# When an invoice is marked Paid, clear it from queues and file it

The moment someone sets an invoice's status to Paid, it leaves every work queue and moves to the Paid folder — a Field Value Updated trigger and two actions in the right order. Reacts to the change itself, so there's no schedule to size and no reprocessing storm.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.8+ · Audience: catalog-administrator · Time: 20 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/clear-paid-invoices-from-queues-and-file-them

**When you're done, setting an invoice's status to Paid removes it from every work queue and moves it into the Paid folder within seconds — and the automation never touches the invoices that were already paid last year.**

```plan
scope: document-type
trigger: Content Field Values › Field Value Updated in this Document Type | Field: Status · Field Evaluation: Selected Field Value(s) · Paid
action: Work Queue - Remove | Work-Queue Evaluation: All Users and Groups
action: Content - Move to Folder | Folder Path: …\Accounts Payable\Paid
rule: "Status set to Paid → clear queues and file", enabled
```

## Why a field-update trigger, not a scheduled query

You could build this as a **Content Query** that runs every few minutes looking for `Status = Paid`. Don't. That query matches *every* paid invoice in history on every run, and with a short **Reprocess Matching Records After** it re-clears and re-moves a million old documents each day until the query times out and nothing runs at all.

**Field Value Updated** is a *Live* trigger: it fires once, for the one document whose field just changed. Nothing to schedule, nothing to reprocess.

## Build the trigger

1. Go to **Administration** > **Catalogs & Document Types**, pick the **Catalog** and the invoice **Document Type**, and click the **Workflow** tile. Click **Triggers**, then **New Trigger**.

2. **Type:** `Content Field Values` in the first box and `Field Value Updated in this Document Type` in the second.

3. **Trigger Name:** `Status changed to Paid`.

4. **Field:** your status field. **Field Evaluation:** `Selected Field Value(s)`, then pick or type `Paid` — a drop-down field shows its choices under **Selected Choices:**; a plain text field shows **Field-Match Type:** `Equals` and a **Field Value:** box.

5. Leave **User Evaluation:** at `All Users and Groups` so it fires no matter who made the change.

6. Click **Save**.

**What you should see:** a trigger with **Event** `Live` and the field name in its **Details**.

## Build the actions

1. Click the **Actions** card, then **New Action**.

2. **Type:** `Work Queue - Remove`. **Action Name:** `Remove from all work queues`. **Work-Queue Evaluation:** `All Users and Groups`. **Save**.

3. **New Action** again. **Type:** `Content - Move to Folder`. **Action Name:** `File in Paid folder`.

4. Under **Folder Path**, drill into the catalog's folders with the **Select a subfolder…** picker (and **Move Up** to back out) until the path shown is your Paid folder. **Save**.

## Wire the rule — order matters

1. Click the **Rules** card, then **New Rule**. **Rule Name:** `Status set to Paid → clear queues and file`.

2. **Add Trigger:** `Status changed to Paid`.

3. **Add Action:** `Remove from all work queues`, then **Add Action:** `File in Paid folder`. Actions run top to bottom — clear the queues first, then move. Use the move up/down controls if they're reversed.

4. Click **Apply**.

## Test it

1. Send one test invoice to your own work queue, then open its properties and set the status field to `Paid`.

2. Check your **Work Queue**, then find the document and open **View History**.

**What you should see:** the item gone from your Work tab, the document now under the Paid folder, and history entries for both actions. If the invoice stays put, check that the *value* matches exactly — `Paid` and `PAID` are different values on a text field, which is why a drop-down field is the safer choice.

## Variations

| Want this instead | Change this |
| --- | --- |
| Also close out its approval | Add **Approval Process - Change Stage** with **Stage Change:** `Complete by Approval` before the move — useful for the "paid but still in the approval queue" case |
| Only when *AP staff* mark it paid | Trigger: **User Evaluation:** `Selected Group(s)` and pick the AP group |
| Fire on *any* status change, then branch | One trigger per status value, each with its own rule and folder |
| Email the vendor's contact when paid | Add **Send E-mail** with a template whose **To** is an insert code for the vendor email field |
| Stamp the paid date at the same time | Add **Content - Update Date Field with Today's Date** ([recipe](/content-central/workflow/stamp-todays-date-when-a-status-changes)) |
| React to a global field shared across types | Sub-type `Global-Field Value in DocType Updated in the System` |

## What's next

- [Stamp today's date when a status changes](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/stamp-todays-date-when-a-status-changes)
- [A scheduled workflow didn't run — or ran on everything](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/scheduled-workflow-didnt-run)
- [Manage work queues](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/manage-work-queues)