answer.
You can still send any of those documents yourself, one at a time: open the document and use its Send button. That gives you the same link and the same PDF, sent from your own WhatsApp.
Recent problems counts a window, not everything
That list looks only at your most recent messages, and it says how many it looked at. It counts messages, not documents — one document sent to three parties counts as three. Anything older is still listed under Recent messages further down the same page.
If the card says it could not load, reload the page once. It never shows an all-clear it cannot stand behind, so a failure there means the answer is unknown — it does not mean everything is fine.
Customers who opted out
The same page lists Customers who opted out: people who replied STOP to your WhatsApp number, and anyone someone here switched off. A customer marked Opted out of all messages is not sent documents automatically; one who only muted promotional messages still is.
Restore undoes a switch-off made here. A stop the customer gave themselves stays in place, on any of your WhatsApp numbers. After you press it, the page says what was lifted and what stayed.
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