QuickBooks Online Tips and Tricks

Since I told you about some of the latest updates to QuickBooks Online (QBO) in my last article, I thought this might be a good time to go over a few tricks that I’ve learned along the way. Some of them I’ve been using for years, and some are new to me.

Using Multiple Windows: This is one that I am asked about often, and see in quite a few of the online forums. By using CTRL + N (or, on a Mac, CMD + N), you are able to open a new window. There are different results, depending on the browser that you are using.

If you’re using Internet Explorer, you’ll already be logged into a QBO screen. With Firefox and Chrome, you’ll have to type the QBO URL into the address bar, but you won’t need to enter your username and password. Another option, and the one that I use often, is to open a new tab in the current browser window. Just right click on the tab you’re in, and then click duplicate.

I know, I know – the first thing everyone says is: “But what if I need to see reports side by side?”. When I need that, I just pull the tab out into it’s own window, and when I’m done, I put it back. Having used all of the browsers with QBO, I’ve found that Chrome handles this best.

Working with Multiple Companies: This is a new one to me, and I love it. Before, the only way to do this was to use different browsers: Open Company A in Chrome and Company B in Internet Explorer. This bugged me because I’m not a huge IE fan. At all.

To get around this, you need to make use of Profiles in Chrome or Firefox. Once you add an additional user, you can open up a browser window for each user and login to QBO separately. I love this, since I love Chrome (and QBO really does seem to run faster in it). I’m still getting used to it, but so far I think it’s great.

QBO in the Chrome App Store: At first, I thought: so what? I usually just type in qbonline.com into my browser and I’m off and running when I login to QuickBooks Online. You’re probably all thinking the same thing: wouldn’t clicking one big fat icon be easier than typing in the URL? Um. Yes.

See that? You just click on it. Soooo much easier.

And you have options as to how you want it to open:

You have it open as a regular tab, a pinned tab (this is just a little bitty tab that only has the favicon, and no text) or in this case, full screen for my Mac.

This is what a pinned tab looks like – isn’t it cute?

Find it in the Chrome App Store.

Document Management for QBO (well, sort of): This is absolutely brilliant, and I would love to take the credit for it. But I can’t, so I’ll try not to dwell on it. QuickBooks Online doesn’t have an integrated system to attach documents to transactions (or accounts, or customers, etc.). You could use something like www.SOSInventory.com to do it, but there’s a FREE work around that I also found out about recently. GOOGLE DOCS. Considering that I use Google Docs all the time – to share data with clients (I have a time card that I use for one of my payroll clients), budgets (I use a Google Doc spreadsheet to keep track of our household’s monthly budgets), file share/transfer (I can upload a file that’s too big to email to send to a client, then share it with them), I’m so bummed I didn’t think of this. But I need to let it go, right? And just get on with the telling of what it is? In the words of my fellow www.RadioFreeQB.com host, Woody Adams: “right on”.

You can upload the document to Google Docs, where it will have a unique web address. You can change share settings to anyone with the link or specific users. In the example below I chose anyone with a link:

You can always make it private, and then each person accessing it would need a Google account to open the document. An example of how it can be used would be on an Estimate – maybe you’ve scanned the signed approval from your customer and uploaded it. You can enter the link in the memo field (the customer doesn’t see this) and have quick access to the document from QBO:

That’s it for this week. I have more to share, but I think this is a good start!

Related posts:

1. Have You Used QuickBooks Online Lately?
2. QuickBooks Online Data Access and Security
3. Intuit QuickBooks Online Accountant
4. Quick Tips to Increase Your Website Traffic
5. Manage Payroll from your iPhone or iPad with Intuit Online Payroll Mobile

Tags: QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online

Category: Expert's Corner, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Tips/Tricks, Stacy's Online Solutions