The deposit is paid but the files are still locked

Part payment does not release a gate, and an offline payment has to be recorded before Stria knows it happened.

Troubleshooting · 3 min read

A gating deposit withholds deliverable files until it settles. When the money has arrived and the files are still held, it is nearly always one of these, in rough order of how often it happens.

  • The deposit is only part paid. A gate does not open on a partial payment, however large. Until the balance is settled the hold stays on, by design.
  • The payment came by bank transfer and has not been recorded. Stria only knows about money it was told about — record the payment against the invoice and the gate re-evaluates.
  • A different unpaid deposit is doing the holding. A client-level deposit holds that client’s project-less deliverables, so the file you are looking at may be answering to an invoice you were not thinking about.
  • The card payment has not confirmed yet. Paid status is written when the payment processor confirms it, not when the browser returns, so a few seconds of lag is normal.

If none of those apply, the check may be failing rather than refusing. The hold deliberately fails closed: a timeout or a permission error withholds the file instead of releasing it, because the alternative is a gate that opens whenever something goes wrong. That is the safe direction, and it does mean an unrelated fault presents as a stuck deposit.

When you have decided to let the work through regardless — a client who will pay on receipt, or a deposit you are waiving — use the override rather than editing the invoice. It asks for a reason, records who released it, and leaves the invoice honest about still being unpaid.

Note: Releasing a gate never alters a balance. The money owed stays owed, and the invoice keeps appearing in your receivables until it is actually settled.

Open the money hub — in your Stria workspace.

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