Create invoices in QuickBooks Online

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 show you how to create new invoices and show you how to review unpaid invoices. We’ll also give you info on how customers can pay their invoices online if you have QuickBooks Payments, or how to handle things if you use an external payment processing platform.

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view .

Step 1: Create and send an invoice

If you're using the new layout

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.

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1. Select + New.
2. Select Invoice.
3. Select Add customer and choose a customer from the ▼ dropdown. Make sure all of their info is correct, especially their email address.
4. 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. 
5. Select Add product or service and select a product or service from the ▼ dropdown.
6. Select how you want to calculate the charge amount - flat rate, by hour, or by item. Enter a quantity and rate, if needed.
7. To customize 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. 
8. 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. You can also send invoices via text messages by selecting Text and following the steps. Take note that the text invoice feature is currently only available for payments enabled customers.
     • Note: You must have your customer's permission to send them invoices by text prior to opting-in to text notifications. See Section B.6 of our terms of service for more information.
   • 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.

Step 2: Review unpaid 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 wish 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 a few common statuses that you might see:

• 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.

Need to notify customers about upcoming invoice due dates? You can send them a reminder message.

Step 3: Receive payments for invoices

If you use QuickBooks Payments, customers can pay their invoices directly by credit card, PayPal, Venmo, or ACH transfer. 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.