IN: how to delete Products and Services

Hi himabindu.aasadh,

Please follow below steps to make the Products and Services inactive in QuickBooks.

1. Please click on 'Settings' Gear icon which appears at the upper right panel of QuickBooks

2. Then click on 'Products and Services' which appears under 'Lists'

3. Then click on the drop down near "Edit" which appears on the product and select "Make inactive".

Product will be inactivated. Please find the attached screenshot.

Hello IntuitArun,

Your response does not completely address the question. If a product has not ever been used in an estimate or invoice, can it be DELETED, i.e. completely removed from QBO vice just making it inactive?

Hi there, zuzack.tom.

Though an item was not used on any transactions, we're unable to totally delete it just in case you still want to use its details. However, we can inactivate it so it'll not be listed on reports and transactions. If the item was incorrectly entered, you still have the option to edit it.

You can follow the steps provided by my colleague on how to inactivate an item. To view the items that were made inactive, here's how: 

1. Go to the Sales menu and select Product and Services.
2. On the right side of the search field, click the filter icon.
3. Change the Status to Inactive.
4. Click Apply. 

Here are a few articles that will help you manage and track your inventory: 

• Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online
• Add inventory products in QuickBooks Online

Feel free to post your questions here if you need more help. You take care always and have a great day ahead!

I also need to delete product duplicates, not make them inactive.   Is there a solution for the actual deleting of the items? 

...

This is a huge miss on Quickbooks' part. We should be able to completely delete an un-used item to keep things clutter free. When we make a new estimate and want to add a service type the inactive options still show up which means if the active and inactive service types are similar you have to be careful which one to choose. 

Also....It should be much simpler to edit the products/services and we should be able to do so on the fly rather than having to save and exit the active page to navigate to the dashboard to reach the products list.

I have more if you're interested lol......!

As a thought, given that products can be edited and completely overwritten with new data, could it solve the problem if you overwrote the product you want to delete with completely new details next time you want to add a new product - would that create the desired effect of never seeing the original product again?

Hello @WhyBooks,

As of the moment, there isn't an integrated way of completely deleting your products even after inactivating them. This is to keep your records accurate in case you need a copy of your data for any reason in the future.

To add, even after changing the name of the product in question and use it as a new one, the old name will still show on your report since it has been associated with your transactions and accounts.

If you wish to proceed with changing its name, you'll be needing to deleting all the existing transactions before you can use the product as the new item for your future entries.

Additionally, I've also included this reference for a compilation of articles you can use while working with us: Help Articles for QuickBooks Online.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comments below. I'll be here to lend a hand.

Correct @JonpriL . I was only suggesting this technique for products that have never been used in any transactions, historically. For example, a product that has been added in error.

In my opinion, when  product or services is deleted, it affects the reporting side as it is linked with other section. That is why we can make the items only inactive not delete it. 

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this or not, but I find a work around for deleting a Service made in error, by matching all of its information with another service I have made, and it will ask if you want to Merge them together because it is a duplicate, click yes, and it deletes one of them permanently.