They are caused by either:

• an incorrect path in your .nd file to your company file (.qbw) or
• damage to the Windows user account used by the QuickBooks Database Manager

See our article on QuickBooks file types for more information on the .nd file.

There are 2 possible solutions to this problem:

• use the QuickBooks File Doctor or
• delete the Windows user account used by the QuickBooks Database Manager and then do a clean install of QuickBooks

To delete the right Windows user account, identify the version of QuickBooks that is generating this error. The Windows user account used by the QuickBooks Database Manager has a name that begins with qbdataserviceuser and, for versions of QuickBooks after QuickBooks 2006, ends with a 2 digit number. If you only run 1 version of QuickBooks, it should be easy to identify the Windows user account. If you run multiple versions of QuickBooks, be sure to only delete the user account associated with the version of QuickBooks that’s giving you a problem.

Here are the Windows user accounts for recent versions of QuickBooks:

• QuickBooks 2013: qbdataserviceuser23
• QuickBooks 2012: qbdataserviceuser22
• QuickBooks 2011: qbdataserviceuser21
• QuickBooks 2010: qbdataserviceuser20
• QuickBooks 2009: qbdataserviceuser19
• QuickBooks 2008: qbdataserviceuser18
• QuickBooks 2007: qbdataserviceuser17
• QuickBooks 2006: qbdataserviceuser

Once you’ve deleted the user account, continue to the next step of doing a clean install of QuickBooks.

For more information on resolving QuickBooks Error Code -6144, 0, consult this Intuit knowledge base article.

The post What Is QuickBooks Error -6144, 0? appeared first on QBGarage.com.

• Data corruption
• Windows setup problems
• Network setup problems

The tool has its limits. It only works with:

• .qbw and .qba files
• QuickBooks company files (.qbw) smaller than 2 Gb

Further, diagnosing network setup problems may not work if you have multiple QuickBooks versions installed on your computer. In some cases the tool may diagnose a problem but then be unable to fix it. That typically depends on whether a QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery folder exists. Auto Data Recovery (ADR) is another Intuit data protection tool available to some QuickBooks users.

For more information on the QuickBooks File Doctor, consult this Intuit knowledge base article.

The post What Is the QuickBooks File Doctor? appeared first on QBGarage.com.

The biggest thing users will notice about QuickBooks 2013 is the new design, or graphical user interface (GUI) in tech-speak.  The design incorporates colors from contemporary web sites and ribbons on forms similar to Microsoft’s popular Office software suite.

There’s little in the way of major new product features, but there are important tweaks throughout the program.  We’ll cover the changes in more detail in future posts.  For now we’ll touch on a few examples of the improvements.

In the QuickBooks 2013 Customer Center, shown below, information is organized into tabs.  Customers can now have multiple contacts and multiple date-stamped notes, which can be managed on the Contacts and Notes tabs respectively.  There are built-in links to maps and directions to the customer’s address to save having to re-enter that address in another application.  When navigation and mapping apps are everywhere, it’s good to see Intuit recognize the importance of this type of information.

Many forms, such as the Create Invoices form shown below, now include a ribbon full of common commands.  The ribbon is larger than the icons used in previous versions of QuickBooks.  The increased size allows the text and icon to more clearly identify the task with which it is associated.  In the past QuickBooks icons were so small that that they provided little useful information.  In the age of retina displays, they simply didn’t cut it anymore, and QuickBooks 2013 is a recognition of that reality.  Quick links have been added to a context-sensitive find tool.  In other words, the FIND button on the Create Invoice ribbon has input fields for invoices, and the button on the Enter Bills ribbon has input fields for bills.

These improvements are useful, but no single one stands out as revolutionary.

The design change for QuickBooks 2013 is the standout feature.  The new look won’t be universally loved, but the change brings QuickBooks much closer to the visual appearance of popular web sites, which are playing a growing role in setting the standards against which software is judged.

For more background on the changes in QuickBooks, check out Intuit’s blog post on the introduction of QuickBooks 2013.

The post QuickBooks 2013 Coming On September 24th appeared first on QBGarage.com.

Typically, Intuit releases a new version of QuickBooks in the last week of September.  Without a policy to provide a free upgrade to the new version, prospective QuickBooks customers might otherwise suspend purchases until after the official release of a new version. That wouldn’t be good for sales.

The migration policy discourages potential customers from deferring purchases.  It also allows customers to buy and use the time-tested, currently-shipping version that has been on the market for 10 months or more while gaining access to the latest software.  That new software can be put to use once its stability has been affirmed in the market.  For those who are reluctant to install the first release of a new program but want the features of a new QuickBooks version, the migration policy offers solid benefits.  For those years when there’s an expected price jump on QuickBooks, the migration policy offers built-in savings, since you’ll receive the higher-priced new version by paying the lower, current price.

For QuickBooks 2013, the expected release date is 9/24/12, and the migration policy started on 7/25/12.  That means any purchaser of QuickBooks 2012 from 7/25/12 through the release of QuickBooks 2013 is eligible to receive a free upgrade to that new version.

Let’s clarify a few details on what constitutes a “free upgrade.”  If you received your QuickBooks software via download, you’ll be able to receive the newly released version for free.  However, if you opted to receive your QuickBooks software on physical media, such as as a DVD, then shipping charges and taxes will apply to your upgrade order.  Moreover, free migration policy upgrades are not available to those who purchased QuickBooks software through a mass merchant.

Unfortunately, there are no links on Intuit sites documenting the migration policy, so the details are subject to change.  And you’ll need to contact Intuit to claim your free upgrade promptly.  All in all, the migration policy removes all the reasons to defer buying QuickBooks for new installations and upgrades.

The post What Is the QuickBooks Migration Policy? appeared first on QBGarage.com.

For 2012, Intuit is phasing out the online QuickBooks Attached Documents and including a capability for free local document storage.

Let’s summarize the changes based on the year of your QuickBooks version and the impact of those changes based on whether they add capabilities (good), remove them (bad), or it’s too early to assess the impact (unclear):

QuickBooks 2012

Good: Local document storage on the computer running QuickBooks is now free, and the new Doc Center supports a drag-and-drop interface, including the ability to add Microsoft Outlook emails to Doc Center. Supported documents can be attached to QuickBooks lists or transactions. Users of QuickBooks Attached Documents have access to a tool to migrate online documents to local storage.

Bad: Users can no longer sign up and pay for an extra cost, cloud-based storage solution from Intuit. Users requiring cloud-based solutions will have to turn to third-party add-ons, some of which have been in existence longer than Intuit’s cloud-based storage.

QuickBooks 2011

Good: Intuit has lowered the price of QuickBooks Attached Documents, where the maximum monthly fee is now $9.95 for unlimited document storage.

Bad: Since QuickBooks Attached Documents is being phased out, existing users of the service can continue to use it subject to Intuit’s sunshine policy. Under that policy, and assuming Intuit keeps the service live until that point, QuickBooks 2011 users can continue to use QuickBooks Attached Documents until May, 2014 – provided that they continue to run that same version of QuickBooks. Once QuickBooks 2012 is formally available to the public, QuickBooks 2011 users can not sign up for new subscriptions to QuickBooks Attached Documents. This change effectively limits the users of this version of the program to 2 undesirable choices: don’t upgrade QuickBooks and keep the Attached Documents service for a limited time or upgrade QuickBooks and lose the ability to attach documents and store them on Intuit’s secure servers. The first blocks access to new QuickBooks features, and the second blocks access to a service that may be important to an organization. It should be noted that users that do opt to upgrade QuickBooks will only lose the ability to attach documents stored in the cloud; they will not lose access to the documents themselves, since access in all likelihood will be preserved until May, 2014.

Unclear: While users of QuickBooks 2012 have access to a tool to migrate existing online documents to local storage, it’s not clear if that tool will be made available to users of QuickBooks 2011 without first upgrading to QuickBooks 2012. Without such a tool, there is no obvious way to migrate documents from Intuit’s cloud storage other than saving them one by one, which would be a time consuming process for active users of the service.

QuickBooks 2010

Good: For users that have stuck with Intuit’s Document Management, there is little good to report. For those that have migrated to Attached Documents before the introduction of QuickBooks 2012, the lower pricing of Attached Documents is a benefit to QuickBooks 2010 users.

Bad: Similar to the fate of QuickBooks 2011 users, QuickBooks 2010 users of online document storage (either Document Management or Attached Documents) can use the service subject to Intuit’s sunshine policy. However, since QuickBooks 2010 was released 1 year before QuickBooks 2011, the sunshine date is 1 year earlier, or May 2013. New, free subscriptions to Document Management with a cap of 100 Mb can be created, but these were intended to allow evaluation of the service when it was first introduced; it’s unlikely anyone would want to evaluate a service that is being phased out, and the 100 Mb cap has little practical value outside of evaluation testing.

The changes to document attachment are significant, and many QuickBooks users that have avoided attaching documents in QuickBooks because of cost considerations will be pleased at the free local document storage in QuickBooks 2012. On the other hand, organizations that have used Intuit’s cloud-based system will be disappointed to see that low-cost service disappear, but they’ll have ample time to implement other approaches to document storage.

The post What Are the Changes To QuickBooks Attached Documents For 2012? appeared first on QBGarage.com.

Highlighting the changes are:

• New Calendar View
• Improved To-Do List
• Ability to update existing Excel reports directly from QuickBooks
• Improved memorized transactions
• Changes to document management
• New Lead Center to manage leads and prospects directly in QuickBooks

Enterprise Solutions 12.0 users will have the ability to use FIFO inventory costing with an extra-cost service. For industry specific products, such as QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition, there are additional enhancements, such as the inclusion of Intuit Statement Writer.

Our first impression is that QuickBooks 2012 seems to perform faster than previous versions on the same company files.

Every QuickBooks user will have his or her own favorite, but for those that prepare reports in Excel, if that feature can deliver on the promise, it will prove a huge timesaver.

What looks the most interesting to you?

The post QuickBooks 2012 Coming By September 26th appeared first on QBGarage.com.

The look isn’t fully polished yet, and we’re running an alpha version of the forum software, so you may find a rare glitch or two.

But our testing shows that basic functionality works just fine. So without further delay, head on over to our forum and fire away with your questions.

The post Our New Forum, Part 2 appeared first on QBGarage.com.

Users log into Intuit’s secure servers using an email address and password. While we’re on the subject of security, there’s one small drawback: the password is not case-sensitive and is therefore not considered a strong password.

A QuickBooks Attached Documents subscription is managed by a Company Administrator, the sole pre-defined role supported by the service. A user with the role of Company Administrator can:

• Edit the business profile
• Add other Attached Documents subscriptions
• Update the current subscription

Here’s a screenshot of the screen to add a new user, which shows the range of security settings. After a user is added, security settings can be modified by clicking on the Manage Users button in the upper right of the browser screen, followed by editing a specific user. You can only manage users from a browser-based interface, not from within QuickBooks itself. The Setup and Manage Users menu selection will only open browser access to Attached Documents.

The service supports 4 levels of application permissions:

• Administrator: can perform all functions and manage users
• Full Access: can perform all functions but cannot manage users
• View Only: can view any attachment in any area but cannot add new attachments and cannot modify or delete existing documents
• Custom Access: controlled access across 8 functional areas

Necessarily, the user with the role of Company Administrator must have Administrator application permissions, but other users can have Administrator application permissions as well. While those users will have powerful capabilities, they won’t have the powers specific to the role of Company Administrator, such as editing the company profile.

The Custom Access permission is used to control access to documents in functional areas of QuickBooks. Custom Access supports 8 functional areas:

1. Sales and Accounts Receivable
2. Purchases and Accounts Payable
3. Checking and Credit Cards
4. Time Tracking
5. Payroll and Employees
6. Inventory
7. Sensitive Accounting Activities
8. Company Documents

Within these 8 areas, there are 4 capabilities:

• Add: this is a global permission; if a user can add an attached document, he can add it to any area
• View: this permission allows a user to look at but not modify or delete a document
• Modify: this permission necessarily includes the View permission
• Delete: this permission is only available to a user with Modify permissions in the same area

Users assigned a Custom Access level can make use of their capabilities (i. e., Add, View, Modify, or Delete) on lists and transactions associated with that area of accounting. A user can be assigned to more than one area, a necessity in a small firm that still wants to set some restrictions on document access.

Before examining how Custom Access applies in specific areas, it’s important to understand how access to files in the Document Inbox is controlled. Any user with View permission in any area can see all unattached documents in the Document Inbox. Custom Access can’t take affect until after a document is attached and put into a specific area. Therefore, for documents requiring controlled access, care must be taken to start the upload process by attaching them from within QuickBooks. If you elect to upload a document to the Document Inbox and attach it later, it is viewable by any user with View permissions until it is attached to a list item or transaction.

8 Functional Areas

Let’s review which lists and transactions are associated with specific areas. Note that a list or transaction type can appear in more than 1 area. For example, the Other Names list appears in both the Sales and Accounts Receivable and the Purchases and Accounts Payable areas.

Sales and Accounts Receivable: Customers, Other Names, Fixed Asset Item List, Estimates, Sales Orders, Invoices, Sales Receipts, Credit Memos, and Payments.

Purchases and Accounts Payable: Vendors, Other Names, Fixed Asset Items, Bills, Bill Credits, Bill Payments, Credit Card charges, Credit Card credits, and Purchase Orders. Note that Checks – which represent a different transaction type – cannot be seen unless the user has View permissions in the area of Checking and Credit Cards.

Checking and Credit Cards: Vendors, Other Names, Fixed Asset Items, Checks, Deposits, Credit Card charges, and Credit Card credits. Note that users with View permission can see documents attached to transactions in bank or credit card accounts but cannot see documents attached to the bank or credit card accounts themselves. Note also that Transfers are not included in this area.

Time Tracking: Other Names and Timers.

Payroll and Employees: Employees, Other Names, Paychecks, Payroll Liability Checks, Liability Adjustments, and Year-To-Date Adjustments.

Inventory: Items, Vendors, Other Names, Fixed Asset Items, Bills, Bill Credits, Bill Payments, Purchase Orders, Item Receipts, Inventory Adjustments, and Build Assemblies.

Sensitive Accounting Activities: Accounts, Journal entries, and Transfers. Note that users with View permission can see documents attached to general ledger Accounts, but to also see documents attached to transactions in a particular area, View permission for that area is required. For example, to view a document attached to a Check, a user must have View permissions in the Checking and Credit Cards area.

Company Documents: Documents attached to the company file itself via the Company Information window.

This last area is not an accounting function similar to managing A/R or A/P. Instead, it includes more general corporate documents that are connected to accounting and recordkeeping. Documents here include those attached to the Company Information via the Company->Company Information… menu selection. A screenshot of this point of attachment is shown below. Examples of documents that might be attached here include corporate organization documents such as articles of incorporation, bylaws, or meeting minutes.

A few examples of how applying security in QuickBooks Attached Documents will illustrate the power and flexibility of this security model. First, consider the need to upload bank statements but to restrict access to selected individuals. Bank statements attached to the Account are only viewable by users with access to Sensitive Accounting Activities, so the specific bank account to which the statement applies is the best point of attachment. We don’t recommend bank statements be attached to other list entities, such as Other Names, because documents attached to those lists are accessible to other areas.

Next, consider the need to upload payroll tax forms. If every user requiring access to the payroll tax forms will also have access to the Sensitive Accounting Activities area, one good point of attachment might be the liability account to which the tax form relates. Another approach might be to treat these forms as Company Documents, and attach them to the Company Information. A workable but slightly less desirable method would be to create employees representing the tax agency as placeholders and attach tax forms to the relevant placeholder employee. However, even though a tax form is often accompanied by a payment to a Vendor, we don’t recommend attaching a tax form to a Vendor because documents attached to that list item would be accessible to other areas, such as Purchase and Accounts Payable.

Both of these examples illustrate an important concept in making use of security in Attached Documents. Start by attaching a document to an area with the greatest restrictions and only attach it to other areas as required. If you attach a document to areas that include lists or transaction types that overlap, you may end up making the document available to a wider audience than you originally intended.

The post How Does QuickBooks Attached Documents Handle Security? appeared first on QBGarage.com.

Here are a few pointers on making the best use of keyboard shortcuts:

• Our list is sortable and organized by function; find a small number of shortcuts that are most relevant to your use of QuickBooks and use them over and over, because productivity gains only come with repeated use
• Special keys, such as Alt or Ctrl, are shown in italics, and are often combined with another key that is listed in uppercase for consistency only; you don’t need to enter this key in uppercase
• For some shortcuts, such as those used when starting the program, timing is everything; the shortcut must be invoked when QuickBooks is ready to process it, and if you’re too early or too late, the shortcut will not work

There’s an extensive group of shortcuts that relate to the use of the Alt key. We’ve included this group as a single shortcut at the end of the list. When you press the Alt key, a character in most menus is underlined, and that character is a shortcut to that menu function. For example, pressing Alt + B + L invokes the reconcile function because L is underlined in Banking menu.

Continue on to our list of QuickBooks keyboard shortcuts. This is one example where a shortcut in accounting can be a good thing.

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It’s easy to unattach a previously attached document in QuickBooks Attached Documents once you consider some Attached Documents basics:

• Unless you want to remove a document from online storage, you can only unattach documents from within QuickBooks itself – not through the web interface
• QuickBooks refers to the process of unattaching as “deleting the attachment”
• Deleting an attachment from a linked list item or transaction does not necessarily involve deleting the attachment from documents stored on the Attached Documents server

To unattach a document from a list item or transaction, the first step is open the list of documents currently attached to that list item or transaction. For list items in a Center, such as Vendor Center, click on the paperclip next to the name of the vendor with an attachment that you want to unattach from that list item. For transactions, such as a vendor bill, open the transaction and click the paperclip at the top of the transaction form. Both of these approaches will take you to a list of the documents currently attached to that list item or transaction so that you can delete the attachment. Next, select the attachment you want to unattach and click the Delete button. In the screenshot below, the list of currently attached documents has been redacted.

Upon clicking the Delete button, you’ll see the Delete Attachment window. In this window, you’ll have the option to simply unattach the document but keep the document stored on the Attached Documents servers or to unattach the document and remove the document from Intuit’s servers at the same time. To unattach the document and permanently delete the file, simply click the checkbox for Also permanently delete this document from online storage.

Of course, you can delete a document using the web interface of Attached Documents. That will break the attachment to the list item or transaction in QuickBooks since the document will be removed from online storage. That list item or transaction will appear to have an attachment in QuickBooks until you attempt to access it or run the utility Sync and Clean Up Attachment Links on the Company->Attached Documents->Utilities menu.

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