How Do I Email Check Stubs to Employees in QuickBooks Desktop

You can email pay stubs straight from QuickBooks Desktop. Each stub goes out as a password-protected PDF to the employee's email address. To do it, update QuickBooks, turn on the email feature in your preferences, then print and send the stubs from the File menu.

This guide walks through the full setup, the exact password your employees need to open their stubs, the steps for QuickBooks Online, and quick fixes for when stubs don't arrive. You can also prepare and send employee pay stubs in QuickBooks and keep digital records instead of paper.

What Is QuickBooks Desktop?

QuickBooks Desktop is Intuit's accounting software that you install on your computer. It handles core business finances, including payroll and pay stubs. QuickBooks Online is the cloud version of the same product. Both can send pay stubs, but the steps are slightly different.

Common features include payroll, pay stubs, invoicing, inventory, banking, budgeting, tax tracking, and financial reports. You can also generate reports and print payroll forms.

One Thing to Know 

Intuit stopped selling new Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus, and Mac Plus subscriptions to US customers after September 30, 2024. Existing subscribers can still renew. Each version also has a support end date, and once support ends, connected services like payroll stop working.

If your version is close to its deadline, plan ahead. When payroll services stop, you can no longer email stubs through QuickBooks. In that case, an online pay stub generator is a simple way to keep producing accurate stubs.

How to Email Pay Stubs From QuickBooks Desktop

There are two parts to this. First you update QuickBooks and turn on the email setting. Then you print and send the stubs. Follow the two steps below.

Step 1: Update QuickBooks and Check Your Email Settings

Start by updating QuickBooks to the latest release. QuickBooks uses Adobe to create the PDF stubs, so install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader too. No PDF means the stub will not send.

Next, turn on pay stub email in your preferences:

1. Go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.
2. Select the Send Forms menu, then the My Preferences tab.
3. In the Send email using section, choose your email service (see table below).
4. Select OK to save.

Step 2: Email Your Pay Stubs

Before you start, make sure you are in single-user mode. Go to File and select Switch to Single-user mode. Then follow these steps:

1. Go to File, then Print Forms, and select Pay Stubs.
2. Select the bank account you use for payroll.
3. Set the date range for the stubs you want to email.
4. Select the employees you want to email. Uncheck anyone you want to skip.
5. Select Preview to review the stubs.
6. Select Email.
7. Take note of the passwords so you can share them with your employees.
8. Select OK twice to confirm.
9. Enter each employee's email address one at a time.
10. In the Send Forms window, review the emails. You can edit the To and From fields, the subject line, and the body, or select one of your email templates.
11. When you are ready, select Send Now.

The Pay Stub Password Format

QuickBooks protects every emailed pay stub with a password it creates automatically. You cannot customize it. Your employees need this password to open the PDF, so it helps to know how it is built.

The password is the first 4 letters of the employee's last name in lowercase, followed by the last 4 digits of their Social Security number. For example, an employee named Maria Sanchez with an SSN ending in 6789 would have the password sanc6789.

A couple of rules matter here:

• Non-letter characters, such as dashes or spaces, are removed from the last name.
• Remove any parentheses or brackets from the last name in the employee record. Otherwise, the employee will not be able to open the file.

Email Pay Stubs Through QuickBooks Online

If you use QuickBooks Online Payroll instead of Desktop, you can email pay stubs directly to employees. Go to Payroll, then Employees, choose an employee, and open the paycheck you want to send.

Most businesses now use QuickBooks Workforce for this. It lets employees view and print their own stubs online any time. Each time you run payroll, they get an email letting them know a new stub is ready.

Set Up QuickBooks Workforce

Workforce works for both QuickBooks Online Payroll and Desktop Payroll. To turn it on:

1. Add each employee's email address to their profile.
2. Go to Employees, then Manage Payroll Cloud Services.
3. Turn QuickBooks Workforce on, then select Invite Employees.
4. Sign in with the Intuit account that owns the payroll license.
5. Select the employees, add their email addresses, and select Send Invite.

Once an employee accepts the invite, they create an Intuit account and can view their pay stubs online. They can also view and print their own W-2s at tax time. If you need to issue a standalone W-2 outside of QuickBooks, a W-2 form maker can produce one quickly.

Common Issues When Emailing Pay Stubs

QuickBooks is efficient, but it can run into errors that delay payroll. Here are the most common problems and how to fix them.

Verify Your Email Settings

Most send errors come from email settings. Confirm your version is up to date, then recheck the setup:

• Go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.
• Open the left pane and select Send Forms.
• Select the My Preferences tab.
• Under Send email using, choose your service again (Web Mail, Outlook, or QuickBooks Email).

After you apply the settings, try printing and sending the stubs again to see if the problem clears.

Check the Bank Account Field

The bank account field is required, and you must pick the correct account to email stubs. The wrong account can trigger an error without telling you what went wrong. Keep in mind that some banks ask employees for pay stubs, so accuracy here matters.

Check Your Internet Connection

If QuickBooks shows a "Lost connection to data files" error, the cause is usually a bad internet connection, a database error, or server maintenance. QuickBooks may notify you during maintenance, and you cannot send stubs at that time. You can still prepare them and have them ready to email once service returns.

What if Employees Don't Receive Their Pay Stubs?

If a stub does not show up, check a few things before assuming the system failed:

• Ask employees to check their spam or junk folders and any email filters.
• Make sure the employee is entering the correct password (first 4 letters of the last name plus the last 4 SSN digits).
• Send a test email to yourself to confirm your email service is working.

Brackets or parentheses in an employee's last name can also block them from opening the file. Remove those characters from the employee record, then resend.

Final Thoughts

Emailing pay stubs from QuickBooks Desktop can feel fiddly the first time. Once you set your preferences, the process becomes routine. After the initial setup, most of the work is selecting employees and clicking send.

Keep an eye on the details that cause problems: correct email addresses, the right payroll bank account, clean last names, and the password your employees need. With those covered, you can email stubs on every pay period without much effort.