Getting an error is annoying. Especially if you aren't sure what's causing it. In this article, we go through the most common reasons that Invoice creation fails. If you're getting this error message and aren't sure why, take the steps below to solve it.
Reasons Invoice Creation Fails:
The Cost Code in SynkedUP is linked to a QuickBooks "Category" (instead of a "Service")
Step by Step:
Step 1:
Let's start by making sure that the customer is properly linked to QuickBooks Online. Exit out of the error message and click on the link icon button.
This generates a popup where you can see if your Customer is linked or not. If you see a green Push this Customer to QuickBooks button, then your customer is unlinked. Click the Push button, or search for the customer, select it, and then hit Link. Now you're ready to try creating your invoice again.
If you see the red Unlink button instead, and the link icon beside the customer's name, then you know that your customer is linked and it's something else that is generating the error. We need to go on to checking the Cost Codes.
Note:
Just to be double sure, you can also log into QuickBooks and make sure that the Customer has not been deleted or marked Inactive. Go to Step 3.
Step 2:
The next thing we want to do is make sure that the Cost Code we are using has been linked to a QuickBooks Service. To do so, go to System Setup in the main sidebar and select Cost Codes.
Find the Cost Code that is on the job you're trying to Invoice and check to make sure it's linked. A linked Cost Code will have a link icon beside the name. An unlinked Cost Code will be in red. If this is the case, follow the steps in this tutorial to link your Cost Code with a Service.
Step 3:
The next thing to check is to see if the Service or Customer got deleted or marked inactive in QuickBooks Online. To check, log into QuickBooks and go to Sales, then Customers or Products and Services.
Type in the Search bar to find your Customer or Service. Make sure you set the Status to All in the filter so that you can find deleted or inactive Services. Click on the funnel beside the search box in Services, change the Status to All and hit Apply.
In Customers, click on the gear icon on the far right of the screen and select Include Inactive.
If you find that the Customer or Service was deleted, click Make Active to restore it again. This will solve the Invoicing error.
Step 4:
If the above steps weren't the issue, there is one more thing: your Cost Code in SynkedUP may be linked to a "Category" instead of a "Service" in QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks does not allow creating invoices with Categories they only allow Services.
Typically what I like to do is figure out which Cost Code is causing the invoicing error by using the process of elimination, or attempting to create the invoice for one workarea at a time until I find out which workarea aka Cost Code is causing the error. Once I've done that, now I want to find out if that Cost Code is linked to a Category instead of a Service in QuickBooks Online.
To check if this is this case, go to Sales > Products and Services and in the upper right corner, beside the green New button, click More. Then select Manage categories.
If the Cost Code you are trying to invoice for in SynkedUP is shown here in this section, then that is the problem.
To remedy this, simply create a new Service in your QuickBooks Products and Services catalog, name it as you wish, and Save and Close. Only a name is required, none of the other fields are required.
Once you've done that, go back to SynkedUP System Setup>Cost Codes, find the Cost Code there that is the one causing the issue, and click the linking button in the right column to launch the linking popup, select the new Service item you just created, hit "Link & Update Info", and Save (upper right corner)
Step 5:
One quick thing you may want to check is to make sure you have a dollar amount in the Final Price field. If it's empty, it won't be able to create an invoice. Just enter an amount, Save, and then proceed to try to create the invoice again.
Then you can go back to the job you've been trying to invoice for, and now you can run your invoice 😅
Those are the five things to check when you run into an Invoicing error in SynkedUP.
Deleting Invoices with Payment Constraints If an invoice in SynkedUP is linked to a payment in QuickBooks, you cannot delete it outright. To address this:
Unapply the Payment in QuickBooks: Log in to QuickBooks and unapply the payment linked to the invoice.
Delete the Invoice in SynkedUP: Return to the client's invoices list in SynkedUP, locate the invoice and proceed with deletion. Always ensure that records are clean and synced regularly between both systems to avoid such constraints.
Still getting an error after trying all of these steps?
If you've worked through every step above and the error is still happening — especially if it only affects one specific customer or job while others invoice fine — here are a few more things to check before reaching out to us:
Isolate the problem workarea. Try creating the invoice for just one workarea at a time. This helps identify which specific Cost Code is triggering the error, even if it looks correct on the surface.
Re-check the QBO service type. Even if a Cost Code appears linked and active, confirm in QuickBooks that the item is definitively a Service (not a Category or non-inventory part) and that it is not deactivated — sometimes items get deactivated accidentally by another user.
Check for duplicate or conflicting QBO entries. If someone recently recreated a customer or service in QuickBooks, there may be a mismatch between the linked record in SynkedUP and the active record in QBO. Try unlinking and re-linking the customer or cost code.
If none of the above resolves it, reach out to us in the chat in the lower right and include the following so we can investigate quickly:
The job or project number
The name of the customer the invoice is for
Which workarea or Cost Code is triggering the error (if known)
A screenshot of the error message if possible
Our team can often spot the issue quickly with these details — and for tricky cases, we're happy to jump on a screen share to resolve it together.