Set up and modify Scheduled Reports

Scheduled Reports is a feature in QuickBooks Desktop 2018 and later versions that allows you to send reports on a regular and recurring scheduled time. If you’ve ever found yourself sending the same reports on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, you can set up Scheduled Reports to automate this task. You can choose the time and frequency for sending out your scheduled reports. You can also send out multiple reports in one schedule.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• The requirements for Scheduled Reports
• How to set up a new scheduled report
• How to edit or delete an existing scheduled report
• The Scheduled Reports Centre
• Frequently asked questions

This article is part of a series that covers basic information about reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

• Understand reports
• Set report preferences
• Customize reports
• Create, access and modify memorized reports
• Combine reports from two or more company data files
• Set up and modify Scheduled Reports

Requirements for Scheduled Reports

QuickBooks can send out your scheduled reports, if at the time they're scheduled to send:

• The computer you set up the scheduled report on is running and NOT in sleep or hibernate mode.
  • Make sure User Account Control is turned OFF.
    Warning: Turning off User Account Control may result to security risk on your computer.
• QuickBooks is running.
  • A company file with scheduled report should be open.
  • If you have scheduled reports on multiple company files, NO Company file should be opened.
• QuickBooks is updated to the latest release.
  • The company file is in single-user mode.
  • An email account is setup up in QuickBooks. If the email preference is set to Outlook, make sure it's open and running.
• You have the Keep QuickBooks running for quick startups preference disabled. Here's how to check this:
  1. Select the Edit menu, then select Preferences.
  2. From the left menu, select General, then choose My Preferences tab.
  3. Uncheck the box for 'Keep QuickBooks running for quick startup'. Note: This preference is NOT available for QuickBooks 2018 and later.

If you have multiple versions of QuickBooks Desktop installed (e.g., you have both QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2018 and QuickBooks Enterprise 18.0 installed), and the sub-menu for Scheduled Reports is greyed out, make sure to download the latest update.

Set up a new scheduled report

Before scheduling reports, ensure there's an email account set up and integrated with QuickBooks. If you haven't done so, Set up your email service in QuickBooks Desktop.

Follow these steps to create a new scheduled report:

1. From the QuickBooks Reports menu, choose Scheduled Reports > Schedule Setup.
2. Select the report you wish to send. You may select multiple reports to be sent in the same schedule. Once you have selected your reports, click Next.
   Important: You can only set up a schedule for memorized reports. If you don't see the report you wish to send, open that report and memorize it.
3. Set up report schedule.
   1. Give your new schedule a name.
   2. Set how often you want to send the report.
   3. Select a Start date and Time. Additionally, you may choose to have QuickBooks notify you 4 hours before it sends the reports.
   4. Click Next to proceed.
4. Compose scheduled reports email.
   1. Enter the e-mail address you want to send the report to. You can send to multiple e-mail addresses by using a semicolon to separate them.
   2. Before finalizing the set-up, you must assign a password for the report attachments. For security reasons, Do NOT enter the password in to the subject or body fields of the e-mail.
   3. Click Schedule to complete the process.
5. Check if the preferences is set up correctly.
   1. Select the Edit menu, then select Preferences.
   2. From the left menu, select Integrated Apps, then choose Company Preferences tab.
   3. Put a check on Scheduled Reports, then select Properties.
   4. On the Access Rights tab make sure both permissions are selected.
   5. Select OK, then choose OK.

Edit or delete an existing scheduled report

Follow these steps to modify an existing scheduled report:

1. From the QuickBooks Reports menu, choose Scheduled Reports > Scheduled Report Centre.
2. Select the Action dropdown, select either Edit Schedule or Delete.
3. If you want to make a Scheduled Report inactive, remove the check mark in the Active box. This will retain the settings of a scheduled report but will prevent it from running until re-activated.

Scheduled Reports Centre

Once you create scheduled reports using the Setup Reports Schedule assistant, you can view, run, and edit them in the Scheduled Reports Centre.

1. From the Reports, select Scheduled and then select Scheduled Reports Centre.
2. Highlight any scheduled report and double-click it to open the Scheduled Report window where you can make changes. You may also select the Edit button in the lower right corner.
3. Select the plus and minus icons to add or delete a schedule. You can also copy a schedule.