Learn about the maximum number of list entries you can make in QuickBooks Desktop.
List entries help you to better manage your company data. Using them to keep track of things like customers, vendors, services, inventory items, and non-inventory items. Each type of list can have up to four levels of child accounts and an unlimited number of child accounts under a parent account.
List entries help you to better manage your company data. Using them to keep track of things like customers, vendors, services, inventory items, and non-inventory items. Each type of list can have up to four levels of child accounts and an unlimited number of child accounts under a parent account.
| Note: If you currently use QuickBooks Desktop Pro or Premier, and need additional entries, consider upgrading to QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. To find out if Enterprise is right for you, and to see any active promotions, contact our sales team at 888-566-4671. |
List limits for QuickBooks Desktop for Windows
Here’s the max amount of entries you can have for each list in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows. If you’re missing a list type, it’s because some of these are only available in newer versions of QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.
| List name | Max number of entries (Pro, Premier) | Max number of entries (Enterprise) |
| Chart of Accounts | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Total names: Employees, Customers, Vendors, and Other Names combined | 14,500 (individual limits of each list is 10,500) | >100,000 |
| Items, including inventory items (group items can contain only 20 individual items) | 14,500 | >100,000 |
| Items in an inventory assembly or sub-assembly | 100 | 500 |
| Categories | N/A | 10,000 |
| Job types | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Vendor types | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Customer types | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Payroll items | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Price Levels | 100 | 750 |
| Classes | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Terms for receivables and payables | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Payment methods | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Shipping methods | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Customer messages | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Ship To addresses | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Memorized reports | 10,000 | 29,000 |
| Memorized transactions | 10,000 | 50,000 |
| To-Do notes | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Sales Reps | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Sales Tax Codes | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Group Items & Sales Tax Group Items | 50 | 50 |
| Advanced Inventory Sites | N/A | 1,000,000 |
| Advanced Pricing Price Rules | N/A | 100,000 |
| Contacts | No limit | No limit |
| Custom Fields | 20 | 45 |
|
Item custom field
| 5 | 15 |
|
Customers/Vendors/Employees custom fields
| 15 | 30 |
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 17.0 and later versions allow you to add up to one million names (customers, vendors, employees) and up to one million items (for example, inventory, non-inventory, and service items). Some performance degradation is likely as your lists approach these size thresholds.
To check list size in QuickBooks Desktop, press the F2 key or Ctrl+1 and review the List Information section or the File Size in the File Information section of the window.
For custom fields, the table provides totals that are a combination of the allowable custom fields for customers, vendors, and employees:
- Pro/Premier: There's a total of 15 custom fields, but you can't have more than 7 per category.
- Enterprise Solutions: There's a total of 30 custom fields, but you can't have more than 12 per category.
Note: QuickBooks will warn you when you reach a limit.
List limit for QuickBooks Desktop for Mac
Here’s the max amount of entries you can have for each list in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac. If you’re missing a list type, it’s because some of these are only in newer versions of QuickBooks.
| List name | Max number of entries |
| Chart of Accounts | 10,000 |
| Items, including inventory items (Group items can only contain 20 individual items) | 14,500 |
| Job Types | 10,000 |
| Vendor Types | 10,000 |
| Customer Types | 10,000 |
| Purchase Orders | 10,000 |
| Classes | 10,000 |
| A/R Terms and A/P Terms added together | 10,000 |
| Payment methods | 10,000 |
| Shipping methods | 10,000 |
| Customer messages | 10,000 |
| Memorized reports | 14,500 |
| Memorized transactions | 14,500 |
| To-Do List | 10,000 |
| Names added together (Employees, Customers, Vendors, and Other Names) | 14,500 |
Names added together: Any one of these lists can contain up to 10,000 names but they cannot exceed 14,500 combined.
Practical limitations
QuickBooks Desktop is designed for small to mid-sized businesses. The ideal use of QuickBooks Desktop is to keep at least two years of detailed transactions in a company data file so that you can compare reports and have prior-year project information.
The rate of growth of QuickBooks Desktop company data files varies significantly from company to company. There's no "average" or "typical" data file size since businesses track different information.
For performance issues, you can resolve them by managing your data file.
If you want to keep your old transactions in QuickBooks for prior years, you can condense your company file data.