Accounting Software Archives

QuickBooks Online users who rely on the Tags feature are facing a critical deadline. After May 15th, 2025, you’ll no longer be able to add new tags to transactions. This underused but flexible feature is being replaced by a modified Custom Fields alternative that comes with both benefits and limitations.

In a recent episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Dan DeLong discussed this major transition and explained what you need to know and do before the deadline.

Why Tags Are Going Away (And Why Some Users Will Miss Them)

According to Alicia and Dan, about three-quarters of QuickBooks users never used Tags at all. As Dan explains, “When they roll out a new feature, if it doesn’t get used, it could stand to be discontinued. When I worked there, typically we wouldn’t find out who used it until we stopped it… and then people would call in droves, like, ‘What are you doing? I was using that!’

But for those who discovered Tags’ flexibility, this retirement is a significant loss. Alicia shares several creative ways professionals used Tags:

Marking transactions that needed review: “I would use a tag that said ‘for review.’ And then I could pull up all the transactions that needed review, and boom, they were all right there.”
Weather tracking at a gas station: “They used tags to say what the weather was… Is it sunny? Is it raining? Because their business is lower on rainy days, and that helped them filter out weather anomalies.”
Animal categorization at a veterinary practice: “They would tag transactions with cats, dogs, birds, rodents and reptiles and then they could see who they were providing their services for.”

Tags were particularly valuable for users on lower-tier QuickBooks plans who didn’t have access to Classes or Locations features. “If you didn’t need any of the other features in Plus,” Alicia explains, “Tags allowed you to get flexible about it.”

The Migration Timeline: Act Now

The retirement process follows this timeline:

March 17, 2025: Custom Fields was expanded across all QuickBooks Online subscription levels
May 15, 2025: CRITICAL DEADLINE – After this date, Tags become read-only
May 16, 2025 – May 14, 2028: During this period, you can view historical Tags and run reports but can’t add new tags
May 15, 2028: Complete removal of Tags functionality and all historical data

How to Migrate Your Tags to Custom Fields

If you’re using Tags, here’s what you need to do before May 15th:

Step 1: Make sure all your transactions are properly tagged. Go to the gear icon, select Tags, and click “see all untagged transactions” to catch any missed items.

Step 2: Click the “migrate tags to custom fields” button in the Tags section.

Step 3: During migration, you’ll need to:

Choose which tags to include (uncheck any you don’t want to migrate)
Name your new Custom Field (it defaults to “Tags”)
Specify that the field applies to transactions (recommended)
Select which transaction types should display the field
Decide whether the field should print on customer-facing forms

Step 4: Complete the migration. Your Tags will convert to a dropdown Custom Field with up to 100 options. If you have grouped tags, they’ll appear as “Group Name: Tag Name” in the dropdown list.

Dan notes an important distinction: “The historical transactions still have the tags on them. The new transactions won’t have the tag field – they will have the custom field available to choose.”

Critical Step: Preserve Your Historical Data

This migration doesn’t transfer your historical tag data to the new Custom Field – it only creates the structure for future transactions. Your 2025 reports will be split between the two systems.

“Run your reports on all of your tags so that you have that history permanently,” Alicia emphasizes. “When you’re looking at the Tags list, every single tag group or ungroup tag has a ‘run report’ link to the right of it.”

Save these reports as PDFs with multiple date ranges. “This is the very last time you are ever going to see a P&L related to this data,” Alicia warns.

What’s Better and What’s Worse in the New System

Improvements:

Universal Availability: Custom Fields are now available across all subscription tiers.
Increased Fields: Simple Start and Essentials now have one custom field, Plus gets four, and Advanced continues with twelve.
Dropdown Functionality: The new custom field is a dropdown, which “helps eliminate data entry errors,” as Dan points out.
Form Flexibility: Unlike standard custom fields, this new one works on both sales forms AND expense forms.
Printing Options: You can choose whether to display the field on customer-facing documents.

Limitations:

No P&L Reporting: “The big heartache is that you cannot do a profit and loss report by custom field,” Alicia explains. This is a major functional loss for many users.
Banking Feed Limitations: “You cannot apply this new custom field from the banking feed,” notes Alicia. You’ll need to edit transactions after they’re created.
No Multiple Values: Unlike Tags, you can only select one value per Custom Field on a transaction.
No Bulk Assignment: Currently, there’s no way to apply Custom Fields to multiple transactions at once, though Intuit has said this feature is coming.

Recommendations for Moving Forward

If the Custom Fields approach doesn’t meet your needs, consider these options:

Consider Upgrading: “If you’re angry because your tags are gone, you probably need to be using the right tool for the job anyway,” suggests Alicia. “Classes are way more reportable… It might be worth upgrading to Plus.”

Use Multiple Custom Fields: If you’re on Plus or Advanced, you have access to more custom fields and can create separate fields for different tracking needs.

Spreadsheet Sync: Advanced users can leverage Spreadsheet Sync to manage custom field data, including retroactively applying values to past transactions.

Stay Alert for Improvements: Intuit has already announced that bulk assignment and adding Custom Fields to deposits are on their roadmap.

The Reality Check

As Dan puts it, “If you don’t use something, it is in jeopardy of going away,” bringing new meaning to “use it or lose it” in the software world.

For many users, Tags weren’t even on their radar. But for those who built creative workflows around them, this transition requires immediate action to preserve historical data and adapt to the new system.

If you need help with the migration process or want to discuss this change, you can reach out to Alicia and Dan at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.

Listen to the full episode for more details and insights about this important transition in QuickBooks Online.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

How many browser tabs do you have open just to run your accounting firm? If you’re like most modern practitioners, the answer might be “far too many.” From time tracking to e-signatures, invoicing to document sharing, each separate function tends to live in its own app. This “app fatigue” frustrates staff, drives up costs, and forces everyone to juggle multiple logins and browser tabs.

In a recent Earmark Expo webinar hosted by Blake Oliver, CPA, and David Leary—featuring Michael Salmon from Canopy—this issue of app overload took center stage. The panel discussed how modern practice management solutions are helping firms consolidate key functions, such as document management, task workflows, and client communication, into a single, unified platform. By reducing the need to stitch together a half-dozen stand-alone apps, unified solutions promise to free practitioners from the headache of endless browser tabs—without sacrificing cloud-based systems’ flexibility.

Why Are Firms Drowning in Apps?

Over the last decade, cloud technology has been seen as the solution for any time, anywhere, access to client data. But the “cloud” itself splintered into multiple tools—one for e-signatures, one for time tracking, another for document storage, yet another for proposals, and so on.

“Cloud solutions are definitely more flexible, and they solved a lot of problems for firms,” Oliver explains. “But we lost that all-in-one simplicity that older desktop suites used to provide. Instead, we replaced those solutions with six or seven specialized apps that don’t always talk to each other.” The result is a hodgepodge of siloed systems, each with its own subscription cost and learning curve.

The Comeback of Unified Practice Management

The good news? After years of fragmentation, the pendulum is swinging back toward unified practice management. Modern, cloud-based platforms combine core firm functions—like workflow, document sharing, e-signatures, billing, and even specialized features such as IRS transcript downloads—into a single ecosystem. Rather than forcing staff to bounce between multiple browser tabs, these tools consolidate everything under one login.

Michael Salmon, Senior Solutions Consultant at Canopy, highlights how these new practice management solutions address app fatigue. “There’s a direct integration with your email and calendar, so you never have to leave the system to schedule meetings or attach emails to tasks,” he explains. “Tasks, time tracking, billing, document management, e-signature—they’re all under one roof. That way, you’re not paying for five or six different subscriptions, nor do you have staff re-entering data.”

An Inside Look at Modern Features

While these capabilities highlight how modern platforms unify daily workflows, the next step is understanding what it takes to implement such solutions—and whether the cost and transition effort truly pay off for your firm.

1. Integrated Email & Calendar
Instead of flipping between Outlook or Gmail and your tasks, modern platforms pull your mailbox and calendar into the same screen. You can attach an email thread to a specific client project @-mention colleagues for internal discussions or launch a timer for billable work right from the email. This not only keeps all client communication in one place but also streamlines collaboration when multiple team members touch the same client.

2. Document Management & Client Portals
A single repository for all client documents—complete with clear privacy controls—removes the need for separate internal and external storage systems. “One of the biggest pain points we solved was having to create separate folder structures just to hide files from the client,” says Salmon. “Now you can mark an item as ‘visible’ or ‘private’ and keep everything in one folder. Clients can log into a custom-branded portal, see just the documents you’ve shared, sign them electronically, or upload files using the same portal.”

3. Workflow & Task Automation
Teams can create repeatable templates for engagements like 1040 prep or monthly bookkeeping. Each step in the process—requesting bank statements, reconciling accounts, and final reviews—can be built into a template with clear deadlines and staff assignments. Automated triggers (e.g., “Once the 1065 task is completed, create a 1040 task”) mean fewer manual handoffs and status-check emails. “It’s about letting the system manage the process so you can focus on the client,” Salmon notes.

4. Time Tracking & Billing
Time spent on tasks can be tracked through start-stop timers or recorded after the fact. Integrated billing converts that tracked time into invoices, which can be sent to the same portal for client payment. Because everything is connected, you reduce data entry and gain real-time visibility into WIP, outstanding invoices, and staff performance.

5. Tax Resolution & Specialized Tools
Firms looking to expand into more profitable services—such as tax resolution—can benefit from integrated modules that retrieve IRS transcripts and notices. “You can pull a client’s transcripts without leaving the platform, identify issues, generate forms, and keep everything organized with the rest of your workflow,” says Salmon. This single login for tax controversy work, e-signatures, and billing cuts down on even more overhead.

6. AI-Powered Assistance
Many modern solutions now embed AI to handle repetitive tasks and speed up communications. For example, you can draft email responses to client questions based on context or generate custom live dashboards by simply typing a question (“Show me my top-billed clients this quarter”).

What About Cost and Implementation?

One concern is cost. While an all-in-one platform may carry a monthly subscription per user, many firms find they’re actually saving money by replacing half a dozen (or more) separate systems. “If you’re paying for e-sign, file storage, workflow, and a handful of other apps separately, switching to an all-in-one platform often consolidates spend. Plus, your staff only has to learn one solution,” Salmon says.

Implementation can take a few weeks or months, depending on how many modules a firm adopts and how many years of documents and client data must be migrated. Providers like Canopy typically offer implementation specialists to help firms with data imports, template setup, and staff training. “Nobody wants to feel overwhelmed during adoption,” Salmon admits. “But once your data and clients are in one system, the day-to-day efficiency gains make it worthwhile.”

The Future: Efficiency Without Fragmentation

Unified, cloud-based practice management software restores the simplicity that desktop-era systems once provided—while adding the flexibility, mobility, and real-time collaboration capabilities that modern firms demand. By eliminating the need for countless browser tabs and apps, staff can stay focused on delivering client value rather than wrestling with technology.

“We don’t even call it ‘cloud’ anymore,” Oliver points out. “This is just how firms operate now. The difference is you no longer have to build your own Frankenstein’s monster of apps. You can get back to an all-in-one ecosystem but built for the realities of today’s accounting practice.”

If you’re curious to see exactly how an integrated solution works in real-time—email, tasks, billing, client requests, e-signatures, and more—watch the full Earmark Expo webinar featuring a hands-on demo of Canopy. You’ll see firsthand how unifying key functions can dramatically reduce the friction that comes with managing 50 separate apps.

QuickBooks Online Tags Retiring May 15: How to Migrate Your Data Now