Question

Is there a way to insert a variable for month & year inside the description of a reccuring invoice? I do monthly billing where the customer needs to see current month/yr.

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
January 11, 2019
17 replies
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Original commenter did not share additional details

QuickBooks Online

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community. Allow me to share some information about adding variables on invoices in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

The option to add a variable feature on recurring invoices is currently unavailable in QBO. As a workaround, you can manually enter variables every time an invoice recurs.

This feature would be a great help to your business, so I suggest you make your voice heard by sending feedback. Let me show you how:

Click on the Gear icon.
Choose Feedback.
Enter your request or product suggestion and click on Next.
If there are related requests similar to yours, just click on it.
Then, click on the I want this button. If you want to receive updates about your request, please enter your email address and click on Subscribe.

However, if there are no related requests, just click on Skip and send message. Then, choose Feedback as the Category and click on Send message.

That should do it. Your request will be reviewed by our developers who are capable of adding this feature, and possibly implement this in the future.

I appreciate you taking the time to visit us here today. Looking forward to hearing from you soon if you have any other concerns. Have a great day.

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duanedelima

The lack of this feature was the deciding factor in me choosing Xero over QBO. I've been a QuickBooks user for years but their refusal to implement simple quality of life features despite the ease of implementation and the demand from users is showing the disconnect between the company and their customers. This feature has been requested since 2015, or possibly before, on their own forums.

See the original thread here:

https://feedback.qbo.intuit.com/forums/168199-quickbooks-online-feature-requests/suggestions/11105235-variables-in-recurring-transactions

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JanyRoseB

Hi there, duanedelima.

Thanks for joining this thread. Allow me to address your concern, so let me help get this straightened out.

Finding new ways to adapt to our customers’ needs is how QuickBooks gets even better. Your feedback helps our Product Development team decide which feature will be implemented on the next future update. The change is also based on how popular a specific feature request is.

Since the option you're looking for is currently unavailable and I can see how this feature would be beneficial to your business, I'm also preparing a feedback submission to our Product Development Team right now.

We appreciate your patience. Please know that you're always welcome to post if you have any other questions. Have a good one.

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chiapeterson

Many many MANY people have asked for this feature for a very very long time. The response is always the canned "We appreciate... blah blah blah". Yet it is NEVER addressed sincerely. I had NO idea Xero did this. Well... off I go for a free trial of Xero. Sad really... I've been a QBs customer for such a long time.

HoneyLynn_G

Hi there, everyone.

Thanks for providing some feedback about adding a variable field on recurring invoices.

You have the option to customize invoice templates and assign them to a recurring transaction. As mentioned, however, inserting a variable for the month & year inside the description of a recurring invoice is unavailable.

We make sure to take note and address all feedback for QuickBooks Online as possible as we can. You can always visit the QuickBooks Blog site to check the latest feature added to the application.

If there's anything else that I can do to help, just let me know by adding a comment below. Have a good one.

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SeanMPosey

You could ensure this gets implemented before I cancel my subscription as well.

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JByers1

Its really funny that they keep sending me emails thanking me for my help in the community and they just upgraded my account to an "Established Member". Does that mean that I get more pull in new features? All I have done was ask for a feature that they are not offering and I keep getting generic form responses basically showing they have never really looked at my request.

AlcaeusF

Thanks for getting back to us, @JByers1.

Allow me to step in for a moment and share some information about the emails you're getting from the Community.

First of all, I appreciate you sending product suggestions to our Developers. They're constantly looking for great ideas from users, like yourself, when deciding how to enhance QuickBooks. As mentioned by my colleague, our QuickBooks Blog site is the place we post updates with regards to newly added features.

.

On the other hand, the Established Member is a rank, and those ranks are earned in Community based on your participation like posting questions, comments or answers. For more information on how it works, you can check out this article: Big Changes to Our Community Ranking Structure.

Please post again or leave a comment on this thread should you have any additional questions or concerns. I'm always here to answer them. Wishing you and your business continued success!

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Anonymous

Just tossing my 2 cents in here, as this was a great feature I had using Freshbooks and it's pretty surprising that QBO doesn't offer this. So Consider this an upvote for making this an option in your next release, please.

Angelyn_T

Hello there, @568521.

Please allow me to join the thread and help share a little more information about adding variables on invoices.

You have the option to customize your template as mentioned by my colleague HoneyLynn_G above, since this feature isn't available in QuickBooks Online (QBO) as of the moment.

On the other hand, I'll take note with this, so I'll be able to pass along the suggestions for you, so you'll be able to use this feature in QBO as quickly as possible.

For you to stay updated with the latest QuickBooks news and updates, you may visit our QuickBooks blog: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

Please feel free to visit us here on the Community page if you have any other invoices concerns, I'll be always here to help you. Have a great day ahead!

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Anonymous

Thank you!

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Tisonlyme

Having just come from the land of Xero, I'm disappointed that variables aren't a part of QBO. That said, I am enjoying the really neat feature where I can automate sending of invoices AND have it actually work. Very novel and a major reason for leaving Xero. That said, ***please, please add the ability to use variables asap***. Now I have to go and figure out how to make my invoicing work without it. We really shouldn't have to try to find workarounds for what should be considered basic functionality.

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aidan_foster

Here's the re-created issue on the feature forum. Please add your vote!
https://feedback.qbo.intuit.com/forums/920245-quickbooks-mobile-feedback-forum/suggestions/39096322-allow-variables-to-appear-in-reccuring-invoice-tem

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JoeSTM

I tried to vote for this feature to be added, but the link now goes to an "its closed" page and then suggests we come here to leave comments about it.

My comment is:

I thought QBO did this. This is one of the reasons I pay for it. I feel a little cheated that it is not included.

If the concern is about security and the dangers of variable insertion, why not set it up so that there are fixed incrementing selectable variables (month, year, etc.) with start and stop dates that QBO would handle?

If there is another reason this isn't being added, I think it would help us all if someone would at least tell us why. Right now the responses from QBO seem to all be cookie cutter.

When you read their messages its noticeable that they aren't even referring to the specific issue. The responses could be cut and paste across almost all customer suggestions.

Fiat Lux - ASIA

For the time being, consider a 3rd party billing app to integrate with your QBO.

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bgreiner

Intuit, please add this feature. It's been around on other solutions for 20-years.

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GraceC

Hello there, @bgreiner.

Allow me to join the thread and provide some information about this

Currently, adding variables in QuickBooks Online isn't available. However, you have the option to customize your template as mentioned by my colleague above.

On the other hand, I’ll surely pass this preference to our developers so they can work on making your experience as user-friendly as possible in the future.

Also, you can always visit the QuickBooks Blog site to check the latest feature added to the application.

Please let me know if you have any other questions with QuickBooks. I'm here to help you out. All the best!

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SimplyEric

This has been requested for years. Even for a cloud based app, it should be a very very easy add. My thoughts is QBO nor its software engineers have any desire to add this very basic feature.

Templates do not fix the problem.

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allen6

Is this available yet? Seems like a super easy build and something beneficial for a lot of people.

JoesemM

This feature is still unavailable for now, @allen6.

Though we receive a lot of features requests, our developers are closely reviewing any added features in QBO to avoid errors once they're released in the system. We appreciate your patience until this feature is available.

As mentioned by my colleague, our QuickBooks Blog site is the place we post updates with the latest product enhancements made in QBO.

In case you need some related articles for your future tasks, you can always visit our Help articles for reference.

Please post again or leave a comment should you have any follow-up questions or concerns. I'm always here to answer them.

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brandondeweese

Why has this not been implemented yet? This is insane. Is there a feature roadmap somewhere? So I know if can jump ship from this sinking vessel?

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sachingu

When is this feature coming out? I am also waiting for last 4 years for this feature

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Catherine_B

Hello there, sachingu.

We don't have a specific time yet when the feature to be able to enter another variable and enter the month and year inside the description of the recurring invoice. Meantime, you'll want to use the workaround shared by Fiat Lux - ASIA.

You can always log in to your QuickBooks Online account and click the notification bell at the upper-right for more updates on our features, or you can click here.

Feel free to post your questions here if you need more help. Take care!

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chris237

This is beyond ridiculous - paying customers have been asking for this feature for YEARS. Other platforms, including open-source systems (e.g. Invoice Ninja, from which I'm migrating) have this feature and for years now.

The utter disrespect of Intuit for it's customers' requests is appalling - we keep getting canned responses that provide no benefit other than to prove again and again that QBO development cares nothing for it's user base.

Having implemented this type of feature in my own development before, it's pretty low hanging fruit when you've got predefined variables. What exactly does development spend their time doing??? It's not like new useful features are pushed out on any kind of regular basis. Considering the monthly cost of QBO, you'd think after a reasonable period something would be done - and waiting years doesn't seem like a reasonable amount of time.

Suggesting using a recurring billing app as a solution is a cop-out for something this simple. Shame on you, Intuit. This just reinforces the general perception that Intuit cares about nothing except conning new users into moving to their platform and then milking them for all it's worth. Maybe stop trying to aggressively push customers into buying more products and start actually implementing features users are actively asking for.

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squarecandy

Hi Everyone -

First, I want to add my voice to the chorus of people saying that this is an essential feature that should be easy to implement and that it's ridiculous that thousands of users have been asking for it for 4-5 years and nothing has been done to address it. Seems like there is a serious disconnect between the customer service agents and the actual development team. Come on, Intuit - just get this done!

Second: I have a temporary fix I have implemented using Zapier.

1) This requires a paid Zapier account to connect with QBO, which is not ideal.

2) There are a lot of caveats and use cases that are not exactly like mine that might require fiddling with it or might not work at all.

But if you are familiar with Zapier and maybe already have a paid account, this is a good solution that should work until Intuit can get it together to release this feature.

https://zapier.com/shared/b5256b91b853e82f1a3d35542e03c1a5626a25cf

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