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Run a report in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit2 Updated 1 week ago

Learn how to run a report in QuickBooks Online.

Financial reports give you a snapshot of your business. With dozens of reports available, you can examine sales, spending, and even a combination of both to gain a comprehensive insight and understanding of your business.

Tip: If you want you want to add more information to your reports, check out our guide to customising reports in QuickBooks Online.

Some of your reports will look different depending on whether they're in the classic view or new enhanced experience. Learn more about the new enhanced experience.

Set up general report preferences

Before you get started, set up general report preferences:

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon. and select Account and settings.
  2. Select Advanced.
  3. In the Accounting section, select the pencil ✎ icon.
  4. Select the Accounting method dropdown, then select either Accrual or Cash.
    Note: Reports default to the accounting method you set here.
  5. Select Save, then select Done.

Run basic financial reports

  1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
  2. Use the Find report by name dropdown to search for reports by name. You can also browse the list.
  3. Select the report to open it.

Note: If you change the dates or add customised filters to the report, select Run report to apply them. You can customise your reports in QuickBooks Online.

Watch the below video for an overview on the reports feature in QuickBooks. Use the reports centre to gain additional insights about your business.

Run a report for a specific account

You can also focus on a specific account instead of running reports for everything.

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon., then select Chart of accounts (Take me there).
  2. Find the account.
  3. Select Run report in the ACTION column or from the Account history dropdown.

Manage your reports

When you have a report open:

  1. Select the More actions dropdown, then select Email report.
  2. Enter or update the recipient's email address, subject, email body, and file name.
    Note: To send a report to multiple email recipients, separate the email addresses with commas.
  3. Select either Excel, CSV, or PDF for the file format.
  4. Select Send email.

When you have a report open:

  1. Select the Export/Print dropdown.
  2. Select either Export to Excel or Export as CSV.
  3. Save the file.

Note: Export your report to Excel to change the font, colour, or further customise the visual appearance of your report.

Tip: If your data exceeds the Excel export limit, we recommend you export your data in smaller chunks using filters such as report period.

When you have a report open:

  1. Select the Export/Print dropdown.
  2. Select Print/Save as PDF.
  3. Adjust your report print settings as needed.
  4. Select Print.

Format a report

You can adjust the layout of your report before you print it.

  1. Select the Export/Print dropdown.
  2. Select Print/Save as PDF.
  3. Select the Orientation dropdown.
  4. Select Portrait or Landscape.

If the columns still don't fit:

  • Resize columns in a report.
  • Remove unnecessary columns.
  • Make the margins smaller.
  • Change the orientation to landscape.
  • Print on legal-size paper.
  • Scale the page by a percentage.
  • Check your printer setup properties to see if your printer driver supports scaling.

Use the smart page break option

Select the Smart page break checkbox to group related items together. This automatically breaks the page at logical areas for easier reading when you print a report.

Note: The option to print using smart page breaks varies based on the report you’re in.

Use the repeat header option

Select the Repeat header checkbox so the header appears on every page of the report you’re printing.

Update the header and footer of a report

Go to your browser settings to remove the QuickBooks Online URL and other information at the top and bottom of a report. You can view articles provided by Chrome, Firefox, and Safari for instructions.

Do more with reports in QuickBooks

Learn more about report features and specific reports to get the info you need:

QuickBooks LedgerQuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple Start

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