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RickAllan
July 2, 2020
Solved

"Batch mark unbillable expenses without invoicing" This procedure simply does not work. I get "this file has been deleted" Any ideas?

  • July 2, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views
Have moved from QB Desktop to QBO. Have many very old clients going back 15 years or more, but cannot delete as they have "Unbilled Charges" I am a bit stuck, I have a large unwieldy database.
Best answer by Angelyn_T

Tried it again this morning, exactly the same result. Screenshot attached.

This issue has been unresolved since I switched to QBO some two years ago.

I think a solution is well overdue.

 

Thank you 


I appreciate you for adding the screenshot of the error message you're getting, Allan. I'm here to help you with hiding your unbilled expenses successfully.

 

This error happens when the accounts used on your transactions are inactive. Before hiding your unbilled expenses, I recommend reactivating them. I'll guide you on how.

 

  1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account.
  2. Click on Accounting at the left pane, then tap on Chart of Accounts.
  3. Go to the small gear icon, then mark the box beside Include Inactive.
  4. Locate the inactive account, then click on Make active under Action.

 

After that, go ahead with hiding the unbilled expenses as instructed by DivinaMercy above.

 

Once done, you can now make the accounts inactive again.

 

For more hints about handling billable expenses in QuickBooks Online, you can open this article: Enter billable expenses.

 

Aside from that, you can also learn more about managing your expenses and other vendor transactions through this link: Enter expenses, pay bills, write checks, and manage suppliers.

 

If you have any other follow-up questions about hiding your billable transactions, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to help. Have a good one!

1 reply

C
Charies_M
July 2, 2020

Thanks for coming here, RickAllan.

 

You can run a report for Unbilled Costs by Job as well as the Time by Job report in QuickBooks Desktop. Use these report as your reference and create an invoice for each customer:job with unbilled expenses. Then, use the Add Time & Costs button to remove the unbilled expenses.

 

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to achieve this:

 

  1. Let's open the report and go to Reports. Then, choose Customers & Receivables.
  2. Select Unbilled Costs by Job.
  3. Take note of one customer with unbilled expenses and create an invoice for it.
  4. Go to Customers menu and click Create Invoices.
  5. Fill in the Customer:Job and click the Add Time & Cost icon.
  6. A Billable Time/Costs window will open. Mark the Select the outstanding billable time and costs to add to this invoice? option and click OK.
  7. Click each tab to see all unbilled entries.
  8. Click the Hide column for each unbilled entries. Then, click OK.

 

Now, here's how to run the Time by Job report, you'll need to enable the Time Tracking feature through the Preferences window. I'll show you how below:

 

  1. Click the Edit tab at the top menu bar.
  2. Select Preferences.
  3. Click Time & Expenses.
  4. Go to the Company Preferences tab.
  5. Below Do you track time?, click Yes.
  6. Click OK.

Once done, the Time by Job reports will now show on the Jobs, Time & Mileage section.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Click the Reports tab at the top menu.
  2. Select Jobs, Time & Mileage.
  3. Click Time by Job Summary or Time by Job Detail.

Learn more about customizing reports in QuickBooks Desktop through this article: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

 

I can only imagine how much effort you will be needing to complete this task. Please know that we are working on to come up with an easier and more convenient way to remove those unbilled expenses given the amount of date that you're working on.

 

Feel free to comment below if you have further questions. I would appreciate the opportunity to help you with your concerns.

R
RickAllanAuthor
July 2, 2020

Thanks for the prompt response.

 

I do understand I can run reports and deal with Unbilled Charges in this way, however, I have several hundred clients going back to 1999 many of whom, have dozens of Unbilled Charges.

To remove these one by one would take me years.

 

The feature "Batch mark unbillable expenses without invoicing" which is in the Help files, would be an ideal solution, but it does not work. That is my problem in a nutshell.

 

Thanks.

H
Hannah0303
January 21, 2023

Just seeing this but have you tried backing up and condensing the file? This might remove items going way back that are marked as billable expenses then you can follow the steps above. Any date from 1999 needed can be pulled by opening the old backup file. Thought I would share for others as well!

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