QuickBooks invoices going to spam? Check your email domain setup

It depends on who sends the invoice. QuickBooks Online sends through Intuit’s own email service unless you connect a Gmail address, and then it sends as you.

• Intuit’s email service: Intuit’s records decide. Ask customers who miss invoices to add the sender to their contacts.
• Gmail connected: your domain’s SPF, DKIM and DMARC decide. When you connect, QuickBooks asks you to allow “Send email on your behalf”.
• The test receivers run: DMARC pass = (SPF pass and its domain matches the From domain) or (DKIM pass and its domain matches)

Example: a plumber connects office@ at a Google Workspace domain. SPF passes, but DKIM is off in Google Admin and there is no DMARC record. Turning on DKIM and adding one DMARC record meets the rules.

The usual cause is a missing DKIM key or DMARC record. Gmail asks every sender for SPF or DKIM, and senders of more than 5,000 messages a day for SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

• SPF: one TXT record at your domain: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all
• DKIM: a TXT record at google._domainkey, generated in Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Authenticate email. Then click Start authentication.
• DMARC: a TXT record at _dmarc. p=none meets the rule.

Yahoo asks bulk senders for the same three. Since May 5, 2025, Outlook.com sends mail to Junk from domains over 5,000 a day that fail them.

Example: a domain with SPF and DKIM but no DMARC passes the every-sender rule and fails the 5,000-a-day rule.

Open an email you sent, show the original, and read the s= value in the DKIM-Signature line. The key lives at selector._domainkey.yourdomain.com.

• Gmail: open the message, then More (three dots) > Show original
• Outlook: File > Properties > Internet headers
• Google Workspace default: google
• Microsoft 365: selector1 and selector2
• The checker also tries 100 common names and says which service each key it finds belongs to.

Example: a header reads d=yourbusiness.com; s=google. The key is at google._domainkey.yourbusiness.com.

Ten. RFC 7208 counts every include, a, mx, ptr and exists, and the redirect modifier, including the ones inside each include. Above ten, SPF fails.

• Lookups: each include = 1 + the lookups inside it
• One record only: two SPF records on one domain also make SPF fail.
• ip4 and ip6 entries count zero.

Example: a record with two includes, where the second include holds three more, uses 1 + 1 + 3 = 5 lookups.

Fix your domain’s three records, then check how each tool that emails customers sends.

• Run the check and add the records it gives you at your DNS host.
• Send yourself a test invoice and paste its headers into the last step.
• Ask a customer who missed one to mark it “Not spam”.

Overdue invoices often trace back to one that never arrived. See our field guide on chasing overdue invoices in QuickBooks Online. If you are not sure who runs your DNS, look up your domain first. Setting up sending across every tool is one of our fixes.