What Does Revert Mean In QuickBooks
In QuickBooks, "revert" means to restore an open, unsaved transaction, like an invoice, bill, or sales receipt, back to its last saved state. The Revert button discards any edits you made since the last save, effectively undoing your changes without deleting the transaction itself. This is different from reversing a completed transaction, which requires separate steps and creates a new offsetting entry.
What Does Revert Mean In QuickBooks?
The Revert button is a safety net for when you're editing a form and make a mistake. It's available on unsaved transactions in QuickBooks Desktop, including invoices, estimates, sales receipts, and bills. When you click Revert, QuickBooks throws away all changes made since the last save and reloads the original version. This is especially useful when you've added wrong line items, changed quantities, or accidentally deleted a field and want to start over without closing and reopening the form. If you need to fix a reconciled entry, you might instead import credit card transactions into quickbooks desktop to replace the corrupted data with a clean file.
Importantly, Revert only works on transactions that are currently open and unsaved. If you've already saved the transaction, the Revert button disappears. You can't use it to undo a completed transaction. For that, you'll need to use Void, Delete, or Reverse, each of which works differently and has different consequences for your books.
How the Revert Button Works on Unsaved Forms
In QuickBooks Desktop, the Revert button appears on the toolbar of any open transaction form. Here's how it works:
- Open an existing invoice, estimate, sales receipt, or bill.
- Make changes to any field, add items, adjust quantities, change the customer, etc.
- Before saving, click the Revert button on the toolbar.
- QuickBooks will ask you to confirm. Click Revert again to discard your changes.
- The form reloads with the last saved version, and all your edits are gone.
This is a quick way to undo accidental edits. But note: Revert only applies to the current form. If you've already saved the transaction and then reopen it, Revert won't appear. You'd need to use a different correction method.
Revert vs. Reverse: Crucial Differences for Posted Transactions
The biggest mistake users make is thinking "revert" and "reverse" are interchangeable. They are not. Revert only works on unsaved forms. Once a transaction is posted, meaning it's been saved and has hit your accounts, you cannot "revert" it via a dropdown menu. Instead, you must use one of three methods: Void, Delete, or Reverse.
Here's the key difference: Void changes a transaction's dollar amount to zero but keeps a record of it. Delete removes the transaction entirely. Reverse creates a new transaction that offsets the original, leaving both entries in your books for audit purposes.
For posted invoices, payments, or sales receipts, you typically void or delete them. For journal entries, you reverse them. For paychecks, you use the Revert Paychecks function, but only if the paycheck is still pending. Once it's been paid via direct deposit, you need a separate reversal process.
How to Reverse a Journal Entry
Reversing a journal entry in QuickBooks Online is a specific process that creates a new entry to cancel out the original. This is the correct way to "undo" a journal entry that's already been posted. Here's the verified path:
- Go to All apps (or the gear icon), then Accounting, then Chart of accounts.
- Find the account used in the journal entry and click View register.
- Locate the journal entry you want to reverse.
- Click Edit on that entry.
- Select Reverse.
QuickBooks will create a new journal entry that balances the original. It adds an "R" to the original journal number and dates the new entry as the first day of the month following the original entry. The original entry stays intact, it's not deleted. This preserves your audit trail while correcting the accounting impact.
This is the only verified way to reverse a journal entry in QuickBooks Online. There's no "revert" button for posted journal entries.
How to Revert Pending Paychecks
In QuickBooks Desktop Payroll, you can revert pending paychecks before they're issued. This is useful when you need to correct an error before the paycheck is finalized. Here's the verified procedure:
- Go to Employees, then Pay Employees.
- Select Scheduled Payroll or Unscheduled Payroll.
- Choose Resume Scheduled Payroll.
- Right-click the highlighted employee name.
- Select Revert Paychecks.
This restores the paycheck to its original information, undoing any changes you made. It only works on pending paychecks, not ones that have already been processed.
You must submit a reversal request through Intuit QuickBooks Workforce, and a fee may apply. Even after the direct deposit reversal succeeds, you'll still need to manually correct the payroll records in QuickBooks. This is a separate, more involved process than simply clicking Revert.
Other Ways to Correct Mistakes: Void, Delete, and Undo Reconciliation
When Revert isn't applicable, you have three other tools to correct mistakes. Knowing which one to use depends on the transaction type and whether it's been reconciled.
Void vs. Delete
Void sets the transaction amount to zero but keeps the transaction in your books. This is ideal for invoices, bills, and payments where you want to keep a record that the transaction existed but no longer affects your accounts. Voided transactions show up in reports but with zero amounts.
Delete removes the transaction entirely from your books. This is best for transactions that were created by mistake and never should have existed. Once deleted, there's no record of it. Deleting is permanent, you can't undo it.
Which one should you use? If you need to maintain a clear audit trail, void the transaction. If the transaction is a duplicate or was entered incorrectly, delete it. For reconciled transactions, you need to undo the reconciliation first before you can void or delete.
Undo Reconciliation
If a transaction has been reconciled to a bank statement, you can't void or delete it until you undo the reconciliation. In QuickBooks Online, here's the verified path:
- Go to All apps, then Accounting, then Chart of accounts.
- Click View register for the account.
- Find the reconciled transaction.
- Click the R in the checkmark column repeatedly until it clears.
This "unreconciles" the transaction, allowing you to then void or delete it. You can also undo the entire reconciliation from the reconciliation screen, but that's a broader action that affects all transactions in that reconciliation period.
For purchase orders in QuickBooks Online, there's no direct revert or void option. You'll need to delete them or mark them as closed. This is a limitation of the software, so plan accordingly.
When you're dealing with posted transactions, always check whether they've been reconciled before making changes. And remember: QuickBooks Desktop settings can affect how Revert and other correction tools behave, so review your preferences if you're not seeing the options you expect.
The key takeaway: Revert is for unsaved edits. Reverse is for posted journal entries. Void and Delete are for completed transactions. Undo Reconciliation is for transactions that are locked by a bank statement match. Choose the right tool for the situation, and you'll keep your books accurate without creating audit problems.
For the wider topic, see QuickBooks Desktop settings.
