If you’ve ever wanted to run sales reports by custom fields—like “Sales Rep” or “Referred By”—in QuickBooks Online, you might’ve been told you need the Advanced Plan.

But what if you don’t?

In this post, I’ll show you how to generate custom field-based reports using the Sales by Customer Detail report—without upgrading to QBO Advanced. This simple workaround works for many small business owners using QuickBooks Online Plus, Essentials, or even Simple Start.

Let’s dive in.

Watch the full walkthrough video here: https://youtu.be/StlPu0qwgBQ?sub_confirmation=1

Why Custom Field Reporting Matters in QuickBooks Online

Custom fields are powerful tools for tracking information like:

• Sales representative names
  
  
• Referral sources
  
  
• Project or location details
  
  
• Internal job codes
  
  

Being able to filter, group, and total your sales data using these fields is essential for better visibility, smarter decisions, and accurate commissions or thank-you gifts (yes, I said gifts… keep reading).

Step-by-Step: Run Reports by Custom Field in QBO (Without Advanced)

✅ Note: The sample file I used in this video is a bit clunky, but the steps still work!

1. Open the “Sales by Customer Detail” Report

From your QuickBooks dashboard:

• Go to Reports
  
  
• Search for and select Sales by Customer Detail
  
  

This is a flexible standard report that we’ll use as our base.

2. Customize the Report

Click Customize (top right) and look for the custom fields you’ve already created. In my demo, I used:

• Sales Rep
  
  
• Referred By
  
  

3. Filter and Group by Custom Field

Scroll to the Filter section and apply a filter for either “Sales Rep” or “Referred By.”

Then scroll down to Group By and select the same field.

Run the report.

📸 [Insert screenshot of grouped report here]

Now, you’ll see totals per rep or referrer—perfect for tracking commissions or giving credit where it’s due.

A Real Example: Referral Tracking Without Advanced

In my report, I discovered one referrer sent nearly $33,000 in business. That insight makes it easier to:

• Identify top referral sources
  
  
• Send thank-you gifts or incentives
  
  
• Adjust marketing strategies accordingly
  
  

📸 [Insert screenshot showing referral totals]

Why This Matters for Small Businesses

Most business owners don’t need the entire Advanced plan—especially if they:

• Aren’t managing complex workflows
  
  
• Just want better insight into sales
  
  
• Prefer to stay on their current QBO plan
  
  

This workaround gives you the insight without the cost.

That said, if you do need advanced features like custom user roles, batch transactions, or revenue recognition, then upgrading may still be worth it. You can compare all QBO plans here:

QuickBooks Online Plan Comparison

Want to Try This?

Before diving in:

• Make sure your custom fields are set up on your invoice or sales form template
  
  
• Start with just one custom field and test the report
  
  
• Double check grouping totals for accuracy
  
  

Need help setting up your fields or interpreting the reports?

📅 Book a Consultation – I’d love to help.

This method won’t work for every use case—but for most solopreneurs and small businesses, it’s a cost-effective solution to get better reporting without upgrading to QBO Advanced.

If you found this helpful, please:

• Share with a fellow QBO user
  
  
• Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more tutorials
  
  
• Grab your free Month-End Checklist to stay on top of your books
  
  

Got a better way to report on custom fields in QBO? Drop it in the comments. Your tip could help someone else!

– Kerry

My Cloud Bookkeeping

Resources & Helpful Links

Download Your Free Month-End Checklist for Small Business

Compare QuickBooks Online Plans

Book a call with me anytime: www.mycloudbookkeeping.org/consultation

Cheers,

Kerry

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 Hi Kerry here. In a prior video, I showed you how to set up custom fields in the new invoice format. I've also shown you how to create reports using custom fields in the advanced plan. Now, what if you don't wanna upgrade to the advanced plan and would like to run reports by custom field? I recently did this with a client and I thought it might be a good video to show you how you can achieve this.

Also, now, for some reason, the sample company is not working and I didn't wanna delay getting this video out any longer 'cause it's already been a while. So I'm kind of in this messed up sort of file that doesn't have a lot of great information, but I think it's got enough to show you what we wanna do.

So if you go to reports and standard reports, I, I like this. Find the. The search bar thing up here, and I just typed sales for sales by customer detail. And then here's what I've created. I've got some filters in here, so it won't be too messy. I've got a test company, another test, uh, sorry, A test customer, another test customer.

And it's just a basic sales detail report by customer. Now I have set up. Both the salesperson and a referred by and I wanted to explore running the report, not just for the salesperson, but also for referred by. So let's just see how we can filter this report. We'll pop up here to customize, and then we'll scroll down and we'll have a look for our salesperson.

Here we go, sales rep, and we'll run the report. Now here we can see listed down here, the salespeople we have on these particular invoices. They're not on the sales receipts that that's me, but here we go. We can see we've got Jennifer, Naveen, Alberto, and Fred. Now what we might wanna do is go up here and group by our sales rep.

And run this report. And now we can see, um, I've got this for all dates because as I mentioned, it's a made up file, but you might wanna run it by month by whatever period you want. And you can see it's now totaling, it. Fred's got 2,650, Jennifer's 15 300. You get a little bit of an idea. And then of course, these sales receipts that don't have.

Any sales rep on them. Now let's take a look and add in that extra custom field, which is the one that I've, I've added for the referral. So we'll customize here and we'll scroll down and we'll see if we can ha referred by. Here it is and run the report. So now we have an additional field showing up down here for people who've referred things.

And let's see if we have the option to group it. By that, by that customer we do, uh, sorry, by that custom field. And here it is. Now we can see over the last however long that Sarah has sent us nearly. $33,000 worth of business. We might wanna send her something more than a $20 Starbucks card, but maybe we just wanna pop something in the mail to say thank you to James.

So even if you are still using this old putting format, there's a lot you can do with it. I hope that's helpful. I also think there may be other ways to achieve the same thing. If you find a different way, making it below it could help someone else. And if you have more advanced reporting requirements, the advanced plan may be the way to go.

But personally, I think if you don't need those advanced accounting options, being able to access this information in your existing plan will save you having to upgrade. And if this video was helpful, please do click like subscribe. Now you have, if you haven't already, ring that little bell to be notified when I make a new video.

If there's a topic you'd like to learn more about that I don't already have a video on, please do let me know. Cheers.

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