Step 1: Collect 1 bill each from 9 different vendors,
Step 2: Cover up any company information including logo and addresses
Step 3: Lay them all out next to each other side by side
Step 4: Grab 1 customer Invoice and cover up your company information including logo and addresses
Step 5: Invite a second person to join and ask them to select only one document.
Repeat: as many times with different people for the best results.

Did they choose your QuickBooks Online Invoice or one of the bills? 

While the above test may sound simple, it is exactly the type of activity entrepreneurial incubators, and think tanks use to give their growing startups an edge. 

Click the Gear Icon in the Top Right of the screen

Select Custom Form Styles under the Settings column

Choose Between:

• Invoice
• Estimate
• Sales Receipt

QuickBooks Labs Tip: If you are looking to create a 100% custom invoice, it is possible to Import your own style by adding the feature. Visit QuickBooks Labs to find all features being beta tested.

The design tab allows you to customize the overall look of the document including:

Logo: Size and location of the logo

Colors: Select the accent color of your document. You can select from a group of predefined colors or enter your own color code. As a colorblind accountant, I use the instant eyedropper app (http://instant-eyedropper.com/)to select the coloring from our clients’ logo to ensure I get the correct color.

Font: Select which font to use on the document as well as the size.

Print Settings: Edit the page margins to match your specific needs. For example, if you are using custom letterhead with a border, you can move the outer margins to match your printing needs.

Parkway QuickBooks Online Invoice Tip:

You will want to create and save a special version for printing if you also plan to send them digitally. Check both versions to make sure they look exactly how you want. When sending digitally, your QuickBooks Online Invoice will always use the invoice template that has been labeled as the master template.  Even if you select a unique format under the more tab before printing, the invoice displayed will remain the default selection.

1: Company Information:

• Business Name:
• Phone Number
• Email:
• Address:
• Website:

Select if you wish to show the following information in the header of your Invoice. These fields will be auto populated with your company information however you can manually edit the details to display as you wish. These fields are in a predefined order but you can change the order by manually typing what you want to display.

2: Form Details

Form Name: Use this to change the name of your document to your needs. For Example, you could change the name to Deposit or Retainer and only use that custom format when sending the related document to a client.

Custom Transaction Numbers: This powerful field will allow you to create your own invoice numbering. For example you can change your numbering to display INV-1123 but this also opens the ability to change the invoice number on the fly and may result in duplicate invoice numbers when the person invoicing changes the invoice number. If the check box is cleared, QuickBooks will auto number the documents for you.

3: Display Options

Select the options that you would like to be displayed on your document. If you added custom fields as part of your company setup, those fields will be auto filled. You can modify those setting by changing them here but you are still limited to a maximum of 3 custom fields.

Parkway Tip: 

Using Terms to Track Sales By Person: If your company does not provide terms on your invoice, you can use the Terms drop down to track sales commissions instead. The terms field can act as a unique drop down field that can be used for filtering in reporting. This eliminates the challenge caused by variances in the custom fields such as Matt, matt, Matthew, and matthew. With a drop down, the user has a predefined group of options. When you deselect the terms box, this field will not be displayed on the invoice but remains an option for internal use.

1: Account Summary:

Select this option if you want a customer summary of outstanding balances to be displayed at the top of the invoice. Companies that utilize accounts receivables will find this useful especially when send invoices out to their consumers.

2: Columns:

The Body of the QuickBooks Online Invoice is by far the most intricate portion of invoice template creation due to all the customization opportunities. Not only can you choose what columns you do or do not want displayed but Intuit also made it simple to change the column names, spacing and order of display. Here is a breakdown of the different options:

• Date: Service based businesses will appreciate the ability to add the date services were performed.
• SKU: E-Commerce & Retail Business with inventory can use the SKU to differentiate between products
• Product/Service: This field is pretty powerful and offers the ability to display both the category and the description all in one field by displaying in a stacked line display. We find this to be very useful for companies that use the description field
• Description: For most companies, the description field will take up the most real estate on the invoice. To expand the area available, it is possible to have the description field also include the quantity and rate. If you use very large descriptions it is also possible to stack multiple lines to improve the look.
• Quantity: An optional field to display, some service based businesses such as doctors may choose to eliminate this to only display the total line item amount
• Rate: Also an optional field to display. If your quantity sold is always 1 then displaying the line amount would accomplish the same goal.
• Amount: Amount is fairly self-explanatory; however, you may be able to use our Parkway Tip below regarding the Amount field just in time for the holidays.

Parkway Tip: Creating a Gift Receipt

This holiday season, increase your sales by offering Gift Receipts.  To achieve this look, use the following settings:

• Create a new invoice with the Airy template, and center your logo.
• From the content tab, change the form name from Invoice to Gift Receipt
• Remove all company information from the header and add it into the footer instead
• Remove the all fields except the description column
• From the footer section remove the discount and deposit columns
• In our example, we created a bundle item which allows us to hide all of the line items from the purchases.

The end result is a print ready return receipt without the individual breakdown.

3: Activity Options:

(These features are hidden behind a show more activity link) The hide activity options section focuses on billable time and expenses. Businesses that utilize a large number of line items can choose to

• Group similar items by
  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
  • Type
• Subtotal the groups
• Collapse the activity rows down to a single line item
• Display the markup on billable expenses
• Display billable time including the hours rate and the employee name.

4: Show/Hide labels and Widths:

The Sliders make it possible to adjust the overall width of each field but be aware that changing one of the sliders will cause others to increase and decrease also. The total area must always be equal to 100% so if you increase the area needed for amount, then the columns to the left will need to move further left to provide more space. This same concept will happen for all columns and can take some time to setup before you get it to be just right. The video will show how the different adjustments will affect the look of the invoice.

1: Message to Customer

Add a customer message that will be added to every document of the same type. If you are creating an invoice template, this will modify the message on all invoice templates. You can manually change the message per invoice as desired.

2: Display Options

Determines if your document will display Discount or Deposit field on your document.

3: Footer Text

Add custom text to the bottom of your document including the font size and the format.