Managing products and services in QuickBooks Online is essential for keeping your accounting organized and your inventory accurate. Whether you need to remove unused items, merge duplicates, or reactivate products, QuickBooks Online provides the tools to maintain a clean and efficient system. This guide will walk you through the process, offering step-by-step instructions and tips to optimize your workflow.
Understanding Product and Service Management in QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online offers inventory management features in its Plus and Advanced plans. If you are on a basic plan, upgrading allows you to track inventory, make items inactive, and maintain accurate accounting records. Making an item inactive is particularly useful for seasonal products or items you no longer offer. Reactivation is always possible for most items, except inventory products with remaining quantities on hand.
Before making changes, it’s important to understand how inactivation and reactivation affect your books and transactions.
Things to Know Before Making a Product or Service Inactive
Before you inactivate a product or service, consider the following:
- Editing Limitations: Inactive items cannot be edited.
- Transaction Impact: Transactions related to inactive items remain in reports but appear with “(deleted)” at the end of the item name.
- Inventory Adjustments: For inventory items, the quantity on hand will automatically update to zero in your books. If an order for the item is fulfilled after inactivation, you may need to perform a positive inventory adjustment.
- Bundles: When a bundle is inactivated, only the bundle itself is affected; individual items remain active.
If your QuickBooks account is connected to sales channels via Commerce, additional considerations include:
- Inactivating items on all connected sales channels.
- Closing any open orders for the item.
- Ensuring orders previously created for the item remain linked to the original item.
- Reactivating items for new sales to avoid mismatched inventory.
How to Make a Product or Service Inactive?
Follow these steps to inactivate products or services in QuickBooks Online:
- Click the Settings gear icon, then select Products and Services.
- Locate and select the item(s) you want to inactivate.
- Click Batch Actions, then choose Make Inactive.
- Confirm by selecting Yes.
Note: Default items, like standard Services and Hours, cannot be inactivated. As a workaround, you can prepend “Z” to the item name to push it to the bottom of lists.
How to Reactivate a Product or Service?
Reactivating products or services is straightforward:
- Go to Settings > Products and Services.
- Select Filter, then choose Inactive under Status and click Apply.
- Select the item(s) you want to reactivate.
- Click Batch Actions, then Make Active, and confirm by selecting Yes.
After reactivation:
- Verify item details, including income, expense, and inventory asset accounts.
- Check inventory quantities and perform a physical count if needed.
- For items linked to sales channels, ensure the item is matched correctly to prevent duplicates and re-enable sales across platforms.
How to Merge Non-Inventory Items and Services?
QuickBooks Online allows merging of non-inventory products and services to reduce duplicates. Keep in mind that inventory items cannot be merged as this could disrupt transactions and inventory accounts.
Steps to merge non-inventory items:
- Navigate to Settings > Products and Services.
- Find the non-inventory product or service you want to merge.
- Click Edit.
- In the Name field, enter the name of the item you want to merge with.
- Select Save and Close, then confirm by selecting Yes.
This process consolidates the items, ensuring reports and transactions remain accurate without duplication.
Tips for Efficient Product and Service Management
- Regularly review your catalog to inactivate items no longer in use.
- Use consistent naming conventions to avoid duplicate entries.
- Perform inventory counts after reactivating items to maintain accurate records.
- Sync all changes across connected sales channels to prevent inventory mismatches.
- Leverage QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced features to maximize inventory tracking and reporting.
Conclusion
Effectively managing your products and services in QuickBooks Online helps streamline operations, maintain accurate accounting records, and reduce clutter in your catalog. By understanding how to make items inactive, reactivate them, and merge duplicates, you can keep your system organized and your business running smoothly. Implement these strategies regularly to ensure your QuickBooks Online account reflects your current offerings and inventory accurately.
Frequently Asked Questions
To edit a product or service in QuickBooks Online:
1. Go to the Sales menu and select Products and Services.
2. Locate the item you want to edit.
3. Click on the Edit button next to the product/service.
4. Make the necessary changes, such as updating the name, price, or description.
5. Once finished, click Save and Close or Save and New to update the item.
To make a product or service inactive:
1. Go to the Sales menu and select Products and Services.
2. Find the item you wish to make inactive.
3. Click the dropdown menu next to the Edit button and select Make inactive.
4. Confirm your action to deactivate the item.
Note: Inactive items will no longer show up in transactions but will still be available for reporting purposes.
QuickBooks Online does not have a single “default” product or service that applies to all transactions. However, you can set a default item for invoices or sales receipts by:
1. Going to Settings (gear icon) > Account and Settings.
2. Under the Sales tab, scroll to the Sales form content section.
3. Choose a default product or service item from the Default product/service drop-down menu.
4. Save your changes.
To reactivate a vendor in QuickBooks Online:
1. Go to the Expenses menu and select Vendors.
2. Click the Filter drop-down and select Inactive to view all inactive vendors.
3. Find the vendor you want to reactivate, click the dropdown next to their name, and select Make active.
When you make a product or service inactive:
1. It will no longer appear in your product list or sales transactions.
2. You can still view and report on inactive products/services.
3. Inactive items will not show up in the Create invoice or sales receipt forms unless you manually select them.
4. You can reactivate the item at any time.
To set up a service item in QuickBooks Online:
1. Go to the Sales menu and select Products and Services.
2. Click the New button and choose Service as the type.
3. Enter the necessary details like the name, description, rate, and tax information.
4. Click Save and Close to finish setting up the service item.
To categorize products and services in QuickBooks Online:
1. Go to the Sales menu and select Products and Services.
2. Choose an item to edit or create a new item.
3. Under Category, select an existing category or create a new one.
4. Save your changes.
Categories help you group related items for better reporting and organization.
To restrict a user from viewing payroll data:
1. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Manage Users.
2. Select the user whose permissions you want to adjust.
3. In the user settings, under the Payroll Access section, choose None for payroll access.
4. Save the changes.
This will ensure that the user does not have access to sensitive payroll information.
QuickBooks Online Plus allows you to add up to 5 users. Each user can have different levels of access, depending on the roles you assign them.
To make multiple items inactive in QuickBooks Desktop:
1. Go to Lists > Item List.
2. Right-click the item you want to deactivate and select Make Item Inactive.
3. Repeat this for each item you wish to deactivate.
You can also filter the list to show inactive items by clicking Item > Filter at the top of the list.
To delete your QuickBooks Online company:
1. Go to Settings (gear icon) > Account and Settings.
2. In the Billing & Subscription tab, scroll down to the Cancel Subscription section.
3. Click Cancel and follow the prompts to close the company.
4. You will need to confirm the cancellation and complete the process.
Note: Once canceled, you can no longer access your company data unless you reactivate it within a limited time frame.
