You can customize many elements of your QuickBooks to improve your workflow, your form output and your business insight.
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. However, you can select from the different versions Pro, Premier, Enterprise etc. with varied industry specifics. In addition, you can extend the software’s functionality by installing integrated add-ons from the Intuit App Center.
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.
You can remove icons like Estimates and Time Tracking if you’re not planning to use those functions, but some icons must remain if specific features are active.
There’s an option to either limit the QuickBooks display to one window or let multiple windows open simultaneously. When you open QuickBooks, you can choose to have a specific set of windows open, the window or windows that were open at the time or just the home page only.
Your Forms
QuickBooks comes with pre-defined forms for transactions like purchase orders, invoices and sales receipts. If you don’t like the look of one of these default templates, you can always get a customized form to suit your business needs.
If you plan to do much all these modification or customization by yourself, it can be challenging and time consuming.
We can help you add new columns and fields, rename and reposition so that your forms contain only the information that your business requires. We can help you add your logo and change fonts and colors.
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 in the system regularly. A more targeted group of records or transactions can be customized based on your needs.
Some customization processes will require some upfront time, but once you get going, you’ll wish you’d done this sooner. If interested, please let us know and we will be glad to tailor the reports to your needs.
In the meantime, we wish you Happy Holidays Season!
Ben D.
Accounting & Business Solutions, LLC.
