QUICKBOOKS PRO 2008 AN INTRODUCTION TO QUICKBOOKS PRO Opening a Company Database 1. To change the open company in QuickBooks, click File on the main menu and select Open or Restore Company. When the next window opens, click Open a company file and choose Next. 2. The next window to open lists company databases. If you do not see this list then click the Look in dropdown list and browse to the folder on your machine containing the databases.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 2 3. Finally, highlight a database and click open or double click a database to open it. Note: You will find while using the software that QuickBooks often prompts to offer special services or request default actions. You can always turn off unwanted prompts by clicking the option to not display the message again before clicking OK.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 3 The QuickBooks Desktop The next figure illustrates the QuickBooks Desktop with the Home page displayed. If the Home page is not displayed when you open a company, click this it. icon to open We have labeled the illustration so that you can identify elements of the desktop. The table that follows explains these elements. The next table explains desktop elements labeled on the previous illustration.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 4 QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP ELEMENTS Section Name Description 1 Title Bar Displays the name of the open company. Always check the bar to confirm you are working in the correct company. 2 Main Menu Menus for executing QuickBooks commands. 3 Toolbar Quick access to frequently used tasks. 4 Home Page Icon access to vendor, customer, employee, company, and banking tasks. 5 Center Icons & Buttons Icons and buttons for opening QuickBooks centers. Before using the software it helps to also become familiar with the location of menu commands so the next table explains menus by categories. MENU COMMANDS Main Menu File Edit Lists Description Basic operations such as opening and closing companies, data backup and recovery operations, printing, and printer setup. Data manipulation features such as cut, copy, paste, delete, and undo. Submenus activate based on the task being performed. A calculator is also found here. Commands for opening and managing master record lists such as customers, vendors, sales taxes, inventory, and chart of accounts.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 5 MENU COMMANDS Main Menu Company Customers Vendors Employees Banking Reports & Forms Windows Help Description Company related tasks such as entering company identifying information, closing the accounting period, establishing budgets, and setting reminders and alerts. Customer related tasks such as invoicing, receiving payments, and printing customer statements. Vendor related tasks such as entering billings, remitting payment, and managing inventory activities. Employee related tasks such as creating paychecks, entering time cards, and paying payroll liabilities. Banking related activities such as making deposits, writing checks, and reconciling bank statements. Menus for printing a variety of reports that analyze company performance. Commands for activating an open task window when performing multiple tasks. QuickBooks help files, license agreement, and software version. QuickBooks Centers Besides the Home page, QuickBooks provides centers and the next illustration shows the Customer Center with the Customer & Jobs tab active. You can use this center to locate and reopen customer transactions.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 6 The Customers & Jobs tab lists customer accounts with balances to the left and transactions for the highlighted customer on the right. This tab is used to find transactions by customer. You choose the transactions to display by setting the Show, Filter By, and Date options. To change an option, click the dropdown list on an option and choose a different option. IMPORTANT: QuickBooks uses your computer system date to determine the time frame for the fiscal year filter. Thus, if your computer date falls within 2008, This Fiscal Year will display transactions recorded in 2008. However, if your computer date falls after 2008, you will have to change the Date option to Last Fiscal Year or All Transactions. The next illustration shows the Transactions tab. The illustration displays sales invoices for all customers because Invoices is the highlighted transaction type on the left. Thus, this tab is used to find transactions by type instead of by customer.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 7 Customizing Company Names You must customize each company s name so that reports and other output will be identified as yours. To customize a name, click Company on the main menu and select Company Information to open the window illustrated next. You then type your name or initials at the end of the company name stored in the fields indicated and click OK to store the changes.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 8 QuickBooks Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts are methods of executing software commands without selecting commands from a menu. You may already be familiar with keyboard shortcuts by using other software applications. QuickBooks will often list the keyboard shortcut for a command alongside its menu command. For instance, if you click Edit on the main menu, you will find that the Copy command lists Ctrl + C as the keyboard shortcut for copying. To execute this shortcut, highlight the text to be copied, press and hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard, and then press the letter C. (Note: The Copy command will be grayed out if viewing the Edit menu while not in a transaction window because copy can only be executed if the active window contains a field that can be edited.)
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 9 The following table lists frequently used keyboard shortcuts. Editing Commands Cut highlighted text Copy highlighted text Keyboard Action Ctrl + X Activity Commands Open help files for the active window Ctrl + C Find a transaction Ctrl + F Paste copied text Ctrl + V Open a company Ctrl + O Keyboard Action F1 Undo editing Ctrl + Z Backup a company Ctrl + B Delete character to right of cursor Delete character to left of cursor Delete a transaction Save a transaction Del Restore a company Ctrl + R Backspace Ctrl + E Open the list of open windows Open dropdown list for an item F10 Ctrl + L F5 Show list Ctrl + S Spell check F7 Print Ctrl + P Move to next field Tab Move to previous field Move to beginning of field Move to end of field Move up or down a line Shift + Tab Home End Up arrow or down arrow
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 10 Using QuickBooks Help Help on using QuickBooks is only one click away. The shortcut key F1 will open the help window illustrated next or you can click Help on the main menu and select QuickBooks Help.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 11 The Relevant Topics tab provides general help by topic and opens to topics associated with the window that is active when invoking Help. In this instance the Home page was active when opening Help so topics relate to the Home page. The Search tab is used to locate specific terms in a help topic. You enter your question in the field illustrated next and click the arrow icon to locate topics. If you typed saving sales invoices in the search box and clicked the arrow or hit enter on the keyboard then topics displayed at the bottom of the window remain unchanged but 15 topics now appear in the results list beneath the question as illustrated next.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 12 If you clicked the fifth topic on editing an invoice then the contents for that topic display at the bottom as illustrated next.
QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 13 This topic was placed in the search results because QuickBooks found the words save, sales and invoice in the topic. You see that the search tab helps narrow your results to specific tasks. Underlined terms, such as find the invoice, have this symbol. Clicking either the underlined terms or the symbol will open links to additional topics on these terms as illustrated next.
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QuickBooks Pro 2008 An Introduction to QuickBooks Pro Page 15 Clicking the Back Topic Help window. icon will return to the previous topic and clicking the Print icon will print the topic. Clicking X on the help window closes the About QuickBooks Prompts QuickBooks often prompts to notify you of additional services and features of the software. You can turn off future notices by marking the option to not display messages in the future before closing the prompt window. About QuickBooks Reports You will be asked to create reports while completing the workshops and, if needed, will be guided through customizing reports. You can save customized reports by clicking the Memorize button at the top of a report window. QuickBooks then opens the following window where you name the report and choose where to save the report. After saving, you can reopen your customized report by clicking Reports, pointing to Memorized and then clicking the location you selected in the Memorize Report window. If you exit a customized report without saving it, QuickBooks will prompt to save the report. You can always click No to this prompt and can also instruct QuickBooks to not display this prompt in the future.