The batch or the payslip is not in the right state for this step

Symptom

A payroll batch button does not appear, or appears and opens Invalid Operation. The most common cases: deleting a batch that has already been calculated and closing a batch that still has problems.

Message

Seen on the Salários de outubro de 2026 batch of Empresa Demonstração, Lda, with the Payroll Processor profile.

In Actions › Delete, with the batch Calculated (and again with the batch Paid):

“Only a draft batch can be deleted. What happened: a processed batch is part of the payroll record. How to fix it: keep it (close it) or create a new one.”

In Close, with the batch Paid and the warning “8 employee(s): Accounting account of each pay item with an amount (Blocks the closing)” above it:

“Batch “Salários de outubro de 2026” cannot be closed: Ana Margarida Pinto — Accounting account of each pay item with an amount: cannot be posted: Posting blocked: 1 pay item(s) with an amount have no posting template on 31/10/2026: Meal allowance. …”

The message repeats the problem for each employee in the batch (eight, in the example).

Verified causes

The batch always follows the same order, and the buttons on the bar change with the state. This is what the screen showed with the Payroll Processor profile:

Batch state	Buttons on the bar
Draft	Create the payslips of the month, Calculate
Calculated	Calculate, Validate
Validated	Generate payments, Transfer file, Bank executed, Mark as paid
Paid	Generate payments, Transfer file, Close

The Payroll Administrator also sees Reset to draft (batch Calculated), Account (batch Validated or Paid) and Reset to validated (batch Paid, only them). Mark as paid opens a confirmation window, with Reason when the payslips have no generated payment (I cannot pay salaries or generate the transfer file).

• Only a draft can be deleted. From Calculated onwards, the batch is part of the payroll record. The company, the period and the type can no longer be changed either.
• Close runs the pre-closing controls. Each warning marked “(Blocks the closing)” above the batch prevents closing. In the example, the Meal allowance pay item had no posting template, so no payslip could be posted.
• Some buttons belong to another profile. Account, Reset to draft and Reset to validated only appear for the Payroll Administrator. The Payroll Processor does not see them.
• A calculated batch without payslips does not move forward. Calculate on a batch without payslips is refused; that case is in How to process the month's payroll.

What to check

1. The batch state, at the top right.
2. The warnings above the batch. See who to correct opens the list of employees with each one's problem.
3. Your profile, if the button you are looking for does not appear.

How to fix it

You want to delete a processed batch

A Calculated batch cannot be deleted, but the Payroll Administrator can reset it to draft. The Reset to draft button only appears with the batch Calculated. If the batch has already been validated, it does not go back to draft: the payslips are corrected with corrective payslips (The payslip is already validated and cannot be changed).

Done on the October 2026 batch, with the profile stated in each step:

1. Payroll Administrator: on the Calculated batch, click Reset to draft. The Put the batch back to draft window opens, with the Reason field.
2. Type the reason and click Reopen. The reason is required: without it, Reopen gives “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”
3. The batch goes back to Draft, with the 8 payslips (also in Draft) and the Create the payslips of the month and Calculate buttons. If you only wanted to correct one item of data, correct it at the source and click Calculate.
4. To delete the batch, delete the payslips first. With the payslips inside, Actions › Delete on the batch gives “The record cannot be deleted because it is used in Payslip (PT)”. Payroll Processor: in Payroll › Process › Payslips, select the batch's draft payslips and use Actions › Delete; then, on the batch, Actions › Delete.

In the demo, after the 8 draft payslips were deleted, the batch was deleted and Process October created it again.

Close is refused

1. Click Close on the message.
2. Solve each problem in the list. In the example, ask the Payroll Administrator for the pay item's posting template and for the batch to be posted: the steps are in The payslip is not posted.
3. Check that the “(Blocks the closing)” warning has disappeared from above the batch and click Close again.

In the demo, after the Meal allowance template was created and the batch was posted, the “Blocks the closing” warning went from above the batch and Close closed it.

Expected result

• The button you are looking for appears in the right batch state.
• With no “(Blocks the closing)” warnings, Close puts the batch in Closed, with the notice “Batch closed: it can no longer be changed. A Payroll Administrator can reopen it with a reason.”

When to contact support

• The batch is Draft and Delete is refused.
• There are no warnings above the batch and Close is still refused.
• A button in the table above does not appear in the stated state, with the right profile.

Information to send

• The batch name, the company and the state.
• The full text of the message, copied from the screen.
• The warnings that appear above the batch.
• The profile you logged in with.