Bryan, Bryan, Bryan...

If you look at the thread, you'll see we have been asking for this for years now.  And yes we have gone through the feedback route.  It's just pointless, nobody listens.

Hi Fritz,

I initially reported this issue many, many years ago. How would you like if every time you typed an email, it was rearranged and jumbled after you hit send? It would look great on the screen but hit send and whammo, it would be alphabet soup. Hmm, are you getting the picture yet?

Dear Bryan,

I reported this issue FOUR YEARS AGO!! I went through workarounds that didn't work with your helpdesk on multiple occasions and submitted feedback on a number of occasions. Numerous people on this thread have been through exactly this process with you and your colleagues.  The solution is incredibly simple and any high school computer geek would have been able to help your programmers figure it out in a few minutes.  Create a left hand column on invoices that you can prioritize for sorting, and that you can number, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc, that then determines the sorting order of the invoice.  Alternatively, just have a toggle option that allows it to stay in the order you enter or manually sort it.  It's really, really, really that simple ... REALLY.  But please stop cutting and pasting this reply in this thread every time someone new pops up to ask this question ... as I optimistically check back each time in the hope that the issue is finally resolved in a coherent way.

I have the same issue and I already had service dates in there. They are not sorting in date order.

Thanks for joining the Community and getting involved with this thread, 9686AL.

When creating/editing invoices, if you enter service dates, regardless of your line item order on the invoice creation/editing screen, your dates will be sorted in a descending order with the oldest date first, and newest date at the bottom of your list.

Here's an image showing how I created an invoice:

Notice that my first line item's service date is set to 5/10/2023. The second item has a date of 4/18/2023, and my third item is dated 3/14/2023.

Once I save the invoice that way, and view it as a PDF by choosing to Print it, my service dates are then reordered in a descending order, from oldest to newest.

You'll want to be aware that on your invoice creation/editing screen, the dates will still appear as you originally entered them, while the PDF will display them in the resorted order.

To verify my understanding, are your dates not sorting in a descending order from oldest to newest on the PDF version of your invoice like they should be?

I'll be looking forward to your response. Have an awesome Tuesday!

Thanks for response but I have canceled my subscription with QB and moved on. The online version of Quickbooks is a horrible attempt at a replacement for the desktop version.

Yes.  I do like that it automatically orders the dates when the invoice is sent in the PDF.  But, I have an API that inserts line items every day into my invoices.  We then add a line at the top of each day with some info about the line items below.  The order of our line items has to be manually re-ordered. We do this so we can track and count line item quantities and add a line item above each day of line items which notes how many lines for that day and some other info.  So, we would like to be able to reorder the dates in the invoice creation/editing screen.  I don't know if it's something our API can manage or if QBO will ever have an option to order by date in the invoice creation/editing screen.

OMG...This just never ends.

The order of lines entered should MATCH the order printed in the pdf. 

Agreed Meesh.  It would be great if you could click on the column header and arrange the invoice lines by amount, date, alphabetical by service or description.  But I've let the idea of the QBO engineers making that possible go.  I'm wondering if with all this AI tech, if AutoGPT or similar would go into my invoices each sunday night and order them by date, and anything else I know.  Anyone have thoughts on AI and/or API's such as Zapier re-ordering quickbook line items?

Mine always sort by dollar amount larger to smaller, whatever I do.  I have dates in there because I need them.  I want to be able to sort in the order I added items (which I even numbered but to no avail).

I appreciate you taking the time to post your concern here in the Community forum,  @chinckley.

I'd love to help you achieve your goal, but would you mind sharing more details about sorting dollar amounts from larger to smaller and when adding them to your items? Like adding a screenshot of your concern? It can help us get on the same page and provide accurate resolution.

I'll wait for your reply, or if you have any other questions, please let us know. We're always here to help. Have a great day. 

I am having the same problem for the first time ever.  Incognito did not work.

Thanks for joining the thread, @tomredbrickfp. We're here to help you.

Would you mind sharing more details about the problem you've experienced? Like adding a screenshot of your concern? That way, I can provide other solutions since Incognito doesn't work on your end.

I'll be waiting for your response. Stay safe.

Here is a sample invoice as I write them.

Here is the randomness it creates for literally no reason.

I'll share some insights about how QuickBooks populates the data on your sales forms, mrwizard.
 

It's not uncommon for the line items to appear differently on the printed form compared to what you see on the invoice entry screen. This is because the program organizes them based on their service dates, and it does so in chronological order. 

Items with earlier service dates will be listed before those with later dates. However, if you remove that details, the transaction will print accordingly.

I understand the importance of ensuring that they're printed exactly as you expect, regardless of the dates or any other factors. Your invoices serve as a reflection of your business, and it's crucial that they precisely mirror the information you have entered into the system.

Rest assured that we value your perspective on this matter. Please know that our Product Development Team closely monitors customer requests and suggestions. By submitting your feedback, you can help us identify areas for improvement and prioritize enhancements to deliver a more seamless experience. Here's how:

1. Sign in to your company.
2. Go to the Gear icon.
3. Choose Feedback.
4. Enter your comments in the description box.
5. Click Next to submit your inputs.

Additionally, here are some articles that you can read to help personalize the appearance and layout of sales entries: 

• Add logo to your invoices, estimates, or sales receipts
• Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts

Should you have further questions or require assistance with any other aspect of QuickBooks Online, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'm always here to provide support and guide you through any challenges you may encounter.

My insight is that QBO is a horrible program. 

You wrote a response with multiple paragraphs that flow in a logical order for anyone reading. Imagine if the paragraphs were reordered, say alphabetically. 

Why sort something does not need to be sorted?

This thread was started in Jan 2019, 1653 days ago. The request is one of the most basic things ever, something that should have been added in the alpha version before this was even released years ago.

Wanting invoices to print the same way they appear on screen is so basic it requires no discussion whatsoever. Any entry level developer, or average 5th grader for that matter, should be able to look at the first post in this thread and immediately understand what the issue is.

Yet here we are nearly 5 years later being asked the same ridiculous questions over and over. Being told that Intuit is eager to hear feedback from users. Being told that they just need a better understanding of the problem.

Everything that needs to be said on this matter can be found in post #1. Intuit, why don't you get off your as*es, read the first post, go to the development team and tell them to just fix it. In the next release.

Stop asking questions. Stop trying to get more feedback. Just fix it.

SLOW CLAP!! 

Agreed. I am paying double for this online version. It is a joke. I format the invoice to fit my company only to have QB jumble it up and increase MY workload.

It's simple:  The estimate is written in order:  1.  Item $14, 2. Item $18, 3. Item $40.

When I print it puts 3, 2, 1 (money order) instead of the order I typed it in.  incognito did not work.

Hello,

Welcome aboard to the Community. Allow me to chime in and clarify things about entering sales transactions in QuickBooks Online.

The order of the line items on an estimate will depend on the service dates attached. The only workaround is to remove the dates on your products and services or download them as PDFs, then edit them. 

Here are some screenshots of the difference:

When you email your customer an estimate, and they accept or decline directly from the email, QuickBooks automatically updates the status on your behalf. I've also attached an article you can visit to learn how to change the status manually in QuickBooks: Create and send estimates in QuickBooks Online.

Let us know if you still have more questions about entering estimates by leaving a reply. We'll get back to you. Keep safe, and have a great rest of the day.

Read the entire preceding thread. This question is asked every single time a new person encounters this problem, and the simple solution to the problem was suggested a number of years ago, and multiple times since.

My comments to moderators and staff are now being flagged for approval and then ignored.  I promise you that I am trying to help QB with these comments.  My suggestion is to simply read the whole preceding thread before giving cut and paste responses. An easy solution to this problem has been recommended by a number of people over the last FOUR years, and to date NOBODY on this thread has come back to say, "Thank you - that's the solution - that really helped!" NOBODY!

The moderators must be on a point system for responses no matter how irrelevant or repetitive.