How to set up recurring invoices in QuickBooks

Check your plan first. Intuit's article on recurring transactions describes creating templates in Essentials, Plus and Advanced. Its steps are written for the new QuickBooks Online experience.

Pick the template type before you start, since it decides what QuickBooks does on each date:

• Scheduled: the invoices go out automatically. It suits charges where neither the timing nor the amount changes.
• Reminder: the invoices are scheduled, but you send each one yourself. It suits a fixed timetable where each invoice needs editing before it's created.
• Unscheduled: no dates at all. It suits a complicated invoice you don't want to type again but don't issue on any set cycle.

For a Scheduled or Reminder invoice, also decide whether each invoice should pick up unbilled charges and whether QuickBooks should email it automatically. If you use Merchant Services, the Cards and Bank transfer boxes in the template's Online Payment section set whether the customer can pay online.

1. Go to All apps, select Accounting, then select Recurring transactions.
2. Select New, choose Invoice as the type of transaction and select OK.
3. Enter a Template name you'll recognise in the list.
4. Choose the Type: Scheduled, Reminder or Unscheduled.
5. For Scheduled or Reminder, set whether the invoices include unbilled charges and are emailed automatically.
6. Complete the remaining fields, including the customer, how often it repeats in the Interval section, and the product or service lines in Item details.
7. Select Save template.

To turn an existing invoice into a template, open the invoice, select Manage and open the Scheduling dropdown. Turn on Make invoice recurring, select OK, fill in the details and select Save template. On the old invoice layout, select Make recurring instead.

To start a template from one you already have, go to Recurring transactions, open the Edit dropdown in its Action column, select Duplicate and then Save template. The copy keeps every setting apart from the title.

The template now produces invoices according to its type, and Intuit notes that each invoice it makes is saved as a draft for you to check and finalise.

To change the template later, go to Settings, select Recurring transactions and choose Edit in its Action column. You can rename it, change its type or the customer, and add or remove product or service lines in Item details. For a Scheduled or Reminder template, you can also change how far in advance QuickBooks creates the invoice or sends you a reminder, and the Interval. Select Save template when you're done.

Edits to a template reach only the template and the invoices made from it. Other transactions stay as they are, so change those on the customer profile or on the transaction itself.

Templates also pick up some changes made elsewhere. If you edit a customer or a product or service that a template uses, QuickBooks tells you and offers Update for all, which carries the change into the templates too, or One time only, which keeps it to the transaction you were editing. Changes to fields such as terms, payment method, transaction dates and amounts also affect templates.

To stop a template, go to Settings, choose Recurring transactions under Lists, open the dropdown beside its Template Name, select Delete in the Action column and select Yes.

If the service date is blank on invoices from a template, that's how templates work: they don't fill that field in. To add it, go to Reports, select Standard reports and run the Recent Automatic Transactions report for the dates you need. Open each invoice from the report, enter the Service Date when the work was done and select Save.

If you can't find Recurring transactions, Intuit gives two ways to reach the list: through All apps and then Accounting, or from Settings, where it's under Lists.