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.