QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

Modifying Items

You can change information about an item even if you’ve already used the item in transactions. The changes you make don’t affect existing transactions, but when you create new transactions using the item, QuickBooks grabs the updated information to fill in fields.

In the Item List window (click Items & Services in the QuickBooks Home page to open it), double-click the item you want to edit. QuickBooks opens the Edit Item dialog box. Simply make the changes you want and then click OK. If you want to modify several items at once, use the Add/Edit Multiple List Entries feature (Adding and Editing Multiple Customer Records) instead.

Note

If you change an account associated with an item (like the income account to which sales post), the Account Change dialog box appears when you save the edited item. This dialog box tells you that all future transactions for that item will use the new account. If you also want to change the account on all existing transactions using the item, click Yes. Click No to keep the old account on existing transactions using the item.

Be particularly attentive if you decide to change the Type field. You can change only Non-inventory Part or Other Charge items to other item types, and they can morph into only certain item types: Service, Non-inventory Part, Other Charge, Inventory Part, or Inventory Assembly (this last type is available only in QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise). If you conclude from this that you can’t change a Non-inventory Part ...