Invoice Vault errors and how to fix them

The Invoice Vault stores every generated invoice, including the actual document bytes, in TimeBill's local database on your Mac. Most "errors" in the vault are actually active filters hiding an invoice; genuine failures show an alert with an underlying system message that tells you what went wrong. Here's how to work through the common cases.

An invoice seems to be missing

Before assuming data loss, check what the vault is currently showing you:

1. Open the Filter menu and click Clear Filters. A leftover Project, Payment, or Document Type filter is the most common reason an invoice "disappears". The empty state No Matching Invoices is your hint that filters or a search term are active.
2. Clear the Search invoices field.
3. Look in the No Project group in the sidebar (it sorts alphabetically alongside your project groups); invoices whose project was deleted survive and move there.

Related trap: the Export All toolbar button exports exactly the currently filtered and searched set, not everything. If files were missing from a bulk export, clear filters and run it again.

"Preview Unavailable" / "This invoice's PDF data could not be read."

The archived document's data couldn't be loaded from the database. Try, in order:

1. Quit and relaunch TimeBill, then select the invoice again.
2. If the preview still fails and the project still exists, regenerate the invoice: open the project, click Generate Invoice, and set the exact same invoice number. The new export replaces the broken vault record in place and keeps its paid status. Enable Include Already Billed Tasks so the original tasks are billed again. See Correcting and re-issuing an invoice.
3. If the project is gone or the invoice can't be reproduced, contact support (below).

"Invoice Not Generated" / "Something Went Wrong"

Generation or a vault action failed. The alert includes the underlying reason ("The invoice could not be previewed/saved/shared/deleted: …"). Read it, because it usually names the real cause. Reassuring detail: a failed generation changes nothing: no tasks are flipped to billed and the invoice counter doesn't increment, so you can simply fix the cause and export again. Check that your Mac has free disk space, then retry.

"Some invoices could not be exported: …" during Export All

The bulk export finished, but the listed invoices failed. Retry the export to a different destination folder, or export the failing ones individually with Re-export from the toolbar or the right-click menu.

"Your Data Could Not Be Opened" at launch

This is bigger than the vault: TimeBill couldn't open its database and is running on a temporary in-memory store. Your existing data is not deleted, but anything you enter in this session is discarded on quit. Relaunch the app, free up disk space, and see Where your data is stored. If it persists, contact support without entering new data first.

Contacting support

Use the in-app Help → Contact Support menu (it opens a pre-filled email including your app version, build, and macOS version) or the website contact form. Include the exact error text from the alert. For a tour of the vault's normal behavior, see The Invoice Vault: where your invoices live.