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October 16, 2017I use QuickBooks. I'm not saying I LIKE QuickBooks, I'm saying I use it. Oftentimes it makes me crazy with how hard it is to figure out simple things -- like, when you set up a new set of books, how to change the invoicing number sequence.
QB Invoice Number: How Hard Can It Be to Change?
That should be pretty simple and, when you dig through all the information about the QB Online version - to get to the information about the desktop version (for literally an hour or more) - you still can't find the answer.
And don't tell me to give up or give in and just go with QB online. The answer is no. NOPE. I do NOT like subscription services where you are expected to pay monthly for the privilege of accessing your own data. Call me crazy. I pay for these types of programs and install them locally on my computer. I prefer to OWN the software... at least for as long as I can... until there is no other option. Hopefully by then I'll be retired or suddenly crazy-wealthy or something, and I won't have to subscribe to them then either.
Anyway, you won't see me doing Office 365 or QB online. Sure, I have fallen prey to a few of those services, but not for my financials and not for my basic word processing and spreadsheet use.
The Problem With Auto-Numbering in QuickBooks Desktop
I started a new set of books for a new company structure this year. When I tried to continue the invoice sequence my customers were accustomed to seeing, it didn't work. I would put in the invoice number I wanted manually, save the invoice and then hit "new" invoice and QB would revert back to invoice 0008 when the invoice that SHOULD have sequenced next was 16399.
I tried getting out of QB and going back in. Nope. I did it again -- because I was desperate and I was sick of looking online for an answer. (I am really good at finding answers online -- seriously -- so when I get stumped, it hurts my heart a little.)
Eventually, I broke down and called my aunt (who is a CPA and basically a genius about all things QB and finances for small business) and told her I'd wasted over an hour of my life, and asked if she knew how I could align the invoice numbers from the old company structure to the new set of books for the new company structure, so invoices stayed in the same universe, number-wise, for my clients.
Yes, she said, you need to do the following...
How to Change the Invoice Number Sequence in QB Desktop
- Create a bogus invoice with the right number -- the number you want.
- Print that invoice (I saved it as a PDF and it worked just fine).
- Then log out of your QuickBooks Desktop program.
- Go back into QB and go to the invoice you printed.
- Hit the "next" button (this is the forward, pointing to the right, arrow button in the ribbon above the word "find").
Amazingly, it finally "auto-populated" the next number in the invoice sequence I wanted.
I had been hitting "save and new" which did NOT make it go to the next invoice number above the one I typed in manually -- instead, it reverted to the old 0008. Who knew, Right? My aunt did. She told me QB was a little quirky about such things -- something I already knew. Quickbooks is quirky about a LOT of things. Anyway...
I just thought I'd share this, for those out there searching the Internet for the solution to how to get your Quickbooks to auto-sequence from a custom invoice number.
I hope this helps save someone else an hour of their lives! And a big thank you to my Aunt, who saved the day!