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Create and send an invoice in QuickBooks

by Intuit•125• Updated about 10 hours ago

Learn how to create, send, and manage invoices for your customers. QuickBooks invoicing empowers you to generate professional invoices quickly, offer convenient online payment options, track invoice status, and process payments seamlessly with PayPal.

Note: This article is for customers who use QuickBooks Online (Simple Start, Essentials, or Plus), QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Sole Trader. If you're using QuickBooks Online Simple Start and want to create recurring invoices, you'll need to upgrade your plan.

Let’s go over how to create an invoice. We’ll show you how to add customers, products and services to an invoice. And then how to save and send them. Let’s start by looking at the Customers List. Select Sales and select Customers. The Customers list keeps track of who you sell things to and provide services for. It also gives you the current balance for each of your customers. Use it to see what customers owe you, or sometimes, what you owe them. Let's create an invoice for an existing customer. Go to the Create icon and select Invoice. The first thing is to record the customer’s name. Notice that QuickBooks populates both the billing address and the email address for this customer. That’s because this info was already in the customers list. However, if you need to add a new customer you can do by selecting Add new. If you want to send to invoice to more than one address, use a comma between each one. You can CC or BCC an address too. QuickBooks also lets you add a Pay Now button to the invoice. That way customers can pay with a credit or debit card or a bank transfer. The Date should be the day you send the invoice. Or, if this transaction happened in the past, the date you issued the invoice. Terms sets the number of days a customer has to pay the invoice. You can add other things too. Go to the Gear icon to add things like Shipping and custom fields. In the Products and Services area, enter what you're charging the customer for. If you don’t find a product or service that looks right, select Add New to create a new one. If you set up the product or service ahead of time, you'll see the Sales Description and Price you entered earlier. You can also enter or change these while you create the invoice. Add as many products and services as you want. There are more options further down the form. You can enter a message to include on the invoice. You can also add a statement memo. A statement memo shows up as a note on your customer’s statement if you send them. You have several options for saving invoices. You can save the invoice and keep on working It. You can Save and Close, which saves the invoice and brings you back to whatever you were doing before. You can Save and Share a Link. This option saves the invoice and simply emails a link to the customer. When they select the link they’ll see the invoice. Save and send lets you write an email to your customer and will attach the invoice to the email. And you can use Save and New if you want to save the invoice and create another one. Let's select Save and Send. On the left you can see and change the subject and body of the email you’re sending. And on the right you see a preview of what your customer will receive. Select Send and Close to send the invoice. QuickBooks confirms that the email was sent to your customer. And you can see the customer’s balance has increased by the amount of the invoice. Now you’re ready to create your own invoices.

Follow the steps below if you use QuickBooks Sole Trader:

Step 1: Create and send an invoice

  1. Select + New.
  2. Select Invoice.
  3. Select Add Customer and select a customer from the â–Ľ dropdown. Ensure their information is correct, especially their email address.
  4. Review and adjust the Invoice date, Due date, and Terms if needed.
    Tip: In the Terms field, Net refers to the number of days until the payment is due. 
  5. To add a product or service, select one from the Product/service Dropdown arrow icon. dropdown.
    Note: To add another product or service, select Add product or service.
  6. Enter the quantity (Qty) and Rate, if needed.
  7. To customise the invoice, select the gear icon âš™ and select the desired options. QuickBooks remembers your choices for future invoices.
  8. When you’re done, select from the following options:
    • Review and send: Email the invoice to your customer. Adjust the email if needed, then select Send invoice.
    • Save, or Save and close: Save the invoice for later.
    • Save and new: Save the current invoice and open a new one.
    • Print or download: Print a paper invoice.
    • Share link: Send a link to the invoice via text message.

Step 2: Review unpaid invoices

  1. Go to Get paid and select Invoices.
  2. Check the Status column to see where your invoices are in the sales process.
    • Due in [days]: You haven’t emailed the invoice yet.
    • Due in [days] Sent: You’ve emailed the invoice to the customer.
    • Due in [days] Viewed: Your customer opened the invoice.
    • Deposited: Your customer paid the invoice.
    • Overdue [days]: The invoice is past due and unpaid.
    • Overdue [days] Viewed: Your customer opened but didn’t pay the past due invoice.
    • Delivery issue: Invoice was undelivered. Check the email address and resend.
    • Voided: The invoice was voided in QuickBooks.

Step 3: Receive payments for invoices

Follow the steps below if you use QuickBooks Online:

Step 1: Create and send an invoice

There’s more than one way to create an invoice in QuickBooks. If you send an estimate and the customer approves it, you can convert your estimate to an invoice. You can also create a new invoice from scratch.

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select Create invoice.
  3. Select Add Customer and select a customer from the dropdown. Ensure their information is correct, especially their email address.
  4. Review and adjust the Invoice date, Due date, and Terms if needed.
    Tip: In the Terms field, Net refers to the number of days until the payment is due.
  5. To add a product or service, select one from the Product/service Dropdown arrow icon. dropdown. To add another, select Add product or service.
  6. Enter the quantity and rate if needed.
  7. To customise the invoice, select âš™ Manage. Then select the options from the side panel. QuickBooks will remember your choices for future invoices.
  8. (Optional) To enable online payments via PayPal:
    • Under Payment options, select Accept Card Payments with PayPal.
    • If you haven't already connected your PayPal account, click Launch PayPal and follow the prompts to connect.
    • Once connected, select the Accept Card Payment Online checkbox.
  9. When you’re done, select from the following options:
    • Review and send: Email the invoice to your customer. Adjust the email if needed, then select Send invoice.
    • Save, or Save and close: Save the invoice for later.
    • Save and new: Save the current invoice and open a new one.
    • Print or download: Print a paper invoice.
    • Share link: Send a link to the invoice via text message.
    • Save & Share (WhatsApp): Send the invoice via WhatsApp. Note: This option may not be available in the new invoice experience.

Step 2: Review unpaid invoices

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Check the Status column to see where your invoices are in the sales process.
    • Due in [days]: You haven’t emailed the invoice yet.
    • Due in [days] Sent: You’ve emailed the invoice to the customer.
    • Due in [days] Viewed: Your customer opened the invoice.
    • Deposited: Your customer paid the invoice.
    • Overdue [days]: The invoice is past due and unpaid.
    • Overdue [days] Viewed: Your customer opened but didn’t pay the past due invoice.
    • Delivery issue: Invoice was undelivered. Check the email address and resend.
    • Voided: The invoice was voided in QuickBooks.

Step 3: Receive payments for invoices

In QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced

In QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus, and Advanced if you need to send the same invoice to different customers, you can use unscheduled recurring invoices. This is helpful when you charge different customers for the same items or services on different dates. If you have customers you invoice regularly, create a scheduled recurring invoice instead.

Note: If you use QuickBooks Online Simple Start, you can upgrade your plan if you're ready to set up recurring invoices.

Follow the steps below if you use QuickBooks Time:

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you are in QuickBooks Time. For that, go to Time, select the Overview tab, then select Go to classic QuickBooks Time.

Step 1: Set up invoicing

  1. Go to Feature Add-ons and select Manage Add-ons.
  2. Go to Invoicing and select Install.
  3. In the Invoicing Preferences window, enter the information you want to appear on the printed invoices, and select Save.

Step 2: Set billable rates

  1. Go to Jobs.
    Note: You may see Customers in place of Jobs.
  2. Next to the job, select pencil icon Edit.
  3. Select the Billable checkbox, enter a per-hour amount, and select Save.

Step 3: Create an invoice

  1. Go to Invoice.
  2. In the Generate Invoice window, make your selections:
    • Select a client and a sub-job, if applicable.
    • (Optional) Select a start date (Start Date) and stop date (End Date). If dates aren't filled out, the invoice will include all uninvoiced time.
    • Pick an Invoice Type:
      • Detailed: Team member, notes, quantity of hours worked per timesheet.
      • Grouped: Quantity of hours worked grouped together by job.
      • Single Line: All entries merged into a single line item.
    • (Optional) Include already invoiced time.
  3. Select Preview Invoice.
  4. Select Add Invoice To Info if you want to add the billing name and address, then select Save.
  5. If the invoice is correct, select Finalise Invoice & Generate PDF. Note: When this is chosen, the timesheets that make up the invoice are locked. To unlock them, go to Time Entries, then Timesheets, and select the lock icon.
  6. Select View Invoice PDF to open a new tab with the PDF that you can save or print.

How to uninstall invoicing

  1. Select Feature Add-ons and then Manage Add-ons.
  2. Go to Invoicing and select Uninstall. The Billable field is no longer available in the job editor window.
  3. If invoicing is installed again, the jobs will retain their previous billable rates.


Frequently asked questions

Can I make changes to an invoice once I have created it?

Yes, you can make changes to an invoice after you have created it. However, be aware that changes may impact reconciliation. If you're unsure, please reach out to an accountant. 

Note: If you have already sent the invoice to a customer, they will be notified of any edits made to the invoice.

Can you batch change VAT codes, classes, or locations on invoices?

No. Only an accountant has the option to batch change VAT codes on invoices.



What's next?

Having issues with invoicing? See our guide on how to troubleshoot common issues with invoices and payments in QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple Start