The short versionThis guide helps you choose a QuickBooks Online recurring invoice template type: Scheduled for predictable invoice details and automatic draft creation, Reminder when each invoice needs review or revision, and Unscheduled for irregular invoices that need a reusable starting point. It also shows how to create or update the template and what to check before saving it.

You are ready to save a recurring invoice template. One choice now controls the work that appears later.

Ask this first: can QuickBooks Online create a draft on a calendar basis without changes to the invoice?

Check the customer, amount, service details, recipients, and approval steps. When those details stay the same, Scheduled may fit. When the invoice needs a person’s judgment, use a type that keeps a person involved.

Automate the draft, not the judgment.

Choose Scheduled for repeatable invoice details

Choose Scheduled when the billing pattern and invoice details are predictable. QuickBooks Online creates invoice drafts automatically on the interval you set.

Each draft still needs review and finalization before it is ready for the customer. Scheduled does not automatically send an invoice or collect payment.

Set the billing interval for a Scheduled template. If you need review time before the scheduled transaction date, use Days in advance. QuickBooks Online creates the draft early while keeping the scheduled transaction date on the draft.

Choose Reminder when someone must check each invoice

Choose Reminder when each occurrence needs a person to review or revise it. This fits invoices where service details, amounts, recipients, or approvals vary between billing periods.

Set an interval for the reminder pattern. Then check the details, make required changes, and finalize the invoice when it is ready.

Choose Unscheduled for irregular timing

Choose Unscheduled when invoices happen at irregular times. It gives you a reusable starting point (a template) that you use manually when needed.

Unscheduled does not create invoices automatically or follow a calendar. Use it when the invoice layout repeats but the timing does not.

Create or update the template

First, check that Recurring transactions is available in your QuickBooks Online account. If you do not see it, confirm availability before relying on this workflow.

To start a template, go to All apps > Accounting > Recurring transactions > New. Choose Invoice, then select Scheduled, Reminder, or Unscheduled.

You can also make an open invoice recurring. Open the invoice, then choose Manage > Scheduling > Make invoice recurring.

For Scheduled or Reminder, set the interval before saving the template. Before you save a Scheduled template, check the customer, amount, service details, recipients, and approval steps again. Again, if any of them may change from invoice to invoice, stop and choose Reminder or Unscheduled.

This setup creates invoice drafts or reusable templates only. It does not set up invoice delivery, Autopay, customer consent, or payment collection.

Make the choice: use Scheduled when the details can repeat safely, Reminder when a person must check each invoice, and Unscheduled when the timing is irregular. Review each draft before you finalize it for the customer.

Official sources

Last verified: 2026-08-28