One of the more common questions in the QuickBooks community is how to make the transition from QuickBooks for Mac to QuickBooks Online. While QuickBooks for Mac is undoubtedly a beautiful program, the upside of having your information stored on a cloud and the ability to use third-party apps from Intuit App Center is just too irresistible for some users.

Moving from QuickBooks for Mac to QuickBooks Online does require the use of a PC for a crucial part of the step. So if you do not have access to a Windows computer or cannot run Parallels, BootCamp or another service that allows you to run Windows inside Mac, you might be out of luck.

The following blog post will detail how to transfer your company file from QuickBooks for Mac to QuickBooks Online.

Convert your QuickBooks for Mac file
Because QuickBooks Online only accepts company files from QuickBooks for Windows, we’ll have to first convert our QuickBooks for Mac into a QuickBooks for Windows file.

To do so, you must first prepare the company file for conversion. Because the move from QuickBooks for Mac isn’t a perfect process, we must fix all the known bugs ourselves so we don’t run into any trouble.

• Locate the company file in your file system and copy it to the desktop. You can find where your company file by opening up QuickBooks and choosing Help->Product information.
• Copy the company file to your desktop
• Remove all special characters from the name of the company file — special characters are the bane of every developer’s existence and generally causes errors, so we’ll have to eliminate all symbols like !@#$%^&*
• Open up the copied company file in QuickBooks and delete all memorized (i.e. recurring) transactions and reports. To do so, select Lists->Memorized Transactions and select Edit->Delete Memorized Transaction to delete each one of your memorized transactions. To delete your memorized reports, select Reports->Reports Center. You should see your memorized reports so you can highlight and select the red X.
• Resort your lists
• After you’ve deleted all memorized transactions & reports and resorted your lists, you’ll have to rebuild the company file.
• The last “bug” we’ll have to fix is are transactions that have memos longer than 50 characters.  To do so, you’ll have to run a report that enables you to locate these transactions and modify them.
• Choose Reports->Custom Reports->Transaction Detail
• Under Date, make sure to choose All and under Columns, make sure Memo has a checkmark next to it, then click OK.
• Expand the memo column and edit any memos that have more than 50 characters (including spaces) by double clicking on the memo.
• If you’ve edited any Memos, then you must rebuild your company file again.
• Now we’ll get to the meat and potatoes: actually converting the company file to a Windows format. Go to File->Back Up to QuickBooks for Windows
• Choose a name and location for the file and click Save. Simple. No sweat.

The next steps are done from a Windows machine. You’ll have to upload the Windows file from a Windows machine to QuickBooks Online.

• Move the file from your Mac machine to your Windows machine and save it
• Open up Internet Explorer and navigate to QuickBooks Online and login
• Choose Company->Import QuickBooks Desktop Data
• Choose Other versions of QuickBooks for Windows
• Follow the wizard to download ActiveX, browse your file system for the company file, and you’re all set!

Want to connect a third party app to QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Online? You’ve already heard what we have to say about steering clear of IIF files. So, if you are already onboard with that advice, what should you look for to know the app has secure access to Intuit’s cloud?

Well, here’s exactly the button you should look for:

This is a button provided by Intuit, to developers that are approved for Intuit’s App Center, and is a good indicator that you are about to Connect to QuickBooks via Intuit’s secure cloud. And, here’s what it looks like in action (click on image for full video):

Although the video doesn’t show it, if you aren’t yet signed into any other Intuit sites, the first thing you’ll see when you click the Connect to QuickBooks button is a sign in page that requires you to enter your Intuit Account credentials. And that’s a good thing. It’s an Intuit-hosted sign-in window that lets Intuit confirm that you are indeed the owner of a QuickBooks company file. That sign-in process is step one of a quick and easy setup process that allows developers like us to get secure access to company files that you authorize, all via Intuit’s secure cloud.

Because we have an awesome QuickBooks credit card sync, we’re all about using credit cards in QuickBooks the right way. If your credit cards aren’t set up correctly in QuickBooks (check out our post about downloading credit card transactions) not only can you not use our awesome QuickBooks app, but you can get some pretty messy financial reports. Here are some common mistakes people make when dealing with credit cards in QuickBooks, and the right way:

Mistake: Not Using the Credit Card Register

People are often confused as to how to deal with the credit card statement they get in the mail. They wonder how do I enter the expenses in QuickBooks? How do I pay my credit card bill? Because they’re confused, they enter the charges in a number of crazy ways (check out our previous blog: How NOT To Record Credit Card Transactions).

Basically, if you aren’t using the credit card register, you’re doin’ it wrong.

To correctly record a credit card charge, just click the ‘Enter Credit Card Charges’ button on the home page of QuickBooks!

Here it is in QuickBooks Pro:

And here it is in QuickBooks Online:

Mistake: Entering Check or Vendor Bill With One Lump Sum

I’ve seen a few people make this mistake: they pay the credit card bill by entering in one check or vendor bill, with one lump sum.

There are a few problems with this method, all dealing with lack of detail. First, this method doesn’t explain what the charges were for. In a year, if you went back and looked at this charge, you’d be totally confused – what exactly was this for, again?

Also, this makes job costing for these charges impossible. You could enter in a line item for each charge and assign it to a customer:job, but that seems awfully time consuming, doesn’t it?

Finally, the dates are skewed by this method of entering in credit card charges. It will seem like every item on the credit card statement was purchased the day you wrote the check – which is incorrect!

In order to get accuracy in your credit card charges, you should be using the credit card register and entering the charges as they happen (or let Online Banking do it for you!).

Mistake: Entering Debit Card Transactions as Credit Card Transactions

Sometimes people get confused about debit cards vs. credit cards in QuickBooks. After all, plastic is plastic! However, the nature of these charges are different. When you use a debit card, you’re pulling money directly out of your bank account. When you use a credit card, you’re borrowing money from the credit card company. So, these charges need to be recorded separately.

You should check out our more detailed blog about the correct way to enter debit card charges in QuickBooks, but here’s a brief overview of how you SHOULD be recording debit card transactions: open Write Check, and enter in the transaction. Then, where you see “Check Number,” just enter in “DEBIT,” “DBT,” or whatever you want to designate that it’s a debit card charge.

Note that the credit card register has nothing to do with the process of recording debit card charges.

Hopefully this provided a tad bit of insight about the common mistakes people make when dealing with credit cards in QuickBooks, and will help you avoid them yourself!

Do your employees use company cards? Let them categorize and edit their own credit card expenses with the credit card sync feature of our app! Also, check out all of the ways we integrate with QuickBooks!

Since you’ve started recording your credit card expenses in QuickBooks the right way with your ProOnGo Expense, you might be wondering how you can make informed decisions with your newly acquired data.  In this blog post, we’ll show you how to create some reports with data from your Credit Card register so you can make more informed decisions.

You need to keep track of what you spend on your company card. Syncing it to QuickBooks is one step; you can easily access all your credit card transactions from the credit card register. What if you want to create a report of those expenses? There’s no ‘Expense Reports’ in the reports list.

Once you know where to look, generating an expense report is easy.

First, go to the Reports tab, then the Report List. Scroll down until you see “General Ledger” – that’s what you need.

Open that up, and click the ‘Customize’ button. Then, from the ‘Lists’ drop down, select the credit card register you want to create the report from.

You can chose to just check out and print the report (Run Report), get the report as an Excel file, or email the report. You’ll see all your transactions and totals.

Now that you know how to customize the reports, you can access a vast amount of information. Say you have a sales man who is assigned to a specific client, and you want to see how much they’ve been spending on their company card. Just run their expense reports!

Go back to the reports page, and scroll all the way down to “Transaction List by Client.” Click the ‘Customize’ button, just like you did for the general ledger report. Like that report, scroll down until you see the Lists section, and then open the Accounts dropdown menu. Just like you did before, scroll down until you see the correct credit card account. Then, select which Client you want to view. Run and print the report, or access it via excel download or email.

Note: Jobs are listed in the ‘Client’ drop down, so to get a list of credit card transactions by job, follow the aforementioned steps, selecting the correct job from the Clients drop down.

We’ve written a couple posts about syncing your credit card to QuickBooks Online, so we thought we’d offer up one more great resource: a video! Check out how to sync your credit card to QuickBooks Online:

What’s a group item in QuickBooks? You’re about to find out…

Group Items in QuickBooks are a nifty tool for those companies which have inventories, and therefore use many an item in QuickBooks. However, if you always sell a certain set of items, it can get tedious to list every single item on invoices. Also, it’s easy with so many items and details to leave something out. Using group items solves these problems; group items simplify your process. Instead of adding each item individually, just add one group item – it contains the individual items. You can even decide if, on invoices, you want each individual part to be shown or not.

For example, if your company installs doors for people, you’ll always use a door handle, hinges, and the door itself during the job, so those items will always appear on your invoices. Instead of listing each item separately on an invoice, just create a group item entitled “Door Parts.”

How to set up a group item:

1. Go to the Items and Services list
2. Click Item, then click ‘New.’
3. Under “Type,” select ‘Group.’
4. Name the group item in the “Group Name/Number” field.
5. Add a description if you like.
6. If you select ‘Print Items in This Group,’ each individual item within the group will show on invoices and other printed materials.
7. Add each item to the group – they can be items which are made already, or you can add them on the fly.

Your set up will look something like this:

When you create an invoice, just look for the name of your group item in the ‘Item Code’ drop down list. QuickBooks will show each individual item within the group, its price, and the total price of the group.

Group items are a great way to stay organized and simplify QuickBooks.

Did you know? ProOnGo supports items! Check out a list of QuickBooks fields ProOnGo supports.

Various Ways to Take Information & Import into QuickBooks

In the early days of QuickBooks, for importing there weren’t a lot of options for importing information into QuickBooks. The earliest version of importing information – excluding  manual entry – has been the IIF file, but since has evolved to the QuickBooks Web Connector, and now, 3^rd party applications are taking data and importing into QuickBooks using Intuit Anywhere.

IIF Files – The early days.

IIF files were first introduced into the QuickBooks universe sometime before 1997 (here is the oldest mention we can find).  Remember 1997?  Sales of 3.5″ floppy disks were still going strong.  Dial-up internet was all the rage.  The Netscape browser was hot stuff.  And, yes, the IIF file was considered a quite acceptable way to shuttle data from a 3rd party app, into QuickBooks.

IIF files were a manual process for importing information into QuickBooks. They were essentially CSV files, called Intuit Interchangeable Format, that contained your information in a format Intuit would be able to recognize.

The common process would be to have all of your information in a Excel document using a particular IIF format, then save the file with the .IIF extension. The next step is to import the information in QuickBooks; opening File->Utilities->Import IIF Files… then your information would appear in QuickBooks

However, there were major problems with IIF files (see IIF vs Cloud comparison) and knowing how to use IIF files and their intracies became cultish-like club (we were guilty of drinking the Kool-aid, too). IIF files didn’t let users export transactions, import/export Payroll data, and didn’t allow users to import linked transactions (e.g. a customer invoice matched w/ a customer payment of that invoice).

It was also very common to import the ‘wrong kind’ of IIF file. There were many different types of formats depending on what you wanted to do: add information as Write Check, Vendor Bill, Credit Card transaction, etc. all had their own unique format. Mixing up a format could result in some transactions being added to your books, while leaving others out – and of course no real way to tell what went wrong or how to clean up the mess.

Forutnatley, Intuit graduated to the next medium of importing data into QuickBooks; the QuickBooks Web Connect.

QuickBooks Web Connect – A Step in the Right Direction

QuickBooks Web Connect (QBWC) was first launched later in 2002 to make up for the problems of IIF files, but was never supported in QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks for Mac. QBWC allowed 3^rd party applications to access QuickBooks to send/receive information over the internet.

For the most part QBWC worked as designed, although set-up problems plagued users with rough initial user-experiences. Up until recently, ProOnGo was supporting the QBWC in order to update credit card transactions from QuickBooks desktop versions and we had numerous problems with clients attempting to setup their QBWC and running into some type of error. While up and running, it did the trick, but the initial setup process was so painful for some users, they were turned off to using 3^rd party applications with QuickBooks.

Intuit Anywhere

Finally, in August of 2011, Intuit announced Intuit Anywhere; a new method for 3^rd party applications to import/export data from/to QuickBooks without having to convert information into a particular file type, or having to setup a new program.

This is when ProOnGo really joined the QuickBooks party. We first demonstrated our mobile and web application connecting to QuickBooks using Intuit Anywhere at the Intuit Apps Showcase on August 12^th. Intuit Anywhere allowed us to connect to QuickBooks desktop versions, as well as QuickBooks Online, from a very simple SDK published by Intuit. Using Intuit Anywhere, we are able to interact with nearly every facet of QuickBooks, which truly turns our offering into a QuickBooks “application” because of its native interaction.

Instead of a program that just integrates with QuickBooks, where you would create a certain type of file, or you had to install another piece of software and keep running on your computer at all times, Intuit Anywhere let’s ProOnGo publish data to the Intuit Cloud and the cloud is responsible for updating the information to the user’s QuickBooks file. This makes the interaction between ProOnGo and QuickBooks feel much more natural.

Hopefully, this brief rundown of the various methods used to take information and import into QuickBooks was helpful.  If you have any questions, you’re always more than welcome to shoot an email to Support@ProOnGo.com

Do your independent contractors use Time Sheets in QuickBooks? Now they can use ProOnGo!

The correct way to record credit card transactions in QuickBooks is to use the credit card register! If you’ve been entering your charges in QuickBooks Online through the Credit Card screen, reconciling your card at the end of each month is easy!

Start at the Banking tab, and select ‘More.’ From there, click ‘Reconcile.’

A window will then pop up asking which register you’d like to reconcile. Find the credit card you need to reconcile and click ‘OK.’ The next screen will prompt you to enter the balance from your statement, along with any credit card fees.

Click ‘OK,’ and you’ll be able to see how your credit card transactions in QuickBooks match up with your statement. If you’ve been using Online Banking, there won’t be any discrepancies.

Further down on the screen, you can see how everything adds up. Your ending balance should always be zero. If it isn’t, though, QuickBooks Online allows you to make an adjusting entry to correct the imbalance.

Once you’ve looked over everything and have decided to really reconcile your credit card, click ‘OK.’ QuickBooks will then ask how you want to pay the bill.

After you write the check to the credit card company, you’re done! You’ve just reconciled your credit cards in QuickBooks Online.

Did you know: ProOnGo syncs directly with your company cards, so you and your employees can edit, categorize, and add receipt images to your QB credit card transactions from any smart phone, any where, and at any time. Check out ProOnGo’s Credit Card Sync.

Dear Journal,
            Today I really messed up my QuickBooks company file…

Journal entries in QuickBooks are something  which are oftentimes used incorrectly, messing up your reports and sending your ProAdvisor running. The ‘old school’ method of accounting dictates each transaction should be an entry in a literal journal, so it’s not uncommon for people to intuitively use journal entries in QuickBooks to record various transactions. QuickBooks is a form-based accounting program, though, meaning that it has specific forms to enter each type of transaction. For example, if you use a credit card to make a purchase, you should use the ‘Enter Credit Card Charges’ form in QuickBooks. If you write a check, you should use the ‘Write Checks’ form. Get it?