QuickBooks Online can attach a file to an invoice email. Paidnice sends that attached file in place of the QuickBooks PDF on reminders, statement links and portal downloads.
IncludeOnSend flag sends the file with the emailed invoice.QuickBooks Online lets you attach files to an invoice and can attach the invoice PDF to the email. Both are settings you control, and the QuickBooks PDF stays the invoice document.
Open or create an invoice and use the Attachments section at the bottom left. Drag a file in or click to upload it. Intuit's attachments help article (updated 5 August 2026) lists PDF, JPEG, PNG, DOC, XLSX, CSV, TIFF, GIF and XML as supported types.
For the invoice PDF itself, go to the Gear icon, then Account and settings, Sales, and click the pencil on Online delivery. Tick PDF attached and save. Invoice emails then carry the PDF that QuickBooks generates from its own template.
| Where the invoice goes | What Intuit documents | What Paidnice sends |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice email | The QuickBooks PDF, with PDF attached ticked. Files in Attachments can go with the email. | Your matched file as the invoice PDF |
| Reminder | Not covered in the attachments help article | Your matched file on every reminder |
| Statement | No PDF attachments on statements | A statement link that serves your matched file |
| Portal download | Not covered in the attachments help article | Your matched file |
Intuit's attachments help covers invoices and states that statements cannot carry PDF attachments. It does not describe what reminders carry.
If you rely on QuickBooks reminders, send one to your own address first. Look at whether it carries a file, a link or both, and which PDF the link opens.
Paidnice reminders carry the file that matches your prefix. When no file matches, your fallback decides what goes out.
QuickBooks users report invoice emails going out without the PDF while the PDF attached setting is on.
A QuickBooks Community thread from 11 April 2024 reports that sending or resending an invoice stopped attaching the .pdf to the email. A thread from 5 October 2023 asks how to email supporting attachments with an invoice in the new invoice layout.
When the file drops off, check the setting again, check whether you are on the newer or older invoice layout, and send a test to yourself.
Everything downstream depends on your PDF sitting on the invoice record in QuickBooks Online. There are three ways to put it there.
Your ERP, PSA or job system can put its invoice PDF on the QuickBooks invoice. Look first for a setting in its accounting connection, such as an option to send attachments or the invoice document. If you cannot find one, ask the vendor's support team or your IT team: can the sync attach our generated invoice PDF to the QuickBooks invoice?
The QuickBooks Online API stores files as an Attachable. Each link to a transaction sits in AttachableRef, and its IncludeOnSend flag controls whether the file goes with the emailed transaction.
Extract of the Attachable request, showing only the link to the invoice:
An automation in Zapier or Make can put the file on the invoice when your system creates it, with no one touching each invoice.
Open the invoice, drag the PDF into Attachments, and save. This works for a handful of invoices a month. Above that, use one of the routes above.
Whichever route you use, decide the filename once. Every generated invoice PDF should carry the same recognizable text, such as INV- or the name of the system that made it. A consistent name lets an app pick the right file without a person looking at it.
Paidnice reads the attachments on each QuickBooks invoice and uses the file whose name contains your prefix in place of the QuickBooks PDF.
| Fallback | What happens | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| use the QuickBooks generated PDF | The QuickBooks PDF goes out for that invoice. | Only some invoices carry an attached file. |
| send with no PDF attached | The email goes out with the portal link and no invoice file. | The portal page is enough for your customers. |
| do not send and report an error | Nothing is sent, and the error is emailed to you so you can fix the missing file. | Customers must never receive the QuickBooks template. |
When a file matches, the customer gets your invoice PDF on every reminder, statement link and portal download. With the no PDF or no send fallback, the QuickBooks invoice never reaches them.
Many billing system connectors send invoice data, and QuickBooks rebuilds the document with its own template. Paidnice keeps your system's PDF as the document of record. The reminder on day seven carries the same PDF the customer approved on day one, with the references, lines and layout your system put on it.
Finance teams tell us the customer should see one invoice from the first send to the final payment. That is why statement links and portal downloads use the matched file as well as reminders.
Most missing PDFs start with the Online delivery setting. Unmatched files follow the fallback you choose in Paidnice.
Check that PDF attached is ticked under Account and settings, Sales, Online delivery, and save again. Users have reported the file dropping off with the setting on, in threads dated 5 October 2023 and 11 April 2024. Send a test invoice to yourself after any layout change.
Not in QuickBooks. Intuit states that you cannot add PDF attachments to statements sent to customers. Paidnice statement links serve your matched invoice PDF.
Paidnice follows your fallback: the QuickBooks PDF, no PDF, or no send. With no send, the error is emailed to you.
Use a PDF. The matched file goes out as the invoice, and a PDF is what customers and their AP teams expect.
Combining several attachments into one file is a separate task. See combining QuickBooks invoice attachments for AP portals. For what customers see when they pay, read about the QuickBooks customer payment portal.
Attach your PDF to the QuickBooks invoice with a consistent name, switch on Alternative Invoice PDF, and every follow-up carries the right document.
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