Can I run class reports for inactive classes without having to reactivate the class?

sarah22 · ‎March 01, 2019

I have a client that uses over a hundred classes to track their different revenue streams. We use classes to avoid too many income accounts on the P & L. We now need to deactivate several of the older classes to stay within the limit for the QBO Plus subscription level. However, after deactivating several classes, I noticed I am no longer able to run reports by class for those classes that are now inactive. If there any way around this, or do we have to upgrade to Advanced?

David-212915 · ‎March 04, 2019

Hello @sarah22. I can provide clarification on reporting and usage limits in QuickBooks Online.

Classes that have been made inactive will appear on reports, such as the Profit and Loss by Class. They will be indicated as having been deleted and there isn't an option to filter them. This is similar to how inactive accounts are handled in the software. I've included a screenshot to serve as a reference:

Please know that QuickBooks will not lock you out of your books, or remove any Users, Classes, Locations or accounts without you knowing about it. If a user is currently above a usage limit they will still be able to run their business as normal. However, they won’t be able to add a new entity in that area. For instance, if a person has 41 Classes and Locations, they won’t be able to add a new class, as 40 is the limit. They would need to remove 2 Classes or Locations to get to 39 Classes and Locations before they could add their new class.

This is not a price increase, as you are not forced to pay any more money unless you want to use more product functionality. Only 5% of QuickBooks Online Users in the United States will see an immediate impact. If you make no change to your Users, Chart of Accounts, Classes or Locations, you will be able to operate as normal and you won’t need to take any action. QuickBooks Online Advanced doesn’t just lift your usage limits, it provides you with tools that help you get deeper insights, save more time, and customize usage the way you want.

Also, I wanted to take a moment to recommend the QBO Desktop App, as a way to get past using an incognito window. This way you won't have to worry about deleting your browser's cookies. You can locate additional information about this, as well as download it, at the following link: Get QuickBooks Mac & Windows Apps, Powered by QuickBooks Online.

I'm glad to hear that you love QBO for your clients and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with the Community.

Should you have any questions about this, or anything else, please let me know. Have a good day.

View solution in original post

Rose-A · ‎March 01, 2019

Hi, sarah22.

I'm here to lend a hand with running Profit & Loss by Class report in QuickBooks Online. Let me help you sort this out.

Performance issues in QuickBooks are resolved by doing basic troubleshooting steps. Let's start by opening a private browser to start a new session.

Here's how to open a private window in different browsers:

Google Chrome: press Ctrl + Shift + N.
Mozilla Firefox: press Ctrl + Shift + P.
Internet Explorer: press Ctrl + Shift + P.
Safari: press Command + Shift + N.

If this works fine using your private browser, let's go back to your regular browser and clear its cache.

You may find this article helpful: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/Reports-and-accounting/How-to-customize-reports/td-p/186005.

Let me know how it goes by leaving a reply below. I'll be around to help you with running your P&L report.

sarah22 · ‎March 04, 2019

Hi RoseMarjorieA,

Thank you for answering and trying to help.

Unfortunately, I always have to use QBOA in "incognito mode" because I'm not able to log into my account otherwise (I get some kind of error response about too many re-direct loops with the site). Clearing my browser cache will mess up the cookies I need to log into the bank sites of most of my clients. If I clear the cookies, I have to call each client individually to have them receive secure codes via text/email to allow my browser to log into the bank websites again. Definitely a waste of everyone's time. I've been using Quickbooks Online in incognito mode for almost 4 years now to avoid these problems. :smileyhappy:

I made a few of the classes inactive and now I'm not able to select those classes under the class filter when I go to customize the reports I would need to run. I also am not able to filter accounts that are inactive, though I can clearly see the "deleted" accounts on the P & L when I run it for a time period where those accounts were used.

Is there a way to have someone on the development/tech side look into the client file to see if it's an issue with the file since it sounds like I should be able to run reports by class even if they are inactive?

As a side note, I'm very disappointed with the new usage limits as this client falls well below their limits on users and accounts, but needs class tracking to compare how the profitability of their revenue streams is changing. I know the article explaining the new usage limits says that it's not a price increase, but in a case like this, it sure feels like it. Just my disgruntled option, though we love QBO for our clients and are not planning on switching anytime soon, if ever.

David-212915 · ‎March 04, 2019

Hello @sarah22. I can provide clarification on reporting and usage limits in QuickBooks Online.

Classes that have been made inactive will appear on reports, such as the Profit and Loss by Class. They will be indicated as having been deleted and there isn't an option to filter them. This is similar to how inactive accounts are handled in the software. I've included a screenshot to serve as a reference:

Please know that QuickBooks will not lock you out of your books, or remove any Users, Classes, Locations or accounts without you knowing about it. If a user is currently above a usage limit they will still be able to run their business as normal. However, they won’t be able to add a new entity in that area. For instance, if a person has 41 Classes and Locations, they won’t be able to add a new class, as 40 is the limit. They would need to remove 2 Classes or Locations to get to 39 Classes and Locations before they could add their new class.

This is not a price increase, as you are not forced to pay any more money unless you want to use more product functionality. Only 5% of QuickBooks Online Users in the United States will see an immediate impact. If you make no change to your Users, Chart of Accounts, Classes or Locations, you will be able to operate as normal and you won’t need to take any action. QuickBooks Online Advanced doesn’t just lift your usage limits, it provides you with tools that help you get deeper insights, save more time, and customize usage the way you want.

Also, I wanted to take a moment to recommend the QBO Desktop App, as a way to get past using an incognito window. This way you won't have to worry about deleting your browser's cookies. You can locate additional information about this, as well as download it, at the following link: Get QuickBooks Mac & Windows Apps, Powered by QuickBooks Online.

I'm glad to hear that you love QBO for your clients and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with the Community.

Should you have any questions about this, or anything else, please let me know. Have a good day.

sarah22 · ‎March 06, 2019

Thank you, David SC, for clarifying that I won't be able to filter the inactive classes. We will consult with our client to see if we can come up with a work around as this client doesn't need the other features available through Advanced and would be a hard sell to justify the price increase to maintain our current class usage. We add new classes about every other month and we have already deactivated as many classes as we can.

David-212915 · ‎March 06, 2019

You're welcome, @sarah22. I appreciate you following up with me.

While you're unable to select an inactive class to filter by, you may wish to consider activating it temporarily should you need to run a report on it. Of course, this is assuming that the account is below the usage limit for classes. This could be especially useful if you don't anticipate needing to frequently run reports on them.

I realize that you want to ensure that your client has the software that best suits their needs. Should you or the client have any questions about Advanced, I recommend the following article: QuickBooks Online Advanced Overview. Additionally, there is a Sample Company for Advanced that can be used to try out the software which can be accessed at the following link: QuickBooks Online Advanced Test Drive.

As always, I'd be glad to answer any additional questions should you have any. Best regards.

vpcontroller · ‎March 06, 2019

You can run the Profit and Loss by Class (summary and detail) reports but will display mixed with both active and inactive classes.

The issue here is there's no way to filter the report for inactive/deleted classes only. That's more seems like QBO lacks a way to filter the report for available data. These are known issues in QBO. Hope they focus on improving reporting data.

(In the meantime, you can always export to excel and filter the report as you need until they improve the reporting tool which seems like Neverland.)

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Can I run class reports for inactive classes without having to reactivate the class?