Invoices viewed by customers

As I understand it, the way the sent/viewed aspect works depends on the setting under online delivery 

Under email options for invoices you must choose "online invoice"

and you must NOT check off the "Attach invoice as pdf" 

The customer will receive an email with a link to open the invoice (which they can print if they wish). When the customer clicks on "view invoice now" that is what QBO tracks. 

However, the function of Customer Viewed Invoice (which is very important to those managing AR) does not work effectively and is known technical issue by QBO Support. Why is this important to QBO users and executives who are responsible for managing their cash flow and customer collections?  Because the Customer Viewed logs in Activities suggest that the Customer actually viewed the invoice and perhaps is taking action on this.  The issue is that the logs do not necessarily display accurate information - which leads to false positives for activities on getting paid.  For example. whoever is the recipient or is in the cc, or bcc field (could also be a group of individuals in a Company setting) and they select the Intuit-generated invoice, the Activities log states that the CUSTOMER Viewed the invoice - even if it was someone who sent the invoice from the Company. For example, if you are copied on the outbound invoice and it stays in your inbox or one of the Companies general AR inboxes, each time someone from your Company passes over it or specifically selects the invoice via their email, QBO logs that the Customer Viewed it.  This should be an easy fix by QBO engineers as the IP address should dictate who specifically viewed the invoice.  Once this Activity log code is fixed, it will certainly be easier to follow the payment trail and protect cash flows!

Agreed with PTE3. It would be nice to track just certain email for opening ... as we CC our internal team on certain emails, I don't care to confuse them opening the email with the customer opening the email.

Thanks for joining the Online Community, ColonyMedia.

Allow me to share some information about tracking certain emails.

Currently, you’ll have to manually check who opens the email whether it’s the employee or customer. Please know your voice is important to us, and we take customer’s suggestion as an opportunity to guide us on which area of the product we need to improve on.

You can check the latest news and product enhancements through this link: The QuickBooks Blog.

The information I provided should point you in the right direction.

If there’s anything else I can help you with, post your comment below. I’ll be right here to assist you further. Have a good one.

Hi there, sportscarshop,

Thanks for joining the thread. Let me help share addtional information about emailing invoices in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Once an invoice is sent, the system will recognize that it has been viewed by the customer. The statuses are changed automatically once the customer received and opened the said invoices. You'll see it under the Invoices page. It will show as Viewed in the STATUS column .

To check the status of invoices sent via email on your QBO account, here’s what you'll need to do:

1. Click Sales in the left navigation panel.
2. Select Customers.
3. Choose the name of the customer you want to view.
4. Open the invoice and go to the Activities section found at the lower part of the invoice.

Moreover, you can also use the Audit log to check the activity history of all transactions.

For additional information I'm attaching some helpful articles you can check:

• Use e-Invoice
• How to view transaction changes in the audit history
• The Audit Log: What it is, how to use it

If you have any other questions about invoices, please let me know. I'm always here to help. Have a great day!

Hello, @Anonymous.

Thanks for the prompt response. Allow me to add to this discussion and share some information about emailed invoices. 

For now, you can only see if someone viewed the invoice you sent. The option for the system to indicate a specific person is currently unavailable. I’ll personally update the thread for any information or changes related to this.

In the meantime, you can visit our QuickBooks Online Blog to know more about our latest happenings. From there, you’ll get the recent news, features, and updates about QBO and what our Product Team is working on.

I'm also adding our help link for future reference: QBO Self-help.

That should do it. Reach out to me if you have any other concerns, I’m always here to assist you. Wishing you and your business continued success!
 

This is something that needs to be fixed.  Because my invoice showed "viewed", I was under the impression that our invoice was on scheduled to be paid.  Come to find out when I checked with the customer on the due date (60 days later), they never opened it to enter it in their system.   Now I have to wait an additional 60 for them to enter it and then release payment.  If it hadn't been marked viewed, I would have seen that and could have contacted our customer sooner.  Are there any plans to update this feature so that you can see exactly who views the invoice?

Hello, @sara-gcs.

I appreciate you getting back to us in the Community. I'm here to help make sure this is taken care of.

This isn't the impression that I'd like for you to be left with. The updates and changes that we implement are largely the results of the suggestions provided by users, just like yourself. Rest assured that I'm making it my top priority that your feedback about who exactly viewed the invoices reaches our Product Development Team.

As mentioned by my colleagues above, you can also visit our QuickBooks Blog site. This is the place we post updates with regards to newly added features.

Thanks for being a part of our QuickBooks family. Please post again or leave a comment should you need anything else. I'm always here to help. Take care always.

Can the recipient see your bank info after you send invoice. I had a sketchy customer asking to send money to me. Then ask me to pay someone else with the money once its deposited. I'm thinking this is a scam. I have not sent invoice to him yet. But anyone think this is sketchy

Your account's security is a very high priority in QuickBooks, @Deano2.

 No, your customers will not see any of your bank information when sending an invoice. I have a short video clip to show to you how the e-invoicing works. 

On the other hand, to learn more on how to track your invoice status, you can read through this article: Track status of your invoices in QuickBooks Online for mobile.

Also, you can check these articles for more insights about keeping your account safe and secured:

• Recognize and report suspicious emails (Phishing)
• Protect your QuickBooks Payments account from suspicious activity

Let me know if you have other questions. I'm always here to help.

Do you know if this has been fixed yet? It drives me crazy almost daily because I'm seeing that the "customer" is viewing the invoice a ton, but I know that some of them are me going into the invoice and checking. 

Hi there, @ZodiacJenn.

Usually, when an invoice is viewed by your customer it should show Viewed in your invoice status. However, if you're referring that your invoice status shows Viewed even thou your customer hasn't Viewed it yet. Then, let's try performing some basic troubleshooting tests to get this sorted out. I'm here to guide you how.

Let's try login out to your account and re-login. If the error persists, then we'll have to perform a basic browser troubleshooting test to check if this a browser-related issue. Here's how.

First, let's try accessing your account via a private or incognito browser:

• Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Internet Explorer: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Mozilla Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: Command + Option + P

If you don't see the Viewed status on your invoice using a private or incognito browser, then you'll have to clear your regular browser cache. This way, it'll optimize your browser performance and your enhance your QuickBook Online experience.

However, If you get the same results, I recommend using another supported browser.

In case you want to learn some tips about managing your account, you can always visit our Help articles page for reference.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any other concerns. We're always here to help.

It does say "viewed". The problem is the main problem discussed in this feed. That the invoice activities field is showing that the customer viewed the invoices even when some of those entries are really me viewing it. A couple of other QB Team members have said in this feed that it is a programming issue on your end and may be fixed soon. I just wanted to know if this is going to be resolved soon.

Hello ZodiacJenn,

I appreciate you for getting back here in the Community. Let me chime in and help share information about the invoice status in QuickBooks Online.

I've checked here, and haven't found any open investigation concerning the invoice status from the activities field. If you've already tried following the steps provided by my colleague above, I recommend reaching out to our QuickBooks Support this time.

One of them will need to take over and further check the issue going on with Viewed status from your invoices. You can reach them through these steps:

1. Log into your QuickBooks account.
2. Click the Help option in the upper-right corner.
3. Click the Contact us hyperlink.

For future reference, I also recommend bookmarking this support article to the browser you're currently using for QBO:

Contact the QuickBooks Online Customer Support team.

I'll keep an eye out on your response for any additional assistance you may need for invoice status. Wishing you all the best.

This is happening to me as well.  I simply have a sent activity in the invoice . So I began to send paper invoices only to find out that they did in fact receive it via email. It is so embarrassing! 

Hi Temple1428,

We'd like to direct you to our Customer Care Team, so we can further investigate this behavior.

You can reach out to us by following these steps:

1. Click the Help icon located in the upper right-hand corner.
2. In the Help window, click the Contact Us button located at the bottom.
3. Enter your question and click Let's talk.
4. Select Start messaging or Get a callback.

If ever you need anything else or you have other questions about QuickBooks, just leave us a reply. We are always around to help. Thanks.

Is this still true that at the bottom of the invoices when you look at Activities, it will show it was viewed by a customer, even though it could have been viewed by someone who was cc'd on the invoice? 

Hello there, Alicia. 

Yes, we had an investigation about the invoice's Activities section not updating to the actual activity done. With this, I suggest reaching out to our Customer Support team as what my colleague @RenjolynC states above. We'll open a new case for you and we'll surely look into a permanent fix to this issue. 

You can follow the steps provided. Just a heads up, due to COVID-19, we have reduced our support hours to 6 AM - 6PM PST from Monday to Friday. For more details of our contact support hours, click this article: Contact Support. 

Thanks for your patience. Take care always!

Why are the Activities Reflected on the invoice page not Accurate? Intermittently they are correct. However, yesterday I sent out 10 invoices. Yet only 6 reflected that they were sent. I confirmed they were sent as I get a copy as well in my sales email.  On one client I found that the activities record only displayed 3 of the 7 times that the invoice was sent. If I did not have a email trail I would have no proof. This should be a deterministic process.   

Hello there, @muenstermann.

There's an open investigation about this issue. Our Engineering Team is currently investigating this situation and we're unable to provide a specific timeline on when this will be resolved.

In the meantime, our temporary workaround is to open the invoice and look at the section " Last Delivery" to determine the status of delivery.

Also, to add your account to the investigation (INV-43839), I'd suggest contacting our QuickBooks Online Team. This way, you'll be able to receive an update via email regarding the resolution of the issue.

Here's how you can reach them: 

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company. then select Help (?) at the top right.
2. Select Contact Us to connect with a live support agent. 
3. Enter your questions. 
4. Click Let's talk. 
5. Choose a way to connect with us. Start messaging or Get a callback.  

Due to COVID 19, we have limited staffing and have reduced our support hours to 6 A.M. to 6 P.M Pacific Time, Monday to Friday. Rest assured, we will resume as soon as possible.

You might also want to visit our Help articles page to learn more about navigating QuickBooks.

Thank you for your patience while we're working on it. For other concerns, let me know by leaving a comment below. I'm always here to assist. 

I am finding our question has still not been answered. I have Invoices that do not read as seen by the customer, they show they have been sent, but not viewed - then when I try to contact the customer to see if I have the incorrect email - they have already been opened and read and I look a fool.

We also do our collecting based on if someone has read or not read an email - so I need it to read as viewed if it had been. This is quite frustrating.