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On a schedule

Remind customers about overdue invoices and log each chase

Every weekday, customers with overdue QuickBooks invoices get a reminder, each chase is logged in your sheet, and you get a summary email.

Runs
On a schedule
Apps
Google Sheets, QuickBooks
AI
Optional
Access
accounting write; sheet editor

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every weekday at 9, list overdue QuickBooks invoices, send each customer a reminder unless they were chased in the last 7 days, log the chase in my Collections sheet and email me a summary.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

Late payments are the biggest cash problem for small businesses, and the fix is mostly persistence: a polite reminder, then another. But chasing feels awkward, and when it's nobody's set job it happens in bursts once the bank balance gets low.

A steady weekday routine sends reminders on time, spaced so customers aren't pestered, and keeps a log that shows exactly who was chased and when.

What you get out of it

  • Get paid sooner

    Regular, polite reminders are the most reliable way to shorten the time customers take to pay.

  • No awkward conversations

    Reminders go out on a fixed rhythm, so nobody has to decide whether it's time to chase a particular client.

  • A log for every account

    The sheet shows each chase with date and amount, useful before a phone call or when handing an account to collections.

  • Customers aren't pestered

    Anyone chased in the last week is skipped, so reminders stay polite.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every weekday at 9, ClickRuntime asks QuickBooks for invoices with a balance that are past their due date.

  2. It checks your Collections sheet and skips any invoice chased in the last 7 days.

  3. It re-sends each remaining invoice to the customer from QuickBooks as a reminder.

  4. It adds a row to the sheet for every chase.

  5. You get an email listing who was reminded and the total outstanding.

Before it runs live

  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use
  • Connect QuickBooks

What you get

RunsOn a schedule
Remind customers about overdue invoices and log each chasetoday, 9:00Succeeded
Email · CollectionsChased 4 overdue invoices. Acme Corp #1031: $1,200.00, 12 days late. Total overdue: $5,840.00

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Sheets and QuickBooks steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
chase_overdue_invoices.pyexample
from datetime import date, timedelta
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, notify

SHEET_ID = "your-spreadsheet-id"
API = "https://quickbooks.api.intuit.com/v3/company/1234567890"  # your QuickBooks company id

def qb(method, path, **kw):
    r = http.request(method, API + path, params={"minorversion": 73, **kw.pop("params", {})}, **kw, headers={"Accept": "application/json", "Authorization": "Bearer " + credentials.connection("quickbooks", "company")})
    return r.raise_for_status() or r.json()

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    today = date.today()
    overdue = qb("GET", "/query", params={"query": f"select * from Invoice where Balance > '0' and DueDate < '{today}'"})["QueryResponse"].get("Invoice", [])
    sheets = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work")), cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets()
    log = sheets.values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Collections!A2:B").execute().get("values", [])
    recent = {r[1] for r in log if len(r) > 1 and r[0] >= str(today - timedelta(days=7))}
    chased = []
    for inv in overdue:
        if inv["DocNumber"] in recent or not inv.get("BillEmail"):
            continue
        qb("POST", f"/invoice/{inv['Id']}/send")
        days = (today - date.fromisoformat(inv["DueDate"])).days
        chased.append([str(today), inv["DocNumber"], inv["CustomerRef"]["name"], inv["Balance"], days])
    if chased:
        sheets.values().append(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Collections!A:E", valueInputOption="RAW", body={"values": chased}).execute()
    total = sum(i["Balance"] for i in overdue)
    notify.email_me(f"Chased {len(chased)} overdue invoices", "\n".join(f"{c[2]} #{c[1]}: ${c[3]:,.2f}, {c[4]} days late" for c in chased)
                    + f"\n\nTotal overdue: ${total:,.2f}")
    return {"overdue": len(overdue), "chased": len(chased)}

FAQ

Common questions

How are reminders sent?
Through QuickBooks' own invoice email, so the customer gets the invoice with a payment link if you use QuickBooks Payments.
Can the wording change as an invoice gets older?
Yes. If AI is available it adjusts the tone by how many days overdue the invoice is; otherwise a fixed reminder is used.
How do I stop chasing a customer?
Add them to a skip list, such as customers on a payment plan, and they're left out.
What permissions does it need?
accounting write; sheet editor. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
No, but you can ask for an AI step (for example a summary). It then uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it runs (on a schedule). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

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