> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/administration/settings/customize-manual-payment-methods.md). # Customize manual payment methods Admins can choose which payment methods staff see when recording invoice payments and collect a reference such as a check number. Payment field labels and entered values appear on default customer receipts—for example, **Check #: 1042**. Blank optional fields are omitted. Existing custom receipt designs keep their layout; add the payment reference variables to include these details. The separate **Internal Notes** field in Record Payment is internal only. Notes stay in staff payment history, internal reports, and accounting memos; they are not available to customer receipt or invoice templates. Use a payment method's field for details you want customers to see. > **Where to find it:** Settings → Invoicing → Manual Payment Methods You need permission to set up invoicing integrations to change these settings. 1. Edit a **Payment method name**, select **Add payment method**, or select **Remove** beside a method. 2. Turn on **Show a payment field** to collect an extra detail for that method. 3. Enter its **Field label** and **Placeholder text**. For Check, use **Check #** as the label and a hint such as **Enter check number**. 4. Turn **Required** on to prevent recording a payment until the field is filled in. Turn it off to make the field optional. 5. Drag the handle beside a method to move it up or down. Staff see the choices in this order. You can also focus a handle, press **Space**, use the arrow keys, and press **Space** again to drop it. 6. For each new custom method, choose **Map to GL accounts** and select one or more accounts, or explicitly choose **Set up later**. Neither choice is selected for you. 7. Select **Save**. The method and its account mappings save together. **Cancel** discards your edits. To bring back a removed standard method, select **Restore Cash**, **Restore Check**, or the matching restore button below the list, then **Save**. Restored defaults keep their original accounting categories. **Add payment method** creates a custom method with its own accounting mapping. If a custom method already uses the same name, give one of them a distinct name before saving. Use the latest technician app for customized methods and required fields. Older installed apps and cached web versions retain their original choices until updated or refreshed. New and restored methods are added just above **Other**, wherever Other is in the list, so Other stays last if it was last. If you removed Other, they're added at the bottom, and a restored Other goes at the bottom too. Drag a method to another position before saving if you prefer. Adding a method doesn't change the order of the methods already listed. The saved choices and their order apply to **Record Payment** on an invoice, bulk payment recording on the Invoices page, and manual payment recording in the technician app. Removed methods disappear from new payment entry. Existing payments keep their recorded method name and reference details, even if you later rename or remove the method. Both new and existing businesses start with Cash, Check, Credit Card, Bank Transfer, and Other. Businesses that have already customized their choices keep their saved configuration. The **Manual Payment Methods** tab is the rightmost tab on the Invoicing settings page. If you remove all methods, staff cannot record new manual payments until you add one. These settings control payments collected outside Essential; they do not change the online payment options offered through Stripe. Related: [Record a payment on an invoice](/revenue/invoices/record-a-payment-on-an-invoice.md). Recorded field values appear in invoice payment details, Invoice payments and Payment speed reports (including CSV exports), built-in receipts, and accounting payment memos. They keep the label and value saved when the payment was recorded, even after you rename or remove the method. ## Mark a method as paid in goods or services If some customers pay you in goods, services, or gift cards instead of money, turn on **Customers pay with goods or services (barter / trade)** for the method you use to record those payments, then select **Save**. The switch appears on methods you added with **Add payment method**; the standard Cash, Check, Credit Card, Bank Transfer, and Other methods can't be marked. * Turning it on also turns on **Show a payment field** and **Required**, and keeps them on while the method is marked, so staff always describe what they received. Enter a **Field label** such as **Received in trade**. If you turn it off again before saving, the payment field goes back to how it was. * Payments recorded with the method count as **Paid in trade** in the [Invoice payments report](/reporting-and-integrations/reporting/filter-and-export-the-invoice-payments-report.md) and in the **Paid in trade** line of the [Tax Remittance Report](/revenue/invoices/run-the-tax-remittance-report.md). Nothing changes in accounting: the payment still goes to the method's GL account. * You can turn it on after you've already recorded payments with the method. Those earlier payments count as paid in trade while it stays on. * Turning it off stops new payments from counting as trade, but payments recorded while it was on stay **Paid in trade**. For the full setup, including which QuickBooks account to use, see [Accept barter or trade as payment](/revenue/invoices/accept-barter-or-trade-as-payment.md). ## Map payment methods to QuickBooks Choose one or more GL accounts directly in **Manual Payment Methods** when adding a method. The same account choices appear in **Settings → Invoicing → Accounting** as **Mark as Paid: \[method name]**. You can change it in either tab: use **Change accounts** and **Save** in Manual Payment Methods, or edit the **GL accounts** choices and select **Save Account Mappings** in Accounting. Existing businesses retain their current account mapping when this feature is deployed. After an admin adds a second account to a method, staff using an older app must update it (or refresh a cached web page) before recording that method. Older clients cannot choose an account, so the server rejects those payments rather than picking a destination for them. With one mapped account, Record Payment uses it automatically. With multiple accounts, staff must choose the **GL account** that received the payment before saving. A payment goes to one account; it is not split among the choices. Bulk recording uses the selected account for every payment in that batch. GL account details are internal and are not shown on customer receipts. Select another account in the dropdown to add a choice, or use **×** on an account to remove it. Keep at least one account once the method is mapped. Existing payments and their refunds retain the account originally recorded, even after you change these choices. If earlier payments are waiting for their first mapping, save one account to map those entries before adding more choices. The **GL accounts** dropdown groups your QuickBooks accounts by account type, ordered by how well each type suits a payment: bank and other asset accounts first, then credit card, equity, expense, and liability accounts, with income, Accounts Receivable, and Accounts Payable accounts last. Searching matches account names across every group. If you choose an income, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, or QuickBooks Desktop's built-in Sales Tax Payable account, a warning under the dropdown names the account this method's payments will debit. Payment methods normally go to a bank, undeposited funds, or an asset account such as a barter account: an income account cancels the revenue Essential already recorded for the invoice, and Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable entries don't reach QuickBooks correctly. The warning doesn't block saving, and existing mappings keep working; change the account if the warning applies to you. Expense, equity, and liability accounts aren't flagged, because each suits a specific arrangement, such as trade used up right away, trade the owner takes, or a partner canceling a debt your business owes them. To set up a method for customers who pay in goods, services, or gift cards, see [Accept barter or trade as payment](/revenue/invoices/accept-barter-or-trade-as-payment.md). If you choose **Set up later**, you acknowledge that payments using this method will not sync to QuickBooks until an account is mapped. Staff can still record payments in Essential. The saved method continues to show **Not mapped — setup deferred** after you leave or reload the page. Use **Set up accounting** to finish later. Deferring does not remove an existing mapping. If QuickBooks is not connected, explicitly choose **Set up later** to save the new method, or connect it through the Accounting tab first. For QuickBooks Desktop, finish the Web Connector setup and sync the account list before selecting an account. These choices apply to both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. Saving a missing mapping repairs eligible pending accounting entries for subsequent sync; it does not resend already-posted entries. If payments have been waiting more than 30 days for QuickBooks Online, contact support to review and recover the older entries. Renaming a method keeps its account selection. Removing a method removes it from new payment entry. Accounting keeps a removed method's mapping when earlier payments use it, so those payments and their refunds keep their history. An unused removed method disappears from the mapping list. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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