Quickbooks Portable Company File vs Backup
When creating a copy of data within a Quickbooks account, you’ll have one of two different options to choose from: you can either export a portable company file or create a backup file. While there are some similarities between the two different options, there are some notable differences that shouldn’t go unnoticed. To ensure you make the right choice regarding your sensitive data, you must understand what the differences are between portable company files and backup files.
Backups
As the name suggests, backups are done to protect yourself in the unfortunate event of a hardware and/or software failure. Accounting is the structure for any successful business, and without it you simply won’t know what’s owed or to whom. Having your computer or hard drive malfunction and wipe your Quickbooks account clean is a recipe for disaster. The good news, however, is that you can prevent this from happening by backing up your Quickbooks account.
Quickbooks makes backing up all of your financial information a quick and easy task. After logging into your account, click “File” and then “Create Backup File.” You’ll then need to choose the location of your new backup file — local or cloud — along with the time and date. I recommend automatically scheduling your Quickbooks account to backup at least once a week for optimal protection. Even if nothing ever happens to your computer, you’ll still have the peace of mind knowing that your pertinent accounting information is backed up on a secure location.
Portable Company File
Now that you know the purpose of backups, you are probably wondering what exactly portable company files are used for. In short, these files are used to email or transfer company data from a Quickbooks account. Instead of emailing the entire backup, you can send a smaller, more concise file known as the portable company file. It’s a quick and easy method for transferring data from a Quickbooks account.
It’s important to note, however, that portable company files lack certain files like templates, images, letters, etc. Because these files aren’t necessary for the core data, they are omitted in portable company files. Leaving these files out creates a smaller files that faster to download and upload, which is a huge benefit for large-scale companies with equally large Quickbooks account.
After reading this, you should have a better understanding on the differences between portable company files and backup files. Remember, backup files contain everything, while portable company files are smaller and contain only the core data.
Quickbooks File Doctor
Quickbooks File Doctor is a completely free tool that’s helpful in a number of different situations. Whether you are dealing with a corrupt Quickbooks file or having problems connecting your account to the network, File Doctor is there to help. Even if you aren’t having these problems, it’s still recommended that you download and familiarize yourself with the program. To learn more about Quickbooks File Doctor and how to use it, keep reading.
First and foremost, you’ll need to download Quickbooks File Doctor and install it on your computer. You can find it on the official Inuit website — http://http-download.intuit.com/http.intuit/QBFD/qbfd.exe — so go ahead and download it. Once it’s downloaded, open the program and follow the built-in wizard to install it on your computer. After installing, restart your computer and you should see a new icon on your desktop labeled “File Doctor.” If you are still having problems installing the program, see the troubleshooting manual included in the download.
Network Problems
One of the biggest advantages of using Quickbooks File Doctor is its ability to fix basic network problems. For instance, some users might run into the problem of opening company files over the network. In this case, you simply open up your File Doctor program, click on “Advanced Settings,” and follow the given instructions. File Doctor is designed to walk you through the most common issues associated with network connections. After entering in the given information, Quickbooks will ask you for the file location. Select the file location one last time and it will then attempt to open the file over the network. If all goes well, the File Doctor will fix the problem and have you back on the network in no time at all.
Corrupted File
I think we’ve all dealt with corrupted files at one point or another. Depending on the severity of the problem, a corrupted file could halt all of your work until the fix it. Thankfully, File Doctor is designed to fix corrupted files within Quickbooks. If you are suffering from one or more corrupted files, simply run the File Doctor tool to find and fix the problem. It’s ran in the same way at the network connection fix, so follow the instructions listed above. All you need to do is open the file, follow the instructions, enter your information, and let it do the rest.
Hopefully, this will give you a better understanding on the Quickbooks File Doctor tool and how to use it.
How To Use Quickbooks For Personal Finance
Quickbooks is the most popular type of business accounting software on the market with thousands of small, medium and large-sized companies placing their trust in it. It’s broad range of features and clean yet sophisticated interface allow people with little-to-no accounting experience to perform all of their bushiness’s accounting needs. In addition, however, Quickbooks can also be used to manage personal finances. If you are looking for a way to keep track of your personal finances, keep reading to learn how Quickbooks can do the job for you.
Some people might be thrown off by Quickbooks’ labeling. If you’ve ever come across this software in a store or online, it’s usually described as “business” accounting software; therefore, common sense would leave you to believe that it’s a poor choice for personal accounting. The truth, however, is that Quickbooks can be used for either business or personal finance managing. Just because it’s labeled as business accounting software doesn’t mean you can’t use it for personal finances as well.
When you are ready to start your personal finance accounting, fire up Quickbooks on your personal computer. The process of using the software for your personal accounting needs is pretty much the same as business accounting, only with a few minor differences. Once Quickbooks has loaded, use the built-in setup Wizard to walk you through the rest of the steps. If you have a checking account, savings account or any other bank account, you use the setup Wizard to connect this information to your Quickbooks. Alternatively, you can also enter this information in by hand if you aren’t comfortable connecting your financial accounts to Quickbooks. Either way is perfectly acceptable, but using the setup wizard will save you both time and energy.
Next, click on the “Vendor Center” tab at the top of your Quickbooks account and select “New Vendor.” This may be somewhat confusing at first, but vendors in a personal finance account are any bills that you must pay. For instance, your rent, electric bill, cable bill, car payment and even groceries can be labeled as a vendor. It’s important to note, however, that you’ll need to create a new vendor for each type of bill.
With your vendors set up, you can now add transactions to account for any payments you’ve sent out. The key thing to remember is that each transaction needs to have a specific vendor associated with it. Continue doing this throughout the month and you’ll be able to better keep up with your personal finances thanks to Quickbooks.
Quickbooks Time Tracking
Time Tracking is a highly useful add-on feature to Quickbooks that allows you to track employee work time. If you have employees who are paid by hourly wage and not salary or commission, then you’ll need to keep track of their time; otherwise, it’s a guessing game that will end up costing you in the long run. The good news is that Quickbooks Time Tracking is designed specifically for this reason. Once you’ve enrolled in this program, you can integrate it into your Quickbooks account for fast and easy employee time management.
First and foremost, you might be wondering if Time Tracking is truly necessary. After all, there are tends of thousands of businesses who use Quickbooks without this feature. While you can certainly perform accounting operations without it, using Time Tracking is resourceful for contractors and similar small businesses who need to report their work time. For the price, adding this feature onto your Quickbooks account will prove to be well worth the initial investment.
Once you’ve signed up for Time Tracking, you will then need to log in to your account and click the “Preferences” button under “Edit.” You will then be prompted with a question asking if you wish to turn on the Time Tracking feature. Select yes and continue through the setup process.
You should now be at the main Quickbooks screen with all of your tabs off to the left-hand side. Click on “Payroll and Employee” and then select “Company Preferences.” If you look closely, you should see a box that says “use time data to create paychecks.” Assuming you wish to use the Time Tracking feature, click on this box and continue to the next screen.
With this feature activated, your Quickbooks account will now automatically account for employees’ time data. Before it’s able to do this accurately, however, you must go into each individual employee account to manually update their information. Edit each individual employee in your Quickbooks account and choose whether you want to use an automatic timesheet or enter the data by hand.
Using the Quickbooks Time Tracking feature isn’t difficult, but it does require a few minutes to set up. Follow the steps outlined here to get this feature up and going on your Quickbooks accounts. Once it’s activates and working, Time Tracking will automatically account for employees’ time, which in turn will make accounting ten times easier on you.