New Top 5 Questions: Invoices

It feels good to be back, Community. Welcome to our First Top 5 of 2022! For those of you who are new, our Top 5 is an opportunity to pick a topic about QuickBooks and find the questions you have been asking. Then I put them in one article as a resource to you because most likely, you’ll find some questions you also need answered. Let’s get right to it!

1. How do I search for text I have entered in a memo field in an invoice?

Many businesses issue a ton of invoices all year long, but what do you do to find that one invoice with a specific memo? You can use the Advanced Search feature in QuickBooks Online for this (and many other searches). Here's how: 

1. Click on the magnifying glass at the top center on your home page.
2. Click on the Advanced Search hyperlink. Filter your search by selecting Invoices, Memo, and Contains or Equals. 
3. Enter the text you're looking for in the field and click on the blue Search button. You can also click on Add Filter to filter the dates.

2. When does Quickbooks take items out of inventory--when an estimate is created, or when invoice is...

This question is more about inventory, but it’s important to understand how invoicing affects your inventory items. Using an inventory item on an estimate doesn't affect your inventory count since these are non-posting transactions. Your inventory count is affected once the Estimate is converted into an Invoice or Sales Receipt.

3. How do I add a past balance to a current invoice? The option to "Show past due" disappeared!

There are so many ways to customize your invoices and what shows on them. One feature is to show customers an account summary. The account summary shows your transaction history for that customer's account. It includes: 

Balance Forward: the total amount due and any credit balance from prior invoices

Payments and Credits: all payments and credits from prior invoices

New Charges: the total amount of new charges on the current invoice

Total Amount Due: the Customer’s total balance

Adding the account summary is easy as 1 2 3. Check out these simple steps:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Choose Custom Form Styles.
3. Click Edit to open the template.
4. Click the Content tab.
5. Click the Content area on the right pane.
6. Put a check mark in the Show on invoice field.
7. Click Done.

4. How do I unvoid an invoice and revert it back to the "viewed" stage?

While you can’t make an invoice active again after voiding it, you can find the voided invoice so you can recreate it accurately. 

You can use the Audit log to view the details and re-enter the voided transaction.Here's how to locate the invoice:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Under Tools, select Audit Log.
3. Select the exact User, Date, and Events filters from the Filter drop-down.
4. Locate the voided invoice.
5. Under the History column, click View.
6. Use the information from the Audit History when you create a new invoice with the same information. 

5. How can I link an invoice to a project? 

Once a project has been created, each associated invoice can be linked to it manually. It’s important to note that any linked transactions (billable time, credits, payments, etc.) or attachments will be removed when moving an existing record to a project.

Here's how invoices, estimates, and transactions can be added to projects:

1. In the left navigation bar, go to Invoicing, then open the Invoices tab.
2. Locate the invoice here, or go to the Customers tab to look up by Customer.
3. Find the invoice, estimate, or transaction and open it.
4. Use the Customer drop-down arrow to search for the name of your project.
5. Choose the one you want to link with your record.
6. Click Save.

And just like that, we’re done. Be on the lookout for more Top 5 throughout the year. It’s one of our favorite ways to get information to you that you need to be successful in QuickBooks Online!