Change product / service on invoice line item without deleting description / quantity / rate

[jkabbe]

When I go in to an existing invoice and try to change the product / service to a different product / service, it removes the description, quantity and rate.  How do I change the product / service while keeping the description, quantity and rate intact (no changes)?  Thank you.

[JamesDuanT]

This works as designed for QuickBooks, jkabbe.

Changing the product/service items on an existing invoice will remove or change the description, rate, quantity, and others. Thus, keeping the invoice up to date.

You can take note of the invoice details by taking a screenshot. You can use the Snipping Tool on your computer accessories, too. Then use the screenshot as a reference when updating the invoice and reenter the details.

Let me know if you have other concerns. I'll be around.

[marymagpie]

Your solution is very cumbersome. 

Each line item I have on invoices are unique but I need to input a particular item designation so the system know where to post the two sided entry.  Debit goes to accounts receivables and the credit goes to what ever is designated in the item.  In my case an income account.    If I add the time/costs to fill in what needs to be billed, then go back in and input an item, the description gets deleted.  How can this deletion be overridden?  

[Malcolm Ziman]

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@marymagpie wrote:

Your solution is very cumbersome. 

Each line item I have on invoices are unique but I need to input a particular item designation so the system know where to post the two sided entry.  Debit goes to accounts receivables and the credit goes to what ever is designated in the item.  In my case an income account.    If I add the time/costs to fill in what needs to be billed, then go back in and input an item, the description gets deleted.  How can this deletion be overridden?  

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You may want to bring in the saved description, but you may not want to.  It's stupid that the program just deletes the description without asking you.  There should be the option to delete; yes or no?

Only 14 votes as of 12/6/18:

https://feedback.qbo.intuit.com/forums/168199-quickbooks-online-feature-requests/suggestions/8302446...

In the meantime this is what i do:

First enter the Item, then the description. If you have already entered an Item and want to change it or left the Item field blank, then enter the desired Item on a new line, copy and paste the description from the previous line, and then delete the previous line.

[dmeacham]

This is an obvious BUG!  If I change the expense account on a bill it keeps the rest of the information.  If I make a mistake while entering an invoice and need to change the product service, it should not delete anything I put in.  It should keep the information and let me change what I need to. 

[ShiellaGraceA]

I would agree with the thread above, dmeacham.

You can change the product/service item of the invoice without deleting other information. However, if the set up of your item has a different description/rate, it will also update when you change it.

We're here if you have other questions in mind.

[Malcolm Ziman]

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@ShiellaGraceA wrote:

I would agree with the thread above, dmeacham.

You can change the product/service item of the invoice without deleting other information. However, if the set up of your item has a different description/rate, it will also update when you change it.

We're here if you have other questions in mind.

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When I go to the sample co and try to "change the product/service item of the invoice without deleting other information", I am unable to; the other information get deleted.    Maybe you have a different sample co to what is available to the public

[jpconsulting]

Hello-

I am wondering the same think.  How do we change the product/service item on an invoice without deleting the description/quantity and rate?  You say you agree but when I go in to change the product/service item everything gets deleted.  My problem is items are coming over from Honeybooks and going straight to Sales and I have separate income accounts for tracking purposes.  I want to change the product/service code but the description and rate I want to stay the same.  There has got to be a way to do this.  Please advise asap!   Thank you!

[HoneyLynn_G]

Thank you for joining this thread, @jpconsulting.

Allow me to step in for a moment and clear this up for you.

As mentioned by JamesDuanT, every product/service items have designated description and rates. Changing the item on the created invoice will alter the information on the Description and Rates fields.

The invoice information coming in QuickBooks is only dependent on your third-party application. If you wish to change the product code and income account of the items, you have to edit the item:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Choose Products and Services.
3. Look for the item and click the Edit link.
4. Update the product code and income account.
5. Click Save and close.

That's it. Let me know if there's anything else I can do. I'm still here to help you further. Just add a comment or mention my name. Wishing you all the best!

[Anonymous]

I agree with the other QBO users on this thread that this functionality as designed is not working for us. 

I think the consensus is we would prefer to keep all other info the same if we change the product/service option.

Since we are only changing one single option - it is reasonable to expect that the program doesn't assume we want it to change other options.

I would like to officially add this as a 'feature request' to your software roadmap management team.

Is that possible @HoneyLynn_G ?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hi there, @Anonymous.

Allow me to step in and share some insights about changing product/service on invoice line item without deleting other information. 

Since this is how QuickBooks is designed at this time, we can try the workaround provided by our Community Backer on this thread. 

I'm taking note of this request and will pass it along here in my end.

That said, if there's something you need, please visit us again in the Community. I'll be here to help.

[MMV]

Please pass this on to the relevant people asap as it is driving me completely mad having cut and paste every line.  I am very unhappy about it

[Anonymous]

Hi there, @MMV,

Thanks for joining the discussion. I appreciate you for putting your voice out and sharing your feedback here in our forums.

I completely understand the situation. Being able to update the products/services and retaining the Description on your invoice line items would be a handy feature in QuickBooks Online. This preference, however, is unavailable at the moment. As a workaround, you can follow @Malcolm Ziman's suggestion to create another line for the new item then copy and paste the description from the previous product.

I already took note of your request and will update you once this information is available for our users.

If you have any other questions, please let me know, and I'll be happy to help. Thanks again for visiting our forum today, have a great and productive week!

[Greg McFarlane]

I have long just hated this feature.  

Today it actually cost me time as I accidentally deleted some information 

I have heard QB folks saying clear through this thread that 'that is how it is' and  CTL-C CTL-V  is the work around.  WE HEAR THAT.  DONT NEED TO HEAR IT AGAIN. 

What we are tyring to communicate is that this is silly. I prefer some of the other terms used here, but Ill go w/ silly. 

Give me a business reason that you need to delete my description/qty if i accidentally put the wrong item in ,  or pasted in 5 lines and then wanted to set the  item. 

Its bad design, please make it a priority to change it. 

Wiile you are at it.. .why not accept a block of excel cells as a  paste source 

Thanks !

[MM16]

FYI ... the "old QuickBooks Desktop" had an option to do this ... in other words, an option to "Save the existing Description/qty/amount" when the Product/Service is changed ... I think it was smart enough to know if it was a "custom description" then it did NOT change it. Seems that would be an easy fix ... in other words, if the Product/Service is changed, check to see if the previous Description/amount was custom, if so, then do NOT change it when a new Product/Service code is entered.

[ConcergeMktg]

Me too - this is such a time waster.  I import my invoice descriptions from Intervals Online, and it names everything "Services".  If the drop-down menu on the product/service worked right, it would take a couple of seconds to do each invoice. The way it is now takes me an hour for each one.  

Why have a drop down menu if it does this?  I don't use the automated description feature because I have to customize each invoice.  This has been endlessly annoying.

In fact, the customer service people I have spoken with at Quickbooks agree that this is not good.

In addition, the programs that are not online do allow this.

[jackson3]

Adding my voice in here as well. This is asinine. If this is a designed feature, this was probably designed by someone who would also design a car with square tires. 

[jh31]

Has this ever been addressed? The topic says "solved", but that doesn't appear to be the case. This is an even bigger problem when using TSheets, as you can't just add a new line and copy the details, that loses the link to the time entry. It's insane that Quickbooks even deletes the quantity with any change to the product/service. Why would anyone think that resetting my quantity to "1" on a change with no option to override is good logic? It's been over a year and it looks like Quickbooks hasn't bother to implement this change, so I guess they don't care. Perhaps if they used their own software... I only just switched to Quickbooks, though, so if Intuit doesn't care about customer feedback I suppose it's not too late to simply cancel my subscription and go somewhere else.

[Don E Ire]

QB Support Please Update this Thread

On an existing Invoice when you change the Product/Service All the Information deletes from the line including description, quantity, rate & amount.

This is a problem if you have any application integrated for invoicing and is also vital to improve the integrity of the P&L.

The Ability to Change a Product/Service without deleting the entire line is default in Quickbooks Desktop.

Why is this different in QBO - Can you please clarify if this is a Bug or is this the designed function.

Is there anything on the Roadmap to address this.

Although it may be a small feature for Qucikbooks Team, for any company that integrates to another system to import Sales invoices, this is a show stopper.

[MJoy_D]

Hello, @Don E Ire.

By default, when you change the Product/Service in the invoice, it’ll automatically remove the description that you’ve initially set. 

I’ll take note of this and let our Product Development team know that this feature is something that you need. The feature to edit the Product/Service without deleting the entire line. 

For now, you can visit the QuickBooks Blog to check for new updates and features that we have. 

Here's more information on how to set up product and service items you buy and sell: Add product and service items to QuickBooks Online. 

I'm always here if you still have questions with your account. Stay safe and have a wonderful day!

[rebengel]

In preferences, you can change whether custom item information (description) is kept or changed.

1.   From the Edit menu, select Preferences.

2.   Click General from the list, then select the My Preferences tab.

3.   In KEEP CUSTOM ITEM INFORMATION WHEN CHANGING ITEM IN TRANSACTIONS, choose the radio button to Always.

Now, when you go to edit a transaction the custom item information/description will not change if you change the item in any transaction.

I hope this helps!

[angela42]

I finally found the solution: I use QB Premier Plus.

Go to Edit/Preferences/General

Under Keep Custom Item Information When Changing Item in Transactions, you can select Ask, Always, or Never.

[ndamo]

I am also ready for this feature to start working correctly.  The product should be able to be changed without deleting all other information.  This has been an issue for several years now, why won't you just fix it?

[pandamike]

What is a better workaround than copy/pasting?  buying quickbooks desktop and migrating?  i've heard that this problem does not exist in the non-online version.  I'm literally going to change accounting software because of this issue, and also recommend to all my customers (who we consult on software/technology) to stay away from quickbooks.  The product support is pathetic.

[FrustratedUser1111]

This is SO FRUSTRATING!! Please listen to your users and fix this issue! PLEASE!!!