Easy & Useful QBO Tips for Small Business Owners

We know that using QuickBooks Online (QBO) can be difficult to manage with all the navigation features, so here are some tips on how to make QBO easier and cleaner for everyday users.

Bookmarks: While QBO has its own Bookmarks feature allowing you to add your favorite and most used windows to the left-hand navigation pane to make them more easily accessible, you can also utilize your browser’s bookmarks bar to save your favorite functions in QBO. For example, in Chrome, if you open a new bill, and click the star like you would for a normal bookmark, each time you want to open a new bill, it is right there on top saving you time from navigating within QuickBooks. Some of the ones we recommend saving are bills, expenses, reconcile, etc. They will open each time you open a new window, so they will always be there for your easy access.

Clean Up Left-Hand Navigation Pane: In addition to utilizing bookmarks within QBO and in your browser window, you can adjust your menu settings to clean up some of the tools that you never touch. For example. If you do not use QBO payroll, you can customize your menu to no longer show “Payroll” on the side. Click on the pencil icon in the left-hand navigation pane next to “Menu.” Here you can reorganize and remove any items, so QBO works best for you. If you decide you want any items back in the future, you can simply check the box in the edit screen at that time.

Import Bank Statements: Most banks allow you to enroll to have your statements automatically imported into QBO which saves you the trouble of printing or saving all your bank statements or having to go back to give your accountant the necessary statements. Enrolling is free and QBO even organizes the statements into reconciled and unreconciled tabs to make the reconciliation process even easier. All you have to do is click “Enroll” in the reconciliation screen when it pops up. If your bank does not support automatic bank statements, you can manually upload your bank statements to QBO by navigating to the “History by account” page through the “Reconcile” tab. Here, it will give you option to attach a pdf statement. Having bank and credit card statements in QBO makes it easier for you, so you do not have to find all the statements your accountant is asking for because they are already attached. For a list of supported banks, please click the link below:

https://digitalasset.intuit.com/DOCUMENT/A9B3Z71lM/ProviderList-USA-2023-06-29.pdf

Multiple Tabs: If you find yourself clicking back and forth between the same windows, considering opening multiple tabs to eliminate having to navigate to the same page 10 times in one day. The easiest way is to right click on the tab and hit duplicate, so that the page you are currently on will stay open but you can then navigate to a new page in the separate tab. You can also right-click on the hyperlink for the transaction or report you are trying to open, and click “Open link in new tab.” While this is not the most innovative tip, it is a simple one that can end up saving you a lot of time.

There are some new updates coming to QuickBooks Online, so continue to read our newsletter for monthly updates as they are rolled out.

For more information or questions about QuickBooks Online, please contact Amanda Brewer at 847-956-1040.