Reports FAQ
See the questions and answers below for information about Reports.
Why are my custom footer filters not being applied to scheduled reports?
Prior to 2021.2, only default report footer filters were applied to results generated for scheduled reports or reports executed in the background. Custom footer filters that you added to the report were not applied. Now, both custom and default report footer filters are used to generate the results.
This update only affects newly scheduled reports or larger reports that are executed in the background when you select the Alert me when ready option. Existing scheduled reports are not affected unless you create a new schedule for them. Additionally, if you want the next scheduled report to apply the selected footer filters, you must run the report first from the results page.
For information about how to add custom footer filters that appear when viewing report results, see Adding Custom Filters to a Report.
For information about scheduling a report, see Scheduling a Report.
Why am I receiving an error saying that I cannot run a report?
To ensure best performance, you are limited to running no more than two different reports at one time. If you attempt to run a third report when two reports are already running, you receive an error message that you cannot run the third report. You can do any of the following to run the report:
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Wait until one of the other reports has completed, then retry.
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Cancel one of the other reports, then retry.
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Save the report, then schedule it to be run later; its results can be sent to you in an email.
You cannot run more than one instance of the same report at one time. If you rerun a report that is already running, the first instance is cancelled.
See the following topics.
Why am I getting a message that I need to restrict my subsidiary view before I can run a report?
If you use NetSuite OneWorld, some reports support consolidation of results across multiple subsidiaries. You can run these reports to return results from more than one subsidiary at a time, and use the Subsidiary Context dropdown list in the footer to filter results to a single subsidiary or to a consolidated rollup of related subsidiaries.
Other reports do not support consolidation and can only return results for one subsidiary at a time. For these reports, you need to set a personal preference to restrict your subsidiary view to a single subsidiary before running the report. You can set this preference on the Restrict View subtab at Home > Set Preferences.
See the following topics.
How can I filter report results by periods or dates, and what is the difference between the two?
NetSuite enables you to display and filter report results either by date range, or by accounting period, depending on your setting for the Report By Period user preference. If you filter by date range, report records are selected by transaction date. If you filter by period, report records are selected by posting period.
Note that the Report by Period user preference is not available unless the Accounting Periods feature is enabled in your account, on the Accounting subtab at Setup > Company > Enable Features.
To set the Report by Period preference:
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Go to Home > Set Preferences.
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Click the Reporting/Search subtab.
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Under Reporting, in the Report by Period field, select from the following options:
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All Reports - All reports will be run by posting period.
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Financials Only - Only financial reports can be run by period.
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Never - All reports will be run by transaction dates instead of posting periods.
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4. Click Save.
To filter report results by date or period:
You can use the following methods to filter report results by date or period:
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Run a report, and on the report results page, select a date range or period from footer dropdown lists. Available dropdown lists may include Date, Period, From and To, As Of, or others, depending on the type of report. This filtering is used only for the current instance of the report. See Setting Report Footer Options.
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Customize a report in the Report Builder or Financial Report Builder to modify its date or period filters. You can either choose a Customize menu option or click the Customize button on the report results page, then make changes on the Filters page. The filters you save on this page persist each time you run the report. See Filtering Data on Reports and Financial Report Builder Filters Page.
See the following topics.
What is the difference between the Report Builder and the Financial Report Builder?
The Financial Report Builder is a report customization interface for financial statement reports only. NetSuite standard financial statement reports include the following:
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At Reports > Financial: Income Statement, Comparative Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Comparative Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow Statement
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At Reports > Banking/Budgeting: Budget Income Statement, Budget vs. Actual, and Cash Statement
The Report Builder is the customization interface for all other NetSuite reports.
Both the Financial Report Builder and Report Builder include pages where you can edit columns, filters, sorting, and more options.
The Financial Report Builder also includes an Edit Layout page where you can view and modify the grouping, ordering, and format of your financial statement's sections and rows. This page is not available in the Report Builder.
See the following topics.
Why are inactive classes, departments, and locations listed in the footer filters on my financial statements?
You may think that inactive classes, departments, and locations should not be available for selection in the Class, Department, and Location dropdown lists in the footer of your report results page. However, you may want to select these to see historical data and they should be included to maintain balance when the All option is selected.
See the following topics.
How can I create a matrix report?
The NetSuite standard reports provide subtotals and totals by rows only. The following methods are available for you to create a matrix report, meaning a report that aggregates results both by rows and by columns.
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You can create an ad hoc report with a matrix format. Go to Reports > New Report, select a metric, and on the New Report page, select the Matrix format and a column to use as the matrix dimension. See Creating a New Report.
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You can add column subtotals to a standard report after you have run it. Run the report, select a dimension from the Column dropdown list in the footer of the report results page, and click Refresh. The report now includes extra subtotal columns.
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The data for the selected dimension can be displayed in separate columns for each dimension value, or in a hierarchical manner, with child values grouped under parent values within the same columns. To display data hierarchically, select a (Hierarchy) option from the Column dropdown list.
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The selected column dimension does not get saved with the report, so you must select it each time you run the report.
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When you customize a financial statement, you can add column subtotals that persist each time you run the report. On the Financial Report Builder Edit Columns page, select a dimension from the View Columns By dropdown list.
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The data for the selected dimension can be displayed in separate columns for each dimension value, or in a hierarchical manner, with child values grouped under parent values within the same columns. To display data hierarchically, select a (Hierarchy) option in the View Columns By dropdown list.
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After you save your customized financial statement, the selected column dimension is saved and will be included each time you run the report.
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See the following topics.
Why has the running of a scheduled report suddenly stopped?
Either of the following circumstances can cause a scheduled report to stop running according to schedule:
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The report owner has been changed to a user who has not previously scheduled a report.
For the report to resume running according to schedule, the new owner needs to log in with the appropriate role and resave the report.
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The report owner no longer has login access to the NetSuite account, for example if the report owner has left the company.
For the report to resume running according to schedule, an account administrator must change the report owner, and that user must log in and resave the report.
See the following topics.
Can I add a formula field as a column in a a report?
Currently, you can only add a formula field as a report column by selecting from one of the following predefined formats:
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Sum: x+y
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Difference: x-y
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Percent Difference of X: ((x-y)/x)*100
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Percent Difference of Y: ((x-y)/y)*100
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Ratio: x/y
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Percent Ratio: (x/y)*100
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Multiply: x*y
These formulas use existing report columns as the x and y values. Reports currently do not support the addition of fields calculated through more complex, customized expressions, such as those that use SQL functions. Searches do support the use of these types of formulas for results and criteria fields.
See the following topics.
Are there size limits for report and search results?
Report results are truncated if they exceed the following row limitations. These limits are enforced for performance reasons.
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For most reports, results are limited to 25,000 rows.
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For the following reports, results are limited to 75,000 rows :
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Ad hoc reports
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A/R Aging
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Balance Sheet
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Budget Income Statement
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Budget vs. Actual
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Cash Flow Statement
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Cash Statement
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Comparative Balance Sheet
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Comparative Income Statement
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Current Inventory Snapshot
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Deferred Revenue by Customer
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General Ledger
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Income Statement
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Inventory Valuation
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Pipeline by Sales Rep (summary only)
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Revenue by Customer
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Revenue Recognition Forecast
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Sales by Customer
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Sales by Item (summary only)
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Sales Orders by Customer
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Sales Orders by Item (summary only)
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Scheduled Deferred Revenue
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Search results have a limit of 10 MB. When exporting to a CSV file, this is equivalent to approximately 20,000 rows and 50 columns of data. If your results exceed these limits, try adding or modifying the existing criteria used in the search. For example, you can try limiting the date range used to generate the results.
If these limits are hampering your ability to access the data you need, you can try filtering report or search data. You also may want to consider purchasing the ability to access NetSuite data through SuiteAnalytics Connect.
See the following topics.