How to make an invoice in QuickBooks

Intuit splits invoicing into four parts: draft the invoice, add the customer and what you're charging them for, choose settings such as the payment method and reminders, then email it or keep it to send later. Depending on your settings, an invoice can also be downloaded and printed, or shared as a link.

Get the customer's details right before you begin, and above all their email address, since that's where the invoice goes when you email it. When a customer already has an email address listed, QuickBooks fills it in for you at the sending stage.

Each line comes from your list of products and services, chosen from a dropdown, so know which ones you're billing for. If this customer has a quote, billable time or an expense, or a delayed credit or charge waiting, QuickBooks can suggest it so you don't have to type it in again. If you use multicurrency and the customer is billed in a currency other than your home currency, the exchange rate for the invoice can be changed under Payment options.

1. Select + New or + Create, whichever your screen shows, then choose Invoice.
2. Choose the customer from the Add Customer dropdown, then check their details, especially the email address.
3. Look over the Invoice date, Due date and Terms, and enter different dates or terms if this invoice needs them.
4. On the first line, pick a product or service from the dropdown and fill in the quantity (Qty), the Rate and anything else the line needs.
5. Select Add product or service for each extra line. The dropdown beside it also has Add subtotal, and Add text for a line of wording or a blank divider.
6. To put the lines in a different order, drag each one by its re-order icon.
7. To bring in a waiting quote, billable time or expense, or delayed credit or charge, open Suggestions, choose Suggested transactions and select Add on the one you want.
8. To change what the invoice shows or how it looks, select Manage and choose the options in the side panel.
9. If it should be emailed or printed at a later time, open Scheduling and turn on Send later or Print later.
10. Finish by selecting Review and send, then follow the prompts to check the invoice and email it now. Or select Save and close to keep it for sending later.

Once saved, the invoice can be found on the Invoices page under Sales & Get Paid. Its row there has an Action column, where View/Edit opens it again and the dropdown has options for sending it.

If you used Review and send, there are two signs the invoice went out: its status shows Sent, and the customer receives an email notification. An invoice kept with Save and close hasn't been sent to anyone yet, so it waits on the Invoices page until you send it.

Options set under Manage aren't kept to the invoice you were on. QuickBooks remembers them and uses them on your existing invoices as well as new ones, so a layout change made while billing one customer shows on every customer's invoices.

When the customer pays, Intuit's next step is for you to record that payment in QuickBooks Online yourself.

If Add text is missing from the Add product or service dropdown, the invoice isn't on the Modern template. Intuit offers it on the Modern template only, which you can make your default from the Design dropdown, as the note above describes.

If the customer says the invoice never arrived, open it again with View/Edit and check the customer's details, especially the email address, before sending it again.