How to Stop Recurring Invoices in QuickBooks Online

Here's how you can stop recurring invoices in QuickBooks Online (QBO). You have a few options depending on whether you want to stop them temporarily or permanently.

Steps to Find and Manage Recurring Invoices:

1. Log in to your QuickBooks Online account.

2. Click the Settings ⚙️ icon (Gear icon) located in the top right corner of the screen.

3. Under the "Lists" column, select Recurring Transactions.

4. You'll see a list of all your recurring transaction templates (including invoices, bills, expenses, etc.). You can filter this list if needed:

   • Click the Filter dropdown.

   • Select Invoice for "Template Type".

   • You might also filter by "Type" (Scheduled, Reminder, Unscheduled). Recurring invoices that send automatically are typically "Scheduled".

5. Locate the specific recurring invoice template you want to stop in the list.

Options to Stop the Recurring Invoice:

Once you've found the template, look to the "Action" column (or click the small dropdown arrow ▼ next to "Edit" for that template). You generally have these options:

1. Pause:

   • What it does: Temporarily stops the recurring invoice from being generated and sent. It remains in your list of recurring templates, but it won't run on its scheduled date(s) until you resume it.  

   • How to do it: Select Pause from the Action dropdown for that template.

   • When to use: Good if a client is temporarily on hold, or if there's a seasonal break in service.

   • To restart: Follow the same steps, find the paused template, and select Resume from the Action dropdown.

2. Skip Next Date:

   • What it does: Prevents only the next scheduled instance of the invoice from being created. The schedule will then resume as normal for subsequent dates.

   • How to do it: Select Skip next date from the Action dropdown.

   • When to use: Useful if a client requests to skip one specific billing cycle but will continue afterwards.

3. Delete:

   • What it does: Permanently removes the recurring invoice template. No future invoices will ever be generated from this specific template again.

   • How to do it: Select Delete from the Action dropdown. QuickBooks will likely ask you to confirm because this action cannot be undone easily.

   • When to use: Best if the service or agreement with the client has ended permanently, and you will no longer need to bill them on this recurring schedule.

   • Important: Deleting the template does not delete any invoices that were already created and sent in the past based on this template. Those remain in your records.

4. Edit (Alternative):

   • Instead of stopping completely, you might want to edit the template. Select Edit.

   • You could change the End Date to a specific date in the past or near future, effectively stopping it after that date.

   • You could change the Interval or other details if the billing arrangement has changed rather than stopped entirely.

Summary:

• To temporarily stop: Use Pause.

• To skip just the next one: Use Skip next date.

• To permanently stop: Use Delete.

• To stop after a certain date: Edit the template and set an End Date.

Choose the option that best fits your reason for stopping the recurring invoice.

While you'll need to use QuickBooks Online's settings to pause or delete the actual recurring invoice template, SaasAnt Transactions can be a lifesaver for cleanup. If the template generated unwanted invoices before you stopped it, SaasAnt allows you to easily bulk delete those extra invoices from your QBO file, saving considerable time compared to removing them one by one.