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# Work a request from arrival to done

Requests come in three ways: a client submits one, you create one for a client, or a purchase creates one. Every new request appears in **Requests** and on the **Requests** card of your dashboard. From then on, the work happens inside the request: you assign it, reply to the client, move it through its statuses and archive it when it is done.

**A request's way through Zendo, from arrival to the archive**

1. Where it comes from
   - **Client:** Client submits it
   - **Your team:** Created with New request
   - **Purchase:** Created together with the order
2. Request appears in **Requests** (and on the Requests card of your dashboard)
3. Someone is assigned (by hand in Request Details, or by an automation)
4. Work in the request (Reply to the client, Note to your team)
5. Status changes as the work moves on (the client can get Status changed)
6. Status from the Completed state (counts as completed work)
7. **Archive** (removes it from the active list)

## Take the request from new to completed

1. Open the request and check **Assignees** in the **Request Details** panel. If nobody is assigned, assign someone. Depending on their role, that person then sees the request and gets notifications about it.
2. Read the client's form answers and the conversation on the **Chat** tab.
3. Write to the client in **Reply** mode, or to your team in **Note** mode. *Enter* sends the message, and *Shift + Enter* starts a new line.
4. To bring someone else in, use **Add participants**. They join this request only.
5. As the work moves on, click the status label and choose the next status.
6. To keep track of tasks and key information, use the checklist and custom fields. See [Use a checklist on a request](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/use-a-checklist-on-a-request-nztgnf/) and [Add custom fields to a request](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/add-custom-fields-to-a-request-1qrhajr/).
7. To bill the client, open **Get paid ▾** and choose **Send a Quote for approval** or **Send an Invoice and get paid**.
8. When the work is done, change the status to one from the **Completed** state. Then **Archive** the request to remove it from the active list.

![A request: the status label (5), Reply and Note (3), Get paid (7) and the Request Details panel on the right. The yellow message is a note, which only your team sees.](https://getzendo.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/kb-q8-request-chat.webp =652x574)

![Clicking the status label (5) lists the statuses of the request type.](https://getzendo.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/kb-q8-status-menu.webp =550x246)

## More controls at the top of the request

Next to the status label at the top of the request you find:

- **Change priority**: **Low**, **Normal**, **High** or **Urgent**.
- **Change deadline**: the date the work is due.
- **Copy URL**: a link to the request, to paste in a message to a colleague.
- **Request actions** (**⋯**): **Update name**, **Mark as unread**, **View submitted Request form**, **View checklist**, **Copy Request ID** and **Archive**.

The client sees the assignees, the deadline, the priority and the checklist, but cannot change them. Custom fields follow their access level, and **Private** fields and your team's notes are hidden from the client. See [Add custom fields to a request](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/add-custom-fields-to-a-request-1qrhajr/).

## Mention someone with @

Type `@` in a message or a note and pick a name. A team member you mention is added to the request's participants, so they can see it and get notified. A client you mention in a reply gets a notification, but no new access. A client you mention in a note gets nothing, because notes stay with your team.

## Edit or delete a message

Open the **⋯** menu on a message to edit or delete it. An edited message stays in the conversation and is marked as edited. A deleted message disappears without a trace, including for the client. Agents can edit and delete their own messages; managers, admins and the owner can also edit and delete other people's. See [Invite your team and choose roles](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/invite-your-team-and-choose-roles-10g97kc/).

## What a status change does

When you change the status, the client can get the **Status changed** notification, so they know how far the work is without having to ask.

If the request type has automations, they can react to the new status or state. An automation can post a message, change the status again or send a form. See [Automate a request type](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/automate-a-request-type-1m2cf6k/).

## Reply or Note

**Reply** and **Note** share one message box, so check the mode before you send. A reply goes to the client. A note stays with your team, and clients never see it.

To write to the client outside this request, use **Message client**. It opens your direct conversation with them in **Messages**. See [Message clients outside a request](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/message-clients-outside-a-request-1ixx0ns/).

## Bill the client from the request

![Get paid (7) offers a quote for approval or an invoice to pay straight away.](https://getzendo.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/kb-q8-get-paid.webp =450x230)

You can send a quote or an invoice without leaving the request: open **Get paid ▾** next to the tabs and choose a quote or an invoice. The document appears in the conversation as a card the client can open.

The order is what connects the money and the work: documents belong to an order, and the order is linked to the requests that deliver it. A document you create from a request goes to that request's order. If the request was created by a purchase, its order already exists. The request's **Billing** tab shows the order: its documents, the amount and whether it has been paid. See [Send a quote](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/send-a-quote-5leqg/) and [Issue an invoice](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/issue-an-invoice-ktxe67/).

## Completed and archived requests are not the same

A request is finished when its status belongs to the **Completed** state. Each status is assigned to one of three states — Pending, Active or Completed — in **Settings › Requests › Statuses**. So a status called "Done", "Delivered" or "Closed" finishes the request, as long as it belongs to the Completed state. A finished request counts as completed work everywhere in Zendo, for example in a subscription's **Max number of completed requests**.

Archiving is something else: it only removes the request from the active list. You can find it again with the archive control and restore it. See [Understand statuses and the three states](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/understand-statuses-and-the-three-states-10e4jci/) and [Archive and restore](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/archive-and-restore-9acthu/).

## Related

- [Automate a request type](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/automate-a-request-type-1m2cf6k/)
- [Use a checklist on a request](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/use-a-checklist-on-a-request-nztgnf/)
- [Understand statuses and the three states](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/understand-statuses-and-the-three-states-10e4jci/)
- [Send a quote](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/send-a-quote-5leqg/)
- [Archive and restore](https://help.getzendo.io/en/article/archive-and-restore-9acthu/)