The QuickBooks Client Newsletter

QuickBooks can be used as is (with some exceptions), but you can customize many elements to improve your workflow, your form output and your business insight.

  

While many of the things you purchase and use in your daily work and professional lives don't come with options, many do. Think about the last time you bought a car, for example. Did you request additional features for safety or convenience or aesthetic value?

  

You can't buy "extras" with your copy of QuickBooks. You can select from the different versions (Pro, Premier, etc.) and extend the software's functionality by installing integrated add-ons from the Intuit App Center. But if you install QuickBooks on two machines from the same DVD or download, they'll look and work the same.

 

Figure 1: Need more functionality in areas like CRM or receivables? Talk to us about adding an integrated app.

  

That is, until you start customizing the product, which you should do. The customization options in QuickBooks let you:

• Change the appearance of your desktop 
• Modify forms to include only needed content and to make them look professional and uniform, and
• Drill down deeply on your company data to isolate only the information that you want.

The benefits of customization are obvious. You'll accelerate your workflow, polish your image and get insight that helps you make critical business decisions.

  

Your Desktop View

  

QuickBooks has always made your most commonly-used tools available on the home page. Intuit revamped this screen very skillfully starting with the 2013 versions, so it's much cleaner and less cramped. But if you don't use all of the functions represented by icons, you don't have to even see them.

 

Figure 3: You can specify which fields will appear - both onscreen and in print -- in your templates' headers, footers and columns.

 

QuickBooks provides the tools to do all of this, but let us help you if you plan to do much modification. It can be challenging, especially if you have to use the Layout Designer.

 

Your Reports

 

You already know that you can do simple modification of your reports, like changing the date range. You may even have clicked on Customize Report and altered the column structure of a report and its sort order.

 

But do you regularly click on the Filters tab in the Modify Report dialog box? If you're often frustrated because your reports cover too much ground or an inadequate, unfocused level of detail, you should be exploring the options offered here regularly. Filters restrict the data in a given report to a smaller, more targeted group of records or transactions, based on your needs.

 

For example, you might want to find out which customers in your New Construction class have outstanding balances (based on invoices) of more than $500 that are more than 60 days old. You'd set up Filters to create this screen:

 

Figure 4: You'll learn far more about your company's financial status if you use Filters in reports. We can help you set up the most effective ones for your business.

 

Why not resolve to make your copy of QuickBooks your own in 2014? Some customization processes will require some upfront time, but once you get going, you'll wish you'd done this sooner.