QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

The Rest of the Header Fields

As you can see in Figure 8-3, QuickBooks can fill in most of the remaining header fields for you. Here's what you do to fill in any empty fields or change the ones that QuickBooks didn't complete the way you want:

Figure 8-3. The only field that QuickBooks can't fill in under any circumstances is the P.O. No. field, and that's because you get that number from your customer.

• Class. If you turned on the class tracking feature (page 129) to categorize your sales in different ways, choose a class for the invoice. If you skip this box, QuickBooks politely reminds you that the box is empty when you try to save the invoice. Although you can save the invoice without a class, it's important to assign classes to every transaction if you want your class-based reports to be accurate. For example, if you use classes to track income by partner and save an invoice without a class, the partner who delivered the services on the invoice might complain about the paucity of her paycheck.

• Date. QuickBooks fills in the current date, which is fine if you create invoices when you make a sale. But service businesses often send invoices on a schedule—with the last day of the month being a popular choice. If you want to get a head start on your invoices, type or choose the invoice data you want. QuickBooks uses the same date for every subsequent invoice, making your end-of-month ...