AriBooks User Handbook

Getting started

AriBooks connects to your QuickBooks Online account and automatically follows up with customers about unpaid invoices, by email, on a schedule you control. You stay in the loop through this dashboard: it shows who owes you money, what AriBooks has sent, and how customers have responded, and lets you step in any time.

The sidebar

Click the small green circle on the sidebar's right edge to collapse it down to a thin icon strip, handy on a smaller screen. Your page icons stay visible, so you can still click through to any of them without expanding it back. Click the circle again to bring the full sidebar back; your choice is remembered the next time you visit.

The top bar

Shows your business name and the current time in your account's timezone (this matters because reminder emails only go out during the hours you set; see Settings). The bell icon opens your notifications.

Next to your business name, a small dot shows whether your QuickBooks connection is healthy: green for "QuickBooks connected," amber for "QuickBooks disconnected." Click it to jump straight to Settings → QuickBooks. If it's disconnected, you'll also see a full-width banner across the top of every page until it's reconnected: AriBooks can't see new invoices or payments while disconnected, so reconnecting promptly matters.

Statuses explained

You'll see status labels throughout the dashboard on both customers and individual invoices. They mean different things, and mixing them up is the single most common source of confusion, so here's the full picture in one place.

Customer status

Invoice status

The Reports page

This is what opens when you log in. It's a table of every customer who currently has a balance, plus a few summary numbers at the top.

The numbers at the top

Filters and search

Use the chips above the table (All, Overdue, Manual, Active Balance) to narrow the list, or the search box to jump to a specific customer by name. Click any column header to sort by it.

Export downloads a CSV in the same filter, search, and sort order the table is currently showing, but covering every matching customer, not just the rows currently loaded on screen, so it's safe to export straight away without scrolling through Load More first. Opens fine in Excel or Google Sheets.

Table columns

Selecting customers and the Actions menu

Check the box next to one or more customers, then use the Actions ▾ button that appears. Each item only becomes clickable when your selection makes sense for it (for example, "Add Comment" only works with exactly one customer selected).

Clicking a customer row (rather than the checkbox) opens their full detail, see Customer details below.

The Invoices page

The same underlying data as Reports, but listed one row per invoice instead of one row per customer. Use this when you know which invoice you're looking for, or want to act on invoices individually rather than by customer.

Filter chips (All, Hold, Dispute) jump straight to invoices in that state. Selecting one or more rows opens an Actions ▾ menu:

Table columns

The Activity Log

A complete history of every change made in your account, newest first, not just what AriBooks did automatically, but anything your team changed too. Useful for answering "who changed this, and when?"

What's tracked

Settings changes, invoice holds and disputes (placing and clearing both), customer opt-in/opt-out, circle-back dates being set or cleared, team member changes, and your QuickBooks connection being connected or disconnected. Each entry shows exactly which field changed and its old and new value.

Who made the change

Usually a team member's or customer's email address, always with a small Team or Customer badge right next to it so the two are never confused with each other. When there's no specific person behind it, you'll see one of two labels instead: AriBooks (automatic) for changes AriBooks' own follow-up logic made on its own (for example, resuming reminders once a paused customer's circle-back date passes) or QuickBooks sync when the change happened because QuickBooks itself reported something, such as a customer being deleted there.

Filters

Use the chips above the list (All, Settings, Invoice, Customer) to narrow it down. Clicking a customer or invoice name in an entry jumps straight to that customer's or invoice's own detail panel.

Customer details

Clicking any customer opens a detail panel on the right with everything about them in one place:

Opening an individual invoice from here (or from the Invoices page) shows its own panel: amount and dates, a link to open it directly in QuickBooks, and, if applicable, the reason it's on hold or the details of a customer-filed dispute.

Notifications

The bell icon in the top bar shows a red dot whenever there's something new. Click it to see recent activity that needs your attention:

• A customer replied to an email, or set up an out-of-office auto-reply AriBooks picked up on.
• A customer filed a dispute on an invoice through their Billing Portal.
• A customer was automatically switched to Manual mode because QuickBooks shows them as deleted or deactivated (this also frees up their spot if your plan has a limit on Assisted-mode customers).

Use Mark all read to clear the dot, or click an individual item to mark just that one read and jump to the related customer.

Settings

Everything here is organized into five tabs.

Communications tab

Billing Details tab

QuickBooks tab

Shows whether your QuickBooks Online account is connected, which company you're connected to, and when your data last fully synced. Connecting (or reconnecting) triggers an immediate full sync rather than waiting for the nightly one.

Team tab

Invite colleagues (up to 15 total) and set their role. There are three roles: Owner (set only when your account was first created, and can't be changed or removed by anyone), Admin (can see and change Settings, and can invite or remove other Admins/Staff), and Staff (no Settings access). An Owner or Admin can change any other non-Owner member's role between Admin and Staff at any time using the role dropdown next to their name. Each team member has an Alerts toggle: switching it on means they'll receive email alerts for things like unrecognized incoming mail or customer disputes. At least one team member must always have alerts on.

Account tab

Its one section, Delete Account, lets an owner or admin request that your AriBooks account be permanently deleted. Submitting a request immediately locks the account: everyone on your team sees a restricted screen and background processing (syncing, reminders) stops, while our team completes the deletion within 30 days. You can cancel the request from that same restricted screen at any time before it's completed. You'll be asked to retype your business name to confirm before it submits, since this can't be undone once it's actioned.

Your Billing Portal (what customers see)

Every customer gets access to a simple self-serve page (the same one linked from your sidebar's Billing Portal item) whether they're in Assisted or Manual mode. It's worth knowing what's on it, since customers may ask you about it:

• Sign in with just their email: AriBooks emails them a 6-digit one-time code, no password needed.
• Their open invoices, each with a Pay button (opens QuickBooks' own secure payment page, when available) and a Download link for the PDF.
• Email Statement: sends the customer their own up-to-date Statement of Account by email.
• Payment details: your bank letter and payment notes, if you've added them (see Settings → Billing Details above).
• Dispute: lets a customer flag a specific invoice as disputed, which pauses reminders on it and alerts your team (see Statuses explained above).

Switching a customer to Manual mode (see the Reports page above) only turns off AriBooks' scheduled, automated emails; it does not take away their Billing Portal access. A Manual-mode customer can still sign in, view and pay invoices, request a statement, and file a dispute exactly as an Assisted-mode customer can; you can also still email them manually at any time.

Frequently asked questions