How to Customize a Report in QuickBooks Online – Instructions

Video Lesson on How to Customize a Report in QuickBooks Online:

            This video lesson, titled “How to Do Basic Standard Report Customization in QuickBooks Online,” shows you how to customize a report in QuickBooks Online. This video lesson is from our complete QuickBooks Online tutorial, titled “Mastering QuickBooks Online Made Easy.”

Instructions on How to Customize a Report in QuickBooks Online:

How to Switch Reports in QuickBooks Online between the Modern View and Classic View:

            QuickBooks Online is migrating its standard reports away from the old classic view to the new modern view. Standard reports open by default using either the classic view or the modern view. To switch the standard report view, if needed and/or desired and/or available, click the “Switch to modern view” or “Switch to classic view” link at the top of the report. Note that reports that don’t show this link currently appear in the classic view only. However, Intuit’s stated goal is to switch all reports to the modern view.

How to Change Common Report Settings in QuickBooks Online:

            To customize a standard report after running it to change its most common settings, change the options shown at the top of the report. To regenerate a report after changing these settings if using the classic view, click the “Run report” button in this section. The available settings in this section change for each report. These are also not all the customization options available, just the most common settings. To collapse and expand this section, click the arrow in the lower-right corner of the report customization section.

            In the classic view, customization options also often appear in a toolbar at the top of a report after running it. Options commonly shown here include an “Expand/Collapse” link, a “Sort” drop-down, an “Add notes” link, and for Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss reports, an “Edit titles” link. You can also perform many of these same options in the modern view, although you access them in a different way.

How to Expand and Collapse Subaccount Data in Reports:

            To expand and collapse subaccounts in classic view reports which show subaccount data, click the “Expand/Collapse” link in this toolbar. There is no corresponding setting for this in the modern view, which instead shows all subaccounts in an expanded view by default. However, you can click the expand/collapse arrow next to an account that shows subaccounts within the modern view of a report to collapse it down to a single line, if desired.

How to Sort Reports in QuickBooks Online:

            To choose how to sort the report in the classic view, select a choice from the “Sort” drop-down in this toolbar. Alternatively, to sort by column values if using the modern view, click the sort arrow button next to the column heading containing the values by which to sort the report to show an upward or downward pointing arrow, which shows the direction of the sorting applied to that column’s values. To reverse the current sort order on the column, click its arrow again.

How to Add Notes to Reports and Rename Report Sections:

            To add notes to the bottom of the report in the classic view, click the “Add notes” link in this toolbar. Alternatively, to add notes to the bottom of a report in the modern view, click the “More actions” drop-down in the upper-right corner of the report window and then select the “Add note” command. In either view, then type the note into the box at the bottom of the report and click outside of the note box to set it.

            If needed, to rename the default report sections for balance sheet and profit & loss reports if using the classic view, click the “Edit titles” link in this toolbar, enter the new titles for the report’s sections in the window that appears, and then click the “Save” button to apply them. There is no corresponding option for this in modern reports.

How to Change a Report’s Title or Add a Logo to a Report in QuickBooks Online:

            To customize the report title in either the classic view or modern view, hover over the report’s header information and then click the “Edit” icon, which looks like a pencil, in the report header. Then change the report’s title in the report title field. Optionally, to also change the company name if using the classic view, change that field’s value in the report header.

A picture showing how to customize a report in QuickBooks Online by changing the report’s title in the report header of a classic view report.

            To add a logo to a report if using the classic view, you must have uploaded a logo within the “Company name” section of the “Company” settings in the “Account and Settings” window, first. If so, then check the “Show logo” checkbox when editing the header section to show that logo in the report. If you did not upload a logo, then nothing appears here in the report.

            To apply the changes, click into the blank area in the toolbar above the header if using the classic view or click outside the report title field if using the modern view. Note that you can add or remove the company name and logo if using the modern view, too, which we’ll examine in the next lesson on “How to Customize the General Report Settings in QuickBooks Online.”

How to Access Advanced Report Customization Options in QuickBooks Online:

            To fully customize a report in the classic view after opening it, click the “Customize” button in the upper-right corner of the report window to open a “Customize report” pane at the right side of the window. The “Customize report” pane lets you access all the report’s customization options within its sections. These sections are “General,” “Rows/Columns,” “Aging,” for aging reports only, “Filter,” and “Header/Footer.” You can click each section’s label to expand and collapse its options. The options in each section vary, based on the selected report.

            To close this pane without changing its options, click the “X” button in its upper-right corner. Alternatively, to run the report and apply the changed settings, click the “Run report” button at the bottom of the pane. The next several lessons in this tutorial look at what you can expect to customize in each section of this pane.

            Alternatively, to fully customize a report in the modern view after opening it, click the various buttons for the different sections that appear towards the upper-right corner of the report in the customization section. Clicking each button opens a corresponding pane at the right side of the window that contains the related settings you can change. These buttons roughly correspond to the report customization sections in the “Customize report” pane in the classic view.

            The buttons that appear for a report change, depending on the specific report selected. However, they often include a “Display” or “Columns” button that lets you change the displayed column values; a “Compare” button for comparison reports only; a “Filter” button to apply report filters; and a “General options” button, which contains other miscellaneous options, like “Aging,” “Header,” and “Footer” options, within the sections in its pane.