Connect FreshBooks to QuoteCloud, step by step
Build the invoice Zap that most studios and consultants start with: a signed QuoteCloud proposal becomes a FreshBooks client and invoice. Then test it, and fix the four things that usually go wrong.
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You need QuoteCloud's Essentials plan or higher, a FreshBooks account and a Zapier account. In Zapier, create a Zap, pick QuoteCloud's Document Signing Complete trigger, sign in to QuoteCloud, add FreshBooks' Find or Create Client and Create Invoice, sign in to FreshBooks, map the fields, test with a signed test proposal and turn it on.
Last reviewed by the QuoteCloud team
Three illustrative Zap editor panels with sample data, taking turns at the front. Step 1: QuoteCloud's Document Signing Complete trigger; the test found GS-2611, signed by Ella and Luca Mancini. Step 2: FreshBooks' Find or Create Client, searching on the signer's email; it created Sparrow & Pine Florist. Step 3: FreshBooks' Create Invoice with the line items, tax and the reference as the invoice number; it created invoice GS-2611 with 11 lines, $21,098.00.
How do I connect FreshBooks to QuoteCloud?
Six steps to your first working Zap. The same pattern builds every recipe on this site.
Check your plan
QuoteCloud's Zapier app is on Essentials and up. For deposits, connect Stripe or PayPal in QuoteCloud too.
Create a Zap
In Zapier, create a Zap and choose QuoteCloud with the Document Signing Complete trigger. Sign in to QuoteCloud when asked.
Load test data
Sign a test proposal sent to @example.com signers, then test the trigger so Zapier loads its line items, totals and signer details.
Find the client
Add FreshBooks' Find or Create Client and sign in to FreshBooks. Pick your business in Account, search on the signer's email.
Create the invoice
Add Create Invoice: the client's ID, the line items, tax, and the QuoteCloud reference as Invoice Number.
Test and turn it on
Test each step, compare the invoice with the proposal, then switch the Zap on.
Step 1: the trigger, and its test data
Choose QuoteCloud, then Document Signing Complete. It fires once every signer has signed, and carries the document's line items, totals and signer details.
Check the test data has what you'll map: the signer's name and email, the company, the reference and each line's label, quantity and price. If something is missing, sign a complete test proposal and load fresh data.
The full recipe: signed to invoice1QuoteCloudTrigger
Document Signing Complete
- Account
- Glasswing Studio (QuoteCloud)
- Trigger event
- Document Signing Complete
Test: Found a document: GS-2611, signed by Ella and Luca Mancini
Illustration with sample data, not Zapier’s screen.
Steps 2 and 3: the client, then the invoice
Find or Create Client searches FreshBooks on the email and only creates a client when none matches. Its ID goes into Create Invoice's Client field.
Map the line items into the Line Item fields, add your tax name and rate, and put the QuoteCloud reference in Invoice Number so later Zaps can find this invoice.
- Account: pick your FreshBooks business in every FreshBooks step.
- Days Due From Issue: leave blank for due on issue, or set your terms.
3FreshBooksAction
Create Invoice
- Client
- 2. ID
- Line Item Name
- 1. Line items: label
- Line Item Quantity
- 1. Line items: quantity
- Line Item Unit Cost
- 1. Line items: price
- Line Item Tax1 Name / Percent
- Tax · 10
- Invoice Number
- 1. Document reference
- Days Due From Issue
- 14
Test: Invoice GS-2611 created: 11 lines, $21,098.00
Illustration with sample data, not Zapier’s screen.
Ready to build your first Zap?
Start a free 14-day trial of QuoteCloud, connect FreshBooks in Zapier and test with a proposal sent to yourself.
What usually goes wrong, and the fix
Two clients for one business
The Zap searched on something other than email, or the email differs between the apps. Search Find or Create Client on the signer's email, and match clients on email.
Payment Zap can't find the invoice
The invoice wasn't numbered with the QuoteCloud reference, or the payment arrived first. Set Invoice Number, add a short Delay by Zapier step, or use Find or Create Invoice. See deposits and payments.
A line too many on the invoice
A monthly line, such as a care plan, came through with the one-off lines. Check the test data, keep the one-off rows for this invoice and put monthly ones on a recurring invoice.
Invoice created before everyone signed
The Zap used Recipient Signed Document, which fires for each signer. Use Document Signing Complete, which fires once, when the last signer signs.
Can I connect FreshBooks through Make instead?
Yes, if your team builds its own. Make is a bring-your-own route: you add a connection to QuoteCloud with Make's built-in OAuth, then call QuoteCloud's API or Zapier endpoints from a scenario, beside Make's FreshBooks modules.
There is no ready-made QuoteCloud app or list of modules on Make, so you design each step yourself. The recipes on this site are shown as Zaps; the same QuoteCloud events and actions are there when you build them in Make.
- API access is on QuoteCloud's Essentials plan and up, like the Zapier app.
- What each route can and can't do.
Before you start
A QuoteCloud plan with Zapier
Essentials or higher, for the Zapier app and API, and QuoteCloud Payments if you take deposits.
Your FreshBooks business
Sign in to FreshBooks in Zapier as someone who can create clients, invoices and projects.
A test proposal
A proposal from your usual template, sent to @example.com signers, so tests never reach a real client.
Set-up questions
Do I need to write code to connect FreshBooks?
No. With Zapier you pick the QuoteCloud trigger and the FreshBooks steps from lists and map fields by clicking. Code is only needed if you build your own connection with QuoteCloud's API, for example from a Make scenario.
Who should sign in to FreshBooks in Zapier?
Someone who can create clients, invoices, payments and projects in your FreshBooks business. Every FreshBooks step asks for the Account, the business the Zap works in, so pick the right one if you have more than one.
How do I test without invoicing a real client?
Send a proposal from your usual template to @example.com addresses you control, sign it, and test each Zap step with that document. Delete or void the test invoice and client in FreshBooks afterwards, before you switch the Zap on.
Why did the Zap create the invoice twice?
Usually because it was built on Recipient Signed Document, which fires for each signer, or because two Zaps do the same job. Use Document Signing Complete, which fires once, and check Zapier's Zap history for duplicates.
More on QuoteCloud and FreshBooks
Six use cases with the exact Zapier steps, then the field map, the limits and the cost.
- Invoice the signed proposal in FreshBooksWhen every signer has signed, a Zap finds or creates the FreshBooks client and creates the invoice from the proposal's lines.
- Turn a signed statement of work into a FreshBooks projectThe accepted scope opens the FreshBooks project: title, client, fixed price and due date, with the first payment invoiced.
- Time-and-materials SOWs into FreshBooksA signed hourly estimate opens an hourly FreshBooks project at the agreed rate, ready for your team's time.
- Record QuoteCloud deposits and payments in FreshBooksA deposit or payment taken on the proposal through Stripe or PayPal is added to the matching FreshBooks invoice.
- Signed retainers become FreshBooks recurring invoicesA signed monthly retainer or care plan sets up a FreshBooks recurring invoice with the agreed monthly lines.
- Keep QuoteCloud contacts and FreshBooks clients matchedNew QuoteCloud contacts become FreshBooks clients, and new FreshBooks clients are found or created in QuoteCloud.
- QuoteCloud to FreshBooks field mapEvery field the FreshBooks Zaps on this site pass, which way it travels and a sample value.
- What QuoteCloud with FreshBooks can and can't doWhat the Zaps do, where they stop, Zapier or Make, and what we haven't confirmed yet.
- What the FreshBooks connection costsEssentials and up for Zapier. The FreshBooks recipes here create no QuoteCloud documents, so no per-document fee.
- FAQAnswers to the questions freelancers and studios ask before connecting QuoteCloud and FreshBooks.
Your first Zap, this afternoon.
Start a free 14-day trial of QuoteCloud, connect FreshBooks through Zapier and invoice your first signed proposal automatically.