# How to Use the Cash Flow Planner in QuickBooks Online

The Cash flow planner is the forward-looking cash tool in QuickBooks Online: it charts your balance ahead of today and lets you add money you expect to come in or go out that QuickBooks does not know about yet. The hard part is finding it, because it is no longer linked from the menus. Here is how to open it and what it does.

## Steps

### 1. Open the Cash flow planner

Go to app.qbo.intuit.com/app/cashflowplanner while signed in to your company. As of October 2026 the planner is not linked from the left navigation, the Cash flow overview page, the home page cash flow card, or the QuickBooks search box, which returns only Cash flow overview when you type "cash flow planner". The page itself still works. That is why this guide starts with a URL rather than a menu path. The page opens on a Cash flow chart with a Cash balance and Money in/out toggle, an Overdue Transactions panel, and a table of planned items.

### 2. Add an expected payment or expense

Select Add item and a row opens in the table. Set the date, type a description, enter the amount, and choose Money in or Money out. The One-time and Repeating toggle beside them covers something that recurs, such as rent or a retainer. Select Save and the item joins the projection. Use the Upcoming and In the past filter above the table to switch between what is still ahead and what has already landed.

## FAQ

### Why can I not find the Cash flow planner in the menu?

Because it is not there. In the QuickBooks Online Plus company we tested in October 2026, Financial planning in the left navigation lists only Cash flow overview and Budgets, the overview page has no link through to the planner, and typing "cash flow planner" into the QuickBooks search box returns Cash flow overview instead. Going straight to /app/cashflowplanner still loads it.

### What is the difference between the Cash flow planner and Cash flow overview?

The planner is where you add expected money in and out and see a projection you can edit. The overview is a read-only dashboard of balances, overdue invoices, and overdue bills. They share the same cash flow chart, which is part of why they are easy to confuse.

### Is the planner the same as the Statement of Cash Flows?

No, and they point in opposite directions. The Statement of Cash Flows is an accounting report of cash that already moved, split into operating, investing, and financing activities. The planner is an estimate of cash still to come, and QuickBooks labels it as provided for informational purposes only.

### Why does my projection look flat?

A projection needs something to project. With no upcoming invoices or bills and no items added by hand, the planner has nothing ahead of today to draw. The Overdue Transactions panel is the usual culprit: items with a date in the past are not counted as upcoming until you give them a new expected date.