Manage communications in your Inbox

by Intuit •

•

Updated 8/14/2026 15:16

Summary: Your Inbox is a unified workspace inside QuickBooks Online and Intuit Accountant Suite for messaging your team, clients, accountant, or bookkeeping expert.

Use your Inbox to message your team, your clients, and your accountant without leaving QuickBooks. If your business is subscribed to Intuit Expert services, you can also message a Bookkeeping Expert. QuickBooks Online business admins can connect their external email accounts to bring incoming email into the same threads as other messages.

Note

Inbox isn't available for QuickBooks Online Simple Start.

Turn on your Inbox

Before anyone at your firm or business can use the Inbox, an admin has to give one-time consent. Consent happens separately for firms and for individual client businesses.

Intuit Accountant Suite (firm-level consent): given by the firm's Primary Admin or a Company Admin from inside Intuit Accountant Suite. This can't be done from a client's QuickBooks Online account.
QuickBooks Online (client-level consent): given by the client's Primary Admin or Company Admin from inside their own QuickBooks Online account.

For Intuit Accountant Suite users

Sign in to Intuit Accountant Suite.
Select the Inbox icon in the global header.
If you haven't given consent yet, accept the consent prompt that appears.
If no prompt appears, you may have already given consent. Confirm by checking that your Inbox loads fully with the Needs action, Waiting, and All tabs visible.

You can also open just your transaction requests: go to All apps, select Accounting, then Bank transactions, then select Requests.

For QuickBooks Online users

This is separate from the firm-level consent above and can't be completed by the accountant.

Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company directly. Don't use a link from an email.
Select the Inbox icon in the global header.
Accept the one-time consent prompt that appears.
Ask your accountant to send a new request and test the email link to confirm everything's connected.

Note

If your firm has given consent but your business admin hasn't, your QuickBooks users can't open the Inbox inside QuickBooks. They can still reply through the Client Portal until your business admin completes consent.

Send a new message

Select the Inbox icon in the global header.
Select + New.
Select the type of message you want to send, such as Email, Team message, Accountant message, or Expert message. If you're an accountant, enter a contact name or email address when prompted.
Type your message.
Select the attachment icon to upload documents (like receipts or tax forms) for your accountant.
Select Send.

Tip

You can also start a message about a specific transaction. Select the chat bubble icon next to any uncategorized transaction in your Bank feed or Books close to send a message about that transaction.

Review your messages anytime by switching between the Needs action, Waiting, and All tabs in your Inbox.

Connect external email and manage your alert settings

Available to Primary Admins of QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced companies. Available on web now, with mobile support coming in mid-August 2026. Not available in Intuit Accountant Suite, Intuit Enterprise Suite, or other QuickBooks Online plans, including Simple Start and Essentials.

Select the Inbox icon in the global header.
Select the three dots icon.
Select Settings, then follow the option that matches how you use QuickBooks: if you use QuickBooks Online as a business, select Edit on the Channels tile to connect your Gmail or Outlook account or add an email signature, and select the Messages tile to manage Company alerts or turn Intuit Intelligence on or off.
Save your changes.

Note: Intuit Intelligence acts as a proactive assistant for Plus/Advanced users who do not have an accountant connected. It analyzes your data and sends notifications when it detects significant changes in your historical patterns.

Turn on text alerts for new messages

Open any message in your Inbox.
Find the prompt near the message and select Set up text alerts.
Enter your mobile phone number.
Select Submit.

Troubleshoot your Inbox

Issue	Solution
I can't access the Inbox inside QuickBooks.	Your firm may have given consent, but your business admin hasn't. Until your Primary Admin or Company Admin gives consent, you can only reply through the Client Portal. Ask your admin to complete the one-time consent.
I get a permission error when I try to give consent.	You don't have the permissions needed. Ask your Primary Admin or Company Admin to give the one-time consent instead. Firm admins can review team access under Firm hub, Manage users, Users. Business admins: go to Settings, then Manage users.
I can't find my old requests or conversations.	Conversations from the earlier Requests feature don't carry over automatically. If your request was created before May 2026, you can view it as read-only until the end of August 2026 from the legacy Requests page.
My external collaborators are missing.	Team setups from the earlier Requests feature don't carry over. QuickBooks users are added automatically, but you need to add outside collaborators again from Inbox Settings. Collaborators don't count toward your QuickBooks user limit.