QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Hiding and Deleting Items

Deleting items and hiding them are two totally different actions, although the end result is the same—QuickBooks doesn't display the items in the Item List window. The only time you'll delete an item is when you create it by mistake and want to eliminate it permanently from the Item List. As you might discover when you attempt to delete an item, the only time you can delete one is if you have never used it in a transaction.

Hiding items doesn't have the same restrictions and offers a couple of advantages to boot. First, when you hide items, they don't appear in your Item List, which prevents you from selecting the wrong item as you create an invoice or other sales form. Unlike deleting, hiding is reversible. You can switch items to active status if you start selling them again. Suppose you hid the item for bell bottom hip huggers in 1974. Decades later, when 70s retro becomes cool again, you can reactivate the item and use it on sales forms. Of course, you'll probably want to edit the cost and sales price to reflect today's higher prices.

Hiding Items

When you've sold an item in the past, the only way to remove it from the Item List is to hide it. Hiding items means that your Item List shows only the items you currently use. You'll scroll less to find the items you want and you're less likely to pick the wrong item by mistake. If you start to sell an item again, you can reactivate it so that it appears on the Item List once more. If you're wondering how ...