Sales: Batch invoicing
With batch invoicing, you can save tons of time by filling out one invoice, then sending it to a whole group of customers. This works well if you sell the same products or services to lots of customers at about the same time.
Say you've got a pool cleaning business. 15 of your customers have pools that are about the same size, and you provide the same cleaning and maintenance services for these customers each month. Using batch invoicing, you can add all these customers to a group, fill out the invoice form only once, then send it to all the customers in the group.
Watch a video on how to use batch invoicing.
To create batch invoices for a group of customers:
- Go to Customers->Create Batch Invoices.
- Read the Batch Invoicing info that pops up. Click OK to send the pop-up away.
- Click New Group to create a group of customers to invoice.
- Choose the group you just created in the Customer:Job / Group field.
- Read the info about sales tax and batch invoicing that pops up. Click OK to send the message away.
- Add items to the invoice.
- Make sure the date, invoice number, customer message, and other info on the invoice are correct.
- When your invoice is complete, click Save. The Review Invoices window pops up.
- Check each invoice, which appears as one line in the table, to make sure all the info (including the sales tax charged to the customer) is correct.
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Choose the To Print checkbox if you're going to print this invoice. Choose the To Email checkbox if you're going to email this invoice to the customer. Tip : You can both print and email the same invoice.
- Make sure that QuickBooks has checked all the invoices you want created in the left checkbox. If you don't want one of the customers in this group to get this invoice, uncheck the box.
- Click Create. QuickBooks creates the batch of invoices, assigns them numbers, and saves them.
- Click OK to close the Review Invoices window. All the new invoices show up in the left wing of your Invoices window.
But wait...you're not quite done yet. You still need to email and/or print the invoices you've created. You still need to print (then send) or email the invoices to your customers.
To print a batch of invoices:
- Click Print.
- On the Print Forms window, make sure all the invoices you want to print are selected.
- Click Print.
- Take a look at each invoice on the print preview window to make sure everything looks good.
- Click Print.
To email a batch of invoices:
Tip : Emailing a batch of invoices works a bit differently than emailing a single invoice--read carefully to keep from being surprised.
- Click Email.
- On the Email Forms window, make sure all the invoices you want to email are selected.
- Click Email.
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A sheet will appear with a standard message and a subject for the email, as well as some other information. You can customize the standard message and subject if you want. You can also click the pop-up menu under "From:" to choose which email address you want to use to send the email.
Note: Do not edit contacts at the beginning of the email. QuickBooks uses it to put the name of each individual customer into the email that's attached to his or her invoice--so that you don't have to. Learn more about email tokens.
- Check Include text in emails to tell QuickBooks to send the cover email text to your default email account.
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Get ready to send out the emails with invoices attached:
- If you want QuickBooks to send these emails now, do not check Save emails as drafts.
- Click Send. QuickBooks sends the emails, with invoices attached as PDF forms, from your business email account.
OR
- If you want to review the emails in your default email account before you send them, check Save emails as drafts. QuickBooks puts the emails with the invoices attached as PDFs into the Drafts folder of your default email account.
- Whenever you're ready, go over to your email account Drafts folder and send out your invoices.
Tips for batch invoicing:
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Want to print out the whole batch of invoices? Email the whole batch? On the Review Invoices window, use the checkmark-shaped menu at the bottom left of the window to select all invoices to print, select all invoices to email.
- A batch invoice isn't the same as a memorized transaction. You still have to create an invoice for your group of customers every time you want to bill them.