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 also show you how to handle things if you use an external payment processing platform.

Step 1: Create and send an invoice

1. Select + New.
2. Select Invoice.
3. From the Customer ▼ dropdown, select a customer. Make sure all of their info is correct, especially their email address.
4. Review the Invoice date. If you need to, change the due date in the Terms ▼ dropdown.
   Tip: Net refers to the number of days until the payment is due. The default is 30 days, but you can change the due date if needed.
5. From the Product/Service column, select a product or service. You can also select +Add new to create a new product or service right from the invoice.
6. Enter a Quantity, Rate and Amount if needed.
7. Select a Tax option. If you are unable to see tax, make sure you have set up tax.
8. When you’re done, there are several options for saving or sharing the invoice:
   • If you're ready to send the invoice, select Save and send to email the invoice to your customer. 
   • To send the invoice later, select Save and close.
   • To print a paper invoice, select Save. Then select Print or preview. 
   • To send your customer a link to their invoice through SMS or a messenger service, select Save and share link. Then select Copy link and paste it in your SMS or messenger service.
   • To send your invoice using WhatsApp, select Save & Share (WhatsApp).

Want to personalise your invoices? Here's how to create custom templates.

If you're a project-based business, you can create progress invoices to request partial payments during a project.

Step 2: Review open 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 want to review your invoices, go to Bookkeeping, select Transactions, then select All sales (Take me there). Check the Status column to see where invoices are in the sales process.

Here are few common statuses that you might see:

• Open: You haven’t emailed the invoice yet.
• Open (Sent): You’ve emailed the invoice to the customer.
• Open (Viewed): Your customer has opened the invoice. 
• Paid: Your customer has paid the invoice.
• Overdue: The invoice has not been paid yet.
• Overdue (Viewed): Your customer has opened the overdue invoice, but not paid it.
• Delivery issue: The invoice could not be delivered. Check the email address and resend. 
• Voided: The invoice was voided in QuickBooks. 

Step 3: Receive payments for invoices

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.