How come the search engine on QBO doesn't work?

Hi there, 

Welcome to the Community. QuickBooks Online enables you to get your work done faster with the help of the powerful features included in the program. I'll be happy to help share more info so you can use the search function in QuickBooks with ease.

The program gives you the flexibility to search for entries using the Advanced Search feature. In order to take advantage of this feature, click on the Magnifying glass at the top right of your account > once the search drop-down appears, click on the blue link that says Advanced Search > on the search filter, select the matching criteria, and specifically filter it to show the line description. After hitting Search, you'll be able to see the entries you're looking for based on the search criteria you use.

I encourage you to try this out and let me know how you make out. I'll be on standby.

The response given is for the way the search worked on Monday Dec11 2023, as of yesterday that is all gone. I cannot search a description without getting nothing or too much.  The old search had limits but this new one is time wasting and frustrating.  We need some instructions if it is suppose to do what the old one did, as I have tried hours to just get a simple list of transactions.

Hi BevG____,

Thanks for reaching out here.  In further review of the issue from my end, I have found that other QuickBooks customers are experiencing the same behavior.  This has been escalated for further investigation with the Development Team.  If you would like to receive an email notification when it's been resolved, please don't hesitate to contact us outside of Community, so we can get that up for you.  In the interim, you can go to Reports and enter 'Transactions' in the Search field and choose the transaction type from the list.  Once the report opens, you can Customize it, to see what matters most.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.  We would be happy to help!

Has there been any progress in making this better.  The old search did so much more than this new one.

I can't even get a result when selecting invoice if I have had another search before it.  I have to go out then come back in put in my invoice number.  I also might search a name and I get every name that has either the first or last name. Do I need quotes around the name so it only gives me that name.  It's so frustrating.

I would say no.  There are so many issues with QBO that even the "experts" can't help and eventually they hang up on the client who's calling to get support.

Hi BevG____,

If you would like to see the previous search engine in QuickBooks Online, you can submit a suggestion to the Development Team.  As an alternative, you can follow these steps to search for invoices;

1. Open Sales then invoices, from the left menu

2. Use the ▼ dropdown menu to choose a Status

3. Select the desired Date range

4. Click on the Date, Invoice no., or Customer columns to re-order the list

I hope this helps!  Let us know if you have other questions.  We're here to help!

I appreciate your work around but that is a bit of a mess since your dates are limited to a full year giving me 2000 results. I am better off running a P&L and looking at the sales month I want.  The point of a search is to be quick and simple.  The "search your transaction" has drop downs to pick type and number, and it comes back with results but if you ask too many in a row it stops finding results. I can work around, I don't think I should have to.