Report check numbers in the reference field for entered sales receipts

Welcome to the Community space, @jbooze2.

To ensure I provide you with the most accurate advice and solution, I would greatly appreciate an additional detail about your concern.
 

Specifically, can you please clarify what reports you generate? With the additional context, I'll be able to explore potential solutions to address your concerns.
 

Feel free to let us know through the reply button, and we'd be more than happy to assist you. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Hi ShyMae,

I am trying to enter and report contributions made to my church through QB. I have entered the donors in Sales and entered their contributions in Sales Receipts. I choose Check as payment method and in the next field, which is Reference no., I enter the check number. However, when I run a Transaction by Detail report the Reference no. Column is not shown, and I cannot find where I can add that field. 

Ultimately, I would like to enter these contributions and be able to send donors a report showing their contributions with all the information needed to track a transaction including their check number.

Thank you.

I appreciate your coming back to the Community and providing details is a big help to be able to assist you., @jbooze2. 

I'd suggest viewing the report in the classic view. To access it, It should be found in the upper right window, and click the Switch to classic view.

Here's how:

1. Select the Customize.
2. Select the Rows/Columns and click Change columns to view more options.
3. Tick the boxes for Ref # and Payment Method.
   
4. Select Run Report.

Once done, This should be what it looks like:

Additionally, financial reports in QuickBooks give you tons of great info about your business. There are many ways to customize your reports: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

If you have more questions about running a report, don't forget to click the reply. I'm always around to help.

Hi AlditchM,

I selected the Transaction by detail report, opened in Classic view, selected Customize, select and reorder columns. Payment method is in the list to select, but Reference no. is                                                               not?

Thank you for your reply!

Hey there, @jbooze2.

I want to help you put the Reference No. column in your report. However, before I do that, what specific report were you trying to pull up? Was it Transaction Detail by Account or Transaction List by Customer? I suggest adding screenshots for more detailed information to address your concern better.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Stay safe!

Hello jeanBiverly,

You are not going to believe this, but Ref no. now is available to add as a column on the Sales by Donor Detail report (see attached). I know it wasn't there before! It appears this issue is solved some how. I will ask a  new question, if there are more problems.

Thank you for your offer to help.

reference number field is gone again. Was replaced in reports as ref # and it has no data in it. When the last upgrade to QBO was done, this field was changed somehow. Please bring it back...

Thanks for letting us know about your concern, Treasureratelks2232. Let's work together to ensure the reference number field on your reports reflects the correct number data.

Beforehand, please note that the Ref # column depends on the type of report you want to generate. It will only be populated on reports containing transactions that have reference numbers linked to them, such as sales receipts, expense, and payment transactions.

If you're trying to generate a Transaction List by Customer or the Sales by Donor/Sales by Customer report and didn't see data on this column, ensure you've included it by ticking the checkbox before generating a report. I'll show you how:

1. Go to the Reports menu and type Transaction List by Customer in the Search bar.
2. Click the Columns option and check the box for REF #.

1. If you're in the Classic view, hit Customize.
2. Scroll down to the Rows/Columns and click Change columns.
3. Check the box for Ref # and click Run report.

Additionally, the Reference number on expense and payment transactions will become visible under the Number column on these reports, unlike sales receipts, which will be seen under the Ref # column.

Finally, I've also included a few additional resources below that can provide helpful guidance when generating and customizing reports in QBO:

• Common Custom Reports
• Customizing Reports

Please feel free to continue our discussion or post any other questions you have about customizing reports in QBO. I'm happy to provide additional tips or explanations that could help you work with this feature more effectively.