progress invoicing

Thank you ChristieAnn for your reply to my questions.  However I wanted a better way of invoicing.  I was doing it the way you suggested but it is time consuming to bring up every estimate to see if it is time to create an invoice.  My problem is we have some customers that are invoiced on the first of every month, some on the 15th of the month and then others who are invoiced on the first and the 15th of the month.  In order to tell if a customer needs an invoice I have to go into the customer and see how they are set up.  This is why recurring entries would be nice if only they could be linked to the estimate.  Please let me know if you have any other solutions that might be helpful.

Also for the estimates & progress invoicing reports I can not see where you can include any payment history.  The customers want to see the remaining balance on the estimate, invoice #, date & amount, along with payment date, payment method and payment amount.  Do you have any idea what I can customize to include all of that data?  I tried the transaction detail report but that doesn't give you any information about the estimate.

Thanks,

Debbie011

I appreciate the complete details you've shared, @debbie011.

Currently, QuickBooks allows you to convert an estimate to an invoice. However, the system doesn't have an option to make recurring invoices out of an estimate. In the meantime, you can use a third-party application that offers the same functionality and is supported by QuickBooks. The App Center contains over 400 popular apps that sync with QuickBooks. Here’s how:

1. Go to https://apps.intuit.com/.
2. Enter a keyword on the Find the right apps for your business box or use the Categories section.

On the other hand, you can enable the Account Summary feature in your invoices. Here's how:

1. Go to Settings ⚙.
2. Select Custom Form Styles.
3. Find the invoice template you use.
4. From the Action column, select Edit ✎. 
5. Choose the Content tab.
6. In the form preview, select the body section and then Edit ✎.
7. Mark the Show on the invoice checkbox. 
8. Select Done. 

This will display your customer's transaction history on the invoice. However, it will not include the information your estimates. You can generate and customize the Transaction List by Customer report. It shows all your transactions for a specific customer.

Keep me posted if you have other questions about customizing your sales forms in QuickBooks. I'm always here to help.

We need a way to get the correct amount of the product that shipped listed on the progressive invoice. We never ship 1.2 of a quantity. Can you help?

Thanks for checking in with us, AL74.

It's possible you created progress invoices from the estimate causing decimal digit of 1.2 quantity. To avoid this, we'll need to manually enter the item's quantity when creating the transaction. Just enter the value in the QTY column when creating the progressive invoice. If you need to connect an estimate to a new invoice, just follow the steps below:

1. Click the New Plus icon and then Invoice.
2. Select your customer from the drop-down menu. If the customer has an open estimate, QuickBooks will open the Add to Invoice sidebar.
3. Find the estimate in the sidebar and tap Add.
4. Decide how much you want to invoice for, and choose Copy to invoice.
5. Fill out the rest of the invoice.
6. Press Save and close.

To learn more about progress invoicing, check out the Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online article. If you need to run the report for open invoices, just follow the steps below: 

1. On the left panel, click Reports.
2. In the search bar, type in Transaction and select Transaction List by Date.
3. Click Customise.
4. Choose a date range.
5. Go to Filter.
6. Put a checkmark beside Transaction Type.
7. Select Invoice.
8. Put a checkmark beside A/R Paid, and select Unpaid.
9. Press Run report.

For more information about how reports work, just read the Customize your reports in QuickBooks Online article. You can also memorize your reports to save its current customization settings.

Visit our Invoices and payments page for more insights about managing your sales transactions.

Feel free to touch base with us if there's any help you need. As always, we're always right here to address you if you have any questions about your account. Have a great day ahead. 

I have tried and tried to activate my progress invoicing, but the instructions don't match what I am seeing in front of me. I get to Account and Settings, and there is absolutely no sales tab. The only tab on the left-hand side is "company" and has basic details about the company registration. I need help - I already went as far as creating and sending out the entire estimate, but cannot figure out how to send the invoice now.

Thanks for joining the thread, Sirenna.

You should be able to see the Sales tab on the Account and Setting page. Let's perform some troubleshooting to isolate the issue. It could be that the calculated site data in the browser is the root cause of this unusual behavior. Use these shortcut keys to open your QBO company using a private window:

• Mozilla Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
• Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge: Ctrl + Shift + N
• Safari: Command + Option + P

If you can now see the progress invoicing feature, you'll have close the incognito mode and go back to your main browser. After that, clear its cache to start over fresh. You may also switch to other supported web browsers.

Additionally, take note that this functionality isn't available yet in the updated UI. If you see “New” beside the form title, you’re currently using the latest design.

You'll want to switch to the old experience to use this option. Here's how to do it:

1. Click the + New button.
2. Choose Invoice or Estimate.
3. Select Old layout.

To help manage and keep track of your progress invoices, I recommend reading these articles:

• Set up progress invoicing
• Add project estimate summaries to a progress invoice

Keep me in the loop if you need further assistance in sending your sales forms to your customers. Take care and have a great rest of the day.

ChristieAnn thats a clear explanation. My problem is that after creating a progress invoice template and making it the default and turning progress invoicing on, I do not find create invoice by my action options. Only convert to invoice. When I do that I do not get an option to choose how to progress my invoice. See attached screenshots.

Welcome to the Community, @Fruser.

I'm here to help you create progress invoicing in QuickBooks Online.

My colleague mentioned that you can click the Create Invoice button. As I have checked, it is now changed into Convert to Invoice. After clicking, wait for a while to see the pop-up dialogue. See the screenshot below for the sample.

Then choose from the option and click Create Invoice.

You can read this article to learn about progress invoices: Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online.

 I'm also adding this article or future reference in receiving payment: Record payments in QBO.

Let me know if you have questions about managing invoices in QuickBooks Online. I'm always here to help. Have a great day.

I am excited to use this feature.  However, the feature keeps turning off when I try to create an invoice from an estimate.  I have confirmed that the setting is saved by reopening the settings page and visually seeing that the option is still "on". All estimates are the new "modern" style. As soon as I select "convert to invoice" on an estimate, no progress options are displayed, an invoice automatically displays, and the progress invoicing option reverts to "off". I have also tried creating a new invoice after turning the feature on, but the same thing happens when converting to invoice.  Please help.

Welcome to the Community, tradesmanHS.

Currently, the progress invoicing feature isn't functional with the new estimate and invoice layouts. I can certainly understand how this ability could be useful and have submitted a suggestion about it as of today.

You can also submit your own feature requests while signed in.

Here's how:

1. Use the Gear icon, then go to Feedback.
2. Enter your suggestion(s) in the Have feedback? window.
3. If necessary, attach a file with your Camera icon.
4. Select Next.
   
   

Your feedback's definitely valuable to Intuit. It will be reviewed by our Product Development team and considered in future updates. You can stay up-to-date with the latest news about your product by reviewing Intuit's Product Updates webpage.

As a workaround, you can switch to the old estimate and invoice layouts while creating an invoice/estimate:
 

1. In your left navigation bar, use the + New button.
2. Choose Invoice or Estimate.
3. In your upper right corner, click the Old layout button.
4. Select Leave.

I've also included a detailed resource about the new layouts which may come in handy moving forward: See what’s new with estimates & invoices

If there's any additional questions, I'm just a post away. Have a wonderful day!

Is there any update to this? I'm using the new layout and theres no option to use the old one so now I can't do progress invoicing at all. 

I understand that having the progress invoicing would be beneficial for you, @OscarRod.

Currently, this feature isn't available yet for the new estimate and invoice layout. 

To help improve your experience with QuickBooks Online (QBO), I suggest sending feedback to our product development team. Our team will review your suggestion and may consider adding it in the next updates.

Here's how: 

1. Select the Gear icon, then choose Feedback.
2. Type in your comments or product suggestions.
3. Select Next to submit.

In addition, you can set up automatic invoice reminders in QBO, which saves you the hassle of manually tracking due dates. Check out this article on how to set this up: Send invoice reminders automatically.

I'm always available if you need assistance managing your invoices in QBO. Just tap the reply button for your response. 

Is there any how to information using Desktop version for progress invoicing.

I'll guide you through using the progress invoicing in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), @Brita2. This way, you can start splitting an estimate to invoice what's needed.

Firstly, let's turn on this feature in your company file before creating any transactions:

1. Log in to your QuickBooks Desktop company as an admin.
2. Navigate to the File menu and select Switch to Single-user mode.
3. From there, click the Edit menu and select Preferences.
4. Select Jobs & Estimates from the list menu and go to the Company Preferences tab.
5. In the Do you create estimates? section select, Yes. Then, select Yes in Do you do progress invoicing? section.
6. Click OK to save and close the preferences.

Next to it, we can start creating an estimate using the steps below:

1. Go to the Customers menu and select Create Estimates.
2. Choose the Customer for whom the estimate is intended.
3. Enter all the necessary details about the transaction.
4. Then, click Save & New or Save & Close.

Lastly, follow Step 3: Create progress invoices from the estimate outlined in this article to start splitting estimates into as many invoices as you need: Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Desktop.

After that, you can begin recording your customers' payments to keep your records accurate once your customers decide to pay their balances. 

If you have any questions or concerns with any QuickBooks matters, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I hope all your business endeavors continue to thrive.

I have to use QuickBooks Desktop Pro for my progressive invoicing for my customer's copy so they can understand invoiced info and then enter the information into QuickBooks Online, getting the next available estimate # out of QuickBooks Online first,  then fill in the identical data for tracking monies which is done in QuickBooks Online.