QB 2009

What Versions of QuickBooks Financial Software Are Compatible With Microsoft Windows Vista?

Chief Mechanic · August 31, 2010 ·

The following versions of QuickBooks financial software are compatible with Microsoft Windows Vista:

QuickBooks Pro 2007 to 2010
QuickBooks Premier 2007 to 2010
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 7.0 to 10.0

Users of older versions of QuickBooks need to upgrade to the latest version in order to install and use QuickBooks on Vista.

If you need to upgrade, you can review detailed product comparisons as well as obtain discounts and free shipping by visiting the links on our Buy QuickBooks page.

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What Versions of QuickBooks Financial Software Are Compatible With POS?

Chief Mechanic · August 30, 2010 ·

Point of Sale Basic 9.0 and Point of Sale Pro 9.0 are compatible with the following versions of QuickBooks financial software:

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2007 to 2010
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 7.0 to 10.0

Point of Sale Basic 8.0 and Point of Sale Pro 8.0 are compatible with these versions of QuickBooks:

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2006 to 2009
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 6.0 to 9.0

Generally speaking, a new version of POS will be compatible with the current version of QuickBooks and those from the prior 3 years.

Users of older versions of QuickBooks need to upgrade to integrate with POS.

If you need to upgrade, you can review detailed product comparisons as well as obtain discounts and free shipping by visiting the links on our Buy QuickBooks page.

What Image File Formats Are Supported for Logos On Forms and Checks?

Chief Mechanic · August 28, 2010 ·

QuickBooks supports the following image file formats:

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
WMF (Windows Metafile Format)
EMF (Enhanced Metafile Format)
BMP (bitmap)

Our list of supported formats is in the order, generally speaking, that we recommend you use them. The format that’s right for you depends on a number of factors.

When choosing a file format, keep in mind that large files take longer to load and redraw. For high-volume tasks such as invoicing, it’s important to choose an image file that offers both high quality and small size. Bitmapped images are based on a series of pixels, or picture elements. Vector images are based on mathematical formulas. It’s easier and more accurate to represent curves in a vector format than a bitmapped format, so the format that’s right for you will also depend on what you are displaying in your image. You’ll need to strike a balance between high quality and small size based on your specific needs.

A JPEG file is a compressed bitmap format that’s best suited for photographs and images that contain smooth color and tone variations. Because of compression, JPEG files save on space. However, the compression isn’t lossless – data is discarded to compress the image.

A PNG file is a compressed bitmap file that offers transparency and lossless compression. The PNG format was created to improve on the GIF format by offering more colors in a small size. It’s a format that was designed for exchanging and displaying images on the internet, and therefore doesn’t support features that professional printers require, such as the CMYK color space.

A GIF file is a bitmap file based on a format originally developed by Compuserve that offers small size based on lossless data compression and transparency. GIF’s support only 256 colors, so it can’t render a photograph as well as a JPEG. But it’s a good choice for logos or artwork with solid blocks of color.

A TIFF file is a flexible yet powerful format originally developed by Adobe that can use lossless compression or remain uncompressed. TIFF files offer color depth, high resolution, and the ability to store vector drawings. TIFF files can even store multiple pages. They’re a good choice where vector-based illustration tools produced line drawings that need to re-produced without degrading quality. If you’re planning to use a TIFF image in QuickBooks that includes color, pay attention to your color space. We’ve observed that QuickBooks works best with images designed for the RGB color space as opposed to CMYK. CYMK is often the default color space for a TIFF image. An image designed for a professional printer in an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop is often set to use the CMYK color space. Colors may not render on your QuickBooks forms as you expect in that situation.

Like the name suggests, WMF is Microsoft Windows-based format that can store high quality vector images. It supports 16 bits. WMF is the standard format for popular programs, such as Microsoft Office, so there’s a wide variety of clipart available in this format. If you want to quickly create a logo from free clipart, WMF (and its relative EMF) may be a good choice.

EMF is the 32-bit version of WMF. More bits translate into the ability to store more colors. An EMF file can store up to 16,777,216 colors, a big jump over WMF’s 65,536 colors.

BMP, as its name indicates, is an uncompressed bitmap image format. Because images are uncompressed, file sizes are much larger than other file types. For example, it’s not uncommon for a BMP file to be 10 times larger than a PNG of the same image. However, BMP images are widely available, especially in the Windows environment. It may be a reasonable format choice for a small clipart image used on a form. It wouldn’t be suitable as a background for an entire page.

Although the integrated help file for some versions of QuickBooks, such as QuickBooks 2009, only lists 3 file types, all of the file types listed in this article are supported for versions 2009 and later.

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How Many Custom Fields Does QuickBooks Support?

Chief Mechanic · March 20, 2010 ·

For the 2010 version (QuickBooks 2010 and Enterprise Solutions 10.0), Intuit has increased the number of custom fields and provided for data validation in Enterprise Solutions. Compared to 2009, the number of custom fields for Names increased from 7 (out of 15) to 12 (out of 30), and for Items it increased from 5 to 15.

QuickBooks 2010 and Enterprise Solutions 10.0 support up to 30 total custom fields for Names which can be applied to a combination of Customers:Jobs, Vendors, or Employees, provided that no more than 12 custom fields apply to any 1 type of list.

In addition, QuickBooks 2010 and Enterprise Solutions 10.0 support up to 15 custom fields for Items.

Enterprise Solutions 10.0 extends data validation to custom fields by allowing you to specify the type of data a custom field should contain and whether the fields are required on Transactions and Lists. Data types include 1 generic text format, 3 number formats, 5 date formats, 2 phone number formats, and a multi-choice list, which allows you to create a pull-down list of entries.

In Enterprise Solutions 10.0, the Multi-choice List contains list elements you specify, and you can select whether the list can only contain these elements or user-entered text. In all cases, custom fields are subject to a 30 character limit.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 Custom Fields Multi-choice List

QuickBooks 2009 and Enterprise Solutions 9.0 support up to 15 total custom fields for Names, which can be applied to a combination of Customers:Jobs, Vendors, or Employees, provided that no more than 7 custom fields apply to any 1 type of list (i. e., Customers:Jobs, Vendors, and Employees). For example, you could create 7 custom fields unique to Customers:Jobs and a different set of 7 unique custom fields for Vendors. Then, you’d have the ability to create 1 additional custom field which could be used only for Employees.

Custom fields are limited to 30 characters. You can’t control the amount of text entered in a screen form, but you can limit the amount that is printed on a printed form. Except in Enterprise Solutions 10.0, custom fields are text entry boxes that accept any character. You can’t control the data entered with pull-down lists or other data type restrictions. Because data entered into custom fields is essentially unrestricted, care must be taken during data entry if these fields are to be used for filtering data; an apparently small change in data recorded for a custom field could result in many records not being found when applying a filter.

Custom fields for Customers:Jobs can be used for data in the header or footer of forms such as invoices and receipts.

In addition, in the 2009 version, QuickBooks supports up to 5 custom fields for Items.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Custom Fields for Items

Custom fields for Items can be used for data in the section for line items (i. e., the columnar section below the header) on forms such as invoices and receipts.

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QuickBooks 2009 Is Here!

Chief Mechanic · September 19, 2008 ·

Intuit made QuickBooks 2009 available for electronic download on Monday, September 29th. The new version brings with it a host of important changes, new products, and in at least 1 case, the migration of a included feature into a extra-cost add-on.

We’ve prepared a short list of what we think are the most noteworthy new or improved features. Keep in mind it’s not an all-encompassing list. Here’s our top 10 improvements:

Feature	Pro & Premier 2009	Enterprise Solutions 9.0	POS Basic 8.0	POS Pro 8.0
Multi-currency support	Yes	Yes	-	-
Multi-user enhancements	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
New company snapshot	Yes	Yes	-	-
Improved sorting in bank reconciliations	Yes	Yes	-	-
Support for larger numbers	Yes	Yes	-	-
PIN pad with signature capture	-	-	Yes	Yes
Improved sales tax reporting	-	-	Yes	Yes
New POS Webstores service	-	-	-	Yes
Improved inventory turn reporting	-	-	-	Yes
Improved re-order support	-	-	-	Yes

With the economy becoming increasingly global, multi-currency support for all global currencies is a timely addition. Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions automatically convert currencies into a designated “home” currency. A new report, “Realized and Unrealized Gains & Losses,” shows the impact of currency fluctuations. In addition, wire transfers can now be performed directly within QuickBooks.

For Enterprise Solutions, the maximum number of users in multi-user mode increased from 20 to 30; for POS, it doubled from 10 to 20. Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions now allow a back-up to be performed and reports to be printed while in multi-user mode. An instant messenger feature is now included to allow users to communicate using the familiar QuickBooks interface.

Less dramatic improvements for Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Solutions products include a new company snapshot, column sorting in bank reconciliations, and support for larger numbers (11 vs 8 digits).

One negative: the Financial Statement Designer that was formerly included at no extra charge with the Accountant edition has been replaced with the Intuit Statement Writer at a retail cost of $149. The program is included with the multi-user versions of Enterprise Solutions, but most accountants will find themselves having to buy something that was previously included at no charge.

POS Basic got new support for PIN pads with signature capture (pictured at left), and QuickBooks now saves an electronic copy of the signature in case of disputed transactions, along with a doubling in the number of active workstations in each store from 10 to 20.

POS Pro received all of the POS Basic improvements plus a new Webstores service to allow companies to create a web store ringing up sales from a product catalog. Intuit also introduced a new product, Cash Register Plus, for those businesses that aren’t ready for POS. The program rings up sales and tracks customers, processes credit cards, and performs basic bookkeeping to track sales performance.

This is just a partial list of the improvements for 2009. Two features – multi-currency support or the multi-user enhancements – could tip the scales to justify upgrading right away. We’ve done an in-depth analysis of the new multi-currency features in QuickBooks in a post on our blog.

With the release of the 2009 version, QuickBooks 2006 is slated to become obsolete in April 2010. Time to upgrade! When you decide to upgrade, you can save by using the banner at the top of this page or you can review discounts on both QuickBooks and Quicken at our Buy QuickBooks page.

Hopefully, Intuit addressed more than a few items on your personal wish list.

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QB 2009

Accounting

Developer

Intuit