Set up custom fields for sales, expenses, and suppliers in QuickBooks

With QuickBooks Online Essentials and Plus, you can tailor your sales forms with three custom fields to capture the information.

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Custom fields.
2. Select Add field.
   Note: If this is your first time creating a custom field, select Add custom field.
3. Enter a name in the Name field.
4. Select the All Sales forms or Purchase Order checkbox. Or, select both.
5. (Optional) To show the custom field on printed and delivered forms, turn on Print on form. Otherwise, it’ll only appear in QuickBooks Online.
6. Select Save.

Note: To use custom fields on purchase orders, you’ll first need to turn on the purchase orders setting. This option isn’t available for Essentials.

For each custom field, you can see which forms it appears on. You also see the print icon if the custom field is visible to customers or suppliers on a form.

To manage all your custom fields, go to Settings ⚙, then select Custom fields. 

Edit a custom field

Any edits you make apply to all forms that use the field.

1. In the Actions column, select Edit.
2. Make your changes and select Save.

Hide a custom field

You won't lose any data if you hide a field. It’ll still show on the forms you used it on, but not on the new forms.

1. In the Actions column, select the small arrow ▼ icon.
2. Select Make inactive.
3. Select Yes to confirm.

Show a hidden custom field

1. Turn on the Include inactive switch.
2. In the Actions column, select Make active.

You can see purchase order numbers on your bills and other expenses. When you copy a purchase order to a bill, the purchase order number appears automatically on the bill.

To create a custom field for purchase order numbers:

1. Create a custom field and give it a name like “PO number.”
2. Select the Number data type if your purchase orders have only numbers, or select the Text and number data type if they have letters as well. 
3. Select the PO number to appear on your bills. If you also want them to appear as a reference on your invoices and sales receipts, select these forms as well.

When you assign a Supplier ID to a supplier, any expense form where this field appears will automatically populate with that ID once you select the supplier. This simplifies data entry and ensures consistency.

If your company works with multiple suppliers for parts or services, tracking invoices and associated payables becomes crucial. A dedicated Supplier ID custom field can streamline this process, particularly when you need to cross-reference information between your accounts receivable and expense/payables departments. This is especially helpful if you use other apps to track your payables.

Tip: You can also create a similar custom field to capture the type of supplier or other supplier-specific info, and then choose what forms you want this info to appear on.

To create a Supplier ID field to appear on transactions:

1. Create a custom field and give it a name like “Supplier ID.”
2. Select all the types of forms you want it to appear on. QuickBooks lets you show the Supplier ID field across both expense form transactions (purchase order, expense, bill, supplier credit) and sales form transactions (invoice, estimate, sales receipt).

After you create this custom field, add a unique ID to each supplier you have by following these steps:

1. Go to Expenses, then select Suppliers (Take me there).
2. Select the supplier you want to enter an ID for.
3. Select Edit.
4. Find the Supplier ID custom field. Enter the ID of the supplier.
5. Select Save.

Currently, the Bill form in QuickBooks only includes a Bill date and a Due date. The Bill date captures the date the expense is recorded. However, in many situations, invoices are received for a prior month in which the books have already closed, and the bill(s) for the invoice are recorded at a later date.

With an Invoice Date custom field, you can capture the date the invoice was generated and use reports such as the unpaid bills report to compare the invoice date and the bill date.

To set this up:

1. Create a custom field and give it a name like “Invoice Date.”
2. Select the Bill form and any other expense transaction forms you want the field to appear on.

Imagine your company sends employees to attend multiple conferences a year, virtual or in-person, and has a need for tracking expenses in a detailed way. For example, your marketing manager wants to see how much is being spent per conference (travel by flight or car, hotel stays, meals, and so on), in addition to the conference fee. You can capture this info in an Expense type custom field.

Once your company starts adding data to an Expense type custom field, you can take advantage of it in your reports. For example, you can add Expense type as a column, or group by, sort, or filter by this custom field. Learn more about how to use custom fields in reports.

To set this up:

1. Create a custom field and give it a name like “Expense type”
2. Select the Dropdown list data type and add possible values (Flight, Car, Meals, Conference fee, and so on).
3. Based on your needs, mark this field to appear on your expense forms, or choose additional forms, such as bills.