Key takeaways
- Set the Status filter to All and widen the date range before you conclude an invoice is missing.
- A draft has not posted, so search the audit log before you assume a draft was deleted.
- Deleted transactions cannot be restored in QuickBooks Online. Re-enter them with the original date.
- Choose Undeposited Funds only when the bank recorded several payments as one deposit.
- In Desktop, run Verify Data before Rebuild Data, and back up the file first.
Rule out the filters first
Most invoices that look missing are on the Invoices page but outside the current view. Set the Status filter to All, then set the Date filter to cover the period when the invoices were created. A Status filter left on Open hides paid invoices, and a date range that starts after the invoice date hides the invoice completely. Ask the client for “the invoice number and the exact customer name as printed on the PDF” before you search.
Search by invoice number, not by customer name. A name search only finds the invoice under the customer record you typed. If the client has two customer records for the same business, the customer’s transaction list shows the invoice under one of them, so check both. If the page still looks wrong, open QuickBooks Online in a private browser window: Ctrl+Shift+N in Edge or Chrome, Ctrl+Shift+P in Firefox, or Command+Shift+N in Safari. If the invoice appears there, clear the cache and cookies in your regular browser.
Drafts and deleted invoices
A draft invoice is saved but not sent, and it has not posted to receivables. A client who says “I sent you the October invoice” may be describing a draft. Intuit says saved drafts should appear on the Invoices page. If the draft is not there, check the audit log before you re-create anything.
To open the audit log, select the Settings gear, then Audit log under Tools. Set the User, Date and event filters. Widen the user filter to everyone who could have touched the invoice, and set the date to cover the period when it was created. Press Ctrl+F and search for “Deleted,” then under the History column select View to see the transaction details.
If the log shows the invoice was created and later deleted, re-enter it from the View details and use the original invoice date. Intuit’s article says the audit log only works for transactions that were saved, and that deleted transactions cannot be restored. The common mistake is re-entering the invoice with today’s date, which moves the receivable and the revenue into the current period. If the log shows nothing, the invoice was never saved in this company file. Ask the client which account or customer name the invoice came from before you create anything, because a second entry creates a duplicate receivable.
Undeposited Funds and the bank deposit
When you record a payment through Receive payment, the “Deposit to” field decides where the cash sits. Intuit says to choose Undeposited Funds only when the bank has recorded multiple payments as a single deposit. For a single payment that landed in the bank, choose the bank account. The payment applies to the invoice when it is saved, but the cash stays in Undeposited Funds until a deposit moves it into the bank.
The usual failure is the one-to-many deposit. The bank shows one line for three customer payments. Make one deposit from Undeposited Funds that includes those three payments, so the bank line matches a single record. If the three payments went straight to the bank account, the combined bank line matches none of them, and the reconciliation difference looks like a missing invoice. If the bank shows one line per payment, deposit each payment to the bank account instead. An Intuit community answer says Undeposited Funds cannot be reconciled on its own.
Clear the bank line against open invoices
Open the account in the reconciliation window and check each bank line that matches a transaction by date and amount. Leave unmatched lines unchecked. When the difference reaches zero, select Finish now, then Done.
For a bank line with no match, first look for a record that already exists in sales and expense transactions. If you find it, check the Deposit to or Payment account and change it if it is wrong. If nothing matches, enter a customer’s payment with Receive payment against the open invoice, not as a sales receipt, so the invoice closes. Anything else gets entered as the bank line describes it.
If the difference remains, run a Past Reconciliation report for the dates of QuickBooks transactions that are not on the statement. For each one, open the account register, click the reconcile box until it shows R, and save. Delete a transaction only when you are certain it is a duplicate or an error.
Credit memos and partial payments
To apply a credit memo, open Receive payment, select the customer, tick the open invoice under Outstanding Transactions, and select the credit under Credits. Enter the credit amount in the “Payment” column for that invoice. Leave “Payment method,” “Reference no.,” “Deposit to” and “Amount received” blank. Filling in “Amount received” records cash, which is not what a credit does.
If the client has an open credit and an open invoice for the same work, apply the credit to that invoice. If the client is owed the cash back, issue a refund instead, so the customer’s balance does not carry a credit nobody will use. Check whether credit note auto-apply is turned on before you apply by hand. Intuit says that when it is on, QuickBooks applies credits for you. Community reports describe auto-apply putting a credit on the oldest invoice rather than the one the bookkeeper chose. The community workaround is to delete the credit memo and re-create it, or to post a journal entry.
Intuit says partial payments apply to invoice line items in order, with any extra going to the next line items. Open the invoice detail before concluding the wrong invoice was paid. Intuit’s page does not give steps for splitting one payment across several invoices, so record one Receive payment per invoice and check that the amounts add up to the bank deposit.
QuickBooks Desktop: verify, then rebuild
In QuickBooks Desktop, close all open windows from the Window menu, then go to File, Utilities, Verify Data. If QuickBooks reports no problems, no further action is needed. If you see a message that your data has lost integrity, the file is damaged, so proceed to Rebuild Data from the same menu.
A rebuild requires a backup first, and Intuit says rebuilding may delete some transactions or list entries in rare cases. Save the backup under a new name rather than over an existing file. If the backup fails, cancel the rebuild and contact support. If issues remain, run Verify Data again, search the qbwin.log file for the error text, and restore a recent backup through File, Restore only if needed. Do not overwrite the current company file, and re-enter any work done after that backup.
Verify and rebuild repair file damage. They do not bring back an invoice a user deleted, so run the audit trail check first. In Desktop, the Audit Trail report plays the role of the QuickBooks Online audit log. Check its location in your version before you rely on it.
The close order and where Usual fits
Use the same order every month and record the result in the close notes. First, Status set to All with the full period on the Invoices page. Second, the private window check. Third, the audit log for each invoice number you cannot find. Fourth, Undeposited Funds for any payment with no bank line. Fifth, the reconciliation difference, line by line. Last, the credits and partial payments on every invoice you touched during the search.
When the missing invoice exists only as a PDF the client emailed, ask the client to “send the PDF exactly as you received it, with the invoice number visible,” then attach it to the matching QuickBooks Online transaction, so the source document sits with the entry the reviewer will check. Usual can attach a file a client sends back to the matching QuickBooks Online transaction. It does not match invoices or clear the reconciliation for you.