Learn how to run basic reports in QuickBooks.
Financial reports give you a snapshot of your business. There are dozens of reports that tell you about different aspects of your business. Some focus on sales, others focus on your spending, and some look at parts of each.
Here's an overview of how to run basic reports.
And if you want more details, you can customize reports to focus on specific accounts or filter for specific things.
In this article, you'll learn how to:
- Run basic financial reports
- Run reports for specific accounts
- Print reports
- Email reports
- Export reports
- Set up general report preferences
- Do more with reports in QuickBooks
Run basic financial reports
- Go to Reports (Take me there).
- Use the Find report by name search bar to search for reports by name. You can also browse the list.
- Select the report to open it.
Note: If you change the dates or add customized filters to the report, select Run report to apply them.
For specific reports in QuickBooks Online which are run based on a current or final date (for instance, Trial Balance and Balance Sheets) instead of a specific date range, the reports will be presented as a reflection of the end date, and QuickBooks Online will not take into account the starting date.
For the Trial Balance report, the report will be presented based on the current fiscal year, and dropdown individual row items will be reflected as such as well. Balance Sheet reports, however, present an entirety of the QuickBooks Online file's financial record.
Additionally, any reports that are being run with a date range that falls inside different fiscal years, when dropping down into individual row items, only the transactions from the latest fiscal year show.
Learn more about customizing financial reports.
Watch the below video for an overview on the reports feature in QuickBooks. Use the reports centre to gain additional insights about your business.
Run reports for specific accounts
You can also focus on a specific account instead of running reports for everything.
- Go to Settings
and select Chart of accounts (Take me there). - Find the account.
- Select the Account history ▼ dropdown list in the Action column.
- Select Run report.
Print reports
When you have a report open:
- Select Switch to Classic view.
- Select the Printer icon.
- Adjust your print settings as needed.
- Select Print.
Smart page breaks
Select Smart page breaks checkbox to automatically keep items that belong in the same group together and break to the next page at logical areas for ease of reading when you print, email, or save a report.
Note: The option to print using smart page breaks will vary based on the report you are in.
Repeat page header
Select the Repeat page header checkbox to put the same header on each page of the report you are printing, emailing, or saving.
Format printed reports
You can adjust the layout of your reports before you print. In the Orientation dropdown, select Portrait or Landscape.
Select the Repeat page header checkbox to put the same header on each page of the report. If you are printing wide reports, select Landscape from the Orientation dropdown.
If the columns still don't fit:
- Resize columns in a report.
- Remove unnecessary columns.
- Make the margins smaller.
- Change the orientation to landscape.
Email reports
When you have a report open:
- Select Switch to Classic view.
- Select the Email icon.
- Check report preview, then select Email.
- Enter or update recipient's email address, subject, email body, and report title.
- Select Send.
Export reports
When you have a report open:
- Select Switch to Classic view.
- Select the Export icon.
- Select Export to Excel or Export to PDF.
For detailed steps, here's how to export reports to Excel.
Set up general report preferences
- Go to Settings ⚙ and select Account and settings.
- Select Advanced.
- In the Accounting section, select the pencil icon.
- Select the Accounting method dropdown and choose Accrual or Cash.
- Select Save and then Done.
Note: Reports default to the accounting method you set in Account and settings.
Do more with reports in QuickBooks
Learn more about report features and specific reports to get the info you need: