David H. Ringstrom

QuickBooks Online For Dummies


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      FIGURE 3-4: This screen shows that you’ve prevailed over the Setup Wizard.

      

QuickBooks Online will ask whether you want to import your QuickBooks Desktop data, but you can defer that decision until later, as I discuss in Chapter 13. Make sure, however, that you perform the import before you enable the QB Payroll service, if you decide to go that route. You lose the ability to import your QuickBooks Desktop data after QB Payroll is enabled.

Snapshot of Get Things Done page after creating the company.

      FIGURE 3-5: Your Get Things Done page after you create your company.

      Essentially, you’ve completed much of the initial setup work. I get to the other program settings later in the chapter.

      

If you feel the need for QuickBooks technical support, first choose Settings ⇒ SmartLook to get a number that you can share with the support agent. This will grant temporary permission to view your QuickBooks company (but nothing else on your computer). I can attest from decades of work as a software consultant that being able to see someone’s screen turbocharges the support process.

      Your Get Things Done page (refer to Figure 3-5) contains links to options you can use to set up features in QBO that are important to you. You can use those links and set up those options now, or you can wait until later.

      The navigation bar runs down the left side of the screen. You use this bar the same way you’d use a menu; click an item to navigate to that part of QBO. You can click Sales on the navigation bar, for example, to see existing sales transactions in QBO and to create a new Sales transaction.

Descriptions on the navigation bar sometimes vary, based on your version of QBO and the preferences that you’ve set. In place of Sales, for example, you may see Sales & Expenses or Invoicing. Regardless, the highlighted entry in the navigation bar helps you identify the section of QBO that you’re using.

Snapshot of the Business Overview dashboard.

      FIGURE 3-6: The Business Overview dashboard.

      On the right side of the dashboard page is a list of the bank accounts you’ve set up. If you scroll to the bottom of the list, you find options to connect your accounts to their banks, open an account’s register, and review transactions that have been imported into QuickBooks. The dashboard also displays a summary of expenses and sales for periods extending as far back as the last fiscal year.

Snapshot of Click the New button to create a new transaction.

      FIGURE 3-7: Click the New button to create a new transaction.

      At the top of the screen you can click the Help button to display a task pane with two tabs:

       Assistant: A bot offering answers to common questions

       Search: A searchable menu of common topics that might be of interest to you (see Figure 3-8)

Snapshot of the Search tab of the Help pane.

      FIGURE 3-8: The Search tab of the Help pane.

Snapshot of Click the Search button to search for previously entered transactions.

      FIGURE 3-9: Click the Search button to search for previously entered transactions.

Although I couldn’t fit it into Figure 3-10, the bottom right-hand corner of the Settings menu contains a link that will either display Accountant View or Business View that controls how the navigation bar in QuickBooks is displayed. Business View groups things into fewer categories, whereas Accountant View is more detailed. You can toggle between these modes to find what feels most comfortable for you. For the record, I used Accountant View for most of the images in this book, because as an accountant myself, that view resonates with me more than the Business View.

Snapshot of using the Settings menu to work with settings, lists, tools, and your QBO account.

      FIGURE 3-10: Use the Settings menu to work with settings, lists, tools, and your QBO account.

      As I mention earlier in this chapter, QuickBooks automatically sets up the chart of accounts it thinks you’ll need when you create a new company. If you’re not happy with this list, you can replace it with one you set up in Excel, in