Use the cash flow planner in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to use the cash flow planner in QuickBooks Online to track your income and expenses.

Through the cash flow planner, you can easily see money that comes in and out of your business. This way, you can keep track of your cash flow. Here’s how to set up the planner and create, edit, or delete items.

Note: The cash flow planner isn’t available in QuickBooks Online Accountant and if you turned on Multicurrency.

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view

Step 1: Set up your account

To set up your planner, connect your bank and credit card accounts. This way, you can use the data from your accounts in all QuickBooks.

Step 2: Add a new item

You can manually add items for potential income and expenses. You can also create repeating items to make planning even easier. Here’s how.

Important: Remember, items aren't actual transactions. QuickBooks won't add them to your books.

1. Go to Dashboards and select Planner (Take me there).
2. Select Add item.
3. Select Money in if the item is income, or Money out if it's an expense.
4. Give the item a name and enter an amount.
   Note: If it’s a recurring item, select the Repeating button. Then select how often the item repeats.
5. When you're done, select Save.

If you want to export your cash flow details, you can select Export as PDF.

Edit or delete an item

You can easily edit or delete items to see how that changes your cash flow display. To edit or delete items:

Note: Changing items won’t affect your books. This helps you make informed decisions about when to save, spend, borrow, and transfer money.

Edit an item

1. Go to Dashboards and select Planner (Take me there).
2. Select the item you want to edit.
3. Change the date, name, amount field, money in or out, or the repeat details.
4. Select Update to save your changes.

Delete an item

1. Go to Dashboards and select Planner (Take me there).
2. Select the item you want to delete.
3. Select Remove.
   Note: If you delete a repeating item, you can:
   • Select Only item to delete that single item in the series
   • Select Entire series to delete all repeating items

Customize your planner

If you want to select the data you want to see in your planner, you can customize it. Here’s how you can change your planner’s preferences.

1. Go to Dashboards, then select Planner (Take me there).
2. On the planner page, select the small gear ⚙ icon.
3. Select your preference.
   • In the Linked accounts section, you can select accounts that will show in the cash balance and in the money in and money out chart. If you don’t see an account listed, select the plus + icon to make sure it’s available. 
   • In the QuickBooks section,  you can select the QuickBooks transaction types you wish to see on your chart.
   • In the Threshold section, you can keep a cash buffer of a certain amount on hand that will appear on the chart to help you visualize your cash threshold.
4. Select Save.