Customizing Customer, Job, and Sales Reports in QuickBooks Desktop
QuickBooks Desktop users can tailor customer, job, and sales reports by adjusting display columns, applying specific filters, and exporting modified data to Excel.
QuickBooks Desktop ships with dozens of built-in customer, job, and sales reports, but the default layouts rarely match what a business actually needs on the page. Users frequently ask how to add or remove columns, narrow results to specific transaction types, and reshape the data so it answers a real operational question rather than a generic one. The accepted guidance from the community walks through several common customization scenarios, each built on the same core tools: the Display tab, the Filters tab, and Excel export.
Adding Sales Tax Information to the Customer Phone List
The default Customer Phone List is straightforward — names and phone numbers — but many users need tax-related details alongside the contact data. To restructure this report, open the Reports menu, choose Customers & Receivables, and select Customer Phone List. Click Customize Report and, on the Display tab, uncheck Main Phone and scroll down to check Sales Tax Code. This swaps the phone column for tax-code data so the list reflects each customer’s tax status rather than their contact number.
To narrow the report further, switch to the Filters tab (on QuickBooks for Mac, choose the Filters icon). Select Sales Tax Code from the filter list, then choose All Taxable Codes from the dropdown — or pick specific tax codes individually. Running the report both ways can help you determine which view gives the more useful result for your filing or reconciliation needs.
Filtering the Transaction List by Customer
The Transaction List by Customer report under Customers & Receivables can be narrowed to show only specific activity. After opening the report, select Customize Report and go to the Display tab. Check the boxes for P.O. # and Pay Meth to add purchase-order and payment-method columns to the layout.
On the Filters tab, select Transaction Type and then choose Multiple Transactions from the dropdown. Add Sales Receipts and Payment so the report isolates those two transaction types and excludes everything else. This produces a focused list of incoming payments tied to each customer.
Reorganizing Sales by Customer Detail
The Sales by Customer Detail report — found under the Reports menu in the Sales section — can be restructured to group results geographically. On the Display tab, select Name State/Province from the Columns list. Then change the Total by dropdown to Total Only and set the Sort by dropdown to Name State/Province. The result is a sales report sorted and subtotaled by the state or province associated with each customer name.
Running a Quick Report from the Payment Method List
When you need transaction activity tied to a specific payment method — credit card, check, cash, or any custom method — go to the Lists menu and select Customer & Vendor Profile Lists, then Payment Method List. Right-click any payment method and choose Quick Report. Set the date range, then open the Filters tab and select Payment Method. Choose Multiple Payment Methods from the dropdown and check the ones you want included. This is a fast way to see how much revenue came through each payment channel over a given period.
Repurposing Open Purchase Order by Job as a Sales Order Report
The Open Purchase Order by Job report — under Purchases — can be retasked as an open-sales-order detail report with the right column and filter adjustments. On the Display tab, select columns such as Type, Date, Num, Source Name, Item, Item Description, Qty, Open Balance, and Amount.
On the Filters tab, set Transaction Type to Sales Order, Paid Status to Open, and Received to Either. Then switch to the Header/Footer tab and change the Report Title to “Open Sales Order Detail by Customer” so the printed or exported output is labeled correctly.
Adjusting Check Detail and Deposit Detail Reports
The Check Detail report under Banking can be filtered to show payments rather than checks. After opening the report, set the date range on the Display tab and remove any existing filters under Current Filter Choices. Add the Transaction Type filter and set it to Payment. Then add the Detail Level filter and set it to All Except Summary — if it is left on Summary Only, the report shows only linked deposits and omits the detail rows. A Name filter can be applied to restrict results to specific customers.
The Deposit Detail report, also under Banking, can be configured to show open invoices. Set the date range, then apply these filters: Account = All Accounts Receivable, Transaction Type = Invoice, Detail Level = Summary Only, and Paid Status = Open.
Exporting to Excel for Manual Cleanup
Some report shapes simply are not achievable inside QuickBooks itself and require a manual pass in Excel. After customizing a report as close as possible, select Excel at the top of the report window and choose Create New Worksheet. Follow the prompts in the Send Report to Excel window and select Export.
Once the data is in Excel, you can delete rows that do not fit — invoices without linked payments, for example — and shift columns as needed. Inserting a Sum function beneath a payment column produces a running total that QuickBooks may not surface on its own. For users who regularly need to reshape QuickBooks Desktop reports beyond what the built-in customization supports, Excel export remains the most flexible last step.