Customize Your Databases in QuickBooks!

Custom fields allow you to add to the information that QuickBooks® already tracks about customers, vendors and employees, and to the items that are purchased and sold. Data entered into custom fields can be just for your use, or it can prefill on certain forms when entering a name or item on that form. To display information entered in a custom field on a form, the field must first be added to the desired form template. You can also include data from customized fields to reports, and then filter and sort your reports based on the custom field contents. With QuickBooks® Enterprise, you can even define custom fields as multiple choice "pick lists" to ensure consistent data entry.

Example:

You work with residential customers and you want to send out a mailing for a special promotion around their birthday. To do so, start by adding the custom field to the customer database:

1.Click the Additional Info tab in a Customer record and click the Define Fields button.

2.Add a new field titled "Birthday," check the box in the Customers column and click OK.

Create a Report to Display this Custom Information

Start with a Customer Phone List report from the standardized Lists report menu in QuickBooks. Then select to add a column for the newly created field for Birthday.

You can filter and sort this report based on the data in this field. QuickBooks treats the information entered into a custom field the same way it treats information entered into any other field. If a transaction that has a custom field is memorized, QuickBooks memorizes what was entered in the field, along with the other details of the transaction. If you export a list that contains data in custom fields, QuickBooks exports that data along with the other data from the list.

With QuickBooks® Enterprise, you can define how users enter data into the custom field. If it's a date or numeric field, you may choose to require a specific format. You can even set up a custom field as a multiple choice "pick list" to ensure consistent data entry.