How to send an invoice in QuickBooks

You need a saved invoice to send, so create it first. Then choose how it should reach the customer: as a PDF attached to an email, as a link you paste into a text message or an email, or through WhatsApp.

For email, check you have the customer's address. If one is listed for the customer, QuickBooks puts it in for you; if not, you type it in as you send.

Decide which address the email should come from. QuickBooks can send from your QuickBooks Online account email, or from a Gmail address you connect to the account. Only one Gmail address can be connected. Intuit notes that QuickBooks Online can't get into your emails, but anyone with permission to send invoices from your account can send from a connected address.

1. Go to All apps, select Sales & Get Paid, then select Invoices.
2. Find the invoice and select View/Edit in its Action column. Make any last changes.
3. Check the customer's email address has been entered.
4. Select Review and send. If a message says the invoice is linked with another entity, select Yes.
5. To send from a different address, open the From dropdown and pick it.
6. To connect Gmail, select + Add Gmail address, then Connect Google account, follow the steps shown and select Allow so QuickBooks can send your emails.
7. Change the email content if you want to, then select Send invoice.

To send without opening the invoice, open the dropdown in its Action column on the Invoices list and select Send. Enter the addresses in To (a listed email is already there), change the From address or the wording if needed, and select Send.

To share a link instead, open that same Action column dropdown and select Share invoice link, then Copy link and Done. Paste the link into a text message or an email to the customer.

To use WhatsApp, open the invoice with View/Edit, make any changes and select Save & Share (WhatsApp). Answer Yes if asked about a linked entity, read the message, select Share and follow the WhatsApp steps.

Once an invoice has been emailed, its status on the Invoices page shows Sent. So the Invoices page is where you can see which of your invoices have been emailed.

If you stop wanting to send from a connected Gmail address, select Remove Gmail address and confirm with Yes, remove it! If an email sent from your Gmail address can't reach a CC or BCC recipient, Gmail sends you a notification email about it.

Sending is one half of getting paid. When the customer pays, Intuit's next step is to record that payment in QuickBooks Online by hand.

If emails from a connected Gmail address aren't being delivered, Intuit's fix is to remove the Gmail address, add it again by following the steps shown, and select Allow again.

If you'd rather attach the invoice to your own email, save it as a PDF. Go to All apps, select Customer Hub, then Customers & leads, and open the customer's profile. On the Transaction List tab, find the invoice and select View/Edit, then select Print or download and choose Download (or Print for a paper copy). On the old invoice layout, you open it with Edit invoice and use Print or Preview instead. For attaching the file, Intuit points you to your email service's own help.