How to Customize Invoices, Estimates, and Sales Receipts in QuickBooks Online

Do you want to customize invoices, estimates, & sales receipts in QuickBooks Online, to make it more efficient, and professional? If yes, then you must relax because here in this article, you will be able to know how to personalize all sales forms of your business in QuickBooks Online.

It is a great way to add branding to the invoices, donor receipts, and estimates you send to the constituents. Not only that but also it allows the users to create multiple templates and toggle between forms when invoicing a customer in QuickBooks Online.

QuickBooks online allows you to customize invoices, sales receipts, and estimates according to your preferences, with little effort. Just customize the layout, and appearance of the forms, and create, & save a template as a custom template for future use. Now let’s know to do it?

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Procedure to Customize Invoices, Estimates, and Sales Receipts in QuickBooks Online

Here we will provide the details that help you can create different templates for your invoices, estimates, and sales receipts. You can also have multiple templates for each form. Follow these given steps:-

Check Whether You are In, In Business View, or Accountant View

At first, you need to check that, you are in a business view or in an accountant view. If you are in confusion then, clear your doubts through the below points.

• Click on the option of ‘+New’. After clicking on that, if you are seeing the ‘Money in’ and ‘Money out’ columns, then you are in Business view.
• Click on the option of ‘+New’. After clicking on that, if you are seeing the ‘Customers’ and ‘Vendors’ columns, then you are in the Accountant view.

Here is the example image of the Accountant view:

Customization Process for QuickBooks Online Essential, Plus, & Advanced Users in Accountant View

Here we have cleared the procedure for the Accountant view, check all the procedures, and apply them to customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online

Step 1:- Create a New Template

You can create a new template by following the below steps:

• First, you need to go to Settings and then click on the option of Custom Form Styles.
• Click on the New Style option.
• And at the snd of this step, you need to choose the type of form that you want to create.

Now your new template is created.

Step 2:- Design the Template

After creating a new template, you can see the changes through ‘Preview’, once you did everything click on the ‘Done’ option.

Adjust the General Layout and Look of your Template:

• First, you need to choose the Design tab.
• Then, you need to give your template a name.
• Click on Dive in with a template to choose a layout. And these layouts are fixed.

Note:- We recommend Airy new. And if you want to add SKUs or create progress invoices, then you need to use Airy new.

• Choose to add your unique logo to upload a new logo.
• Select Splash on some color to pick a color scheme. You can also enter a hex code to use a truly custom color.
• Select get choosy with your font to change the font and size.
• Click on when in doubt, to print it out to adjust the margins. This is important if you send printed forms to your customers.

Create a Custom Logo

The company logo you use for QuickBooks automatically appears in sales forms. You can save multiple logos in QuickBooks but use only one at a time.

Step 3:- Customize the Info on your Forms

Go to the Content tab to start customizing the details. Forms have three sections: header, table, and footer. You can need to select a section on the sample form to edit the fields. And then you will edit each section separately. After that, you can edit, add, or remove data fields on custom forms. You have many options for doing this. And after that, we won’t cover them all, but here are a few highlights, you can follow that:-

Steps to Change Data Field Labels

• First, you need to select one of the sections (header, table, or footer). If you select the table section, then you need to click on the option of Edit labels and widths first.
• After that, you can edit the data fields.
• Then, choose a data field.
• Enter a new label.

Steps to Edit your Company Information

Your company info automatically appears in the header. Remove or edit the fields if you want customers to only see certain info.

• First, you need to choose the header section.
• After that, edit the fields.
• And at the last, click and uncheck the box to hide a field.

Steps to Show or Hide Data Fields

• Choose one of the sections.
• You need to click on the checkboxes to show or hide fields.

Steps to Add Custom Fields in the Header Section

• First, you need to click on the header section.
• After that, click on the option of + Custom field.
• And then, enter a label for the custom field.

Here, then you can add up to three custom fields.

Add Invoice Numbers

• You need to click on the header section.
• Then choose the Form numbers checkbox.

To Add or Remove Item Descriptions

Steps to Change Column Widths

• Choose the table section.
• Click on the option of Edit labels and widths.
• And then, you can use the sliders to adjust the width.

To remove a column completely, then click and uncheck the column label’s checkbox.

Steps to Reorder the Columns

• Select the table section.
• Click on the option of Edit labels and widths.
• And then you need to drag the square icon next to a data field to a new spot on the list.

Step 4:- Personalize the Email Message

Make things personal and see the message to customers when they receive their invoice or sales receipt. If you want to use your default message, you can leave it.

In the Custom Form Styles window, go to the Email tab. You can change the subject line, greetings, and message body. You can also customize reminder emails.

Step 5: Turn on Online Payments for Invoices

If you want to pay fast, pay your customers online. By default,  the company paper invoices are not set for digital payments. Then you must turn on the QuickBooks payment. It is an add-on payment processing service. If you haven’t already, then you can start payment after customizing your payment, follow these given steps:-

• Click on the option of + New.
• Choose the option of Invoice or Send Invoice.
• In the Online Payments section, you need to click on the option of Finish setup.
• After you sign up, go back to the invoice. And then click and check the payment options you want to make available.

Step 6:- Apply a Template to an Invoice, Sales Receipt, or Estimate

Here you can know about QuickBooks uses whatever you set as your default template each time you create a new invoice, sales receipt, or estimate. Then you can also choose a specific template for specific transactions directly on the form, follow these given steps for doing this:

• First, you need to create or open an existing invoice, sales receipt, or estimate.
• Then choose the Customize in the footer.
• And after that, choose a custom template from the list.

Step 7:- Edit Custom Templates

To manage your custom templates, select Settings ⚙ , and then Custom Form Styles. 

In QuickBooks, you can create a standard template based on the first custom template you have created. This is your default for invoices, sales receipts, and estimates. To set one of your custom templates as the default, you need to follow these given steps:-

• Find your template.
• Then go to the Action column.
• And then click on the option of Make default.

To edit a custom template, follow these given steps:-

• Go to the Custom Form Styles window, and then find your custom or standard template.
• Click on the option of Edit in the Action column.

Customization Process for QuickBooks Online Simple Start in Business View

Here all the tools you need to customize the invoice are in the form itself. Note:- In QuickBooks Simple Start, you can have one invoice template at a time. And then you can customize invoices, but not other types of sales forms.

• First, you need to create or open an invoice.
• Click on the option of Edit company and then decide what company info you want your customer to see customers.
• Click on the option of Save when you are done with this process.
• After that, you need to click on the option of the Add logo to upload your logo.
• And at the last, go to the Settings option to start customizing the layout and appearance.

Customize Invoices

Here, the provide details show how you can add fields, change the color scheme, and enable payments directly on the invoice form. Here are just a few things you can do, and complete this process:-

• First, you need to go to the Invoice details section.
• After that choose the Terms, Ship to, Form numbers or Due Date switches to add or remove these fields from the form.
• Then, click on the Invoice details section.
• And then, click on the Add field switch to create a custom field. After that, you can put the name of the field whatever you’d like.
• Click on the option of the Totals section.
• And, when the above process completed then, the Sales tax switch to turn it on.

Important:- Sales tax is not turned on by default. And if you need to collect sales tax and have not set it up yet, then you can click on the option of Activate. Here we can provide detailed steps for how to set up sales tax. Follow these steps carefully:-

• Go and select the Look and Feel section to change the colors, font, and logo. Tip:- You can enter a hexagonal code in the Color field if you want a truly customized page or text color.
• Click on the Email section. And then you need to personalize the message that is your customers see when they receive their invoice.
• If you have to set up QuickBooks payments, then click on the option of the Payments section to turn on payment options for your customers.

When you are done customizing, then you can click on the option of Hide or Settings to close the customization window. And then click on the option to finish your invoice.

Switch from Back to the Old Invoice Template

If you decide that you need more customization options or need features like deposits and discounts, then the simplified template may not be for you.

Then you need to go back to the old invoice format.

And open an invoice, and click on the option of Classic View.

Important:- This switch is permanent. And once you can switch back to Classic View, then you can not use the simplified format anymore.

Hopefully, you have got the idea to customize invoices, estimates, & sales receipts in QuickBooks Online. And in case if you have any kind of issue regarding this topic then feel free to get our Accountwizy ProAdvisor support.