Video walkthrough: Invoicing and Billing with QuickBooks Online in Sutton

This video shows how to review your QuickBooks Online settings, invoice a sales order in full or in parts, and bill a purchase order.

Once QuickBooks Online is connected, you can send invoices and bills to it directly from your Sales orders and Purchase orders tables. You choose when to send each one, and Sutton tracks its status for you.

Review your integration settings

Before you send your first invoice or bill, confirm your QuickBooks Online settings match how your team works.

From the left sidebar, click Settings, then click Integrations.
On the QuickBooks Online card, click Settings.
Under Account mapping, check the account selected for each order type.
Scroll down, review the settings below, and click Save if you made any changes.

ℹ️ Note: Account mapping changes only affect new invoices and bills. To change values on records you've already synced, edit them directly in QuickBooks Online.

Settings worth checking

Depending on how your team invoices and bills, you may want to turn on one or more of these settings.

Setting	What it does	When to use it
Allow invoicing and billing above ordered quantity	Lets you create an invoice or bill for more than the ordered quantity. A confirmation warning appears before it's sent to QuickBooks Online.	A vendor ships and charges for extra units, or a customer receives more than they ordered.
Enable 3-way matching	Requires you to enter the vendor's invoice quantity and cost when billing. Sutton compares them against the purchase order and what you received.	You want to catch vendor billing errors before they reach your books.
Allow invoicing unfulfilled sales orders	Lets you invoice a sales order before it has been fulfilled or shipped. With it off, invoicing follows fulfillment.	You bill upfront, take deposits, or require prepayment before goods ship.

For a full walkthrough of three-way matching, see Three-Way Matching: Verify Vendor Bills Before They Reach Your Books.

Invoice a sales order

To invoice a sales order, go to the Sales orders table and click the drop-down in its Invoice column. You can invoice all items, invoice by quantity, or manually mark the order as invoiced.

Invoice all items

Use this option when the sales order has been fulfilled, and you want to invoice the whole order at once.

In the Invoice column, click the drop-down and select Invoice all items.
Optionally, enter an Invoice number. Leave it blank, and Sutton creates one for you.
Click Yes, invoice all items.

The status changes to Invoice pending, then to Invoiced once the invoice reaches QuickBooks Online.

Invoice by quantity

Use this option when a sales order ships in parts and you want to invoice only what has shipped.

In the Invoice column, click the drop-down and select Invoice by quantity. The Invoice by quantity modal opens.
Optionally, enter an Invoice number. Leave it blank, and Sutton creates one for you.
Review each line. You'll see the Unit price, SO qty, Shipped qty, Invoiced qty, and Uninvoiced qty side by side.
Enter the amount to invoice in Qty to invoice, or use the Actions drop-down to fill it in
- All fills in the full SO quantity.
- SO qty fills in the sales order quantity.
- Shipped qty fills in the quantity shipped so far.
- Uninvoiced qty fills in the quantity not yet invoiced.
Click Send to QuickBooks Online.

The status changes to Partially invoiced until every item on the order has been invoiced.

💡 Pro Tip: When the rest of the order ships, open the same drop-down and select Invoice remaining items. Sutton pre-fills the remaining items and creates a new invoice for them.

Invoice manually

If you invoiced the order outside Sutton, for example directly in QuickBooks Online, select Invoice manually from the drop-down.

The order is marked Manually invoiced, and no invoice is created or synced to QuickBooks Online.

How invoice numbers are set

By default, the invoice number matches the sales order number. Some invoicing paths add a suffix like -1 or -2. Invoice by quantity always adds one, even if you invoice the full order. To learn which paths keep the number clean, see Why Does My Invoice Number Have a Suffix?

Find an invoice in QuickBooks Online

To open an invoice, click the drop-down in the sales order's Invoice column. Each invoice sent for that order is listed with its number and the date and time it was created, for example, SO51-1. Click it to open the invoice in QuickBooks Online.

Bill a purchase order

Billing a purchase order works much like invoicing a sales order. The Purchase Orders table has a Bill column with its own statuses.

Status	What it means
Not billed	The purchase order hasn't been billed yet.
Bill pending	The bill was just sent to QuickBooks Online. This status clears on its own.
Billed	The whole purchase order has been billed.
Partially billed	Only part of the quantity has been billed.

From the Bill column drop-down, you can:

Bill by quantity: Opens the Choose Items to Bill modal, where you enter the quantity and cost from your vendor's invoice for each line, then click Send to QuickBooks Online. You can also add the Vendor invoice number, which becomes the bill number in QuickBooks Online.
Bill manually: Marks the purchase order as billed outside Sutton. No bill is created or synced to QuickBooks Online.

Once a bill is sent, the same drop-down holds a link to open it in QuickBooks Online.

📘 Sutton Tip: For step-by-step billing, including partial bills, bill numbers, and how cost and quantity exceptions work, see Three-Way Matching: Verify Vendor Bills Before They Reach Your Books.

Your invoices and bills now flow to QuickBooks Online

You can now invoice sales orders and bill purchase orders from Sutton, in full or in parts. Each status updates as you go, and every invoice and bill links straight to its record in QuickBooks Online.

FAQ

Can I invoice a sales order before it ships?

Yes, if you turn on Allow invoicing unfulfilled sales orders in your QuickBooks Online settings. With it off, you can only invoice items that have shipped.

Why does my invoice number have a -1 or -2 at the end?

Some invoicing paths add a suffix, including Invoice by quantity. See Why Does My Invoice Number Have a Suffix?

What happens when I invoice or bill manually?

The order is marked as invoiced or billed in Sutton, but nothing is created or synced to QuickBooks Online.

Can I invoice or bill more than the ordered quantity?

Yes, if Allow invoicing and billing above ordered quantity is turned on. A confirmation warning appears before you send the invoice or bill.

If you have additional questions, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or contact us at [email protected].

Create QuickBooks Online Invoices and Bills