QuickBooks 2011 – Batch Invoicing
One of the very useful features added in QuickBooks 2011 is Batch Invoicing, which allows you to create an invoice that you can send out to multiple customers in a few easy steps. Let’s take a look at this new feature.
Please note that this feature is not available if you have enabled the multiple currency feature in QuickBooks.
If you have an invoice that you want to send to multiple customers you can use the new Batch Invoicing feature. Before you start you want to make sure that all of your customers have settings for terms, sales tax rate, send method and email address (if you are planning on sending the invoices via email).
Select the Create Batch Invoices option from the Customers menu.
In the first screen you will select the customers that you wish to send the invoice to. Double click on a customer in the list, or click the add button. I’ll address “Billing Groups” a bit later.
The second screen is used to select the items that you wish to add to the invoice, along with some common features such as the invoice date, customer message and template.
Note that when you select the template the columns that are displayed in this window will change to match that template. This includes the custom fields that you have added as columns.
The final step is to review the invoice information by customer.
You can decide to drop a particular customer from the list if you feel that there is a problem. Note that the program is displaying the terms, send method and tax rate/code for each customer.
Click Create Invoices and QuickBooks will generate the invoices as listed. A summary window opens that will show the results.
This is not a method to manage recurring or contract invoices, where you have an amount that you are going to send each month until a contract amount is met. That would be a nice enhancement, perhaps they’ll address this in the future.
Billing Groups
You have the ability to set up Billing Groups in this function. This allows you to create groupings of customers that you would want to use when creating a batch invoice. In the first screen you select the customers to add to the group and then click the Billing Group dropdown. Select Add New and create a name for the group.
Once you have created a group you can create invoices for them. Note that you want to create the group name before you select the customers, as the list of customers is cleared when you create a new group name. Create the group name, add the customers, click the Save Group button to save the customers that you want to have in that group.
Category: Invoicing, Program Updates, QB 2011
About the Author (Author Profile)
Charlie Russell is the founder of CCRSoftware. He’s been involved with the small business software industry since the mid 70′s, focusing on inventory and accounting software for small businesses. Charlie is a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Look for Charlie’s articles in the QuickBooks and Beyond blog, as well as his California Wildflower Hikes blog.
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Sites That Link to this Post
- QuickBooks 2011 - Batch Invoicing Increases Efficiency | QuickBooks for Contractors blog | October 7, 2010
- The Best Articles on New QuickBooks 2011 Features | QuickBooks and Your Business | November 1, 2010
- QuickBooks 2011 Batch Invoicing How Tos | RPPC | March 29, 2011
Very nice! Been needed for a long time for certain type businesses and organizations. Thanks for the always helpful info.
Thanks, for sharing, you always have great information to share about QB’s. I find your blogs highly useful in my own eduction and then for my clients as well!
Thank you, Mary. It has been a real chore getting through all these QB 2011 articles…
Your blog is great!! I will be here often. Unrelated .. . what are you using to get your screen captures? I do graphic design, lots of writing/blog posting, etc. so always curious as to what others use.
I’ve used Snagit by techsmith for years, but since getting my new Windows 7 system, i haven’t put it on yet (I’ve been using the built in “snipping tool” but it’s very limited.) Snagit is great, but just curious.
Back to this post – it looks like QB 2011 will be worth me upgrading, based on this feature alone based on how we process invoices (I do them bi-weekly so the work piles up.) Thanks.
Blake, I use the most current version of Snagit, and it works very well for me in Windows 7.
From what i Understand though in order to use the Batch Invoicing. You must be billing all the customers in a certain group the same amoutnt before sales tax correct.
Vicki, yes – but you have the ability to edit individual invoices after creating them, before you print or email them.
I just discovered your blog today and it is a virtual treasure trove. Thank you for all the great information that you give.
I know that you said Batch Invoicing should not be used as a Recurring Billing solution. I agree, however I have been searching high and low for a solution for this and have as yet to find one. I currently use Memorized Transactions (in QB 2008 pro – upgrading to 2011 at the end of December). Although this works, it’s really not very elegant. I have customers that pay for their services annually and others that pay monthly. All customers need to know what service dates the invoice covers. I’ve tried adding a date column to the invoice that increments each time the invoices are run, but it isn’t working correctly. SO, long story short. Do you have any ideas for me? I’m really surprised that no developers have addressed this issue yet.
(I apologize for getting a bit off topic here, but I’m at my wits end.) Thank you for what you do and keep up the great work!
Jeana, you can look at this utility: http://www.q2q.us/idoverview.htm – but that might not be what you are looking for. That probably is more like the Batch feature in QB 2011. There may be others in the Intuit Marketplace, but I’ve not worked with any. The “date” column, is that the “service date” in your memorized transaction?
Charlie, Like Jeana I am appreciative of all your info. And also like her, I upgraded to 2011 b/c of batch invoicing hoping that it would include a service date feature. For example, a have 10 amt of customer that pay $20/mo but each will have different service dates ( 1-3-12 to 2-2-12 and another customer will be 1-7-12 to 2-7-12) and therefore a ‘custom’ invoice needs to be updated every month even on the memorized invoices with a range of dates.
Anything you know to solve this?
Thank you!
Lindsay, batch invoicing is set up to send out the same invoice to a lot of people. That is different than what you are talking about.
Look into memorized transactions – the service date column will update, usually, each time you generate a new invoice. That might not fit your service date RANGE requirement, though.
I recently upgraded to QuickBooks 2011. I was very excited about the batch invoicing option but I can’t seem to get it to work. I do not have multicurrency enabled but the batch invoicing option is not avaliable to me in the customer drop down menu…… any thoughts on why??
Miranda, from your email address, I’m guessing you are using the Canadian release? Unfortunately, the Canadian version differs from the US version, and it tends to be a year (or so) behind the US version.
I recently upgraded to 2011 pro from 2008- I wanted to use the batch invoices but I’m finding out that I can only use the batch if all my customers paid the same amount for monthly services?..I have lawn services bill on a monthly basis… How can I use the batch invoices with different monthly charges?…where can I setup the amount to be different for each customers?…
If they are the same amounts each month for a particular customer, you would normally use “memorized” transactions. Create the transaction for the customer, “memorize” it and set it to recur monthly. Do that for each one.
We sell the same “package” multiple times in a month to various customers. Each invoice has approximately 12 line items. We sell the package maybe 20-30 times per month. (Same basic invoice – might need a line or two tweaked.) But each sale is to a different customer. Any thoughts on a way to do this? (QB Enterprise 11)
Stuart, I would look into either “group items”, or “memorized transactions”. Depends on the details. You can create a group item that has your common elements, then add it to the invoice to include all the items of the package at one time. Or, you can create a master transaction, “memorize” it, and then use that memorized transaction as a base for new ones.
Just moved my company from Simply to QB Pro 2011.
Starting to breath again, but, When making invoices in QB the date keeps reverting back to todays date even when I set preferences to use the previously entered date. Any help?
I also do NOT have any “create batch invoices” line in my customer column.
Any assistance most welcome.
Lane, sometimes the dates work that way. I’ve never seen an explanation, and never had my hands on a system that did that, so I can’t say much. Try creating a new company file from scratch, instead of the converted one, see if that makes a difference.
As far as “batch invoices” – from your email address I’ll assume you are using the Canadian version? Unfortunately, all the info here applies to the US version. The Canadian versions are always lagging behind the US version for new features. Don’t know when (or if) you’ll get this feature.
Hi,
Just new to QuickBooks Easy Start 2011. I am trying to email invoices but am having no success whatsoever. Any suggestions?
Lisa, sorry, we never work with Easy Start. You should try the Intuit Community Forum for help with that.
I am using Quickbooks plus 2011 – 2012 and the option of Batch invoicing does not appear in my customer drop down menu…can anyone help?
Emma, I take it that you are using the Australian version? In that case, a lot of the new stuff I describe here won’t apply to you. I write about the US version. The Australian version is very different. Intuit licenses code to Reckon in Australia – they do whatever the want to do with it. At the very least any new features up here would take a year (or more) to get down there. Often, unfortunately, features never get implemented down there. And, when you look at add-on products, you will find that many don’t work with the Australian version, because they decided to do things differently down there. Sorry!
I want to rebill my customers that did not pay on the first invoice but I do not want to create another invoice on their account. I simply want to rebill. Can this be done in the batch invoicing?
Mary – batch invoicing will create a new invoice each time.
For rebilling – you just want to send them another copy of the existing invoice? You can do that one invoice at a time, just clicking the print or send button. If you want to do that in a batch, the question would then be how you want to SELECT those to be sent another copy?
Hi, can get some suggestions? We want to start using quickbooks to track our member subscription invoices that are billed once a year and another notice every quarter have not paid. Now there are different levels of subscription which the would pay different amounts. What is the best way to set this up. I am going to import all the customer info but the big question would be how to set up the invoicing. And also how much can you customize an invoice? Currently they look alot like letters. Any suggestions and guidance would be appreciated.
Cheryl, that is a bit more than can be answered easily in a blog comment. And I would need to know a lot more about your subscriptions. “track” is a loaded statement, as that can mean many different things.
Hi i just want to be able to create the invoices every year for renewal. Is there recurring invoices that can be set up annually and that can be reprinted quarterly if they have not paid? Also is thereva away to create a very custom invoice? We dont want it to look like an official invoice more like a letter.
Cheryl, you can customize your invoices by clicking the “customize” button in the upper right (it might be hidden, if there is a >> button click that).
You can “memorize” invoices and have them repeat on a regular basis.
Hi
Since I am in Canada, we finally just got access to the batch invoicing feature in QB 2012. Our invoicing is based on billeable time and costs from hours worked by our consultants. Does batch invoicing feature work with timesheets? Thanks
Winston – batch invoicing gives you a single common invoice to send to multiple customers. That wouldn’t work with timesheets, because you aren’t applying the same timesheets to every customer. Each should be getting a unique invoice.
In the 2012 US versions there is a separate Batch Timesheet feature (see this article: http://www.sleeter.com/blog/2011/09/quickbooks-2012-wrapping-up-the-rest/ ) but that is a different concept (and I’ll guess not in the Canadian version yet?)
Charlie, this is a little off topic but I’m looking for a way to send multiple invoices to one email address with a single email. As it is, when I send out 25 invoices, Quickbooks generates 25 separate emails, even if there are only 10 recipients among the 25 invoices. Do you know of a way? Thank you, Wolf
Sorry, Wolf, I don’t know of a simple way to do that in QuickBooks
@Wolf,
QB has Customers>Invoice for Time and Expenses. This has to be set up under the Edit>Preferences>Time and Expenses.