Learn how to create and send invoices in QuickBooks Online.
If you plan to get paid in the future for products and services you sell, send your customers an invoice. You can add the product or service you’re selling to an invoice and email it to your customer.
We'll also show you how to handle things if you use an external payment processing platform.
Your estimates or invoices will look different depending on whether you have the old or new estimate and invoice experience. Find out which experience you have.
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.
Select + New.
Select Invoice.
Select Add customer and select a customer from the ▼ dropdown. Make sure all of their info is correct, especially their email address.
Review the Invoice date, Due date, and Terms. Enter new dates or terms, if you need to. Tip: In the Terms field, Net refers to the number of days until the payment is due.
Select Add product or service and select a product or service from the ▼ dropdown. Tip: While adding a new product or service, you can select how you want to calculate the charge amount—flat rate, by item, or by hour.
Select how you want to calculate the charge amount—by unit or by hour. Enter a quantity and rate, if needed.
To customise the info or design of your invoices, select ⚙ Manage. Then select the options from the side panel. QuickBooks remembers your choices and applies them to all existing and future invoices.
When you’re done, there are several options for saving or sharing the invoice:
If you're ready to send the invoice, select Review and send to email the invoice to your customer. Adjust the email if needed, then select Send invoice.
To send the invoice later, select Save and close.
To print a paper invoice, select Print and download.
If you’ve received a payment from the customer, select Receive Payment.
To send your customer a link to their invoice through text message, select Share link.
From the Customer ▼ dropdown, select a customer. Make sure all of their info is correct, especially their email address.
Review the Invoice date. Then from the Terms ▼ dropdown, select the due date. Tip: Net refers to the number of days until the payment is due. The default is 30 days, but you can change the due date if needed.
From the Product/Service column, select a product or service. You can also select + Add new to create a new product or service right from the invoice.
Enter a Quantity, Rate and Amount if needed.
Select a VAT rate.
When you’re done, there are several options for saving or sharing the invoice:
If you're ready to send the invoice, select Save and send to email the invoice to your customer.
To send the invoice later, select Save and close.
To print a paper invoice, select Save. Then select Print or preview.
To send your invoice using WhatsApp, select Save & Share (WhatsApp).
Note: If you're using QuickBooks Simple Start, select Send.
If you're a project-based business, you can create progress invoices to request partial payments during a project.
Step 2: Review open invoices
QuickBooks puts unpaid invoices into your accounts receivable account. You'll see this account on your Balance Sheet and other financial reports.
Any time you to review your invoices, go to Sales and select Invoices (Take me there). Check the Status column to see where your invoices are in the sales process.
Here are few common statuses that you might see:
Open: You haven’t emailed the invoice yet.
Open (Sent): You’ve emailed the invoice to the customer.
Open (Viewed): Your customer has opened the invoice.
Paid: Your customer has paid the invoice.
Overdue: The invoice has not been paid yet.
Overdue (Viewed): Your customer has opened the overdue invoice, but not paid it.
Delivery issue: The invoice could not be delivered. Check the email address and resend.
Voided: The invoice was voided in QuickBooks.
You can also go to Sales and select Customers (Take me there) and open a customer's profile to see their invoices.
If you use GoCardless, customers can pay their invoices directly by direct debit. We process and handle everything for you. When you get paid, QuickBooks puts transactions into the correct accounts.
If you use an external platform to process payments, you can keep track of those payments in QuickBooks. Learn more about how to record invoice payments manually.
Yes, you can make changes to an invoice after you have created it. However, you may encounter exceptions and errors during reconciliation especially if the invoice has been filed.
Before you make any changes to the invoice (such as the amounts, dates and VAT), make sure you understand the impact that this may have. If you're unsure, please reach out to an accountant.
