Set Up QuickBooks to Send Automatic Payment Reminders

What This Does

Once configured, QuickBooks automatically sends email reminders to your client's customers when invoices are approaching due date or are overdue — without you writing or sending a single email.

Before You Start

• You have QuickBooks Online (Essentials plan or higher)
• Your client's customers have email addresses saved in QuickBooks
• Invoices are being created and sent through QuickBooks (not external)
• Time needed: 15 minutes to set up once; then it runs automatically
• Cost: Included in QuickBooks Essentials ($30+/mo) — no extra charge

Steps

1. Access the Reminder Settings

Click the Gear icon (Settings) in the top-right corner → Select Account and Settings → Click the Sales tab → Scroll down to find Reminders.

What you should see: A section showing "Reminders" with an on/off toggle, currently set to Off for most new accounts.

2. Turn on reminders and choose timing

Click the Edit pencil icon next to Reminders. Toggle reminders to On. You'll see options for:

• Before due date: e.g., 3 days before (a heads-up)
• On due date: day-of reminder
• After due date: 1, 7, 14, 30 days overdue (collections sequence)

Check the boxes for the timing you want to use. A common starting setup: 3 days before + 7 days after + 21 days after.

What you should see: Each selected timing option gets a checkmark, and you can preview the default email text.

3. Customize the reminder email message

Click Customize next to any reminder to edit the email body. You can change the subject line and message. The default message is professional and works well, but you can personalize with your client's business name or a specific payment link.

What you should see: A text editor with the default reminder text. QuickBooks automatically inserts the invoice number, amount, and due date using merge fields — don't delete those.

Troubleshooting: If you don't see a Customize option, you may need to set up a Custom Template first. Go to Custom form styles in Settings and create a basic template.

4. Save your settings

Click Save in the Reminders section, then Done at the bottom of the Settings page.

What you should see: The Reminders section now shows "On" with your configured timing.

5. Verify it's working for an invoice

Open any existing unpaid invoice (Invoicing → Invoices). Scroll down and look for a Reminders section at the bottom showing when the next reminder is scheduled for this invoice.

What you should see: A note showing "Reminder scheduled for [date]" or "No reminder (email missing)" if the customer doesn't have an email on file.

Real Example

Scenario: You're managing accounts receivable for a landscape company with 25 active clients. Before setting up reminders, you spent 30–45 minutes every week manually sending "just checking in" emails for overdue invoices.

What you do: Configure reminders at 3 days before, 7 days after, and 21 days after. Set up once, then leave it running.

What you get: QuickBooks sends reminders automatically. Average days-to-payment drops from 42 days to 28 days. You spend 0 minutes per week on routine reminder emails.

Tips

• Remind clients (business owners) to also check their QuickBooks settings — reminders only work if the customer email address is saved in the customer record
• For very overdue accounts (60+ days), consider following up personally by phone — automated reminders lose impact after a few rounds, and a human call signals the situation is serious
• You can snooze or cancel a reminder for a specific invoice if you know a client is dealing with a genuine issue — open the invoice and click the reminder to modify it

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar reminder options in the Sales or Invoicing settings area.