Recurring Transactions

Manage Recurring Transactions in QuickBooks Online

Recurring transactions automate your workflow by creating invoices, expenses, checks, and other entries automatically. This guide covers how to set them up, manage reminders, and troubleshoot common issues.

Create a recurring transaction

If you have regular expenses (like a monthly bank service charge) or invoices that occur on a schedule, you can set them up to run automatically.

1. Select the Gear icon, then Recurring Transactions.
2. Select New.
3. Select the Transaction type (e.g., Check, Invoice) and select OK.
4. Enter a Template name.
5. Choose the Type:
   • Scheduled: The transaction creates automatically; you don’t need to do anything.
   • Reminder: QuickBooks adds the transaction to your reminders list (see below).
   • Unscheduled: The template is saved for future use but does not automate.
6. Under Interval, select how often the transaction should occur and set the date range.
7. Fill in the transaction details (e.g., Bank Account, Amount, Customer).
8. Select Save template.

Use reminders for recurring transactions

If you set a recurring transaction to Reminder, QuickBooks will not generate the entry automatically. Instead, it will appear in your reminders list so you can review and create it manually when you are ready.

To view these reminders:

1. Go to the Home screen (Dashboard).
2. Under the Tasks section, select View Reminders.

Update customer information on templates

Recurring templates use the contact information saved in your Customer (or Client, Donor, Guest, etc.) records. However, there is a specific behavior regarding updates:

• Default info: If the address on the template matches the default customer record, updating the customer center updates the template.
• Manual edits: If you manually typed or edited the address directly on the recurring transaction template, the system will not overwrite it when you update the customer record. This prevents accidental data loss.

To force the template to use the updated address from the customer record:

1. Open the specific Recurring Transaction template.
2. In the customer field, select the customer name again (this toggles the selection).
3. Select Save.

Troubleshoot recurring transactions

Recurring transactions are not running (Next Date advances)

We are aware of an issue where some Recurring Transactions do not generate, yet the “Next Date” advances as if they were successful.

Workaround:

1. Open the Recurring Transactions list.
2. Edit the affected template.
3. Select Save without making changes.
   • This often resets the automation.
   • If an error message appears, it may indicate a specific data issue preventing the transaction from running.

Recurring transactions are missing

If your recurring transactions suddenly disappear from the list, this is often a browser cache issue.

1. Clear your cache and cookies: This removes old temporary files that may be causing display errors.
2. Try a different browser: If the issue persists in Chrome, try Firefox or Edge to rule out a browser-specific problem.

Cannot delete or edit recurring transactions

If buttons (like Delete) are unresponsive while working in the bank register or recurring transactions list:

1. Ensure your browser pop-up blocker is set to allow pop-ups from QBO.intuit.com.
2. Clear your cache and cookies to resolve potential conflicts with stored data.

Recurring invoices not marked “To be printed”

If your recurring invoices or sales receipts are not showing up with the “Print Later” status:

• Cause: The “Print Later” option was likely not selected when the template was originally created. This setting must be enabled on the template for it to carry over to the generated transactions.
• To find unprinted transactions: Run the Invoice List report (found in Reports), customize the columns to include Sales Printed, and review the results.

Set up multi-year recurring schedules

Currently, QuickBooks Online Recurring Transactions are limited to a maximum interval of Yearly. You cannot set a custom interval for multiple years (e.g., every 3 years) directly in the automation settings.

Workaround: Set the transaction as a Reminder with a yearly interval, or submit feedback to our product team to request this feature (select the Gear icon > Feedback).