Every invoice you send from Run a Call becomes an invoice in QuickBooks Online, and stays in step when you edit, pay or void it. This article covers when that happens, what carries over, and what to check when one is held back.
When an invoice goes to QuickBooks
| In Run a Call | In QuickBooks |
|---|---|
| Draft invoice | Nothing. Drafts never sync. |
| You send the invoice | Created right away. |
| You edit an invoice that's already in QuickBooks | The QuickBooks copy is updated to match, about a minute and a half after your last change (a burst of edits goes over together). If payments already applied in QuickBooks add up to more than the new total, the update is held back until you adjust the payment in QuickBooks. |
| A payment is recorded | The payment is applied to the QuickBooks invoice — see How payments sync. |
| You void the invoice | Voided in QuickBooks too. |
| Anything that didn't go through | Picked up by the hourly sync. |
The Invoices switch under Sync settings & account mapping → Sync Settings must be on. Once synced, the invoice shows an In QuickBooks badge.
The customer has to be in QuickBooks first. If they aren't yet, Run a Call matches or creates them as part of sending the invoice. See How customers sync.
What carries over
| Run a Call | QuickBooks |
|---|---|
| Customer | Customer (the linked QuickBooks customer) |
| Invoice number | Invoice no. |
| Line items — description, quantity, unit price | Invoice lines. A pricebook line uses its matching QuickBooks product/service; a custom line with no pricebook item uses a Services item. Revenue posts to your Income Account. |
| Taxable / non-taxable lines and the tax amount | Taxable lines are marked taxable and the tax posts under your mapped tax code — see Mapping tax rates |
| Invoice discount | A discount line, so the QuickBooks total matches |
| Due date | Due date |
| Invoice notes | Message on the invoice |
| Job type | Class on every line, if you've set up class tracking |
Packages: by default a package goes over as the single line your customer sees. Turn on Itemize packages in QuickBooks to send its labor and material breakdown instead. The customer's invoice looks the same either way.
Invoice date: Run a Call doesn't set the QuickBooks invoice date, so QuickBooks dates the invoice the day it's created there — usually the day you send it.
What stays in Run a Call
Photos, signatures, internal notes, the job timeline and tech assignments stay in Run a Call. Estimates don't sync — only invoices. When an invoice is updated, details your bookkeeper added only in QuickBooks (like a private note or terms) are kept.
Invoices that don't sync on purpose
- Invoices brought over from your previous software. QuickBooks already has them, so they're skipped (they show as Skipped in the Sync Log) and their payments are left for you to reconcile in QuickBooks.
- Drafts — until they're sent.
If your QuickBooks uses Automated Sales Tax
QuickBooks Automated Sales Tax ignores the tax Run a Call sends and calculates its own from an address. With a single tax rate that's fine. If you charge more than one tax rate, Run a Call sends each taxed invoice with the job's service address and checks the total QuickBooks comes back with. An invoice whose QuickBooks total doesn't match what your customer was billed is removed from QuickBooks and held back ("QuickBooks computed a different total") — your invoice in Run a Call isn't affected. See Mapping tax rates.
When an invoice is held back
Held-back invoices appear on the QuickBooks page under records that need attention, and the invoice itself shows QuickBooks sync issue (hover it for the reason). The most common causes:
- The Income Account or a mapped class was deleted in QuickBooks.
- The invoice charges tax but no tax code is mapped.
- The customer is waiting for a QuickBooks match.
Fix the cause, then click Retry. Saving a tax code or class re-tries the affected invoices for you. Full list: Resolving common QuickBooks errors.