# Hide Zero-Balance Accounts on Your QuickBooks General Ledger, in Google Sheets

Open a Modern General Ledger and it hides zero-balance accounts. Save it as a custom report and reopen it. The zero-balance accounts are back, with no Non-zero setting to keep them out. The old 'Show: Non-zero' option is gone, so every saved GL carries empty accounts you have to strip out by hand.

## Why this happens in QuickBooks

In the modern reports, the standard General Ledger applies Non-zero behavior dynamically, but a saved custom report only keeps its saved settings, and there is no setting to save the Non-zero filter. QuickBooks support has confirmed this is how modern reports work.

In Google Sheets, hiding empty accounts is a one-time filter that sticks, and refreshes cleanly.

## How to solve it

### 1. Pull the General Ledger into Google Sheets

Bring the GL in with Retriever, every account and its activity.

### 2. Filter out zero-balance accounts

Filter to rows with activity (or a non-zero balance) so empty accounts drop off.

### 3. Hide any other rows you don't want

Drop subtotals or accounts that don't apply, the same way.

### 4. Refresh without losing the filter

Scheduled refreshes update the numbers while your Non-zero view stays put, no re-stripping each month, and no fragile export script to maintain.

## FAQ

### Why does my saved General Ledger include zero-balance accounts?

Modern reports apply the Non-zero filter only on the standard report, not on saved custom reports, and there is no option to save it. Filtering in Google Sheets keeps them out for good.

### Does this replace my Office Script formatting?

It can. Pulling into Sheets and filtering there removes the need to loop through exported rows to strip accounts, so your automation gets simpler and less brittle.