New Invoice "Experience" in QuickBooks Online

Ah, QuickBooks Online, the gift that keeps on giving. Brace yourselves, accounting professionals, for the next big thing in estimate and invoice layouts! (Intuit QuickBooks Support Article) Get ready to land those jobs, keep things moving, and—oh joy—get paid even faster. Because who doesn't love the adrenaline rush of chasing down payments?

Why the change?

Oh if we could answer that one, we wouldn't be talking today, right? Sales form customization has always been a highly requested feature. Especially if you are coming from Desktop where QuickBooks enables you to be very specific in what you see on the screen, vs. what your customer sees even to the point where you can get granular with the positioning of certain fields. So the new features, customer approvals, adding Venmo and Paypal payment methods, and all in one screen sales form customization is the main plusses you'll see in the invoice and estimates screen.

Now, onto the juicy details. With this exciting update, you'll be treated to a new layout without even lifting a finger. Your past invoices and estimates? Don't worry, they're not going anywhere. They'll be right there, waiting for you, like a faithful old friend.

Venmo and Paypal - What's the Big Deal?

With the new invoicing experience and a QuickBooks Payments account you can easily add the option to accept Venmo and PayPal payments. This is different than accepting payments from Venmo or PayPal directly. This is consolidated in the QB Payments Process. When you send an invoice from QuickBooks with this option enabled, your client can pay with Venmo or PayPal and the funds are deposited into your bank just as if they had paid any other way us in QB Payments. You will have the same processing speed and the same fee structure regardless of what the Venmo and PayPal fees actually are. All emailed invoices will have the same fee [2..8% (ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing)] whether the customer pays with Venmo, PayPal, Apple pay, Google Pay, Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, or Discover. So it doesn't matter how you get paid, the fees and automatic entry of the payments happen and occur in the same way. This way you don't have to manage and reconcile payments received through the business' PayPal or Venmo account, they will get deposited and charged the same amount as all other payment methods.

Adding PayPal and Venmo at the same rates as your other credit card transaction fees

Yeah....But?!?!

But wait, there's more! Behold, the features currently unavailable in this shiny new experience. Missing your precious reference links? Price Rules (Learn More - membership login required) feeling a bit neglected? Fear not, they're taking a little vacation from the new invoice experience. Oh, and forget about adding previous attachments or tracking billable mileage. Who needs those, right?

Price Rules dropdown in old format are missing in new experience

From what we've seen in the past, in order to add in a desired result, many times you'll see that some functionality will need to be removed in order to add the new shiny feature. If you're not using that feature that was removed, no problem, if you are, it could be a BIG problem. For the time being, you will have to wait until that feature makes its way back into the mix.

Other features Missing

• Reference links displaying matched online transactions

• Price Rules (You can create and manage Price Rules, but the new invoice experience currently doesn't support price rules applied on invoices.)

• Add previous attachments

• Billable Mileage Tracking

Feedback, Feedback Feedback!!

The above list was larger in the past. To Intuit's credit ,they are responding to the feedback to add in the "one step back" features in order to take the 2 steps forward. The feedback button is where that data is compiled. Be as specific as possible. Remember, "In God we trust, all others bring actionable data."

Case in point, the Estimates not being able to copy to a Purchase Order is now back, but not where you might think. It's now in the bottom right button as pictured below:

The Silver Lining

But hey, don't despair just yet. Let's focus on the positives, shall we? With the new estimates and invoices, you can customize to your heart's content. No need to fiddle with templates anymore; everything you need is conveniently right there on the form. QuickBooks even remembers your choices, like a thoughtful companion.

And get this, folks, if you're into getting paid (who isn't?), QuickBooks Payments has your back. PayPal, Venmo, credit cards, ACH bank transfers—take your pick. Customers can pay online directly from the invoices you send them. It's like magic, but with money.

But wait, there's more! Customers can now approve estimates online, right from the comfort of their email inbox. No more delays, no more excuses. And for you, dear accountants, tracking and managing estimates has never been easier. Just a quick visit to the Sales section, and voila! We discussed this on a Prior Workshop Wednesday

Your customers can approve the estimate, pay a deposit, or print for their records

Oh, and did I mention you can do all of this on the go? Yes, that's right, the QuickBooks Online mobile app has your back. Estimate and invoice to your heart's content, even when you're miles away from your desk. Because who needs a break, anyway?

Customizing and Managing

All customization and options dealing with the transaction are now in this handy Manage icon at the top of the transaction

The main sections are:

• Actions - Here you can copy, Void, Delete, view the audit history or transaction journal report
• Status - Here you can view the current status and view the timeline of the transaction
• Customization - You can add or remove Columns or fields on the transaction
• Payment Options - Adding the option to Accept Credit Card, ACH, PayPal and Venmo payment options as well as Tips
• Design - Selecting the template to use. Currently "Modern" is the only style you have in the new experience to see the other views, you still have access to your other sales form templates, but will not be able to to see the E-mail, PDF, or Payor views using those templates
• Scheduling - Here is where you set up recurring transactions for this transaction, select to print later, and setting up automatic payment reminders 
• Customer Reports - Access this section to connect to various custom reports

So there you have it, accounting professionals. Embrace the chaos, enjoy the ride, and remember—with QuickBooks, there's never a dull moment. Cheers to landing jobs, keeping work moving, and getting paid faster than ever before!