QuickBooks Tip: Collect Payments Faster with QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail

Intuit and Google teamed up to help business owners save time and collect money faster. How, you say? With the latest Gmail add-on called QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail. This innovative tool operates solely in the Gmail environment. No longer will you need to toggle back and forth between your email account and QuickBooks Online in order to create an invoice, attach it to an email, and send it to your customers. QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail allows you to create a QuickBooks invoice directly from Gmail and send it to your customers with just a few clicks.

And the best part? You never have to leave your Gmail inbox. Once you install the add-on, your products, pricing, and customer information from QuickBooks will be available in Gmail to populate your invoices. Additionally, QuickBooks Online can help simultaneously create and book your invoice in QuickBooks so your financial data updates with every invoice you create using the Gmail add-on. One important thing to note, however, is that this service does not work with QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Self Employed.

Another great feature is that QuickBooks gives your customers the ability to pay their bills online. Each time you create an invoice using Gmail, you will have the option to make your invoices payable electronically by clicking on a Pay Now link located directly on the invoice. Your customers will have the option to click on the link and pay using credit cards or bank transfers. QuickBooks has announced that they plan to soon make PayPal and Apple Pay available payment methods as well.

No QuickBooks account? No problem.

Business owners who use Gmail, but not QuickBooks, can still take advantage of the invoicing add-on while using Gmail. QuickBooks provides a link to create a free sign in just for use with this application.

To set up your account while logged into Gmail, click the settings icon on the top right corner. Then choose Select Add Ons, find QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail, and click Install. You will then see the qb symbol on the right side of your mailbox. Click on this icon and follow the instructions to set up your free account or link your existing QuickBooks account. Either option will give you access to the invoicing feature, which is free to set up and comes with zero monthly subscription fees.

Using the QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail add-on

Now that your account is set up, open an email message from your customer and click on the qb icon on the far right. When you see the New Invoice window open on the right, you will notice that your company logo automatically populates on the invoice. If you do not have a company logo yet, you can always add one using the app settings.

The customer name and email address fields will automatically pull from your Gmail message. Click on the Add Product or Service field and begin typing a product. If you have a QuickBooks account, you will see a list of products and services identical to the list in your QuickBooks file. If you type in a product that is not listed in your QuickBooks file, or if you do not have a QuickBooks account, you will have the option to add the product. Your QuickBooks Online account updates too and the new product will be available to use the next time you log in to QuickBooks. Add the due date and a personalized message if desired, click send, and you are done!

Sending your invoice isn’t the last of the new features with QuickBooks Invoicing for Gmail add-ons. You will be able to help stay up-to-date with status messages available from notifications sent when the invoices are received, viewed, and paid.

This collaboration between Intuit and Gmail can help save business owners time and increase productivity. Look out for more joint efforts between Intuit and Google as they continue integrating to bring solutions to small business owners.

Curious about other ways you can save time on accounting projects? Check out our other QuickBooks Tips to learn how you can maximize the software’s features.