I appreciate you for trying out the recommendation provided by my colleague, @KathyP1964. I'll share a way to help address this situation and have a copy of the item list available outside QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

You can consider using the Item Listing report and exporting it to an Excel file. This approach provides a more comprehensive overview of the active items in your inventory. I'll write down the steps and provide screenshot below:

1. Access your QuickBooks Desktop company.
2. Go to the Reports menu and select Report Center.
3. Select List and then locate Item Listing.
4. Click on it and then Customize button. You can filter it to show the active items only.
5. in the Columns, select Active Status and then go to the Filter section.
6. Select Active Status and toggle the Radio button beside Active.
7. Once done, click the OK button.

For visual reference, see the screenshot below.

Additionally, check out this article to help you on handling inventory items in QBDT: Add, edit, and delete items in QuickBooks Desktop.

To help you overcome any challenges you face while using the program, I invite you to leave a comment below. Your feedback is invaluable, and I’m here to assist you. Take care!