Set up QuickBooks accounts receivable automation in 5 steps: invoice reminders, autopay, workflows and aging reports, plus what to add when QuickBooks stops.
.png)
QuickBooks accounts receivable automation can take a surprising amount of repetitive work off your plate. If QuickBooks already runs your accounting, it can send invoice reminders, generate recurring invoices, collect online payments and, on the Advanced plan, run workflows that act on overdue invoices. That covers a real part of managing accounts receivable (AR).
This guide walks through the five setup steps, gives you a reminder schedule that fits contractor billing, shows how to read your QuickBooks aging report, and explains where QuickBooks payment reminders stop.
The question is how much of your current accounts receivable process you can automate in QuickBooks, and what you can do when your collection needs go beyond what those features can handle.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
QuickBooks includes AR automation tools that can handle several tasks your team would otherwise need to remember to do manually.
Automatic invoice reminders are one of the most relevant examples. QuickBooks Online lets you schedule reminders before or after an invoice due date and customize the message customers receive.
Once configured, your team does not have to manually track every due date just to determine when the next reminder should go out.
Businesses with customers on predictable billing schedules can also create recurring invoices. QuickBooks lets users create recurring transaction templates, while QuickBooks Payments can support automatic credit card or ACH payments in eligible recurring setups.
QuickBooks Online Advanced adds another layer through automated workflows. These workflows can trigger reminders and actions based on conditions you define, including workflows related to invoices and payment collection.
| AR task | Can QuickBooks automate it? | Plan or add-on needed |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice reminder emails before or after the due date | Yes | QuickBooks Online |
| Recurring invoices on a fixed schedule | Yes | QuickBooks Online |
| Online card and ACH payments from the invoice | Yes | QuickBooks Payments |
| Autopay on recurring invoices | Yes, for eligible customers | QuickBooks Payments |
| Condition-based reminders and internal alerts | Yes | QuickBooks Online Advanced workflows |
| Text message or voicemail reminders | Not natively | Third-party collections tool |
| Separate sequences for homeowners, carriers and commercial customers | Not natively | Third-party collections tool |
| Tracking promises to pay and call notes per invoice | Not natively | Third-party collections tool |
Here's a step-by-step guide to setting up accounts receivable automation in QuickBooks.
| 1 | Set Up Automatic Invoice Reminders |
| 2 | Set Up Recurring Invoices Where Applicable |
| 3 | Enable Online Payments and Autopay Where Applicable |
| 4 | Create Automated AR Workflows |
| 5 | Review Your Outstanding AR and Adjust the Automation |
First, set up the reminders that QuickBooks will send when an invoice is approaching or has passed its due date.
QuickBooks Online allows you to configure automatic invoice reminders that go out before or after an invoice becomes due. You can also customize the reminder email so the customer receives a message that fits how your business normally communicates about payment.
To find the setting, open the gear icon, choose Account and settings, select Sales, and scroll to the Reminders section. Turn on automatic invoice reminders, choose how many days before or after the due date each one goes out, and edit the subject line and message. Intuit occasionally moves menu items, so if the path looks different, search "invoice reminders" in QuickBooks help.
QuickBooks sends the same reminder to every customer, so pick timing that works for most of your invoices and handle the exceptions by hand.
| Reminder | Timing | What it should say |
|---|---|---|
| First | 3 days before the due date | Friendly heads-up with invoice number, amount and the pay-online link |
| Second | 1 to 3 days after the due date | Short note that the invoice is now past due, with the same link |
| Third | 10 to 14 days after the due date | Firmer message asking the customer to pay or call to discuss |
After the third reminder, the account usually needs a person: a phone call, a formal letter or, for an insurance job, a status check with the adjuster rather than another email to the homeowner.
Think about your existing contractor payment terms when choosing the timing. A reminder that goes out too early may add unnecessary communication, while one that goes out too late gives an overdue invoice more time to sit without attention.
Once you have the timing set, QuickBooks can handle these routine reminders without requiring someone on your team to check the due date and send the same type of email manually.
Tip: If you need wording for those reminders, our payment reminder email templates include friendly, firm and final versions you can paste into QuickBooks. For a formal notice after that, use a past due invoice letter.
Next, look at whether any invoices your business sends on a regular schedule can be automated as well.
QuickBooks Online lets you create recurring invoice templates for customers you invoice daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. Once you set the schedule, QuickBooks can generate those invoices without requiring someone to create the same invoice each time.
Only use this feature where the billing relationship is actually recurring. A restoration company, for example, typically bills around individual jobs rather than charging the same property owner every month.
Recurring invoices may still make sense for any services you provide on a predictable schedule. Job-specific invoices should continue to follow the billing process that fits the individual job.
After setting up how invoices and reminders go out, look at how customers can pay them.
QuickBooks Payments lets you add digital payment options for eligible invoices, including ACH payments from a customer's bank account.
If you use recurring invoices, eligible customers can also enroll in Autopay for recurring payments that process automatically. QuickBooks Payments is required for this feature.
Again, Autopay will not make sense for every invoice. It works best when a customer owes a predictable amount on a recurring schedule.
For one-time invoices, the more relevant step is making it easy for customers to pay once they receive the invoice. Giving them a convenient online payment option removes extra steps that could delay payment and can help your business get paid faster.
One caution for restoration and roofing companies: the pay-online link belongs on invoices to homeowners and commercial customers. Insurance carriers and adjusters pay through their own claim process, so send them documentation and status requests instead of a payment link.
Once those basic automations are in place, QuickBooks Online Advanced users can build workflows around AR tasks that still require regular action.
QuickBooks currently provides more than 60 workflow templates covering areas such as invoices, bills, estimates, and payments. For AR, these workflows can automate actions based on conditions you define.
For example, you can create automated payment reminders that contact customers when payment becomes overdue. QuickBooks defaults this reminder to one day after the due date, although you can change the timing.
Useful AR workflows for contractors include an internal alert to the project manager when a large invoice passes 30 days, a task for the office to call any customer over a set balance, and a reminder to send a customer statement at month end.
Look at the repetitive tasks your team still performs and determine whether a workflow can handle any of them. This lets you build additional automation around your actual process rather than setting up workflows you do not need.
Once everything is running, the final step is to check what your automation is handling and which manual processes still require your team's attention.
Review your open invoices and aging report. Check whether reminders are going out at the right time and whether employees still need to repeatedly follow up on the same accounts.
In QuickBooks Online, go to Reports and open A/R Aging Summary for totals by customer, or A/R Aging Detail for each open invoice. The report groups balances into buckets: current, 1 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90 and over 90 days past due.
Run the report on the same day each week and compare it with the week before. A growing 31 to 60 column is the clearest sign that QuickBooks reminders alone are no longer keeping up.
You may find that certain reminders need to go out earlier or that a workflow needs different conditions. You may also find that QuickBooks' existing automation tools already handle enough of the process for your current needs.
Pay particular attention to which daily AR management tasks your team still has to handle after automation has done its job.
If employees still spend considerable time chasing overdue payments or keeping track of collection activity manually, that gives you a clearer picture of where your current AR process still needs work.
For most contractors, QuickBooks payment reminders are the first piece of AR automation they turn on. They are worth setting up, but it helps to know their limits before you rely on them for all of your collections.
| What QuickBooks invoice reminders do well | Where they usually stop |
|---|---|
| Send an email before or after the due date without anyone checking the calendar | Reminders are email only, so a homeowner who never opens email never hears from you |
| Include the invoice and a payment link when QuickBooks Payments is turned on | The same message goes to everyone, whether the invoice is with a homeowner, a property manager, or an insurance carrier |
| Use one message you write once and reuse for every customer | There is no task list telling your team which accounts need a phone call this week |
| Show the invoice status as viewed, partially paid or paid | Promises to pay, disputes, and notes from calls live somewhere else |
If that second list sounds like your week, compare dedicated payment reminder software that adds text messages, voicemail drops, and follow-up tasks on top of QuickBooks. For a full plan on invoices that are already late, see our guide to collecting unpaid invoices.
Setting up automation is only the beginning. It still needs to support timely payments while matching the way your team manages outstanding accounts.
Start by reviewing your payment terms and reminder timing together. If an invoice is due in 30 days, decide when communication should begin and how long you want an account to sit overdue before someone reviews it personally.
Keep your automated reminders clear as well. A customer should be able to tell which invoice the reminder refers to, how much they owe, when payment was due, and how they can pay without having to contact your team for basic information.
It also helps to separate routine follow-up from accounts that need a person involved. Automation works well for predictable tasks. A disputed invoice or a customer who has already explained a payment problem may require a different response.
Keep your customer records clean too. Reminders only work when each customer has the right billing email, and when insurance jobs, homeowner deductibles and commercial balances are set up as separate customers or jobs so the right person gets the right message.
Finally, review your aging AR regularly. The goal is not to automate every possible action. It is to reduce repetitive work while making it easier for your team to see which outstanding invoices still need attention.
How far QuickBooks gets you depends on who pays your invoices.
| Trade | Typical AR challenge | Where QuickBooks reminders fall short |
|---|---|---|
| Restoration | Split payers: carrier, homeowner deductible, mortgage company | One email sequence cannot tell an adjuster from a homeowner |
| Roofing | Supplements and final checks after the insurance claim closes | No way to pause reminders while a supplement is pending |
| HVAC and plumbing | High volume of small service invoices | Email-only reminders are easy to miss on small service invoices |
| General and commercial contractors | Progress billing, retention and long approval chains | No task list for the calls and pay-app follow-ups commercial AR needs |
If you are still setting QuickBooks up, start with our QuickBooks for contractors guide, which covers chart of accounts, job costing and AR settings. Commercial builders can also see how construction accounts receivable software handles progress billing follow-up.
QuickBooks can handle a meaningful amount of the automation involved in receivables management. If its reminders, payment options, and workflows already keep your receivables manageable without requiring much manual follow-up, you may not need anything more.
You may want to look beyond your current setup when that is no longer the case. If invoices keep aging and your team still spends a lot of time chasing overdue payments, more of the collections process remains to manage than QuickBooks currently automates for you.
At that point, the issue is not only the extra work. The longer money stays tied up in unpaid invoices, the more pressure those unpaid invoices can put on cash flow.
Atradius’ 2026 U.S. Payment Practices Barometer found that payment problems most commonly left U.S. businesses with less cash on hand.
Businesses also reported that late payments made it harder to create reliable cash flow forecasts for money coming into and going out of the company.
Restoration companies can face the same kind of pressure in keeping cash flow healthy when completed jobs remain unpaid. The business still needs cash for payroll, equipment, and upcoming jobs while money it has already earned remains sitting in accounts receivable.
So, if your team still needs to manually keep track of overdue accounts and follow up after your QuickBooks automations have run, it may be time to add a more dedicated collections process. Our comparison of AR automation software shows which tools connect to QuickBooks and what each one adds.
Bring one overdue invoice.
We'll show you how AR Workflow would follow up on it after your QuickBooks reminders have run.
If QuickBooks is already handling your accounting and basic AR automation, AR Workflow for QuickBooks collections can help your restoration team manage more of what happens after an invoice becomes overdue.
You can set up collection workflows that determine when follow-up should happen, then automate email and SMS reminders, sent from a dedicated number, so your team does not have to send each one manually.
Collection workflows in AR Workflow decide when each follow-up goes out.
You can also assign follow-up tasks, track customer payments, and see previous communication when you need to check what has already happened with an account.
AR Workflow also gives your team a clearer view of outstanding invoices through invoice status tracking and AR reporting. So when someone needs to follow up personally, they can see the account history and what still needs to happen next.
Invoice status tracking shows what is still outstanding.
None of this requires you to stop using QuickBooks. AR Workflow's QuickBooks integration lets your accounting stay where it is while your team uses AR Workflow to manage more of the collections work around unpaid invoices.
For restoration companies that have outgrown basic reminders and still spend too much time manually chasing payments, this gives the team more ways to automate invoice follow-up without replacing the accounting system they already use.
Customer payments are tracked alongside each invoice.
QuickBooks accounts receivable automation can remove a meaningful amount of repetitive work from the AR process. The right place to start is with the automation you already have and make sure you are getting as much from it as your business needs.
But if overdue invoices still require your team to manage a large amount of follow-up manually, AR Workflow can work alongside QuickBooks to give that collection activity more structure.
AR Workflow works alongside QuickBooks rather than replacing it.
Restoration companies can automate more of the follow-up around outstanding receivables while keeping QuickBooks as part of their existing accounting workflow.
The end goal is simple: spend less time managing repetitive collection work and give more of the money tied up in completed jobs a clear path back into the business.
The best software depends on how much of the AR process you need to automate. QuickBooks can handle tasks such as invoice reminders and recurring invoices, while a dedicated AR automation platform may be better if collections still require significant manual follow-up.
For restoration companies using QuickBooks, AR Workflow can add more automation around collecting outstanding invoices without replacing QuickBooks.
Yes. QuickBooks Online can send automatic invoice reminder emails before or after the due date, and QuickBooks Online Advanced can add workflow-based reminders. They are email only and use the same message for every customer, so many contractors add text and phone follow-up on top.
You can use QuickBooks for tracking invoices, outstanding balances, recorded payments, and what customers still owe. QuickBooks users can also automate tasks such as invoice reminders and recurring invoices, depending on their plan and setup.
QuickBooks invoice reminders go out by email. To reach customers by text or voicemail, you need a collections tool that syncs with QuickBooks and sends those messages from a dedicated number, with the customer's consent to be texted.
For a small number of open invoices with customers who pay on time, often yes. Once your team is calling the same accounts every week, juggling insurance carriers and homeowners, or losing track of promises to pay, a collections tool that syncs with QuickBooks usually saves more time than it costs. Our QuickBooks for contractors guide covers the setup side.
Not all accountants dislike QuickBooks, but problems can arise when a company needs more advanced processes or controls than its current QuickBooks setup provides.
Related guides
Your invoice, not a feature tour.
Bring one overdue invoice to a demo and see what AR Workflow would send, when, and how your customer would pay, without replacing QuickBooks.
Sam owned and ran three restoration companies for more than 14 years and collected over $100 million in receivables. He built AR Workflow in 2020 to give contractors the collections system he wished he'd had.
AI writes the emails, sends the texts, and leaves the voicemails. Your team handles the conversations that matter, and your cash keeps moving.
Keep QuickBooksStart with one invoiceStay in control
Log in
