QuickBooks HelpQuickBooksHelpIntuit

Remove a product or service in QuickBooks Online

SOLVEDby QuickBooks433Updated February 22, 2024

Learn how to merge duplicate items, remove unused items, or reactivate items in QuickBooks Online.

Making an item inactive is something you might have to do from time to time to clean up your catalog when you no longer offer an item and/or are dealing with seasonal items.

Note: You can reactivate products and services at any time except for inventory products that have Quantity on Hand. You can also change types.

Here are a few things you should know before you make an item inactive:

  • Inactive items cannot be edited. 
  • Transactions related to the inactive item cannot be edited.
  • In reports and historic transactions, the item appears with "(deleted)" at the end of the item name.
  • For inventory items, the quantity on hand will be set to 0, and we’ll update your books automatically to reflect this. 
  • If an order for the item is fulfilled/shipped after inactivating, you’ll have to do a positive inventory count to account for reduced inventory.
  • If you’re making a bundle inactive, only the bundle itself will be made inactive—the individual items within the bundle will stay active.

If you are connected to a sales channel using Commerce:

  • Don’t forget to make this item(s) inactive on all your sales channels, and close any open orders.    
  • All transactions created or imported from your sales channels before inactivation will refer to the original item in QuickBooks. 
  • Making an item inactive will unmatch it from other item(s). We won’t be able to process an order that comes in for the original item unless it’s made active and matched again.

Make a product or service inactive

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon., then select Products & services (Take me there).
  2. Select the items(s) that you want to make inactive.
  3. In Batch actions, select Make inactive.
  4. Select Yes.

Note: You can’t inactivate default items (automatically created with the company) such as Services and Hours. Instead, you can add Z at the beginning to make them appear at the bottom of lists.

Reactivate a product or service

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon., then select Products & services (Take me there).
  2. Select Filter, then select Inactive for the Status ▼.
  3. Select Apply.
  4. Select the item(s) that you want to reactivate.
  5. In Batch actions, select Make active.
  6. Select Yes.

  • Check the details of the item, especially the income, expense, and inventory asset accounts. 
  • Check the quantity on hand. Perform an inventory count if needed. 
  • If you are connected to a sales channel that sells this item:

Merge a non-inventory item and service

In QuickBooks, you can merge two non-inventory items for products or services.
Note: Inventory items can’t be merged because it’ll affect transactions and Inventory or Asset accounts.

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon., then select Products & services (Take me there).
  2. Find the non-inventory product or service that you want to merge.
  3. Select Edit.
  4. In the Name field, enter the product or service you want to merge it with.
  5. Select Save and close, then select Yes.

Was this helpful?

You must sign in to vote, reply, or post
QuickBooks Online AdvancedQuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple StartQuickBooks Online Solopreneur

Sign in for the best experience

Ask questions, get answers, and join our large community of QuickBooks users.

More like this