QuickBooks Tips Blog

QuickBooks Tip: Linking Outlook to QuickBooks

There are only two options for emailing information from QuickBooks; either Outlook or QuickBooks email.  QuickBooks email allows you email invoices, statements etc directly from QuickBooks.  However, using QuickBooks email has one major flaw; it does not allow you to track sent messages.  If you need to reference when you sent out an invoice or statement to a customer via email and what the email message said you can only do this by linking QuickBooks to Outlook.

Creating a link between QuickBooks and Outlook

First, you must have Outlook set up on your computer with a valid email account.  Creating the link between QuickBooks and Outlook for emailing forms is simple.  Go to Edit/Preferences/Send Forms.  On the My Preferences tab under 'Send e-mail using': select Outlook Express.  QuickBooks will automatically close all windows and make the change.  

Test the link

Test the link between QuickBooks and Outlook by sending a test email to yourself.  Open an invoice and check to be emailed box or create a statement for a customer.  Click on the email button and QuickBooks will automatically launch a new outlook email message.  In the 'To' address field delete your customer's address that was automatically entered and put in a valid email address that you can check (a personal one would work fine).  Now check to make sure the email went through and that you have a record of the email being sent from within your Outlook 'Sent Items' folder. 

By utilizing Outlook to send forms from QuickBooks you will leave yourself a trail of messages, invoices, statements etc that were sent to your customers.  For more information on emailing various forms from QuickBooks read this blog article. 

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