How do I hide inactive customers in Balance Detail Report?

If you are using the Job Info fields for "move in, move out, and Status" then you can filter that report on Job Status = select what you want, but ignore Closed.

I'm having a similar problem.  A former unit owner, marked inactive,  shows up when I run a detail balance report.  I ran a report to see all open balances (current year), but she doesn't show up there.  I changed the open balance criteria to "All", and again she is listed (despite being marked inactive) but there is no balance.  So I ran another report to see every transaction for all time. All her prior transactions are properly paired (invoice to payment, credit memo to invoice), and there is a zero balance. 

So why does she keep showing up?

Hi @ChrisF_060,

Allow me to join this conversation and provide some insights about this query.

As what @lyndaartesani stated above, as long as a customer had transactions on the date range you selected, even if they're inactive or have a zero balance, they will appear on that report.
 

Although we don't have an option to exclude inactive customers or those with zero balances in the report, you can manually select the customer you want to see on the report by using Filters.

Let me show you how:

1. Go to the Reports tab.
2. Choose Customers & Receivables.
3. Select Customer Balance Detail.
4. Tap the Customize Report tab.
5. Go to the Filters tab.
6. From the Filters box, select Name.
7. From the Name drop-down, click Multiple names.
8. Mark the customers with pending balances.
9. Click OK twice.
10. Update the report Dates.

To give you a more in-depth guide of customizing your customer reports, take a look at this article: Customize customer, job, and sales reports. Examples of customization are taxable customers or sales receipts that show check numbers for payment.

Let me know if you need further assistance by leaving a comment below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I've already customized reports.

I've already ascertained that there are NO outstanding invoices, balances, credit memos or anything else related to this "old" unit owner that has not been properly handled.

Yet she keeps showing up.

Again, there is NOTHING that would cause her to be seen as having any sort of balance or outstanding invoice or credit memo.

And the dates of my reports are 2019 dates, but she left in 2014.

It makes absolutely no sense to me.

And if no one has any further suggestions, then I'm just going to have to dump the reports out to Excel, hide the rows she appears in, and go on from there.

Thanks!

Hello there, ChrisF_060.

I appreciate you for sharing the results of the steps that you've taken so far.

In the meantime, you can use your workaround which is to export the report to excel and customize it to hide the information you don't want to show in the report.

However, I want to make sure this get's resolved. If you've done all of those but the inactive customer is still showing in the Balance Detail Report, I recommend contacting our QuickBooks Care Team for further investigation. If needed, they can initiate a screen sharing to take a closer look and investigate the issue.

Here's how you can reach us:

1. Click Help at the top menu.
2. Select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. In the Have a Question? window, click Contact us.
4. Enter the details of your concern and click Continue.
5. Choose how you want to reach them and enter the needed information.​

I look forward to serving you at my best. That said, you can reach me anytime by posting a response below.

It's unfathomable that there's no filter for active customers only!  What a royal PITA!

That's simply not true.  The report shows every customer we ever sold too, whether or not they've been made inactive.  There should be a filter for active customers only!

If I go to customize report and filter names all names, there is a list below of

Active Status

All

Active

Inactive

But the selections are gray and there appears to be no way to make a selection

Thanks for joining the thread, @rhmicp.

I'm happy to help you customize a report, but I have a couple of questions I need you to clarify first.

• Which report are you running?
• Can you provide a screenshot of the report customization details?

By answering the questions, I can help determine what's going on and provide the steps to help. However, the filters in a basic Balance Sheet Detail report aren't going to include the option to filter for All, Active, and Inactive. The reason being is the report calculates how much your business is worth by subtracting all the money your company owes from everything it owns. This means the filter option for customers isn't available due to the way the report calculates. You may find this article that explains a balance sheet report useful if you need more information.

Please don't hesitate to touch base with me here if you need any additional assistance. I look forward to hearing from you again.

it  is the customer balance detail report that I am running not the company balance sheet

I appreciate the screenshot you've provided, rhmicp.

It appears that you'll just have to click the drop-down to be able to select multiple names. Check out the screenshot attached below:

Check this article for reference: Customize customer, job, and sales reports.

Let me know if you need further assistance.

pretty clunky way to get there particularly when the previous screen looks like it is set up to be able to choose active only. But I can live with it

Seems this is NOT working cause I also have many customers marked as INACTIVE yet they still show...the ACTIVE switch marked below has no effect..pls advise..

Seems the ACTIVE switch on the attached OPTIONS screen is not working...I also have many customers marked as INACTIVE and they still show...pls advise...

Thanks for reaching out to the Community, goldcoastwebdesign. I appreciate you including that screenshot as well.
 

As mentioned above by my colleague, Ryan_M, if a customer has any transactions within the date range that was entered when generating your report, they'll be displayed on it. This includes ones set to an inactive status and/or with zero balances.
 

Although there's no option to exclude inactivated customers, you can manually select which ones you'd like to see on these reports by using the available filters. Detailed steps for this workaround were also included in Ryan's post.
 

You'll be able to find many resources about using QuickBooks Desktop in our help article archives.
 

If there's any other questions, I'll be here to assist. Enjoy the rest of your day!

What is the purpose of setting customers to INACTIVE ?

Good morning, @goldcoastwebdesign. 

Thanks for following the thread. 

The purpose of setting customers to inactive is when you no longer need to have the customer on your list. The option to make the customer inactive is a way of removing them. QuickBooks won't allow you to delete the customer if you have any transaction history with them for accounting purposes. Such as invoices, payments, or receipts. 

You can review more details in Add and edit multiple customers, vendors, and items. 

Please let me know if you have further questions or concerns. You can reach out to the Community at any time. Take care! 

Thanks for your quick reply...so, 'removing them' doesn't mean it removes them from appearing on any reports, correct ?  If not, then it seems like, from the threads above, it would be a good feature to have...the Customer Balance Detail Report is very important in daily use and it's very messy with all the INACTIVE customers on it. Above, one of your team members mentioned I can exclude those with a Zero Balance but that is not desirable since I want to see the invoice and payment history, even if their current balance is zero. Seems that  checkbox exists on the Report Options, but does not have any effect...see attached..

Yes, you're correct, @goldcoastwebdesign.

Making a customer inactive doesn't mean a complete removal of their information. You'll still see their previous activity with your company in reports and their transactions will still be available for access.

If you're unable to filter the report to show only the Active Customers, you can run the Verify and Rebuild tool. This tool help resolves the most common data issues in a company file and fixes them.

To Verify: 

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select Utilities.
3. Click Verify Data then select OK to close all windows. 

Then to Rebuild:

1. Go to the File menu.
2. Select Utilities.
3. Click Rebuild Data, then select OK to close all windows.
4. QuickBooks will ask to make a backup before rebuilding your company file, select OK. 
5. Once the rebuild's finished, select OK.

Once completed, you can close and open QuickBooks to ensure that all components are updated. You can try running the Customer Balance Detail report again.

Keep me posted if you have other questions about managing your customers' list. I'm always here to help.

I did the verify and rebuild...didn't help...INACTIVE Customers are still showing on the report...

Hi @goldcoastwebdesign,

I appreciate your prompt reply, as well as sharing an update on your current situation. I'll point you in the right direction for support with this issue.

Since you've already run the Verify and Rebuild tools and the result is the same, I suggest contacting our Technical Support team for further assistance.

Here's how:

1. On your QuickBooks homepage, go to the Help menu.
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Tap the Contact us button.

Please be advised, QuickBooks Desktop technical support has moved to live messaging. We applied this change with our users in mind. It's quicker for you to get connected to a support representative, as well as provide a secure environment to exchange account information and troubleshoot your concern.

I also suggest you view this article: AR balance on the Chart of Accounts does not match AR balance on reports. In case you encounter a time where the Accounts Receivable account in the Chart of Accounts has a different balance compared to Accounts Receivable reports.

Have other questions in mind? Place them in the comments below, and I'll get back to you.