Before You Start

This guide assumes you have a QuickBooks Online Advanced subscription and a basic understanding of report customization.

Overview

30 min
Setup Time
Advanced
Difficulty
As Needed
Maintenance

What You’ll Learn

  • How to define custom fields for various entities (customers, vendors, transactions)
  • Applying and populating custom fields to your QBO data
  • Customizing standard and custom reports to display and filter by custom fields
  • Best practices for data entry, field management, and consistent reporting

1. Preparation & Planning

Before creating any fields, consider the following:

Required Considerations

  • Identify key non-financial data points needed for reporting
  • Determine the appropriate field type (text, number, date, list)
  • Decide the scope: Will the field apply to Customers, Vendors, or Transactions?
  • Plan for consistent data entry across your team

Recommended Best Practices

  • Align custom fields directly with specific reporting goals or KPIs
  • Keep field names clear, concise, and descriptive
  • Start with a few critical fields and expand as needed
  • Review existing custom fields regularly for relevance and accuracy

2. Choosing Your Custom Field Strategy

You have two primary approaches for data enrichment.

Method A: Basic Custom Fields (Standard QBO)

These fields are available in all QuickBooks Online versions, but are limited.

Pros:
  • Simple to set up and use.
  • Available in all QBO subscriptions.
  • Can be used for basic filtering.
Cons:
  • Limited field types (text only).
  • Cannot be conditional or required.
  • No advanced reporting capabilities.

Method B: Advanced Custom Fields (QBO Advanced)

These are powerful fields exclusive to QuickBooks Online Advanced.

Expert Tip: For robust reporting and granular data capture, QuickBooks Online Advanced Custom Fields are essential. They transform QBO into a powerful analytics tool beyond standard accounting, allowing you to track non-financial KPIs.

3. Step-by-Step: Implementing Custom Fields

Here is the high-level workflow for maximizing your data.

Here is a sample code block to show how a custom field definition might look.

{
  "field_name": "Project Lead",
  "applies_to": ["Customer", "Transaction"],
  "field_type": "Dropdown",
  "list_values": ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie"],
  "active": true
}

4. Setting Up Custom Fields

  1. 1

    Define Your Custom Fields

    Navigate to “Settings” (Gear Icon) > “Custom Fields”. Click “Add field”, name it, choose its type (e.g., Text, Number, Date, Dropdown List), and specify whether it applies to Customers, Vendors, or Transactions.

  2. 2

    Assign to Sales/Purchase Forms

    If your custom field applies to transactions, go to “Settings” > “Custom Form Styles”, edit your relevant sales or purchase templates, and toggle the custom field to be displayed (and optionally printed or required).

  3. 3

    Populate Data for Records and Transactions

    Begin entering data into your new custom fields. For customers/vendors, edit their profiles. For transactions, the field will appear on the relevant sales or purchase forms.

Common Error: Field Not Appearing

If a transaction-based custom field isn’t visible on your forms, ensure you’ve enabled it within your “Custom Form Styles” for the specific form template you are using (e.g., Invoice, Sales Receipt, Bill).

5. Testing Your Reports

Report Testing Checklist

  • Run a standard QBO report (e.g., Sales by Customer) and customize it to include your new custom field columns
  • Verify that the values populating in the custom field columns are accurate and complete
  • Test filtering the report by different custom field values to ensure proper segmentation
  • Confirm that adding custom fields does not alter the core financial figures of the report

Need Help?

Optimize Your Reporting

Struggling to get the right insights from your data? Our experts can help design and implement a comprehensive custom field strategy tailored to your business needs.

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