How do you get the Description field to appear in the Memo/Description column of a report?

Hello AlexW29, The memo/description column on reporting does pull through from the memo yes. there is not a second column you can add just for description. We can certainly pass on your feedback to the product development team.

Why does it say "Memo/Description" then, if it only Memo? Andy why would you not have an option for the description to show on a report? Surely this is one of the key things to display?

I have seen other people report this on the community and receive no solution besides copy and paste the description into the memo box on every single transaction one at a time. Like I said, it is not very helpful as if HMRC do a VAT inspection/compliance check and request the detailed VAT report all we can give them is a report with a list of figures and no text, and the above "solution" would not change historic VAT reports.

That still doesn't explain why it says "Memo/Description" when it is only the Memo and never the Description. And can't you just put a character limit on what is displayed on the report, so that you're not just left with a huge blank column?

Hi Alex, this is just how the field appears, as different reports will display the description - we'll certainly share your comments on this with our team :thumbs_up:

Hi, I have just looked into the reports but still, the description box goes empty when we export. This is not what is required by the owners and the tax authorities. Could you please add this or guide us on how to extract reports that include descriptions? It is also acceptable if a limit of character is fixed just to avoid overload, at least an idea could be obtained from the limited description.

Hoping for a positive response.

Regards

QuickBooks Online Plus user

Hi SOUND ON STAGE EVENTS, thanks for joining this thread - we want the reports to offer useful functionality and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas for improvement. Currently, the description can be obtained on detail reports, including sales by customer detail and purchases by product/service detail. If you have any further feedback requests, please submit these by selecting the Cog > Feedback button in your account - this way your suggestions will be sent straight to our product devs for review. :)

Why are you being so thick? You can NOT pull in description fields in detailed Vat reports. So you are contradicting yourself. Surely this is a 10 minute job to fix Quickbooks? 

Agreed. I'm not sure why this is marked as solved as QuickBooks have not done anything to address it and in my opinion the reports remain non-compliant with HMRC requirements.

Hello Jeroen1 and AlexW29, thanks for posting on this thread, we have passed this on to the team.

but description does NOT come through on Transaction by Account Detail report

I agree with AlexW29, the description always being blank is a significant flaw and very frustrating. Please change it.

I cant see a purchases by product/service detail report - only a sale one?

Is there a solution which has description on the Transaction detail list by account - as I agree it is incredibly frustrating that this is not obvious. I have tried the transaction by split report - and this does not seem to export the detail when trying to get to excel. I am new to quickbooks and struggling! Thanks

I've got you covered, Steve. I understand how important it is for you to pull up a specific report. 

To access the Purchases By Product/Service Detail Report or the Transaction Detail List by Account in QuickBooks Online (QBO), you can easily search for them using the Search bar icon. Once you've found the report, you can customize or filter its contents according to your needs. 

Here's how to do it: 

1.  Go to the Reports menu on the left navigation panel. 
2. Click on the Search bar icon. 
3. Type the report you need, such as Purchases By Product/Service Detail Report. 
4. If you're using the Modern View, you can modify your report by using the Filter, General options, and Columns. 
5. To add a Memo/Description, click the Filter dropdown and search for it. 
6. Once you've customized the report, you can click on the Export/Print dropdown and choose to Export to Excel, Export to CSV, or Print/Save as PDF. 

If you're unable to access the report, try using other supported web browsers or private browsers to eliminate any browsing history or cached files causing the issue. Here are the shortcut keys for accessing private browsers:

• Google Chrome: press Ctrl + Shift + N 
• Mozilla Firefox: press Ctrl + Shift + P 
• Microsoft Edge: press Ctrl + Shift + N 
• Safari: press Command + Shift + N 

In addition, if you need more help running reports in QuickBooks Online, you can check out this material: Run reports in QuickBooks Online. 

Let me know if you need further assistance. I'm always here to help you.