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ongratulations on deciding to use QuickBooks to track your business finances. For many of you, QuickBooks is the first computer-based accounting system you’ve ever used, and it’s possibly the first time you’ve been charged with “managing the books” for a business.

QuickBooks is more than just a bookkeeping program. If set up and maintained properly, QuickBooks will likely become one of your company’s most valuable assets. Not only will you use it to track your bank balances and what your customers owe you, but you’ll also refer to it as you make important decisions such as hiring more employees, dropping a product line, or even selling your business.

In Part One of this book, you’ll learn how to gather the information you need to get started so you can create and start using your company file. You’ll also gain an understanding of what steps are most important, what you can do on your own, and when you may need help to ensure that your file is set up right from the start. Part One also includes chapters containing instructions and hints about putting all the important elements into your QuickBooks system, like customers, vendors, general ledger information, and the other lists that contain data to help you track your finances more accurately.

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n this chapter: • What to do ahead of time • Understand a general ledger • Open QuickBooks • Create a company file • Get to know the QuickBooks window

Chapter 1

Using QuickBooks for the First Time

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When set up correctly, your QuickBooks file will contain your business’s key financial records, which you will refer to time and time again. When you first open the program, the EasyStep Interview launches, prompting you to tell QuickBooks what it needs to know about your business so that it can, in turn, give you the tools and information you need to run your business. Be prepared; this process has a lot of tasks to wade through, but the good news is it’s a one-time-only job.

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What to Do Ahead of Time If you’re new to QuickBooks, before you work in the software you have to do three things: • Decide on the starting date for your QuickBooks system.

• Find all the detailed records, notes, memos, and other items that you’ve been

using to track your financial numbers.

• Create a list that contains the beginning balances (aka an opening trial balance) of things like your bank account, loans outstanding, and other assets that your business owns so you can tell QuickBooks about them. Refer to Chapter 8 for details about creating an opening trial balance for your new QuickBooks file.

If you don’t prepare your records properly and as a result enter incorrect information when setting up your QuickBooks file, the accuracy of the reports that you rely upon to manage your business may be affected. It’s not that you can’t change things in QuickBooks after the fact; it’s just that if you start with less than accurate data, you sometimes can’t figure out which information was off to start with. And if you can’t trace the origin of a problem, you run the risk of the problem becoming permanent. So get out that shoebox, manila envelope, or a printout of the spreadsheet you’ve been using to keep track of your business so far. Following the steps outlined in the next few chapters will help give QuickBooks the right foundation for all the calculations it will need to perform for you as well as all the reports you’ll need to generate to keep an eye on your business and file your tax returns.

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Deciding on the Star t Date The start date is the date on which you begin entering your bookkeeping records into QuickBooks. Transactions may have occurred before this date (these are historical records and some of them must be entered into QuickBooks) but, from this date on, your transactions go through QuickBooks.

This is not a trivial decision, since the date you decide on can affect how much work it’s going to be to set up your QuickBooks company file. For example, if you choose a starting date in September, every transaction that occurred in your business prior to that date has to be entered into your QuickBooks system before you start entering September transactions (although you can enter some numbers

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in bulk instead of entering each individual transaction). If it’s March, this decision is a lot easier because the work attached to your QuickBooks setup is less onerous.

Here’s what to think about as you make this decision: • The best way to start a new computer-based accounting system is to have every

individual transaction in the system—every invoice you sent to customers, every check you wrote to vendors, every payroll check you gave an employee.

• The second best way to start a new computer-accounting software system is to enter running totals of categories (general ledger accounts) of the transactions that made up each total. Then enter any open transactions (unpaid customer invoices and vendor bills), up to a certain date (your starting date), and then after that every single transaction goes into the system.

If it’s the first half of the year when you read this, make your start date the first day of the year and enter everything you’ve done so far this year. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. When you start entering transactions in QuickBooks, such as customer invoices, you just pick the customer, enter a little information, and move on to the next invoice. Of course, you have to enter all your customers, but you’d have to do that even if you weren’t entering every transaction for the current year.

If it’s the middle of the year, you can choose either option. If you have a lot of transactions every month, you might want to enter large opening balances and then enter real transactions as they occur, beginning with the start date.

If it’s late in the year as you read this, perhaps October or November or later, and you usually send a lot of invoices to customers, write a lot of checks, and do your own payroll, think about waiting until the new year to start using QuickBooks.

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Gathering the Information You Need You have to have quite a bit of information available when you first start to use QuickBooks, and it’s much better to gather it all together now, before you start working in QuickBooks, rather than having to locate each piece of information one by one during the setup.

The work you have to do to actually enter your opening balances in QuickBooks is covered step by step in Chapter 8, while the discussions in this section are devoted to helping you assemble the information you need.

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Cash Balances You have to tell QuickBooks what the balance is for each bank account you use in your business. The balance being referred to here is the reconciled balance and not simply the balance from your check register. And it should be a reconciled balance as of the starting date you’re using in QuickBooks.

If you haven’t balanced your checkbooks against the bank statements for a while, now would be a good time to do it. In addition to the reconciled balance and the

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statement itself, you need to have a list of the dates and the amounts (both deposits in transit and checks) of the transactions that haven’t yet cleared.

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Customer Balances If any customer owes you money as of your starting date, you have to tell QuickBooks about it. Enter each unpaid customer invoice, using the real, original dates for each invoice. Those dates must be earlier than your QuickBooks start date. This means you have to assemble all the information about unpaid customer invoices, including such details as how much of each invoice was for services, for items sold, for shipping, and for sales tax. To learn how to set up a customer, refer to Chapter 3.

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Vendor Balances The vendor balances (the money you owe as of your start date) are treated much like customer balances. You basically have the same chores facing you regarding any unpaid bills you owe to vendors, as they also should be entered into QuickBooks using their original dates. Chapter 4 covers what you need to know about setting up and using vendors.

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Asset Balances Besides your bank accounts, you have to know the balance of all your assets. You’ll need to know the current value and accumulated depreciation for fixed assets. For the accounts receivable balance, as you enter your open customer balances QuickBooks will be creating that number automatically. Chapter 8 provides stepby-step instructions on how to enter these important balances in QuickBooks.

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Liability Balances Get all the information about your liabilities together. While the open vendor bills you enter determine your accounts payable balance automatically, you’ll need to know the current balance of any loans or mortgages. If there are unpaid withholding amounts from payroll, they must be entered (but this is definitely something that’s smarter to pay instead of entering as an open liability). Chapter 8 provides step-bystep instructions on how to enter these important balances in QuickBooks.

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Payroll Information If you do the payroll instead of using a payroll service, you’ll need to know everything about each employee: social security number, all the information that goes into determining tax status (federal, state, and local), and which deductions are taken for health or pension. You have all this information, of course; you just have to get it together. If your employees are on salary, you’ve probably been

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repeating the check information every payday, with no need to look up these items.

Dig up the W-4 forms and all your notes about who’s on what deduction plan.

You also need to know which payroll items you have to track: salary, wages, federal deductions, state deductions (tax, SUI, SDI), local income tax deductions, benefits, pension, and any other deductions (garnishments, for example). And that’s not all—you also have to know the name of the vendor to whom these withholding amounts are remitted (government tax agencies, insurance companies, and so on).

Running payroll in QuickBooks is covered in Chapter 17.

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Inventory Information You need to know the name you want to assign to every inventory item you carry, and, of particular importance, how much you paid for each item and how many of each item you have in stock as of the starting date. QuickBooks needs these two key pieces of information in order to keep an accurate inventory valuation for you. It is also a good time to be thinking about any other information you want to track for each of the items you carry in inventory. For example, is color an important trait or does your supplier track the part using a different part number? You’ll learn more about inventory in Chapter 7.

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Understanding the General Ledger The general ledger is simply a list of accounts (you can also think about them as categories), and in QuickBooks it’s called the chart of accounts. For instance, when you deposit money into your bank, there’s an account named Bank (which, of course, you can name to match the name of your actual bank), and you post the money to that account. All of your postings to the chart of accounts make up your general ledger, which is why you need to put together a list of your accounts, including assets, liabilities, income, and expenses, ahead of time.

All accounting software is based on a double-entry system of bookkeeping. This means that for every entry you make, there must be an equal and opposite entry made, and QuickBooks makes that entry for you automatically. Opposite refers to the other side of the ledger, and the ledger sides are labeled Debit and Credit.

DEBIT

CREDIT

ASSETS LIABILITIES EQUITY INCOME EXPENSES

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Assets An asset is something you own, such as • • • •

Money in your bank accounts (sometimes called cash on hand) Money owed to you by your customers (called accounts receivable) Equipment, furniture, and so on (called fixed assets) The inventory you stock for resale if you are a distributor or manufacturer (called inventory assets)

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Liabilities A liability is something that you may be holding but does not belong to you. It is something you owe to someone else, such as • Money you owe your vendors and suppliers (called accounts payable) • Sales tax you have collected and must turn over to the state (called current

liabilities) • Money withheld from employees’ pay that you must turn over to government

agencies (also part of current liabilities) • Outstanding loan balances (called long term liabilities) •

Equity Your equity is your net worth and is made up of the following: • The capital invested in your business (called capital) • The capital you’ve withdrawn from the business (if your business isn’t a

corporation) • The profit (or loss) including accumulated earnings in prior years (called

retained earnings) •

Income Income, also referred to as revenue, is made up of the following: • Money you collect when you sell products • Fees you collect for services • Income derived from interest •

Expenses Expenses are the monies you spend. You use the chart of accounts to divide your expenses by category (account) for the purpose of meeting requirements on tax

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returns and also for your own analysis. Generally, expenses are divided into two main categories: cost of goods sold (COGS) and general and administrative expenses.

Cost of goods sold is usually tracked for the following categories: • Cost of raw materials for manufacturing • Cost of goods you resell in a wholesale or retail business • Cost of materials consumed/sold in a service business

General and administrative expenses include • • • • •

Overhead (utilities, rent, insurance, and so on) Office supplies Payroll Services you purchase Taxes

As you enter transactions in QuickBooks, you don’t have to worry about the equal and opposite posting. QuickBooks takes care of the “other side” automatically. (QuickBooks knows what the other side is because you indicate that information when you set up your company file.)

For example, if you sell goods or services to a customer and send an invoice and you don’t have the money yet, the invoice transaction screen asks you to fill in the name of the customer, the product or service you sold, and the amount you’re charging. QuickBooks posts the amount to accounts receivable (on the Debit side of the ledger) and to Income (on the Credit side of the ledger) and also posts a record of the transaction in the customer’s account. Later, when the customer pays the invoice, QuickBooks credits that amount to the accounts receivable account (showing that the invoice is now paid) and debits (increases) your bank account for the amount of the payment.

On the other hand, if you collect the cash at the time of the sale, the accounts receivable account isn’t needed. Instead, your bank account receives a debit posting for the sale, which has the effect of increasing the bank balance, while the income account receives a credit posting, which has the effect of increasing it as well.

Remember, you’re using QuickBooks and it knows accounting, so you don’t have to be an expert in the language of accounting. In other words, don’t worry if this “debit” and “credit” stuff still isn’t crystal clear to you.

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Other Useful Information to Have Available Find last year’s tax return. QuickBooks is going to want to know which tax forms you use. Also, there’s usually other information on the tax forms you might need (such as depreciation amounts).

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Also, if you have a loan or mortgage, have the amortization schedule handy. You can figure out the year-to-date (the “date” is the QuickBooks starting date) principal and interest amounts.

N O T E : Read Chapter 8 for detailed instructions on setting up all your opening account balances.

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You’re now ready to set up and configure your QuickBooks company file! Let’s get started.

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Launching the Software The QuickBooks installation program places a shortcut to the software on your desktop, and that’s the easiest way to open QuickBooks. If you have other software windows covering the desktop, you can use the Start menu, where you’ll find QuickBooks in the Programs menu. Place your pointer on the QuickBooks listing in the Programs menu and choose QuickBooks from the submenu.

T I P : For even faster access to QuickBooks, copy or move the desktop shortcut to your Quick Launch toolbar, which requires only a single click to open software. Right-drag the shortcut icon onto the Quick Launch toolbar, and then choose Move Here (or Copy Here, if you want a shortcut in both places). If you’re a Windows 7 user you may want to pin QuickBooks to the Start menu (right-click the icon and select Pin To Start Menu).

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When QuickBooks launches for the first time, the Installer Help window opens and provides links to help you get started with creating a new company file, updating an existing file, setting up QuickBooks for multi-user access, and other useful information. On subsequent launches, the No Company Open window opens, giving you the following options for starting to work in QuickBooks.

Create A New Company Select this option to begin the process of creating a company file. All of the steps involved in this task are covered in the next section.

Open Or Restore An Existing Company Select this option if you’re upgrading from a previous version of QuickBooks. Go through the windows in the Open Or

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Restore Company Wizard to select your company file. QuickBooks offers to upgrade the file to your new version. Place a check mark in the I Understand That My Company File Will Be Updated To This New Version Of QuickBooks box to accept the offer. QuickBooks then requires that you make a backup of your file in its current version. When the backup is complete, the file is converted to QuickBooks 2011, and you can begin working.

C A U T I O N : If you’re working in a network environment and you installed QuickBooks 2011 as an upgrade to a previous version, upgrade QuickBooks on the computer that holds the company data file first. Then upgrade QuickBooks on the other computers.

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Open A Sample File Click this option to display a list of sample companies you can explore and play with to get familiar with QuickBooks. One company is designed for product-based businesses, the other for service-based businesses.

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Creating Your Company File For now, choose Create A New Company, because that’s what this chapter is all about. The EasyStep Interview window opens to begin the process of creating your company file (see Figure 1-1).

QuickBooks offers three ways to create this file: • Use the EasyStep Interview (a wizard in which you move through the pages,

answering questions and providing information).

• Create your company file manually by skipping the wizard.

• Use the Convert Data option to create a new file based on an existing Office Accounting, Small Business Accounting, Peachtree Accounting, or Quicken file.

To use this method, from the File menu select Utilities | Convert. Select the program that you want to convert from and follow the onscreen directions.

The first two methods are covered in this chapter, starting with the EasyStep Interview.

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Using the EasyStep Interview Click Start Interview to begin the wizard that helps you create your company file.

As with all wizards, you click Next to move through the windows.

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The EasyStep Interview takes you on a walk through the processes involved in setting up your company file.

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Entering Company Information To begin, QuickBooks needs basic information about your company (see Figure 1-2).

Notice that the information about your company name has two entry fields. The first field is for the real company name, the one you do business as. The second field, for your company’s legal name, is optional and is used only if the legal name of your company differs from the company name you use for doing business. For instance, your company may do business as WeAreWidgets, but your legal or corporate name might be WAW, Inc. Enter the company tax ID number. If you have a federal employer ID number (EIN), it’s a nine-digit number in the format XX-YYYYYYY. If you don’t have an EIN, enter your social security number.

You have a tax ID number if you have employees, and you may have one if you have a business bank account (many banks require this, although some banks merely ask for a copy of a fictitious name registration certificate and will accept your social security number instead of a federal ID).

If you are a sole proprietor, using your social security number for business purposes, you should apply for a federal ID number. This helps you separate your

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Enter basic information about your business.

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business and personal finances by using the EIN for business transactions and maintaining a separate bank account in your business name. Additionally, because you should be thinking in terms of business growth, you’re going to need an EIN eventually to pay subcontractors, consultants, or employees. Get it now and avoid the rush.

Enter the contact information (address, telephone, and so on). This data is used on the transactions you print (such as invoices), so enter this data as you want those elements to appear on printed documents. For example, you may want to display your telephone number as AAA.BBB.CCCC or (AAA) BBB-CCCC. Click Next when you’ve filled in your company data.

Selecting the Type of Business In the next window, select the industry that matches the type of business you have (see Figure 1-3). If you don’t see an exact match for your business type, choose one that comes close.

Selecting Your Legal Entity Type The next window displays the various types of legal entities for businesses, such as proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and so on. Select the one that matches the way your business is organized.

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Find the type of business that matches yours.

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If you’re not sure, ask your accountant, or find a copy of the business income tax you filed last year (unless this is your first year in business) and match the form number to the list in the window. If you can’t find the information, select Other/ None. You can change it later in the Company Information dialog accessed from the Company menu. QuickBooks uses this information to attach tax line information to all your accounts that affect your taxes. If you use an Intuit tax preparation program, this information can then be used to prepare a tax return for your business.

Configuring Your Fiscal Year In the next window, enter the first month of your fiscal year. QuickBooks enters January as the default entry, but if you’re not using a calendar year, select the appropriate month from the drop-down list.

Setting Up the Administrator The next window asks you for an administrator password. It’s a good idea to create a password to limit access to your company file and to prevent anyone who gets

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near your computer from spying on your financial information especially if you plan on storing customer credit card information. New PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Security Standard) compliance standards also require a complex password if you are storing customer credit card information in QuickBooks.

If multiple users will access the file simultaneously (on a network), user names are required (and each should have a password).

However, you can wait until after you’ve finished the EasyStep Interview and implement the feature later, when you can concentrate on the task and make notes about the passwords.

N O T E : User logins and passwords let you place restrictions on users and the types of transactions they can work on or the type of information they can see. Those features are covered in Chapter 26.

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Saving Your Company File The next window explains that you’re about to save your company file. Click Next to see the Filename For New Company dialog, which is ready to save the file using a filename based on the company name you’ve entered. Just click Save to use that filename. Or, if you prefer, you can change the name of the file (especially if your company name is long or complicated). It takes a few seconds for QuickBooks to save the company file and set up all the files for the company.

T I P : It’s a good idea to use a filename that hints at your company name, instead of choosing a filename such as Myfiles. Then, if you start another business, you can choose another specific filename for your new venture. Of course, you may end up using QuickBooks for your personal financial records, in which case you’ll want a specific filename for that, too.

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By default, QuickBooks saves your company file in a subfolder under the Documents subfolder.

Most experienced users find it better to create a folder on your hard drive for your QuickBooks data (for instance, C:\QBDataFiles). This makes it easier to find and back up your data.

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T I P : If you run QuickBooks on a network, or another user works in QuickBooks on your computer, make sure the folder you create for your data has permissions set properly—the Everyone group must be given Full Control. To learn more about setting up QuickBooks in a multi-user environment, select QuickBooks Help from the Help menu and in the Search pane type in the words multi-user.

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Customizing Your Company File The ensuing wizard windows provide a series of choices and options about the way you do business. For example, you’re asked what you sell (services, products, or both), whether you charge sales tax, whether you use estimates, and so on. The questions are clearly stated and easy to answer. You don’t have to perform any setup tasks if you answer Yes; for example, if you answer Yes when you’re asked if you have employees, you don’t have to create employee information. You can do all of that later.

Essentially, the wizard is setting configuration options for you, but you can set any of those options for yourself at any time in the future. Information about the options you need to perform certain tasks is found throughout this book, in the appropriate chapters.

T I P : Before filling in your answer for your start date, be sure to read the information found earlier in this chapter about this topic.

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Creating the Char t of Accounts The Review Income And Expense Accounts window lets you set up the chart of accounts, which is a list of accounts you’ll use to post transactions.

The wizard displays the income and expense accounts it has established for your company, based on the responses you made to the interview question regarding your type of business (see Figure 1-4).

You can select or deselect specific accounts if you know you need or don’t need any of the accounts listed. However, it may be easier to go through that process later. You’ll need additional accounts in your chart of accounts (assets, liabilities, and so on, in addition to other income and expense accounts your accountant recommends), but it’s easier to add them after you’ve finished this company setup task (setting up your chart of accounts is covered in Chapter 2).

That’s it; you’re finished with the basics of creating your QuickBooks company file. QuickBooks now displays the QuickBooks Setup window. Skip to the section

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You can select or deselect accounts now, or wait until you’ve begun using QuickBooks.

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“The QuickBooks Setup” later in this chapter to learn about continuing the work of building your file and to get introduced to the other elements you’ll see when you’re using the software.

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Performing a Manual Setup If you click Skip Interview in the first EasyStep Interview window, the Skip Interview dialog opens, and you can enter the basic information quickly (see Figure 1-5).

Click Next to select the type of business entity you used to create your company, which also tells QuickBooks the type of tax return you file. QuickBooks uses this information to attach information to all your accounts about tax lines on tax returns and to create the appropriate type of equity accounts.

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Enter your company information in the Skip Interview window.

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In the next window, enter the first month of your fiscal year. Most small businesses use a calendar year, so the default selection of January is probably appropriate. If you operate on a noncalendar fiscal year, select the first month from the drop-down list.

In the next window, select the industry that comes closest to describing your business. QuickBooks uses this information to install some appropriate accounts in your chart of accounts.

Follow the prompts to save your company file. Click the Finish button to complete this part of the setup.

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The QuickBooks Setup After you’ve completed your work in the EasyStep Interview you’ll be brought directly to the QuickBooks Setup wizard. From here, you have the option of using customized list import grids designed to help simplify the task of getting your list

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information into your new company file. Select the Add button next to the list type that you want to enter. QuickBooks will tell you about any “fixes” that need to be made to the information you entered into a grid prior to import Ill 1-1

T I P : Avoid filling in an opening balance for any accounts you create during the QuickBooks Setup. Instead, work with your accountant (or your checkbook register) to enter all your opening balances by posting their detailed information into their appropriate account register. You learn how to create an opening trial balance in Chapter 8.

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The Quick Start Center If you prefer to start exploring your file now and work on your lists at a later time, click the Start Working link at the bottom of the window. This will open the Quick Start Center, which is a simplified view of the regular QuickBooks Home page. It is also where you can access training videos and other resources that will help prepare you for the important tasks you’ll be completing in your QuickBooks file.

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If you click the X in the upper-right corner of the Quick Start window, the window doesn’t close, it merely moves to the right side of the Home page, where it is easily accessible if you need it at any time. Just click the Quick Start Center button on the Home page to return to this window.

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Basic QuickBooks Window Elements By default, the QuickBooks software window has the following elements: • Title bar, which displays the name of your company • Menu bar, which contains all the commands for working in QuickBooks • Icon Bar, which contains buttons for quick access to oft-used functions (see the

section “Customizing the Icon Bar,” later in this chapter, to learn how to customize the Icon Bar) •

Home Page The Home page has links and icons you use to access the features and functions you need to run your business in QuickBooks. The Home page window is divided into sections to make it easy to find icons and see the workflow those icons represent.

The Home page is dynamic; that is, the icons and workflow arrows it contains change as you enable the various features available in QuickBooks. For example, if you enable inventory tracking, QuickBooks adds icons in the Vendors section for inventory-related tasks.

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QuickBooks Centers QuickBooks centers are windows in which information is displayed about specific areas of your company. You can see current data, analyze that data, and perform tasks. The following centers are available: • • • • • • • •

Customer Center Vendor Center Employee Center Report Center Online Banking Center Collections Center Doc Center App Center

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You can open any center by clicking its icon. In addition, the Home page sections for Vendors, Customers, and Employees have an icon on the left edge that opens the appropriate center when clicked.

Customer Center The Customer Center holds everything you’d ever need to know about your customers. It’s where QuickBooks stores the list of customers and all the information about each customer; it’s also where the Collections Center is located.

You can choose the specific information you want to view by changing the options in the drop-down lists. You can also perform tasks using the buttons at the top of the Customer Center window. Information about using and customizing the Customer Center is in Chapter 3.

Vendor Center As with the Customer Center, the Vendor Center makes it easy to view detailed information about vendors. You can learn how to use and customize the Vendor Center in Chapter 4.

Employee Center If you do your own payroll, open the Employee Center to see detailed information about each employee, your payroll liabilities, and your payroll items. Payroll is covered in Chapter 17.

Repor t Center The Report Center, seen in Figure 1-6, is a dynamic version of the Reports menu.

There are three views in the Report Center: the Carousel view, the List view, and the Grid view. For each view, the major category of reports is displayed in the left pane.

The first time you open the Report Center, you’ll open to the Carousel view, which allows you to scroll through a visual display of the reports available for each category. The List view makes it easy to see the individual report titles available in each of the report categories, while the Grid view shows a sample of the actual reports available in each category in a single window.

QuickBooks remembers which view you last used so the next time you open the Report Center you’ll be in that view. To change the way you view in a category, use the view icons located in the top-right corner of the Report Center window. You can also use the Report Center to access memorized reports, add a report to your Favorites reports list (by clicking the gold favorites star for a report), or view the most recently viewed reports.

Doc Center If you’ve signed up for the QuickBooks Attached Documents service, the Doc Center opens to the online place where your attached and stored documents are managed and accessed. Additional fees may apply.

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It’s easier to choose the right report when you understand the contents.

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App Center The App Center is where you can learn more about, sign up for, and gain access to the Intuit Workplace Apps. These are web-based applications that are designed to help you further streamline the tasks that are key to the operation of many small businesses. Additional fees may apply.

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Customizing the Icon Bar QuickBooks put icons on the Icon Bar, but the icons QuickBooks chose may not match the features you use most frequently. Putting your own icons on the Icon Bar makes using QuickBooks easier and faster.

To customize the Icon Bar, choose View | Customize Icon Bar to open the Customize Icon Bar dialog, which displays a list of the icons currently occupying your Icon Bar.

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T I P : If you log into QuickBooks, either because a single computer is set up for multiple users or because you’re using QuickBooks on a network, the settings you establish are linked to your login name. You are not changing the Icon Bar for other users.

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Changing the Order of Icons You can change the order in which icons appear on the Icon Bar. The list of icons in the Customize Icon Bar dialog reads top to bottom, representing the left-to-right display on the Icon Bar. Therefore, moving an icon’s listing up moves it to the left on the Icon Bar (and vice versa).

To move an icon, click the small diamond to the left of the icon’s listing, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the listing to a new position.

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Changing the Icon Bar Display You can change the way the icons display in several ways, which are covered in this section.

Display Icons Without Title Text By default, icons and text display on the Icon Bar. You can select Show Icons Only to remove the title text under the icons. As a result, the icons are much smaller (and you can fit more icons on the Icon Bar). Positioning your mouse pointer over a small icon displays the icon’s description as a Tool Tip.

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Change the Icon’s Graphic, Text, or Description To change an individual icon’s appearance, select the icon’s listing and click Edit.

Then choose a different graphic (the currently selected graphic is enclosed in a box), change the Label (the title), or change the Description (the Tool Tip text).

Separate Icons You can insert a separator between two icons, which is an effective way to create groups of icons (after you move icons into logical groups). The separator is a gray vertical line. In the Customize Icon Bar dialog, select the icon that should appear to the left of the separator bar and click Add Separator. QuickBooks inserts the separator on the icon bar and “(space)” in the listing to indicate the location of the separator.

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Removing an Icon If there are any icons you never use or use so infrequently that you’d rather use the space they take up for icons representing features you use a lot, remove them.

Select the icon in the Customize Icon Bar dialog and click Delete. QuickBooks does not ask you to confirm the deletion; the icon is just zapped from the Icon Bar. •

Adding an Icon You can add an icon to the Icon Bar in either of two ways: • Choose Add in the Customize Icon Bar dialog.

• Automatically add an icon for a window (transaction or report) you’re currently

using.

Using the Customize Icon Bar Dialog to Add an Icon To add an icon from the Customize Icon Bar dialog, click Add. If you want to position your new icon at a specific place within the existing row of icons (instead of at the right end of the Icon Bar), first select the existing icon that you want to sit to the left of your new icon. Then click Add to display the Add Icon Bar Item dialog.

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Scroll through the list to select the task you want to add to the Icon Bar. Then choose a graphic to represent the new icon. If you wish, you can change the label (the title that appears below the icon) or the description (the text that appears in the Tool Tip when you hold your mouse pointer over the icon).

Adding an Icon for the Current Window If you’re currently working in a QuickBooks window, and it strikes you that it would be handy to have an icon for fast access to this window, you can accomplish the deed quickly. While the window is active, choose View | Add Name Of Window To Icon Bar (substitute the name of the current window for Name Of Window). A dialog appears so you can choose a graphic, name, and description for the new icon.

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The Favorites Menu The Favorites menu gives you the flexibility to list up to 30 of the QuickBooks tasks and lists that you use most often, saving you from having to navigate to other areas of the program to complete your most common QuickBooks tasks. To add menu items to your Favorites menu, select Favorites | Customize Favorites from the QuickBooks menu. The Customize Your Menus window opens. Select a menu item, then click the Add button to add it to your Favorites menu. Click OK when finished.

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Closing QuickBooks To exit QuickBooks, click the X in the top-right corner of the QuickBooks window or choose File | Exit from the menu bar. QuickBooks will ask you if you’re sure you want to exit. If you choose yes, the company file that’s open at the time you exit the software is the file that opens the next time you launch QuickBooks.

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