Create an Invoice in QuickBooks Online- Instructions

Create an Invoice in QuickBooks Online: Video

            This video lesson, titled “How to Create an Invoice in QuickBooks Online,” shows how to create an invoice in QuickBooks Online. This video lesson is from our complete QuickBooks Online tutorial, titled “Mastering QuickBooks Online Made Easy.”

How to Create an Invoice in QuickBooks Online: Instructions

            To create an invoice in QuickBooks Online, either click the “Create Invoice” link under the “Action” column for the customer’s row in the “Customers” page or click the “+ New” button in the Navigation Bar and then click the “Invoice” link under the “Customers” heading in the drop-down menu that appears. In the “Invoice” window that then opens, enter the information needed to invoice the customer.

            The left pane in the invoice window shows a beta preview of the “Autofill” feature, which lets you use AI to try to fill-in an invoice. To close this pane, click the “X” button in its upper-right corner. The right pane in the invoice window contains easily-accessible invoice settings. To show or hide the pane at the right side of the invoice window, click the “Manage” button in the toolbar at the top of the invoice.

Invoice Views in QuickBooks Online

            The toolbar at the top of the invoice window contains an “Edit,” “Email view,” “Payor view,” and “PDF view” tab at its left side. The “Edit” tab, which lets you edit the content of the invoice, is selected by default when you create a new invoice. After you create an invoice, you can click the other tabs to see how the invoice appears to your customers.

            To see how the email for the customer invoice appears, click the “Email view” tab. To see how the web page where customers can learn how to pay the invoice appears, click the “Payor view” tab. To see how the PDF copy of the invoice appears to customers, click the “PDF view” tab. To edit the content of an invoice, select the “Edit” tab, if needed.

A picture showing how to create a new invoice in QuickBooks Online.

How to Select a Customer in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            To choose a customer, select one from the “Customer” drop-down towards the upper-left corner of the window. If selecting an existing customer’s record, their information then populates other fields in the form, based on what you entered when you created the customer’s record. Alternatively, to add a new customer, select the “Add new” choice from this drop-down menu, enter the new customer’s information in the “Customer” pane that then opens at the right side of the window, and click the “Save” button in the pane.

How to Set Email and Print Options for an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            A “Customer email” field appears by the “Customer” drop-down in the invoice and shows the customer’s email address, if you entered it when creating the customer’s record. If you didn’t enter it when you created the customer, type their email here. To email copies of this invoice to others, click the “Cc/Bcc” link by the “Customer email” field to show additional “Cc” and “Bcc” fields in a drop-down menu. Then enter the email addresses into these fields, as needed, and click the “Save” button.

            To mark the invoice as an invoice to print or email later, click the “Manage” button in the toolbar at the top of the invoice to show the pane at the right side of the window, if needed. Then click the “Scheduling” section in this pane to expand it and show its settings, if needed. To mark the invoice to print later, click the “Print later” toggle switch under the “More options” section to toggle it to the “On” position. To mark the invoice to email later, click the “Send later” toggle switch under the “More options” section to toggle it to the “On” position. These options lets you batch print or batch email these invoices later from the “All sales” page, filtered by delivery method, if desired.

How to Set Payment Options in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            The invoice’s payment options appear below the line item area. To edit the invoice’s payment options, click the “Edit” link next to the payment options to then show the enabled options in the “Payment options” section of the pane at the right side of the window. Then click the toggle switches for the payment methods to allow for this invoice on or off in the pane, as desired.

How to Set Billing and Shipping Information in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            The “Bill to” field in the invoice shows the customer’s address. You can enter or change the billing address for the invoice here. If you enabled shipping, the invoice shows the “Ship to,” “Ship from (hidden),” “Ship via,” “Shipping date,” and “Tracking no.” fields, and adds a “Buy shipping label” link to the toolbar at the bottom of the window. The “Ship to” field shows the customer’s default shipping address, if you entered it for the selected customer’s record. If using automatic sales tax calculations, the invoice’s sales taxes are calculated based on this address. If empty, QuickBooks Online uses the “Ship from (hidden)” field’s value or the default company address, instead. You can change the “Ship from (hidden)” field’s address, if needed.

How to Set the Invoice Number and Customer Terms in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            The “Invoice no” field shows the next highest available invoice number. If you enabled custom transaction numbers in sales forms, then you can change the invoice number, if needed. To change the customer’s terms for this invoice, if needed, select a choice from the “Terms” drop-down in this section of the invoice. The “Invoice date” field shows the current date, by default. To change the invoice date, click this field and select a date from the calendar drop-down that appears. The “Due date” field is calculated from the selected “Terms” and “Invoice date” fields. However, you can also click into this field to select a date, if needed.

How to Edit Customer Data, Enter Custom Field Values, and Assign Classes and Locations in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            To edit the customer’s record, if desired, click the “Edit Customer” link that appears here to open the customer’s record in a “Customer” pane at the right side of the window, where you can then make your changes and click the “Save” button to save them. If you enabled custom fields for invoices in QuickBooks Online, then enter any custom field data into the custom fields that then appear in the following section of the invoice, if needed. If you enabled class tracking on a transaction level, then a “Class” drop-down appears here. If you enabled location tracking, then a “Location” drop-down also appears here.

How to Enter Line Item Information in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            The next area in the invoice is the line items area where you enter field data into the columns for the products and/or services to invoice. You add each product or service as a line item within its own row. To select the service date of services provided if you enabled services dates in sales forms, use the “Service Date” field. To select an existing item from the “Products & services” list, click into the “Product/service” field and then select the item from the drop-down menu. If you enabled SKUs, then the selected item’s SKU appears in the “SKU” field. The selected item’s description appears in the “Description” field, and you can also type a description here, if desired.

            If you enabled quantity and rate fields in the “Sales” settings, then type the quantity of the product bought, or service provided, into the quantity field labelled “Qty.” The rate for the selected item, per quantity unit, appears in the “Rate” field and you can change it, if needed. QuickBooks Online multiplies the “Qty” field by the “Rate” field to show the line item’s total amount in the “Amount” field. Alternatively, if you select a product or service without a rate or quantity or didn’t enable those fields, then enter the total amount into the “Amount” field, if needed.

            If you enabled classes and assign them by one to each row in transaction forms, then select a class from the “Class” drop-down. If the product or service is taxable, ensure the “Tax” field checkbox for the line item is checked. You can check or uncheck this to mark the line item as taxable or non-taxable, as needed. After entering the first line item, continue adding line items until you enter all the line items needed for the invoice.

How to Rearrange, Delete, and Add New Line Items to an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            At the left end of each line item row is a selection handle. To change the order of the line items in the invoice, click and drag the line item up or down by this handle and then release it. To delete a line item, click the triple-dot button at its right end and then select the “Delete” command. To add a new line item row, click into the bottom line item row to automatically add a new row. Alternatively, to add a new blank line item, click the “Add product or service” button under the line items area.

How to Add a Subtotal to an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            To add a subtotal line item to an invoice in QuickBooks Online, select the line item row above the row where you want to insert the subtotal row. Then click the drop-down part of the button below the line items area and select the “Add Subtotal” command to add a subtotal line below the currently selected line. You can add as many subtotal lines as the invoice requires.

How to Add Notes and Attachments to an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            To enter a message to show on the invoice, type it into the “Note to customer” field. To enter a message that appears for this invoice in the customer’s statement, type it into the “Memo on statement (hidden)” field. To type internal notes about the customer that don’t appear for the customer, type them into the “Internal customer notes (hidden)” field.

            In the lower-left corner of the invoice is the “Attachments” field, which lets you attach a file to the invoice. You can drag and drop files onto the field or click the field to open a “File Upload” dialog box that you can use to browse for, and then select, the file to attach. Note the 20MB file attachment size limit.

How to Check Totals and Sales Tax in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            In the lower-right corner of the invoice is the subtotal, taxable subtotal, sales tax, discount, shipping and tax on shipping, total, deposit, and balance due field information, depending on which sales form features you enabled. The “Select tax rate” drop-down lets you select either the default automatic sales tax calculation or a custom sales tax rate, if you created any. Based on your selection, QuickBooks Online then shows the sales tax to collect.

            If using the automatic sales tax calculation, then you can click the “See the math” link by the sales tax amount to see the sales tax information and calculations and correct it, if needed, in the pane that then opens at the right side of the window. We’ll discuss this pane in detail in a later lesson in this chapter.

How to Override the Sales Tax Total in an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            For now, note that if you need to override the automatic sales tax calculation, you can click the “Override this amount” link in this pane’s lower-right corner to show a new section at the bottom of the pane. Then click the “Edit” link in this section. Then enter either a new “Rate” or “Amount” to charge for sales tax and select a “Reason for override” from the drop-down. Then click the adjacent “Apply override” button to confirm the override. After editing the sales tax, if needed, you can then close the pane by clicking the “Close” button in its lower-right corner.

How to Apply a Discount to an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            To apply a discount to the invoice if you enabled a “Discount” field in your sales forms, click the “%” or “$” toggle switch to set either a percentage or dollar-amount type of discount, respectively. Then enter the discount percentage or amount into the adjacent field. If needed, to change whether to apply the discount before or after calculating sales tax in QuickBooks Online, click the arrow buttons to the left of the sales tax rate and discount fields to switch the order of the two fields in the invoice each time you click it. Doing this changes whether the discount is applied before or after calculating sales tax, based on the order the fields appear in the invoice.

How to Enter Shipping or Record a Deposit for an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            If shipping is enabled, then enter the amount of shipping into the “Shipping” field. Any sales tax on shipping appears to the left of this field after you enter a “Shipping” value. The “Invoice total” field shows the invoice total amount. To record an amount paid as a deposit at the time of invoicing if you enabled the “Deposit” field in your settings, enter the amount into the “Deposit” field and click outside of the field to set its value. Then record the deposit payment details including the “Amount,” “Payment method (optional),” “Reference no. (optional)” and the “Deposit to” account in the “Deposit” pane that then appears at the right side of the window. To return to the main pane after entering the deposit details, click the “<“ button in the pane’s upper-left corner. The “Balance due” field that then appears after receiving a deposit in the invoice shows the remaining balance due, less the deposit.

How to Cancel Creating an Invoice or Make a Recurring Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            If needed, to cancel creating an invoice before saving it, click the “X” button in its upper-right corner and then click “Leave without saving” in the prompt that appears to close it without saving. To instead create a recurring invoice, click the “Manage” button in the toolbar at the top of the window, if needed, to show a pane at the right side of the window. Then click the “Scheduling” link in the pane to expand that section, if needed. Then click the “Make invoice recurring” toggle switch to enable it and show a pane where you can set the recurring invoice template schedule and save the template.

How to Change an Invoice’s Template in QuickBooks Online

            If needed, to change the invoice template, click the “Manage” button in the toolbar at the top of the window, if needed, to show a pane at the right side of the window. Then click the “Design” section to expand it, if needed. Then select the desired template to apply. Creating custom form templates is discussed in a separate lesson.

How to Save and Print or Download an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

            The toolbar at the bottom of the invoice contains links for the actions you can perform. Different actions appear when creating a new invoice versus opening an existing invoice. The middle of the toolbar contains a “Print or download” link. To save and then print or download the invoice or a packing slip, click the “Print or download” link and then select the desired command from the pop-up menu that appears.

            To save the invoice and open a printable PDF of the invoice in a new browser tab, select the “Print” command. Then use the toolbar buttons at the top of the PDF preview of the invoice in the new browser tab to print or save the invoice. Then close the new browser tab, when finished. Alternatively, to save and directly download a PDF copy of the invoice to your computer, select the “Download” command. Alternatively, to save the invoice and open a printable PDF of the invoice’s packing slip in a new browser tab, select the “Print packing slip” command. Then use the toolbar buttons at the top of the PDF preview of the packing slip in the new browser tab to print or save it. Then close the new browser tab, when finished.

Save Options for Invoices in QuickBooks Online

            To only save the invoice, click the “Save” button towards the right end of the toolbar at the bottom of the invoice window. Alternatively, to save the invoice and then either open a new invoice window or close the invoice window, click the drop-down arrow on the “Save” button and then select either the “Save and new” or “Save and close” command, respectively.

How to Save and Send an Invoice in QuickBooks Online by Text or Email

            To save and then send the invoice by text or email, click the “Review and send” button at the right end of the toolbar. Alternatively, to save the invoice and send a link to the online invoice by email to the customer’s email address, click the drop-down on the green button at the right end of the toolbar and then select the “Share link” command. The link also appears in a window onscreen, so you can then copy the link to send to them via other channels, if desired. You can then close the link window.

How to Open a Saved Invoice in QuickBooks Online and Perform Related Invoice Activities

            To open an invoice for editing after saving and closing the invoice window, click it within the “Invoices” page to show information about it in a pane at the right side of the window. To reopen the invoice for editing in the invoice window, click the “Edit invoice” button at the bottom of the pane. Alternatively, to select an invoice action from a full menu of possible invoice actions, click the “More actions” button in this pane and then select the desired action, like “Receive payment,” “Delete” “Print packing slip,” or “Void,” among others.

            Also, if you reopen the invoice for editing, you can click the “More actions” button in the center of the toolbar at the bottom of the window to show a similar menu of possible action choices for the selected invoice, if needed. However, to receive payment on the invoice from this window, click the “Receive payment” button that then appears in the toolbar at the top of the window, instead.