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Custom fields

Adding what's important to you

Need to add your own data, your own way? Custom fields can get it done. Add custom information to your items such as Color or Material to your items. For the people related to your business (customers, vendors, employees), add information that's important to you such as birthdays or the names of spouses.

Note: If you memorize a transaction that has a custom field, QuickBooks memorizes what you entered in the field along with the other details of the transaction. If you export a list that contains data in custom fields, QuickBooks exports that data along with the other data from the list.

Adding custom fields

Add custom fields for customers, vendors, and employees
  1. Edit a customer, vendor, or employee.
  2. On the Additional Info pane, click Define Fields.
  3. For each field:
    • Enter the name of the field in the label column.
    • Select the lists where you want the field to appear.
    Note: You can select a custom field for all three lists (customer, vendor, employee), but each list can only have a total of seven custom fields.
  4. Click OK.
Adding custom fields to items
  1. On the Items list, edit an item.
  2. Click Custom fields. If you already have custom fields, you'll see them here.
  3. Click Define Fields.
  4. For each new custom field:
    • Enter the name of the field.
    • Select the Use checkbox.
    Note: Custom fields are available for all item types except subtotals, sales tax items, and sales tax groups.
  5. Click OK.
  6. (Optional) Fill in the fields for this item. If you fill in information for a field, the information you enter transfers automatically to any custom form where the field appears. For example, if the field is named “Color” and you've entered “navy blue” as the color of a particular item, the Color field on your sales forms prefills to “navy blue” each time you enter a sale of the item. Leave a field blank if you'd prefer to fill it in at the time you make a sale, write a purchase order, or prepare an estimate.

Working with custom fields

Removing or renaming a custom field throughout QuickBooks

Keep in mind that changes to custom fields affects all transactions and reports where the custom field appears. For example, if you change a name from “Sales Region” to “State,” a previous transaction where you entered “Far West” as the sales region now shows “Far West” as the state. This kind of mismatch also affects reports that show transactions you entered before you changed the field name.

To remove or rename a custom field

  1. Edit a customer, vendor, employee, or item you want rename.
  2. For customers, vendors, and employees, go to the Additional Info pane. For items, click Custom Fields.
  3. Click Define Fields.
  4. In the Define Fields window, change the name of the field. Or, to the custom field, just clear the field name.
  5. Click OK.

Renaming or removing a custom field on forms only

When you change the field name on forms ONLY, QuickBooks retains the old name in the Report Filters window (this is the window where you restrict the content of a report to those transactions that match specific information in one or more of your custom fields). For example, if you change the field name from “Lease ending date” to “Lease ends” on your forms, the Report Filters window still shows “Lease ending date” as the name of the field. You can still filter for information you entered in the field, even though the name of the field is now different on your forms.

  1. Display the invoice, sales receipt, estimate, credit memo, statement, or purchase order you want to customize. For example, to display an invoice, choose Customers > Create Invoices.
  2. Click Customize to open Layout Designer.
  3. In the Layout Designer Fields window, rename the desired custom field. Or, to remove the field, clear the checkboxes next to the custom field name.
  4. Save the form template. Now, only when you use that template, you'll see the change only on the form.
Using custom fields in reports

If you use custom fields in transactions, you can base your reports on data you've entered into the fields. You can restrict the report so that it shows only transactions associated with a particular entry in one of the fields (this is called filtering).

Restriction: You can report only on custom fields that are associated with transactions (that is, a customer, vendor, employee, or item that uses the field must appear on a transaction). Reports cannot show which names on a list (Customer:Job, Vendor, Employee) are associated with a particular custom field.

To use custom fields in reports:

  1. From the Reports menu, choose the type of report you'd like to create.
  2. In the report window, click Filters.
  3. Choose the custom field you want to use from the Add filter list.
  4. Enter the information you want to restrict the report to. For example, if one of your custom fields is Color and you wanted the report to show only sales of navy blue items, enter “navy blue” in the Color field.