Wait, wait wait! Heck yeah we do!!
And I’m here to set the record straight folks, there ARE keyboard shortcuts, the ones we all know and have loved (and used, like, every second, amiright?) from
Many of you may know that historically, the keyboard shortcuts in QBO have been limited to simple things like opening new windows (CTRL + N), using ↑↓ or tab/tab+shift key to navigate around a page. Clicking the space bar should check a box for you as well.
What you may not know is that there are quite a few shortcuts that are available for those hard-core power users. And they work whether you’re in QBO Classic:
Dates
Date shortcuts (you use these when you’re in a date field):
- Today: T
- Advance by 1 day: + (plus key)
- Go back by 1 day: - (minus key)
The following refer to whatever date is showing in the date field:
- First day of the week W
- Last day of the week K
- First day of the month M
- Last day of the month H
- First day of the year Y
- Last day of the year R
You can also open the calendar icon by pressing ALT + ↓.
Calculations
You can also let QBO do math for you. When you’re entering transactions into any rate and/or amount field, you simply treat it as if it were a simple calculator, using your keyboard to add (+), subtract (-), multiply (*) or divide (/):
Drop-Down Lists
I’ve heard many long-time desktop users that begin using QBO mention that it takes too long for them to scroll down a list when choosing a client, account, item or vendor. One thing I recommend is to just start typing the name in the field:
Or you can use ALT + ↓ to open the list, then ↑ or ↓ to move through the list items. If you don’t feel like opening the entire list, you can just scroll through the items in the text box, you can use CTRL + ↑ or CTRL + ↑.
If the list has sub items, again, you can just start typing the name of the list if you know it, and then use ALT + ↓ to open the list of sub items and use ↑ or ↓ to scroll through the lists.
Registers/Journal Entries
To save any form, use ATL + S instead of clicking the save button. Chrome and Firefox may require ALT+SHIFT+S, and Mac users may need to use OPTION + CONTROL + S.
If you’re in a register, you can press ALT + E to edit. One note: I found that on my Mac, this is hit or miss. Sometimes OPTION + CONTROL + E would bring up a transaction to edit, and other times it would bring up the new Estimate form. It would open up the transaction to edit the first time, but if I saved/closed it and tried again with the same transaction, it would open the Estimate screen.
Probably the quickest way to move back and forth from one transaction to another in a register would be to use the ↑ or ↓ or arrows. The same goes for moving between lines in a journal entry.
Miscellaneous
There are times when QBO will give you a pop-up message (I’ve found this is more prevalent in Classic QBO), if there are any underlined letters in the button text, you can press ALT + that underlined letter to quickly respond to these.
If you have Custom Transaction Numbers turned on in your preferences/settings, then you can use + to increase the number by 1 and use – to decrease the number by 1. You can also type T in the reference number field to mark a check, paycheck or bill payment To Print.
By now, I would imagine you’re thinking: “But Stacy – hello?? Where are the OTHER shortcuts? The ones that we use to get stuff done? The ones we use to get that stuff done FAST?”
Behold, the keyboard shortcuts in New QBO!
To bring up a little pop-up with a list of your shortcuts, hit CTRL + ALT + ? (Command + Alt + ? for Mac). It’s pretty sweet:
To break it down, you’ll use CTRL + ALT/OPTION plus the following to get this stuff DONE!
Note the big ones up there: Invoice, check, help and search. One that I LOVE is the Save & Send. If you have multiple transactions to enter and send, this one makes it go so much faster!!
Another SUPER cool trick? You can bookmark pages – reports, registers, customer page, and as long as you’re logged in, you can access those so quickly:
It’s so easy. If you’re using Chrome, here’s how. Open the page in QBO you want to save, the click the little star in the URL field, edit what you want the bookmark to be named and click done.
Now you’ll see it right on the Chrome bookmarks bar:
If you don’t want it on the bookmarks bar (most likely not, if you’re an
Now you can create a folder for each client to put on your bookmarks bar:
And you can drag and drop any that aren’t in folders right to the new folder so they’re all in one place, rather than having to open each and re-save:
(And yes, that’s a real bookmark, the NickJr. I have a 5 year old.) : )
I’ve had more than one long-time desktop user state the lack of these shortcuts was the ONLY reason keeping them from recommending QBO to their clients. Hopefully this changes minds for a few people. Especially that badass bookmarking trick. That’s something you can’t do in desktop. : )