I am UTTERLY CONFUSED WITH SEARCHING FOR PRODUCT IN QB ONLINE...HELP PLEASE!

I can see how crucial it is for you to efficiently locate products in QuickBooks Online QBO), especially given the complexity of your inventory. I'm here to help you overcome these challenges and find a way to streamline your searches.

To begin, please know that QBO gives you the flexibility to filter and sort items that can make your search process more manageable same as in QuickBooks desktop (QBDT). 

However, if you mean to search your products or services using the magnifying glass icon on the upper right corner of your screen, please note that this feature primarily displays transactions and may not yield the results you seek for inventory items.

Instead, I recommend exploring the Products & Services tab in QBO, specifically designed for finding your inventory items.  You can use the dedicated search bar to enter relevant keywords or phrases, helping you quickly locate exactly what you need.

However, if you have already searched for your items in this tab and still can't find your items, we can troubleshoot to see if the issue is related to your browser. Let's start by accessing QBO in your browser’s incognito to check if the outdated cache is causing the issue. Depending on the browser, you can utilize the following keyboard shortcuts:

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

If you're able to search for your items, please proceed to clear your browser's cache for a fresh start. Alternatively, I recommended using other devices and supported browsers to see if you can easily search for items using just keywords.

Furthermore, you can use the Go to Transactions search feature in QuickBooks to help you quickly find specific transactions related to your items. Additionally, you can also run reports to get a comprehensive overview of your business' finances.

You can always click the Reply button if you have further questions about managing your inventory in QuickBooks. I will always be here, as well as the Community folks, to help. Take care.

Thanks for your reply.  And while i am aware of the information you provided, I did specify the nature of the issue being the detail level of search.  I gave hopefully clear examples of what i'm referring to in the post, if you might review that part for those details.  So if you have any help in that regard, please do share.

And I do have to apologize that i hadn't quite specified well enough... 

As far which search location, i'm MOSTLY referring to including the Prod/Serv location  search, but mainly I'm referring to the IN-ESTIMATE, or IN -INVOICE search while inputting items In the products/service field. 

Hope this helps to better clarify my questions 

Thank you for clarifying your concern here, @StartingOffTOTALLYBlindHere.

Let me add info about placing items in the Products/Service field from the Invoice and Estimate section.

When creating an invoice or estimate, you can search for the item in the Product/service field using the unique description you named it.

If the item doesn't show, I suggest following the basic troubleshooting steps my colleague provided above to identify if it's a browser-related concern.

If the issue persists, I recommend contacting the QuickBooks Online (QBO) Care Team. They have the right tools to review the items of your account and see why it won't show every time you create an invoice or estimate. Then, provide you with a solution.

Here's how:

1. Click the (?) Help icon.
2. Select the Search option and enter a brief description of your concern in the provided field. Then, press the Enter tab on your keyboard.
3. Click the Contact Us icon below.
4. Choose either Chat or a Callback.

You may want to control the price of your items in QBO. Check out this article to learn how: Set price rules in QuickBooks Online.

Feel free to return here if you have additional questions about locating or managing your sale items in QBO. We'll be willing to help. Keep safe, and have a good one.

Thanks, but still not really answering the proper and actual question...i'm asking about search techniquies within a search field... wild card characters? spaces?  word sequence, etc.... what can we do and what can't we do?

are there really no other users that can help with this?

@Bryan_M  @Jelayca V  You are missing the forest for the trees, guys.

@StartingOffTOTALLYBlindHere  is trying to figure out ways to search more efficiently, not just how to search as a concept.

An example of this would be using special characters adjacent or surrounding the text, or string of text, you are most interested in. This can vary based on the search engine in question.

For instance, you could surround a string of words in quotation marks, or modify a string of text with a minus sign, or what have you.

That is what they want to know. Give them the shortcuts.

I would, but I don't use QBO, and so have no knowledge of its gimmicks.

You, on the other hand, work for Intuit. If there is such a thing, you should know about it.

Your update in this thread matters to me, and I highly appreciate your interest in choosing QuickBooks. I'll provide significant information about exploring the Product/service field within the invoice and estimate section.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), it's important to note that the only way of searching for an item in the Product/service field is by using a description. This means you can use keywords, numbers, and names, and QuickBooks will automatically display results based on the information you've entered.

Additionally, you can use filters to refine your search for more efficient results.

In addition to the above, I'll be dropping these resources you can browse that can help you in tracking and adjusting your inventory in QBO:

• Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
• Adjust inventory quantity on hand in QuickBooks Online

You can always have me if you have other queries about handling inventories. It would be my pleasure to lend you a hand again. Let me know if you have any other tasks that you'd like me to help you with.

@StartingOffTOTALLYBlindHere  Maybe if you keep asking, you'll eventually get to hear the same generic answer from all the different Intuit staff accounts. Could even get lucky enough to have the same one actually reply back as they claim they will.

It'll be like a game of Bingo, only terrible.

LOL.... right?  I was hoping some of the people you @'d for me might jump in but no such luck so far.

I'm trying to find out about search tips and tricks...i'm discovering that search WITHIN an estimate/invoice is actually a bit more helpful than i'd originally thought, but much to my surprise the same tips in the Products and Services section do NOT work there...  it's utterly mind blowing the inconsistency...

Hopefully i'm not being a pest with these posts...but like you said...i'm basically hoping against hope...nowhere else to turn apparently that i can find anyway....

@StartingOffTOTALLYBlindHere  Nah, to get anywhere on these boards, at least with the Intuit staff, you're looking at a sometimes years long effort.

Sorry for your struggles @StartingOffTOTALLYBlindHere.  It' is hit or miss with anything Intuit/ QB.  Especially when using QBO.  I am still trying to figure out how to best use this ridiculous Search within certain parts of the program.  If they would QUIT changing things ALL the time and make it more user friendly, it would help. But they have only over complicated it all. 

If I figure out anything helpful, I will definitely let you know.