This page includes some Tips & Tricks for QuickBooks. This information is provided as-is, and may not work for you or your version of QuickBooks.
Where we do know the versions supported, we’ll note it below.
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How do I change the default QuickBooks font size? |
To do this, find and alter your QBW.INI file: For QuickBooks versions before 2007, the QBW.INI file is in the QuickBooks program folder. For
QuickBooks 2007 and later versions, it is in a folder in Documents and
Settings named similar to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Intuit\QuickBooks Open the QBW.INI file in notepad or similar text editor. Find or add the [FONTS] section. Under it, add the value FONTSIZE=11 where 11 is the desired font size. We recommend 10, 11, 12, and perhaps 13 as the largest practical size. Restart QuickBooks to see the effect of your change. This will alter many fonts, but not menus or reports. Menus use your system settings and reports have their own settings.
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How do I change the default QuickBooks font name? |
To do this, find and alter your QBW.INI file as above, then add a row to your QBW.INI file in the [FONTS] section called FONTNAME=Arial where ‘Arial’ is an exact name of one of your system Fonts, as seen in the Character Map program or your Fonts control panel (case and spacing matter.) Restart QuickBooks to see the effect of your change.
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How do I remove unwanted company files from the Recent list of files on the QuickBooks File menu? |
To do this, find and alter your QBW.INI file as above then remove the unwanted companies from the bottom of the INI file. For QuickBooks 2008 and newer, look for the file C:\Documents and Settings\[Windows User name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Intuit\[QuickBooks version]\QBWUSER.INI and make the change in this file.
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How do
I change the default fonts and other settings for reports? |
Go to
Edit | Preferences | Reports & Graphs | Company Preferences and click the format button. Here, you can change the Header and Footer
information, the defaults fonts, and the number display for most reports. |
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How do I find the exact Version and Release of QuickBooks that I’m running? |
Press F2 while in QuickBooks, and note the version name near the top of the window. |
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How do I tell if the QuickBooks release for my version is the latest available from Intuit? |
Find your release, then compare it to http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/Support/ProductUpdates.aspx
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How do I add a merchant account fee to a deposit? |
This comes up a lot with customers who accept Google Checkout and other merchants not integrated with QuickBooks. To do this, first select the payments to be included in your deposit and then add a negative line to the end of the deposit for the merchant fees. Use your Merchant Fees expense account.
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Why has my opening balance for reconcile changed? |
Your opening balance is the sum of the cleared transactions in the account. If it is wrong/different than your last closing balance was (check your reconcile reports if you printed them) then someone changed one or more cleared transactions in your account. You can check to see which ones by filtering a transaction detail report or the Audit Trail report on cleared transactions for the account and where the last modified date is after the last time you reconciled.
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What are Items? |
Items on invoices, bills, and checks are a combination of things or services you sell and other special items like Subtotal, Discount, and Sales Tax items. You can use Subtotal items, for example, on invoices and sales receipts for formatting for your customers.
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Why does some weird currency print on my forms? |
Except for multi-currency versions, QuickBooks seems to use your system settings for this. Change them in your Regional Settings control panel.
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Can I print Checks from QuickBooks including the MICR codes? |
No, but there are 3rd party apps that work with QuickBooks to add the MICR coding to blank check stock. |
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Can I import into QuickBooks Simple Start? |
No. Simple Start doesn’t import anything (as far as we can tell.) |
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Are there keyboard shortcuts in QuickBooks? |
Yes, there are many. They use to be in the manual when QuickBooks had one. This is a good listing: http://www.keyxl.com/aaa56a1/183/Quickbooks-Accounting-Software-keyboard-shortcuts.htm Here is another: http://www.kempertc.com/quickbooks/key_shortcuts.pdf
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How can I find all the transactions that are connected to the current one? |
For example, what checks pay a bill? What customer payments pay an invoice? Press Ctrl-H for the transaction History. This isn’t really a ‘history’ as you might think of, like in an Audit Trail report, but instead gives you a list of the connected transactions.
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Can I add things to the Icon bar? |
Yes, there is a list of windows you can add if you go to View | Customize Iconbar. And, you can add most any window by first opening it and then choosing Add “[windows name here]” to Iconbar. This includes reports and most other windows. |
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Can I open my QuickBooks file in an older version of QuickBooks? |
No. You can upgrade but not downgrade. |
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Can I
open an |
No.
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I want to add or remove words to my QuickBooks dictionary for spell checking. Where is it? |
The dictionary is at C:\Documents and Settings\[Windows User name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Intuit\[QuickBooks version]\UserDictionary.tlx Open the file with Notepad to view and alter it. You might want to start by creating a copy of the file as a backup (I’m not sure what will happen if you mess it up.) Each word in the dictionary takes up a line in the dictionary. To remove a word, remove the line. To add a word, add a line, add the word, then press tab and add a lower case i (for some reason we don’t know.)
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My QuickBooks company file is marked Read Only. Does this mean I can’t open it? |
No, this is normal in newer versions of QuickBooks. |
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I use online banking. However, no new transactions have appeared for a long time and I know there are new ones. |
Edit the account on your chart of accounts and remove the online banking setup. Restart QuickBooks and then add it back. |
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It seems like some features of QuickBooks don’t work or are unavailable on the menus. What do to? |
“Repair” QuickBooks from the Windows add/remove programs control panel. Then make sure you get the latest QuickBooks patch (see above.) |
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I’m trying to send/export reports to Excel, but that option is gone. |
1) Make sure you have a version of
Excel that QuickBooks recognizes. Older
versions don’t see Excel 2010 sometimes. 2) Repair the Excel or Office installation from the Windows add/remove programs control pane. |
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MS Excel and MS Money are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. QuickBooks & Quicken are registered trademarks of Intuit, Inc.