Shutting off the Live Community

So, you get your new QuickBooks program, you load it and upload your data file , open up your company and this large box appears on the right side of the screen. And it never stops moving! So annoying. I guess it is good, if you need help, but it gobbles up so much screen space.

How to shut it off:

• Go to edit
• Preferences
• Desktop view
• Uncheck the box "show live community"

And you are done and the live community will be off. To turn it back on, just go to help and you can open live community whenever you need it.

Lynda

Top 5 reasons to hire a ProAdvisor

What a quick week. It flew by. Probably due to all of our nights out. I am actually looking forward to a quiet week, although we are planning on going to Vermont for an Artesani family reunion next Friday for a long 4th of July weekend. Okay, on to our tip of the day:

1. Not just anyone can become an Advanced ProAdvisor. You must be certified in the program for several years before becoming eligible to even take the advanced testing.
2. Advanced ProAdvisors have had extensive training. Most have many clients in many different businesses. They have "seen it all". To become advanced requires many hours of study and work in the program. Most Advanced ProAdvisors have trained to teach the program.
3. We specialize in correcting errors and getting the program to work for you.
4. We know many ways to save you time, hence, saving you and your business money. By having more time, you are able to work on other areas of your business.
   
5. We love what we do! We love the program and can help tailor it to your business needs.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the much needed sunshine.

Lynda

Changing the account color on your checking accounts

Tonight our function is at the Providence Biltmore. If you have ever been to this hotel, it is fabulous. Especially the glass elevator, which gives an awesome view of the city of Providence. Gorgeous, especially at night.

Okay, onwards to our QuickBooks tip:

Using the preference: Changing Account Color

I think this is one of my favorite preferences. I also think it is one of the most underused. If you have more than one checking account, i.e., operating account, payroll account, checking account, you need to make sure that you do not enter a transaction for one account into the other account by mistake. Especially true when all of your accounts are at one bank. I use the preference to change the color of the check on the screen. Most businesses have different color checks for their accounts, so I make sure the look on my screen matches the account color. To do this, open up your checks with the link on the home page called, "Write checks", then go to edit, change account color, then define custom colors and select your color off the color wheel. Be careful not to use a dark color as you will not be able to read the print. You can customize your selections and pick colors that closely match your actual checks. This is a great way to trigger your mind not to enter a check in the wrong account.

So, that is the Quicktip for today. The sunshine today is the best. Lets hope we have had our rain allotment for the season and the sunshine will uplift our moods and give us more energy. 20+ days of rain has been exhausting and bad for the soul. Happy summer (finally)!

Lynda

Backing up online

I have met many clients who back up their data file on a USB stick, like the one pictured. They then toss it in their car or purse and take it home. In theory, this is an okay way to keep your data. However, is it secure? What if you loose it? It has happened. I even met a client who was very proud to be backing up his data every day, however, he put the backup CD in his desk drawer in his office. I asked him, what would happen if you had a fire in your office building? Your computer would melt, as would the backup CD.

My recommendation is to use the online backup through QuickBooks, at www.backup.com. I back all of my data to a file folder and then select that file, along with my other data (i.e., office documents, excel spreadsheet, contacts, etc.) to this backup. There is no need to backup your programs as you can always get new CD's. I have it set to backup each evening. Since it is online, it is sent encrypted, therefore, very safe. I have also used this service to reinstall my data. I had a computer crash on me last year and was able to reinstate all my data from the online location. This was a wonderful thing since my computer died in my winter home in Florida. I was able to log in from there to my new computer and not miss a day of work. The service saves the backups with dates, so instead of overwriting your data, you have several backups. This way if you accidently change a document and want to go back to the one you had two days ago, you can log onto your backup account and find that one document and restore.

Works like a charm!
Lynda

PS. Heard sunshine may finally be coming our way here in Rhode Island on Thursday. 21 days of rain is dreary.

Customizing the icon bar: adding the backup icon

I find that most people I meet as clients are notorious for not backing up their data daily. If you go under the heading "View" which is at the top of the QuickBooks page, left side, you can modify you icon toolbar, click on "Customize Icon Bar", click "Add," then select "Backup". It is not there by default. Maybe because of all of the clients I have, I do not like to do any work twice. Especially if you have ever had a computer "malfunction," aka crash , and have had to go back and do your work over again.

So, by having backup on the icons toolbar it is a good reminder to backup and it makes it easy to one click every time I leave a data file. You can also set up your backup to automatically back up your data when you leave QuickBooks, but I find as a ProAdvisor, it is better to have that icon right there because as a general rule, I do not close out QuickBooks each time I switch to a new data file.

Lynda

Tomorrow I will speak about backing up data online.

Happy Tuesday!

Grouping Memorized Transactions

Beautiful Newport, RI

Dreary Monday in Rhode Island (as usual) :(

On Friday I blogged about Memorized transactions and using them to save time and keep errors at bay. Today I am going to talk about Grouping the Memorized transactions. This is very helpful to keep your transactions organized. I use them for keeping memorized payroll transactions together, again, keeping anything organized so you can quickly locate them to enter them. I use them for entering mortgage payments (if your business has more than one, group the memorized ones together). I use them for real estate firms for keeping all property taxes together, even if they are entered at different times. I use memorized transactions so often, I usually get a large list of them and I find it easier to group them sensibly so that I can locate and enter them quickly. It is all about saving time, right? Especially on a Monday. Mondays always drain me.

Tonight I have to go to a function that should be a blast in Newport. This one is for my husband's radio show on WPROAM on Saturdays at 3:30PM. It is Your Home with the RI Builders. Association. I hope the sun comes out tonight. It should be a good night for socializing and networking. Newport is the most beautiful town in Rhode Island.

Lynda

First Blog post

Welcome to my first blog!

I am here to give you a weekly QuickTip that will help you make your life easier using QuickBooks. One of my favorite new things about QuickBooks Premier 2009 (and Enterprise Solutions) is that you now can sort all columns when you reconcile your bank statement. So, if you are off by a "specific amount", you can double click the amount column and sort that column by the amounts. That way you can quickly find your missing check or deposit. If you are a bookkeeper who is cleaning up records for a client, you can use that sort feature to look for double entries. This is especially helpful when your client downloads their own transactions from their bank account and maybe they forgot where they left off and entered the same transactions more than once.

I hope you enjoy my QuickBooks Quick Tips!

Lynda Artesani
Artesani Bookkeeping

www.artesanibookkeeping.com