Learn the process to customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows and Mac:
QuickBooks offers many pre-created reports for the user’s convenience, and along with that, it allows you to create your own customized and tailored reports, which can also be mailed. The feature of customizing reports is also present in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac. This feature helps you in having the data and style as per their choices. If you are interested in learning the process to customize reports in QuickBooks desktop, here is a step-by-step guide for you people. So, make sure that you stay tuned to the article till the end and unleash the process to customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac. However, in case of any sort of technical assistance, feel free to get in touch with our QuickBooks support team at any point in time.
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This video will help you to run and customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac and Windows versions.
Advanced steps to customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop
Here’s how to run and customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.
- The very initial step is to Create a report.
- And then, select the Customize option on the report window.
- After that, from the customize window, choose the tab that you wish to update, and you are done.
As we said before, this is the most basic procedure, for detailed one continue reading.
How to customize report options?
You will have a couple of fields and options and it all depends upon the type of report you are customizing. In case you want these options to appear every time the report is opened up, the below-mentioned steps could be followed:
- First, select the QuickBooks software and then go for the Preferences option.
- Once done with that, navigate to the Reports section and then choose Display customize report window automatically.
Report Options
Now that you know the steps to customize report options, it is important to know what report options would be there for you. Let us check out:
- Advanced: You can control more advanced layout options, especially in case you based the report on the fiscal or calendar year.
- Columns (list): Default settings for this is total only. Whereas the report displays a single column for totals, and there are no columns for subtotals. In order to display the report with separate columns for each month within the specified date range, you can choose the month from the list.
- Columns (checklist): Select the columns that you wish to include in the report. Column headings with the check mark are to be included. And also, in order to un-select a column, select it again.
- Customer: Job: It is supposed to select the name you wish to pick from the customer: job list.
- Days Past due: You will have to limit a collections report, in order to ensure that it only shows invoices that are past due by at least a specific number of days. For this, you need to enter the number of days past due that you want QuickBooks to use as a basis for the report.
- Days per aging period? And age through how many days: This might be confusing, but you need to restrict the transactions included in the report according to their aging status. For this, type the period of time for each column to represent under the days per aging period field.
And in the Age through how many days field, make sure to type in the number days you need for the breakdown of aging intervals:
- Delay receipts how many days: It is supposed to make a more conservative and realistic cash flow forecast by slowing down receipts. Also, you can account for delays in funds availability that result from the bank holds on deposits. In case you leave this field set to 0, then the cash flow forecast includes all receipts where the due date falls within the date range for the report.
- Filters: You should restrict the report to transactions that meet certain criteria.
- Formats: Also determine the way in which the report breaks down the amount of time worked.
- Include: This field basically affects the subtotal heading in transaction detail reports. When you subtotal a transaction detail report, it normally includes a subtotal heading only if there are transactions for the heading.
- Open balance/aging: It is supposed to understand the process of calculating a customer’s open balance or an aging report. You can select the:
- Current: This shows the customer’s open balance as of today. All the payments you will get today will be reflected in the open balance that the report shows
- As of report date: Showing the customer’s open balance as of the ending date of the report.
- Other columns: It is recommended to opt for the columns to be included in the report.
- Report basis: Select if you want the report to be based on an accrual or cash basis. For accrual basis, QuickBooks counts income as of the invoice date and expenses as of the bill date. Whereas for the cash basis report, the income is counted as of the date the payment was received and expended as of the date the bill is paid.
- Report dates: Select a new date range from the list. Also, one can go for typing a beginning date for the range in from the field and an ending date in the to field.
- Reporting periods: Selecting a time interval from the list is recommended for the report.
- Row Axis: Customize the row heading you desire for the report and select it from the list.
- Show actuals, difference, and % of budget: It is needed to select whether the report should portray the actual amounts in addition to budgeted amounts. Selecting show actuals allows you to either select either or both of the fields i.e., difference and %
- Sort by: It is supposed to change how QuickBooks usually sorts the transactions on a report. The transaction appears in the date order, but it can be altered to the amount and document number order.
- Total by: It is important to change the ways QuickBooks groups and subtotals the individual transaction on the report.
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How to filter the report data?
It should be noted while creating a report, it might have various unnecessary data. This is where the need to use filters arises, as it allows you to customize the report to ensure that you see the data needed and not the useless one.
How to add a report filter?
Adding a report filter doesn’t involve any rocket science; all it needs is a couple of steps given as under:
- At the initial stage, select Customize option from the report window.
- And then, go for the Filters tab.
- Followed by selecting the Checkbox next to the filter you wish to use.
- And then, scroll or use the Search field to find the specific filters.
- To clear all the filters, select the Clear all option.
Types of report filters
There can be a wide number of report filters, which include the following:
Account | customer job | Item | Posting status |
Aging | Days per aging period? | Job type | Received |
Amount | Detail level | Memo | Ship date |
Class | Due date | Name | Source account |
Billing status | Duration | Number | To be printed |
Cleared | Entered/Modified | Paid status | Transaction type |
Customer type | FOB, Item, Payment method, terms | Payroll item | Vendor type |
Grouping and sub-totaling data
Pick the column heading for subtotals
A couple of reports allow you to subtotal the amounts in columns for time periods or other possible factors. This can be done by:
- Initially, Create a report.
- And then, go for the Customize option.
- Followed by selecting the Filters tab.
- And also selecting an item from the columns list. You can also select the Show all option in case the column you are searching is not available.
- After this, the column will automatically appear on the P&L Detail report.
Select the row headings for groups
You can customize the report and change the row headings as desired. This can be done by:
- Selecting Reports and then selecting Custom summary report is recommended.
- After that, you will have to navigate to the Customize option.
- Followed by selecting the Filters tab.
- And selecting the Item from the row axis list.
Alter the subtotaling of transactions
You can easily group and subtotal the data on a transaction detail report by carrying out a couple of steps:
- To begin with, create the Transaction detail report.
- And then hit click on Customize.
- Next, select the Filters tab.
- And then, click on the Select an item from the total by list.
Altering the sort order of transactions
In case you don’t want the date order within the group on a report, you can sort the transactions by the amount or document number.
- All you have to do is to Create the transaction detail report.
- And choose the Customize option.
- Followed by selecting totals only on the Options tab.
- And then, to sort the transactions by amount, you can go for the Amount option.
- Whereas, for sorting out the transactions by document, you can choose the Num option.
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Steps to format a Report in QuickBooks desktop
In QuickBooks, one can easily format the report and its look and feel. All you have to do is to:
- Firstly create a report.
- And then, choose the Customize and format options.
Selecting fonts and colors
You also get the option to customize the fonts and colors, which can be done by:
- This can be easily done by selecting the Font & color for the drop-down from the format tab. And also select the area of the report to be customized.
- You will then have to select the Font and color, and when done, click on Save.
Selecting the number handling
In the reports, you can easily customize the way in which the numbers have to be formatted and also the way in which the negative numbers would appear
- Number formats: You need to opt for the divide the number by 1000 and if needed include cents or zero amounts on the report.
- Negative numbers: In case you are having negative numbers on the report, you can select the method in which you have to be formatted, and also whether you are to be shown in red.
Customizing the header
Header is the text that shows up at the top of the report. QuickBooks includes the company name, title, subtitle, and date automatically. Let us check out header customization options:
Company: Company stands for the company name that would be displayed on the report.
Title: The title is basically the report title.
Subtitle: Here, the subtitle is the report subtitle.
Date: This is the date when the report is created.
Show time prepared: This option indicates the time the report was generated.
Show report basis: You can select whether to go for an accrual or cash basis.
Print header on: The last option is to select the pages on which you wish the header to appear.
Customizing Footer
Footer is basically the text that can be seen at the bottom of the report. You can easily customize this text by carrying out the steps below:
- Page Footer #: This is the page footer, which means the page number i.e. pg#1
- Extra footer line: In case you want another line on the footer, then you can make use of the extra footer line.
- Print footer on: You can also select the page on which you want the footer to be, like the first page or on all pages of the report.
Setting alignment
If you want to alter the alignment of the report, then it can be easily done by selecting the alignment dropdown and then selecting the option to align the report. The report info can be set to its standard format or can also be aligned to left, right, or center as per the choice of the users.
Use a format template for your report
To make things easier, you can opt for a template as a starting point for formatting the report. Here is how you can do this:
- This can be done by simply selecting the format setup drop-down and then click on the report theme.
- After that, customize the Report theme and then choose the Save tab.
What is the process to customize the report sidebar?
The report sidebar allows easy access to all the report customization options in a single window. With the help of this sidebar, you can alter the report and see the effects instantly. For opening or closing the panel, you are supposed to opt for the customize option and also select the report settings. It should be noted that the QuickBooks software will remember the settings for each type of report created by you.
Memorizing customized reports
- When you customize a report, you can memorize it in order to save the changes that were made. And once done, you are recommended to select memorize.
- In order to open a memorized report, move to the reports and also choose memorized reports. In case any changes are made, you can replace the existing report or create a new one with a different name.
- It should be noted that when you opens a memorized report, it will only apply the customization settings that were memorized. Also, the current data won’t be changed.
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Winding up!
We hope that we were successful in providing you with all possible information related to customizing reports in QuickBooks desktop. However, if you are still confused or if you found the procedure to be too technical for you, then do not think much about contacting our QuickBooks enterprise customer support team. We will surely guide the way through the process and also will assist you in the entire journey of customizing reports in QuickBooks. Feel free to give us a call at 1-800-761-1787, and leave the rest to our professionals.
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