This is my first post here.  I found this thread when I called QB support about this issue last week.  They blindly sent me the link for this thread, assuming something here would resolve my issue!  I skimmed through and quickly found there is no resolution as yet.  The support person made sure I have the latest releases and patches, etc, but nothing she did made a difference.

We did not have this issue of the Inventory Items List constantly resizing the columns to some kind of default size before upgrading to QB 2021 (Pro Plus).  This never happened with the 2020 version, so in our experience it seems to be a "bug" that was introduced in the 2021 update.

I appreciate you reaching out to our support team and sharing your issue with us, @otfaccounting.

Currently, there isn't an option to default the column size you've customized in the Inventory Item Lists. You can consider resizing the column every time you open the Inventory Item Lists.

I understand that the option to save its customization is beneficial for you and your business. Please know that our product engineers are considering all suggestions based on the number of requests and their impacts on the user interface before they're rolled out.

For now, I suggest submitting feedback directly to our product engineers. They may look into this suggestion and consider adding the option in the future update. To submit feedback, please be guided with the steps below:

1. Open your QuickBooks Desktop company file.
2. Go to the Help menu, then select Send Feedback Online and choose Product Suggestion.
3. Enter your feedback and click Submit.

You might also want to visit our feedback forum to check the recent updates made in QuickBooks.

Just in case you want to use and customize form templates in QuickBooks Desktop, you can read this article for more guidance: Use and customize form templates.

Keep in touch if you need any more assistance customizing Inventory Item lists. I've got your back.

Quickbooks supports suggestions is a joke, while we pay GOOD money to them they do nothing to correct or take our suggestions into consideration.  Just wish there was a different program out there to switch to!  Column width needs fixed, being able to change the sales rep needs fixed among other issues,....still not fixed.....

I've been dealing with  this issue for a long time. When talking to tech support they started talking about charging me for the technical assistance. I told them there was no way in *&$# I was paying them for their problem. It's bad enough that they columns won't stay where you set them but it's extremely difficult to re-size them. you can't just set each column. When you move one it re-sizes all of the ones to the right. I too would change to a different program if I could find something that does what I need on my desk top. I don't always have dependable internet so I don't want something that is cloud based.

I am in the bank rec and the check mark column is so small, there are no dots to expand the column.  Any suggestions to make the check mark column bigger since there aren't any dots?

Hi, @More Frustrated. Allow me to share with you some information about the Check Mark (✓) column on the Bank Reconciliation window.

The Check Mark column is designed smaller than other fields just to fit the ✓ when reconciling your transactions. Expanding the column is currently unavailable.

I can see the importance of resetting the size on this column. I'll take note of your feedback about this field and pass it along to our product developers. Rest assured their working nonstop to enhance the product and deliver the best experiences for all QuickBooks users.

For the time being, you can proceed with reconciling your accounts. You can use this article as your guide: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop.

Just in case you encounter issues with the balances, you can review the steps from this link to fix the issue: Reconcile previously deleted and re-entered checking or credit card transactions.

Please let me know if you have any other questions while reconciling your account. I'm always here to help. Keep safe!

I've had the column width and column display sequence complaint for YEARS in QB Enterprise.

Intuitively it should work like excel where you change a column width and it stays that way.  Or you re-sequence the display (such as in the vendor window) and it stays that way.  I waste countless hours each week just formatting the windows in QB rather than doing my actual work all because I cannot fully see the info that is needed for our record keeping.  And why can't you even get the PO # or the memo field in the bill pay window?  The vendor reference # is meaningless to me - I need to see OUR record #, especially when I have a vendor with multiple PO's at once.  

I just don't get why it's so difficult for Intuit/QB to make a few of those boxes wider.  For example - I cannot see the full payment terms or the full customer contact info in those fixed fields, so I have to bring it up in a completely different program from QB or highlight and copy/paste into where it's needed next (also not easy to do when the window is so small).  Why are those fixed fields so narrow and can't be widened?  And it always shrinks the PO # field in the vendor screen and I MUST have that on the memo line in order to tie it to the record I'm working on when notating a bill or cutting a check.  I've tried moving the PO# to the left and I still have to constantly re-size it and the next time I log in I have to start all over again.

Beyond frustrating.

Thanks for posting your insights and feedback about the display preferences QuickBooks, @EH in CT.

Please know that we would love to hear your requests or suggestions for QuickBooks Desktop. However, we can't provide the turnaround time if they will release additional invoice template preference like you want. They work on product enhancements internally.

To add your product suggestions to our developers about our invoice template preferences, go to the Help menu and select Send Feedback Online.

Reach out to back to me if you need further assistance while working with QuickBooks preferences. I'm always here to help. Have a great rest of the day.

It's so funny...I keep seeing this response for simple fixes.  I guess the only way we can get their attention is if there is a FLOOD of request to resolve an issue.  Now the next step to get this resolved is to now figure out how to create a bot to do this....  ;)

Use the "Bug Report" future instead.  That should get the attention of their IT team...

Well, after everything, let me also add a comment regarding how frustrating this is. For me specifically, the problem is with the advanced "find" window, where the columns always seem to be so confusingly spaced, and after manually adjusting them to your preference, they revert to their original confused spacing when you reopen the advanced "find" window.

It boggles the imagination that QB Enterprise cannot possibly find it worth their precious time and money to let customers set column widths in the spacing which works best for them. What do they gain by slowing their own customers down?

It isn't a rocket ship, its an accounting program. How many users need to remain frustrated with this before action is taken?

Kind of embarrassing for the QB development team if truth be known.

What are you using for import from excel? IIF? Is that easy to do? I've looked into it a little bit but heard that IIF is very finnicky to work with.

Agree 100% that efficient reconciliation is just... impossible in QuickBooks's native reconciliation screen.

Hello there, CCS Finance Team.

Allow me to hop in and answer your question about importing data from excel.

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can import and export files using a Standard point, Advanced point, or Add/Edit Multiple Lists. More of this information about importing and exporting data from excel can be found in the following articles:

• Import or export MS Excel files
• How to Import Data from Excel into QuickBooks Online.

For IIF files, you can have this article as your complete guide on how it works: Export, import, and edit IIF files.

However,  Intuit doesn't offer technical support for the import and export of IIF files. If your IIF file came from a third-party app, you'll want to contact the app’s technical support for additional help.

You're always welcome to come back for any other concerns or follow-up questions. Please know I'm ready to assist further. Have a good one.

Still spend wasted time each day resizing columns - such an easy program fix that Intuit choose not to implement. I wonder why?

I am using the Canadian version of Enterprise Wholesale & Manufacturing, so this may not apply, but setting your desktop view preferences to save screen on exit solves this problem for the most part.  You can also save the current screen if you need to update immediately.  It's not perfect by any means, because it does not affect reports, but it does help! 

THIS IS RIDICULOUS. So it can't be set permanently. WHY IS SKU AND DESCRIPTION the column that gets small, while EVERYTHING that contains a single digit is freaking huge.

Time to start a riot over this. Every time I come back to the item menu it's 1, different, 2 always useless information has expanded to the max.

The lack of response on this issue is one of those daily irritants that drive why we are thinking of leaving Intuit for NetSuite or Sage.  Utter lack of understanding your customers' needs on the part of Intuit.  Indicates a crappy company that doesn't deserve customer loyalty.  Can't wait to get off of this junker.

My columns were staying fixed until I was forced to update to 2022.  Now the columns are constantly changing.

QB must be laughing their heads off at how frustrated we are!

Bank Feeds was not one of those templates.  Getting some of the bugs kicked out of this software which has been around since the early 2000s takes YEARS. I honestly do not expect to live long enough to see most of the changes I started requesting then.  

@Big_W  RE: I am constantly resizing columns so that I can read information that isn't displayed fully, and when I go back to a Sales Order or Estimate the columns will reset back to obscuring information again. How can I make the columns retain their size?

I've read through this thread and see the various complaints. However, I've oddly never noticed these issues. When I set column widths on various forms and windows, they stick for me. They always have.

I did test the Sales Order based on your response, and it seems to me that even there the columns stick, except that it's a little more complicated than for Invoices or Sales Receipts. This is because there are different 'views' for the same template. When editing a sales order, one or more additional columns appear, pushing the others around. And that seems to impact my column settings somewhat, shifting them a little bit. However once that slight shift happens, then scrolling through the stack of Sales Orders is consistent and the columns don't move anymore.

I've never seen, and can't duplicate your example for the Item's list. For me, the columns always stay right where I put them, as QB is designed to do.

There is also a complaint in the thread that the Reconcile feature doesn't have resizable columns, but for me it does. And they 'stick' wherever I put them as well.

For some reason, our experiences are very different. I wonder what's different?

Well for starters, there's 10 thousand versions of quicksbooks. What version/year are you on? Item list, how many columns? Do 6ish, that typically have data, set them, screenshot them, and use them over a few days and let us know. 

I only work with item list, not the others you mentioned.

RE: What version/year are you on?

I've used every version-year published this century at least.

I'm currently commonly using versions 2016 to 2022, both Enterprise and non-Enterprise. They all seem to work the same way for me.

RE: Item list, how many columns?

I've customized it different ways, adding and reordering columns. It doesn't seem to matter. Whatever I set just sticks as expected.

RE: Do 6ish, that typically have data, set them, screenshot them, and use them over a few days and let us know. 

Not sure what you mean or are asking?

2022 Premier. 

I just did this.

I added a few columns to set them. 

https://ibb.co/ZSLYJ2H
 

I did close all windows and reopened item list.

https://ibb.co/m6S2yXM

This is item list by Top ribbon -> List -> Item list. 

If I pull item list from sales receipt using CTRL+L, It gives me this, Which seems to be a different "item list" still called "Item list"

https://ibb.co/8MdwCsV

What are you doing, that I am not? And like I said, it always takes the most useless column with a few characters and makes that large, and useful columns with lots of characters are small. Tomorrow, These list will be completely different than they are right now. 

For me, each time I open the item list using the menu: Lists | Item List, I get the same result - my saved column widths.

However, I do see that when I use Ctrl-L I see different column widths. Oddly, they are not the default either, and they stick in their own way. If I adjust them, they are saved, and then each time I press Ctrl-L I see them as I last adjusted them - before closing the window. QuickBooks appears to be savings two views of the window. The window's position and size is consistent, but the columns are saved two ways. I never noticed that before.