When Hoops creates an invoice in QuickBooks Online, the invoice number that appears in QuickBooks is determined by both your Hoops workflow and your QuickBooks settings.
Understanding how invoice numbers are assigned can help prevent confusion and make it easier to troubleshoot situations where an invoice number appears blank or displays as "-" in Hoops.
How Hoops Assigns Invoice Numbers
When Hoops sends an invoice to QuickBooks, it automatically sends:
The Job Number if the invoice was created from a Job
The SalesDoc Number if no Job has been created yet
This value is sent to QuickBooks as the invoice number.
For example:
Hoops SalesDoc # | Hoops Job # | Invoice Number Sent to QuickBooks |
8841 | 10245 | 10245 |
8841 | No Job Created Yet | 8841 |
As a result, most QuickBooks invoices created by Hoops will use the corresponding Hoops Job Number as the invoice number.
Can QuickBooks Generate Its Own Invoice Numbers?
No.
When Hoops creates an invoice in QuickBooks Online, the invoice number is supplied by Hoops and sent to QuickBooks as part of the invoice creation process.
Because QuickBooks receives an invoice number from Hoops, it does not generate its own invoice number sequence for these invoices.
If you prefer to use a different invoice number, you can manually edit the invoice number directly within QuickBooks after the invoice has been created.
⚠️ Troubleshooting: Why Is My Invoice Number Showing as "-"?
If an invoice number displays as "-" in Hoops, it usually means QuickBooks successfully created the invoice but did not return an invoice number.
This is most commonly caused by a duplicate invoice number conflict or a numbering configuration issue within QuickBooks.
Make Your Hoops Numbers More Unique
One of the most effective ways to reduce invoice number conflicts is to use more unique numbering sequences within Hoops.
When a new Hoops account is created, SalesDocs, Jobs, and Purchase Orders typically begin with very low numbers such as #1, #2, #3, and so on. These low numbers can sometimes conflict with existing records in QuickBooks.
We recommend updating your starting numbers to a higher range, creating longer and more unique identifiers. For example, Job #201347 is far less likely to conflict with an existing QuickBooks invoice than Job #7.
Many businesses also find that larger, more unique numbers provide a more professional experience when communicating with customers and suppliers.
To configure your numbering sequences, navigate to:
Settings → My Organization → Starting Numbers
From there, you can adjust the starting numbers for your:
SalesDocs
Jobs
Purchase Orders
For detailed instructions, see the article on configuring Starting Numbers.