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Create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•8• Updated 4 days ago

Learn how to create templates for recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced.

In QuickBooks Online, you can create templates for recurring transactions like recurring expenses. You can do this for any transaction, including invoices and quotes, except for bill payments and time activities.

Note: You can automate credit card payments with a recurring sales receipt.

Prerequisites

These instructions apply to the new QuickBooks Online experience.

Create a new recurring transaction from scratch

Here's how you can create a new recurring transaction from scratch.

Go to Transactions and select Recurring transactions (Take me there).
Select New.
Select the type of transaction to create, and then select OK.
Enter a Template name.
Select a Type: Scheduled, Reminder, or Unscheduled.
1. Use Scheduled transactions when you want to send the transactions out automatically. Use for when schedule and payment amounts don’t change, such as rent payments, loan payments, and depreciation.
2. Use Reminder when you want to schedule transactions, but send them manually. Use for transactions with a fixed schedule that need to be edited before they're created, such as utility bills.
3. Use Unscheduled when you want to create transactions but not schedule them for any specific point. Use this when you’ve created a complicated transaction you don’t want to retype, but only don’t issue on any particular schedule.
If you create a scheduled or reminder type of recurring template and you use Merchant Services, decide if your customer can pay you online. To do this, tick or untick the boxes for Cards and Bank transfer in the Online Payment section.
If creating a Scheduled or Reminder invoice recurring transaction, verify if these invoices should include unbilled charges and automatically send emails.
Complete the fields and select Save template.

Note: Invoices created by a recurring transaction are first saved as draft invoices. You can finalise them once you've reviewed them.

Use an unscheduled recurring transaction

You need to manually create each instance of an unscheduled recurring transaction, such as if you want to use it as a template.

Go to Transactions and select Recurring transactions (Take me there).
For the template you want to use, in the Action column, select Use.
Fill out the rest of the transaction normally.
Select Save or Save and close.

Make any transaction a base template for a recurring transaction

Your quotes or invoices will look different depending on whether you have the old or new quote and invoice experience. Find out which experience you have.

Make an existing non invoice and quote transaction to recurring

Open an existing transaction.
In the footer of the form, select Make recurring to create a template.
Complete the fields and select Save template.

Note: You can’t convert an existing quote into a recurring quote, but you can schedule a new recurring quote transaction.

Make an existing invoice a recurring transaction

Create or open an existing invoice.
Select Manage ⚙, then select Scheduling ▼ dropdown.
Turn on Make invoice recurring.
Fill out the details of the recurring invoice.
Select Save template.

Duplicate an existing template

Create templates more quickly by duplicating existing templates.

Go to Settings .
In the Lists column, select Recurring transactions.
In the Action column, select Duplicate from the Edit ▼ dropdown. All settings except the title will be in the duplicate copy.

Edit a recurring template

You can edit recurring templates for any changes in invoices, expenses, and other tasks you do regularly.

Have any other questions for our team? If any of your questions were left unanswered, we'd love to hear them! Pop over to our QuickBooks Community's discussion on invoicing where you can ask your questions, have them answered by qualified QuickBooks Online experts, and hopefully help others with the same questions out in the process.