How to Group and Subtotal Items in Invoices in QuickBooks Online

How to Group and Subtotal Items in Invoices in QuickBooks Online: Video

            This video lesson, titled “How to Group and Subtotal Items in Invoices in QuickBooks Online,” shows how to create a custom form style for invoices that lets you apply grouping and subtotaling by date or by item type in QuickBooks Online. This video lesson is from our complete QuickBooks Online tutorial, titled “Mastering QuickBooks Online Made Easy.”

Overview:

How to Create a Custom Form Style for Invoices that Groups and Subtotals Items:

            When creating invoices in QuickBooks Online, you sometimes have different categories of charges, like billable expenses or billable time. One way to group and subtotal by these charge categories in invoices, or to group and subtotal by dates in invoices, is to create a new invoice custom form style that applies grouping and/or subtotals.

            To do this, click the “Settings” button in the QuickBooks Online toolbar. Then click the “Custom form styles” link under the “Your Company” heading in the drop-down menu to open the “Custom form styles” page. Then click the “New style” button in the upper-right corner of the page. Then select the “Invoice” choice from the drop-down menu that appears to open the “Design” section in the new invoice style page, where you can choose the basic design of the form.

Name the Invoice Custom Form Style and Set its Design Settings:

            Type a name for the new invoice into the field at the top, left side of the page, if needed. To select the form’s template style, click the “Dive in with a template” or “Change up the template” link to show the template styles. Then click a template style to show it in the preview at the right side of the page.

            If needed, to change the logo, click the “Add your unique logo” or “Make logo edits” link. If needed, then click the “Add a logo” button that appears. Then click the “plus sign” button in the “Logo” window that appears to select a new logo to upload and click the “Save” button to close the window. You can then select a size and placement for the logo by clicking the choice you prefer in the “Size” and “Placement” sections. You can also click the “Hide logo” link to hide the logo, if desired.

            To choose a different color, click the “Splash on some color” or “Try other colors” link and then click a color to use. To change the fonts, click the “Get choosy with your font” or “Select a different font” link and then use the two drop-downs to select a font and font size to apply. To edit the margin size, click the “When in doubt, print it out” or “Edit print settings” link and then enter the page margins you prefer. You can also check any available checkboxes here, if you want to enable those options.

Set the Desired Grouping and Subtotaling in the Activity Options within the Content Settings:

            Then click the “Content” link at the top of the page to show the different content sections of the invoice in the preview area to the right. Each section appears with a white “pencil” icon in its upper-right corner that you can click to edit the content of that section. Here is where you need to enable the grouping and subtotaling options for the line item section of the invoice.

            Click the white pencil icon in the upper-right corner of the line items section of the invoice at the right side of the screen. This is the middle section of the three sections shown. To the left, an “Activity table” appears and shows its “Columns” and an “Edit Labels and Widths” label. Below this, click the “Show more activity options” link to show advanced activity options for grouping and subtotaling in a new section.

Select the Desired Item Grouping and Subtotaling:

            To apply grouping and subtotaling to line items, check the “Group activity by” checkbox in this section and then select the option to use to group the activities. The drop-down list contains “Day,” “Week,” “Month” and “Type” options. To subtotal each group, check the “Subtotal groups” checkbox that appears after selecting a choice from the “Group activity by” checkbox’s drop-down menu.

            If grouping by one of the date options for “Day,” “Week” or “Month,” you must enter a service date for each line item in your invoice. If you don’t, QuickBooks Online Plus shows all separate detail lines as occurring on the invoice date and will not list separate groups or subtotals. If grouping by a date option, you must also ensure the “Date” checkbox is checked in the “Columns” section directly above the “More activity options” section.

            Likewise, if grouping by “Type,” you must enter at least two different types of items in the invoice to create subtotals. The types are charges, billable expenses, and billable time. In QuickBooks Online Plus, all products and services are of the charges type. If you don’t list at least two different types of items (charges, billable expenses, or billable time) in the invoice, it will not recognize different types of items and will not group or subtotal. If you have multiple activity rows with the same description and rate, you can check the “Collapse activity rows” checkbox to hide the details of those items in a group.

Preview and Save the Invoice Custom Form Style:

            After making your selections in the “Activity Table” section, you can click the “Preview PDF” button at the bottom of the page to preview how the invoice will appear in a separate window or tab, which you can close, when finished. You can also make any other changes you want to the invoice by using the other options in this page. After making all the changes you want to the invoice, click the “Done” button in the lower-right corner of the window to save it. You are then returned to the “Custom form styles” page. You can refresh the page to show the new custom form style in the list, if needed.

How to Apply the Custom Form Style with Grouping and Subtotaling to Invoices:

            To apply a custom form style for invoices if you only use it periodically, select the custom form style in the “Design” section of the “Manage” pane at the right side of the invoice window when you create the next new invoice to which to apply it. It then applies the grouping and subtotaling to the invoice’s line items, which you can see when you preview it.

            Alternatively, to set a new custom form style for invoices as the default invoice style for all future invoices, click the “Action” column’s drop-down for the form style in the “Custom form styles” page and then select the “Make default” command from the drop-down menu.

How to Apply Subtotals to Items in Any Type of Invoice in QuickBooks Online:

            As mentioned in an earlier lesson, separately from grouping by date or by type and showing subtotals over the group, you can also manually add a subtotal to an invoice for any line items. To manually add a subtotal to an invoice in QuickBooks Online, select the line item row above the row where you want to insert the subtotal row in an invoice. Then click the drop-down part of the button under the line items area and select the “Add subtotal” command to add a subtotal line below the currently selected row. You can add as many subtotal lines as the invoice requires. The subtotal line item in QuickBooks Online totals all line items in the invoice above it, up to the previous subtotal, if one exists.