Bill collection is a major aspect in any organization and this will make you earn the money you are selling. QuickBooks Online (QBO) can perform this action through the following powerful features to simplify the process, including invoice creation, billing status tracking, and payment tracking. This paper will take you through all there is to know about generating, personalising and posting of invoices in QuickBooks Online.
Why Invoicing is Important?
Regarding more than just a request of money, an invoice should be well done:
- Projects Professionalism: A branded invoice with easy to identify specifics to the project is a good thing.
- Provides Clarity: It provides descriptions of services performed, products sold, amounts, rates, and terms of payment and eliminates conflict.
- Promotes Timely Payment: Simple invoices that show how to make payments will result in timely payment.
- Assists in Accounting: Invoices are important financial records that can be used in accounting and calculation of taxes.
- Organizes What is due: Invoices can complement your accounting system in keeping track of what is due, and reminding you to collect it.
QuickBooks online gives you the power to design invoices that are not only attractive as far as their appearance is concerned but also form part of your accounting process.
How to Make a QuickBooks Online Invoice Template
QuickBooks Online has default templates for invoices, but you can make your own or change existing ones to help it fit your brand and business a little more closely.
- Navigate to Custom Form Styles:
- Use the left menu to open Gear Icon (Settings).
- Click Custom Form Styles in the box that says “Your Company.”
- Choose Your Starting Point:
- To make a new template you click New Style followed by Invoice.
- To make any changes to a currently existing template, identify the template that you wish to make changes on and click Edit on the Action Column.
- Customize Your Template:
- Content Tab: It is a tab where you insert information or delete it. You may add:
- Contact details and logo of your business.
- Field Customer information.
- Invoice No., Date, Due date.
- Product service information (described, quantity, rate, and amount).
- Sub, discount, tax, total.
- Payment instructions.
- Footer message.
- Design Tab: In this tab, you have the control over the image:
- Templates: You may select one of several ready-made templates.
- Logo: Place here the logo of your company.
- Colors: The color scheme should be what fits your branding.
- Fonts: pick the fonts used for the text on your bill.
- Margins: Change the spacing between your content and screen.
- Emails Tab: edit email message which you send with your invoice.
- Content Tab: It is a tab where you insert information or delete it. You may add:
How to Modify the Default Invoice Template in QuickBooks Online
Although you cannot remove default template, you can set another one very easily by making it your main template that you use with all your new invoices.
- Click on Custom Form Styles (As cited above).
- Find the template that you like to use, or want to make default.
- Go to the “Action” column of that template and there, click the dropdown arrow and choose the command Make default.
When you create any new invoice it will automatically start using this selected template.
How to Customize Your QuickBooks invoices Templates – The Best Tip
Personalization is not about adding your logo. It is all about having your invoices be an outreach of your brand and an efficient communication channel.
Assign Your Branding
- Consistent Logo Placement: Make your logo catchy with a high resolution and with a suitable size.
- Brand Colors: It is essential that you apply the primary and secondary colors of your brand in the template. This covers color theme of heading, lines as well as accents.
- Branded Font: In case you have a certain brand font, attempt to use a similar or matching font within the QuickBooks Online and Kindle. Coherence helps to reinforce brand identity.
- Professional Language: You must have a consistent and same tone and voice throughout your messages in the entire invoice including email message and footer.
Add the Custom Fields When Necessary
QuickBooks Online enables you to create custom fields in any of your invoices in order to record certain type of information which is useful to your businessand you can also import invoices into QuickBooks from Excel to simplify the process.
Examples of Custom Fields:
- Job Number/Project ID: To assist in monitoring the individual projects.
- Purchase Order Number (PO Number): In case you have clients that step out a lot of POs.
- Service Date Range: In the event that your services are over several days.
- Name of Technician: In case of service-based businesses.
- Vehicle ID: To be used with the automotive services.
- Client Reference: Any particular reference number that may be used by your client.
The Process of Adding Custom Fields:
- Click on the Custom form styles: connect the box where it says my customer and press the 3-dot settings icon (Gear icon) and press Custom Form Styles.
- Edit Your Template: The invoice template you wish to edit will then be selected and you will then have to click Edit.
- Click on Content Tab: The Content tab should be clicked.
- Click on Header Section: On the preview screen, this is the top part of the invoice, the only place to click is where it says Header Section.
- Insert Custom Fields: Scroll down on the right hand column until you come to the section headed custom fields. Add custom field +.
- Make New Field:
- Type a Name of your custom field (e.g. “PO Number).
- Choose where you wish it to show: Print on form (that is on the actual invoice itself) or Internal only (that is on your books within QBO) or both.
- You also have the option of including the field on other documents such as sales receipts/ estimates.
- Click Save.
- Drag and Drop (Optional): After creating it you can, in many cases, drag and drop the custom field to a certain place in your invoice preview in the Content editor.
When you make an invoice, you can add custom fields where you will enter the necessary data. Their capabilities make it a strong tool to customize your invoices to your special operational requirements.
How to Import Personalized Invoice in QuickBooks Online
In QuickBooks Online, the importation of completely designed customized invoice templates created outside of QBO by design software (e.g. Word or graphic design software) is, itself, an unreliable approach in that it does not result in an editable template in the template editor built into QBO.
But you can manage a sort of import by:
- With the Import styles tool: In certain versions of QBO, in Custom Form Styles, you may find Import Styles. This is normally to import styles of a different Quick books company file that is yours, not a third party file.
- Using your design as a model in QBOs Custom Form Styles: The most usual, and easiest-to-do path to use an external design is to as closely as possible replicate your design inside the QBO custom form styles available. This involves:
- Putting your logo online.
- Fitting colors and fonts.
- Adding custom fields to the image of any exceptional data elements of your external design.
- Putting the sections according to layout.
- Uploading a separate PDF: In the scenario where the custom invoice design that you have used externally is extremely complicated and cannot be recreated in QBO, you can design the invoice in an external application, saved in PDF and then:
- Design a simple invoice in QBO to keep records.
- Before sending the QBO invoice, attach the PDF that is externally designed. This will not only make your customer take your desired design but also make QBO to have proper financial accounts.
Conclusion
Invoice creation and management in QuickBooks Online is one of the essential skills of any business owner. Giving some time to organize a professional, branded template of invoices and knowing how to properly prepare and send invoices, you will not only ensure the timely payment collection but will also contribute to the professional image of your company. Although there is no direct access to outside visual toolkits, the customization possibilities provided by QBO, as well as its ability to tie in the financial data, are so strong that the program can become an extremely versatile means of handling every one of your invoices, especially when you import CSV Excel files to QuickBooks Online. Regular, instant, and branded invoices are the emotional state of the healthy cash flow and a healthy relationship with a client.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Invoice Entail and its significance?
An invoice is a document of trade used by a seller to a buyer as to provide a statement of the products or the services and the quantity agreed that the seller is to give them to the buyer. It is actually a written demand of payment and acts as a legal document of transaction. In the case of your business, invoices are the main tools of the trade in monitoring of sales, collection of receivables and to be sure that you are getting paid what you deserve on the job.
Is it Possible to Prepare Regular Invoices to constant customers?
Absolutely! This saves a lot time. Once you have made an invoice, click, at the bottom of the invoice screen, on Make recurring. Then you can specify the frequency (daily, weekly, and monthly), start and end date (or “None” to be never-ended). These invoices are handed out automatically by QuickBooks.
What is the Procedure of Applying a Credit Memo to an invoice?
In scenario where you have a customer to whom you had issued a credit memo, then you can offset such an invoice against an open invoice or import invoices into QuickBooks Desktop for more streamlined processing. When you write a cheque on account of that customer, QuickBooks will tend to remind you of any existing amount of credits to be applied. You may also access the profile of a customer, locate the credit memo, and apply it to the open invoice on this side.
Can an Invoice be Removed or Nullified? What is the difference?
An invoice in QuickBooks can be deleted or voided, with deletion erasing it completely and voiding keeping a record with zero balance.
- Invoice Voiding: This removes the invoice leaving an account record of it in your books. It is usually defaulted, provided that the invoice has been sent or even recorded, since this keeps an audit trail. Click on the invoice then select More > Void.
- Delete an Invoice: This tasks will permanently kill the invoice in your books. Do this only in cases, where the invoice was generated mistakenly and has not been dispatched or entered in one way or another. To delete the invoice, you may press it and Download More > Delete.
My client says they never got the invoice. How do I proceed?
If a client says they didn’t get the invoice, verify their email and resend it directly from QuickBooks Online.
- Ensure you check your spam folder: Recommend them to do it first.
- Cross-check email address: Cross check email address in QuickBooks registered with customer.
- Send another copy of the invoice: under Sales, select Invoices, open the invoice and select send once more.
- View QuickBooks email sent: The software will remember the history of the emails sent with QuickBooks. Open the invoice and click on the tab of Activity where you may find a record of invoice send time.
- Direct transmission of a PDF: Download the invoice in PDF and then send manually an email containing this PDF through your own email client.
