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Manage communications in your QuickBooks Online and Intuit Accountant Suite (IAS) Inbox
Your Inbox is your unified workspace inside QuickBooks Online and Intuit Accountant Suite (IAS). Use it to message your team, your clients, and your accountant. If your business is subscribed to QuickBooks Live services, you can also message a Bookkeeping Expert. QuickBooks Online business admins can also connect their external email accounts to bring incoming email into the same threads as other messages.
The first time someone at your firm or business opens the Inbox, a person with the required permissions must give a one-time consent. After that, anyone with team view permissions can send messages, reply, and manage their own notification settings.
| 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 a 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 (IAS). 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 Onlineaccount.
For Intuit Accountant Suite (IAS)Users: If you're the firm's Primary Admin or a Company Admin, you can give consent once for the whole firm.
Sign in to Intuit Accountant Suite (IAS).
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 this 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.
Select Bank transactions, then Requests.
To learn more, see Request more information on a transaction.
For QuickBooks Online Users:
If you're a Primary or Company Admin, you can give consent once for your own QuickBooks Online company. 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
Send a message to your team, a client, or your accountant without leaving QuickBooks. If your business is subscribed to Intuit Experts, you can also message a Bookkeeping Expert.
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 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 (QuickBooks Online Admins only) and manage your alert settings
If you are a QuickBooks Online Primary or Company Admin, you can link your Gmail or Outlook account to your Inbox. (Note: External email connection is not available for Intuit Accountant Suite (IAS)).
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. Select the Messages tile to manage Company alerts or turn Intuit Intelligence on or off.
If you use Intuit Accountant Suite: select the Messages tile to manage Accountant alerts, Client alerts, and Intuit Intelligence follow-ups.
Save your changes.
Turn on text alerts for new messages
Opt in to get a text message whenever you receive a new message or reply.
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
If something isn't working the way you expect, check these common issues first.
| 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 to complete the setup. Ask your Primary Admin or Company Admin to give the one-time consent instead. Firm admins can review team access: go to Firm hub, select Manage users, then Users. Business admins: go to Settings ⚙, then select 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 by accessing 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. |
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