Why does QuickBooks Self-employed replace the customer message in an existing invoice with the default message when I edit the invoice?

Hello, @BMcCarty2012. It's my pleasure to help you.

QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) has a single customization setting for your invoices. Once you customize your invoices, changes will automatically apply to all future invoices.

Well in you case, it is possible that the Save as default message for future invoices option is turn on. We can turn off this option, so that it won't replace the customer message in an existing invoice. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the Invoices menu.
2. Open the existing invoice, from the dropdown select Edit.
3. From the page, change the invoice message.
4. Then, uncheck the Save as default message for future invoices option.
5. If you want to send it, select Send invoice.
   
   

For more details about setting up your invoice preferences, you can refer to this article: Create invoices in QuickBooks Self-Employed

Just in case you want to learn how to track sales tax in QBSE, you can read through this article for more information: Learn how sales tax works in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

Tag me if you have more questions or clarifications on how to manage your invoice and I'll be sure to assist you. Take care and have a good one!

I appreciate the quick answer, but that's not what I'm looking for. I get that the customization changes will apply to all new invoices, but the customization settings also apply to existing invoices if you edit them. Here's a video that shows an example - https://youtu.be/IpLRYecEEhw. 

In the video, you may notice that the example invoice I click is a draft. But the same thing happens if I click an invoice I've already sent. The existing customer message in any invoice is replaced by the default message when I open the invoice for editing. 

Maybe QBSE treats any edited invoice as a new invoice, and so it applies the default message? That might explain the behavior, but doesn't make sense from a logical standpoint - since QBSE retains all the other information in an existing invoice. 

I red through your answer more carefully, and it doesn't seem to apply to my instance of QBSE online. There is no "Invoices" option under the gear icon. The only "Invoices" link is on the left menu. When I click the link, it takes me to "Invoices", where I can click the "Create Invoice" button. But there is no customize option anywhere in a new invoice.  

Thanks for sharing the video that would tell us what exactly happens when you edit an invoice, BMcCarty2012.

You might also have the older interface for QuickBooks Self-Employed. This can be the reason why you can't see the Invoices option after clicking the Gear icon. Please know that updates are made in batches, and your account is still in using the older design.

I tried the same scenario in my own QBSE account and the existing invoices does not have the same message. 

A possible cache issue in your browser might have caused the drafted message to affect old and new invoices. I'll share some steps that can resolve some of the most common browser issues in QuickBooks Self-Employed. 

You can start by switching to an incognito/private browsing session. You can also use a different browser if you have other options in your computer. Let me share these keyboard shortcuts on how to open an incognito session: 

• Ctrl + Shift + N  for Google Chrome
• Ctrl + Shift + P for Firefox
• Control + Option +P if you're using Safari
• Ctrl + Shift + P for Microsoft Edge

 
After that, go back to your account and check if the draft or edited message is not saved in the existing invoices. If you can see that it's no longer updating, follow the steps in this article to delete your browsing history: Clear Cache And Cookies To Fix Issues When Using QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to tag me in your reply if you still need help with your invoices. I'll jump right back to help you again. 

Thanks for the suggestions. I was trying to avoid clearing my cache and cookies, but I gave it a try. I also tried an incognito window, and accessed QBSE using Firefox, but there was no change in the UI components I saw. I was also chatting with a Quicken support person earlier today, and the information they gave me about what is and isn't possible within QBSE was completely different from the behavior I see. For example, they said that it isn't possible to save a custom customer message as the default for new invoices, but there's a checkbox in my UI below the customer message that says "Save as default message for future invoices." And it works just as you would expect. The support agent also told ne it isn't possible to edit an invoice that has already been sent, but I can click the dropdown next to a sent invoice and edit it. So they were either misinformed or I'm seeing something completely different. 

So I'm not sure what's going on, but the support agent escalated the issue to their back-end Dev team. 

Hello, I'm relatively new to QBSE and I'm having the exact same problem (on MacOS and Windows). I see this was flagged in May 2022. Were you ever able to resolve the problem? It's very frustrating, especially as it seems to be a bug that is at least 6 months old and yet nothing has been done by the developers.

Many thanks for your thread (and the very helpful video!)

Kind Regards,

David 

Thanks for joining the thread, @DavidRL. I appreciate you for letting us know about your current situation.

Before anything else, may I ask if you've already tried the recommendations provided by my colleague above? If you've already tried turning off the Save as default message for future invoices and clearing your browser's cache, but the issue persists, I recommend reaching out to our QuickBooks Customer Care Team. This way, they can assign someone to check and investigate your account to determine the root cause of the issue and have it fixed immediately. To begin, here's how:

1. Access your QuickBooks Self-Employed account.
2. On the top right corner, Click Help,
3. Enter a brief description of your concern, and then click Continue.
4. In How would you like to connect with us? you can either choose Chat or Callback.

Additionally, here's an article in case you'd like to get your transactions reports out of QBSE: Export transactions and get reports in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

You can also check this page if you have existing transactions that you'd like to add into your QBSE account: Manually import transactions into QuickBooks Self-Employed.

Should you need further assistance with this? Or have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns? Feel free to post here again. You can always count on the Community team. It'll be our pleasure to help you out again. Take care!

Bumping this. Same issue on Chrome on OSX. I'm able to save the message on my phone but on a web browser it shows up as an OLD message still no matter if I check, uncheck, refresh the box message box.

Hello there, @dnhopper. Welcome to the Community.

Let's perform some troubleshooting steps to get rid of the error message and for you to successfully save your invoices in QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE).

You may have a browser cache-related issue. That's why the invoice message saved on your phone didn't reflect in your QBSE account in the browser. Your browser saves files to load websites faster on your next visit. But over time, it'll get outdated, which can cause errors and performance issues using QBSE.

To fix this, you can perform some troubleshooting steps. Start by pulling up your QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) account using a private browser (incognito). Here's how:

• Press Ctrl + Shift + N (Google Chrome)
• Ctrl + Shift + P (Firefox)
• Control + Option + P (Safari)

Once signed in, go to the Invoices menu and open the invoice you want to review. You can also refer to this article to learn more about customizing invoices in QBSE: Create invoices in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

If you're able to view your updated invoice message, return to your default browser and clear its cache. This will refresh the system and remove older data that causes viewing and performance issues. However, if this matter continues, I'd recommend using other supported browsers.

Also, each time you put a transaction into your QBSE account, you need to categorize it to organize your income and expenses. You may want to check out this article as your reference to guide you in executing this process: Categorize transactions in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have other concerns about managing invoices in QBSE. I'm always ready to help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @dnhopper.