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Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•232• Updated 3 days ago

Learn how to send invoices over time as you work off an estimate in QuickBooks.

If you'd like to make it easy for your customers to pay an invoice online, check out QuickBooks Payments rates and apply.

Progress invoicing lets you split an estimate into as many invoices as you need. Instead of asking for full payment at the beginning of a project, you can invoice customers for partial payments. As you complete work, add items from the initial estimate to progress invoices. This keeps project payments organized and connected from start to finish.

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Prerequisites

Before you can create a progress invoice:

  • Turn on progress invoicing.
  • Create an estimate.

Once progress invoicing is turned on, you can use the premade Airy style template, or create your own.

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon. and select Account and settings.
  2. Select the Sales tab.
  3. In the Progress Invoicing section, select Edit ✎.
  4. Turn on the Create multiple partial invoices from a single estimate switch.
  5. Select Done.

Now you can create multiple invoices from your estimates.

Step 1: Create progress invoices from an estimate

You can use an estimate to create a progress invoice that has been marked Accepted. This doesn't change the original estimate, which remains in your records. You can create multiple progress invoices from the same estimate.

  1. Go to Sales, then All sales (Take me there).
  2. Select the estimate you want to use to create a progress invoice..
  3. Under Accepted, select Convert to invoice.
  4. Fill out the rest of the invoice.
  5. Select Review and send, Save and new or Save and close.

Note: You can also create an invoice and assign it to a customer with an open estimate. Then find the estimate in the Add to Invoice or Suggested transactions sidebar and select Add.

Step 2: Keep track of your progress invoices

Progress invoices include an estimate summary with the total invoiced. There are also links to the original estimate and all relevant progress invoices. 

To see the original estimate from the invoice:

  1. Go to Sales, then Invoices (Take me there).
  2. Select the invoice
  3. Select Linked transactions.
  4. Select to the estimate you want to see.

After you’ve invoiced for the total estimate, the estimate status automatically changes to Converted. If you try to invoice for more than 100% of the total estimate, you’ll only be able to add what’s left of the remaining balance.

Related links

The Estimates & Progress Invoicing Summary by Customer report gives you a complete list of all estimates and connected progress invoices.

  1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
  2. Search for and open your Estimates& Progress Invoicing Summary by Customer report.
  1. Go to Sales, then Invoices (Take me there).
  2. Select the invoice you want to unlink.
  3. Select Linked transactions.
  4. Next to the estimate you want to disconnect, select Remove.
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