How To Create QuickBooks Projects

In QuickBooks Pro, creating projects (or “jobs” as QuickBooks calls them) and creating customers go hand in hand.

In this post, we’ll cover how to create a project in eight simple steps. (Be sure to create the customer to whom you want to attach the project first.)

Read our How To Add A Customer In QuickBooks Pro post or our How to Import Customers Into QuickBooks Pro to learn how to add customers, or jump straight into creating projects now.

Create A Project

To begin, go to Customers>Customer Center.

Step 1: Select Customer

Select the customer for whom you want to create a project or job.

Step 2: Go To Add Job

After highlighting the customer that you’re creating a job for, select the New Customer & Job tab. From the dropdown menu, select Add Job.

Step 3: Go To Job Info

Next, you’ll be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Click on the fourth tab on the left side of the page. It should read “Job Info.”

Step 4: Enter A Job Description

Add a job description for the project attached to your customer.

Step 5: Choose A Job Type

Choose the job type from a list, or add a new type.

Step 6: Set A Job Status

Set a current status for this project. You can choose between:

• None
• Pending
• Awarded
• In progress
• Closed
• Not awarded

Step 7: Mark The Start Date, Projected End Date & End Date

Use the calendars to set a project start date, projected end date, and end date (if available).

Step 8: Save Job

Click the blue “OK” button at the bottom of the screen to save your job.

Now that your job is successfully saved, you can look at the progress of your projects by running some of the many job reports QuickBooks offers. You can run reports like Profit & Loss by Job, Job Profitability Summary, Unbilled Costs by Job, Customer Balance Detail by Open Balances, and more.

To learn more about running reports, keep your eyes open for the next installments of our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series.

You can also begin creating estimates and invoices from the job you just created.

For troubleshooting issues, check out the QuickBooks Community or call QuickBooks directly. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series to learn how to track time, create invoices, run job costing reports, and more.

Overwhelmed by QuickBooks Pro? Maybe it’s time to switch to QuickBooks Online. QBO is easy to use, cloud-based, and affordable. Best of all, you can easily import your QuickBooks Desktop data into QuickBooks Online. Check out our full review on QuickBooks Online for more details.

Outgrown QuickBooks Pro? Switch to QuickBooks Premier. It’s the same QuickBooks Desktop software you love but with more users and advanced, industry-specific features, which we cover in our QuickBooks Premier review.