OT Quickbooks users

[bcorkery]

I got the following from QB's. It says DON'T BUY VISTA!
________________________

I'm sending you this important service alert because you are using a 2006 or earlier version of QuickBooks software.

Since QuickBooks 2006 and earlier versions were developed
and released before the introduction of Windows Vista,
these versions may be adversely affected when used on
a computer running Windows Vista.
This will impact Simple Start, Basic, Pro, Premier, Payroll and Point of Sale, as well as other QuickBooks products and services. We recognize that your QuickBooks software is an important business tool and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.
http://a676.g.akamaitech.net/f/676/773/60m/images.delivery.net/cm50content/18757/090081018066f941/spacer.gif

http://a676.g.akamaitech.net/f/676/773/60m/images.delivery.net/cm50content/18757/090081018066f941/spacer.gif
http://a676.g.akamaitech.net/f/676/773/60m/images.delivery.net/cm50content/18757/090081018066f941/spacer.gif http://a676.g.akamaitech.net/f/676/773/60m/images.delivery.net/cm50content/18757/090081018066f941/spacer.gif WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO STAY UP AND RUNNING ON QUICKBOOKS • If you do NOT upgrade to Windows Vista
No action is required. If you plan to stay with your existing Windows operating system (for example, Windows XP or Windows 2000), you can continue to use your current QuickBooks products.
• If you choose to upgrade to Windows Vista
We recommend that you use QuickBooks 2007 (and Point of Sale v6.0, if applicable). QuickBooks 2007 is the only version of the software built to run on the new Windows Vista operating system.

[Scott P]

Thanks Bill.

I had just talked to one of my PC gurus today and he's telling me that Vista isn't a good thing to go to right now. According to him, a number of Graphics card manufacturers are not even writing drivers for it yet.

I'm still with W2K Pro and it's working on all of my app's and cards. I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke..."

Thanks again!
s

[Dave Labrecque]

I wonder how well QB will support XP from this point forward. And for how long. I guess they've been pretty good with such "legacy" OS support heretofore, so... (or am I wrong about that?)

[Scott P]

Dave,

My only support experience with QB's was about about mid 2006. I had QB's 2003 (I think) and they decided that they would no longer support it. I didn't really care. Mine was fine the way it was.

The only problem was they wouldn't allow me to e-mail invoices. I'm not talking about sending them through their system. I mean they wouldn't allow me to send them through simple e-mail unless I upgraded to 2005 or higher. I thought that was a little much, but I had no choice. Fortunately, I found a copy of 2005 on E-bay for $85 (I think). It was new and boxed and works great. It just seemed like a a rip off to pay $85 just so I could continue sending invoices through e-mail.

Scott

[Naturally Digital]

The only problem was they wouldn't allow me to e-mail invoices. I'm not talking about sending them through their system. I mean they wouldn't allow me to send them through simple e-mail unless I upgraded to 2005 or higher. I thought that was a little much, but I had no choice. Fortunately, I found a copy of 2005 on E-bay for $85 (I think). It was new and boxed and works great. It just seemed like a a rip off to pay $85 just so I could continue sending invoices through e-mail.I'm using v2000 and can email OK. Having said that, if you ever need a workaround I'd suggest installing CutePDF. You can then print your invoices to a pdf file and email them after the fact.

QB is the last program on earth that I'm compelled to upgrade. I only upgrade if I absolutely have to. The last time I upgraded was so I would have long file name support. If I can track things, print invoices and generate the reports I need, I'm happy. IMHO their "upgrades" are designed to extract cash from their users' wallets.

The first positive thing I've witnessed from this company is they decided to send me a copy of QTax automatically (which I'll need to pay for and register) saving me the trouble of going out and purchasing it.

[Ian Alexander]

I'm using v2000 and can email OK. Having said that, if you ever need a workaround I'd suggest installing CutePDF. You can then print your invoices to a pdf file and email them after the fact.
I'm taking a similar approach with QB 2002. I use the PDF utility in ScanSoft PaperPort. Got the logo in and fiddled with the PDF compression to get invoices down to about 42k each. Drag into an email and QB's email support is irrelevant. I've always done it this way, because I was never comfortable with Intuit passing all my invoices through. BTW, Help Search no longer works in QB 2002.

[JoergReiher]

For generating pdf files from whatever printable source I very much like the PDFCreator. It's a free GPLed open source software which installs just as another printer.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

So if you want a pdf, just print the source and select PDFCreator as the printer.
It also allows you to print to some other formats but I haven't tried that yet.

If you've got any other program that does the job as easy as that (I think CutePDF free will work similarly) there's no need to change (if it ain't broke and so on:-).

But if you use some 3rd party program you first have to start, then open the document, then convert, the PDFCreator might come in handy.

[Bruce Callaway]

Thanks for the link

[Angie]

For generating pdf files from whatever printable source I very much like the PDFCreator. It's a free GPLed open source software which installs just as another printer.

There are a bunch of them out there. I guess it is widely believed that Adobe holds the license for the format. Not true. I use PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/ . A real godsend when it comes to publishing. Just save it via the print driver as a PDF file and run it over to OfficeMax to have it printed. :)

[Mark Stebbeds]

My only support experience with QB's was about about mid 2006. I had QB's 2003 (I think) and they decided that they would no longer support it. I didn't really care. Mine was fine the way it was.

The only problem was they wouldn't allow me to e-mail invoices. I'm not talking about sending them through their system. I mean they wouldn't allow me to send them through simple e-mail unless I upgraded to 2005 or higher.

I'm not sure how you email, but I've always just printed the invoice to a *.txt file or *.pdf file, give it a name like Client Invoice 2 so I can find it, and then simply attach it to an email. I believe I have v2006 now, but I've always done this.

Am I missing something?

Mark

[Mark Stebbeds]

There are a bunch of them out there. I guess it is widely believed that Adobe holds the license for the format. Not true. I use PrimoPDF http://www.primopdf.com/ . A real godsend when it comes to publishing. Just save it via the print driver as a PDF file and run it over to OfficeMax to have it printed. :)

I use Open Office these days and am able to save anything as a *.pdf, without a third party app. Is this not possible in MS Word? I have Word on another computer so I can't check at the moment...and it's a old version.

mark

[UpTilDawn]

I just checked my Word 2000 and it doesn't, unless there's some plug=-in that I don't know about, which is highly possible.

DanT

[Angie]

I use Open Office these days and am able to save anything as a *.pdf, without a third party app. Is this not possible in MS Word? I have Word on another computer so I can't check at the moment...and it's a old version.

mark

AFAIK, Word has never had the ability. I use Open Office now also and love it.
But the applications Joerg and I are talking about work from any program that you would want to print from. Very nice.

[Tree Leopard]

If anyone here is interested in testing out alternatives for general business software, then search this forum:

http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php

Lots of good discussion re: note-taking software, word processors, email, av, pdf alternatives, accounts packages, general utilities etc.

Open Office as a non-nonsense package is hard to beat.

Andre

[Dave Labrecque]

I'm not sure how you email, but I've always just printed the invoice to a *.txt file or *.pdf file, give it a name like Client Invoice 2 so I can find it, and then simply attach it to an email. I believe I have v2006 now, but I've always done this.

Am I missing something?

Mark

Yessir.

If you generate your invoices in QuickBooks, the only way to make a PDF (that I know of) is using a PDF print driver or using their native email send function, which is kind of round-about if you don't want to email it.

D'oh! I got to thinking, and I checked to be sure... yes! QB (Pro 2005 anyway) has a "Save as PDF" menu item on the File menu. Whouda thunk it?

[Scott P]

I'm not sure how you email, but I've always just printed the invoice to a *.txt file or *.pdf file, give it a name like Client Invoice 2 so I can find it, and then simply attach it to an email. I believe I have v2006 now, but I've always done this.

Am I missing something?

Mark

Mark,

At the top of the invoice window you can click "send" and there's a drop down menu to e-mail the invoice.

The next time it's an issue I'll look into some of the other methods that have been described on the thread.

Thanks everyone!
s

[Mark Stebbeds]

Mark,

At the top of the invoice window you can click "send" and there's a drop down menu to e-mail the invoice.


Thanks. I don't feel like opening Quicken right now, but what format is the emailed invoice? Text file, .pdf, special Quicken text format?

Mark

[Mark Stebbeds]

AFAIK, Word has never had the ability. I use Open Office now also and love it.
But the applications Joerg and I are talking about work from any program that you would want to print from. Very nice.

I can see how they would be handy. Thanks for the tips. I have an old version of Adobe something or other that can create .pdf, but it's not easy to use.

mark

[Mark Stebbeds]

Mark,

At the top of the invoice window you can click "send" and there's a drop down menu to e-mail the invoice.



OK, I don't see it on MY invoice window. Maybe it's because I don't have Quickbooks, but Quicken Home and Business, so it probably has a few differences.

Mark

[studio-c]

Blue Squirrel (bluesquirrel.com) has a little app called Click2pdf. It installs like a printer driver. You choose it as the printer and it makes a pdf, so you can do it from Word or anything.

I'm using Quickbooks Premier 2006 I think, and it has lots of pretty cool bells and whistles. It will send an invoice directly as a pdf attachment complete with a standard cover letter that you can customize. No need to make a pdf and email it yourself. It uses the default email info in your client info record, or you can change it to another address and it remembers.

It also can sync to your Mastercard account online and import your expenses. And once you start filling in the "account" such as "office supplies" when it shows up as Office Depot, it gets smarter and auto-fills. If you don't like what it selected, just type in or drop down the account you want. As long as you use one Visa/MC solely for business, it's really clean. Currently I'm doing cash/ATM card expenses on an Excel spreadsheet and entering them by "account" on a check where I reimburse myself. But you could set up another account, like petty cash or something, and have that all in QB too. I will most likely set that up for 2007. Just slowly trying to make the operation leaner and meaner.

They also have a good Merchant account, so you can take Visa from your clients, and all those payments sync right into Quickbooks as well. I'm not using that yet (I have a Wells Fargo Merchant Account), but I'm tempted to switch just to make everything work seamlessly and eliminate steps.

As you know, no one is paying us for bookkeeping time. It pays to keep it to a minimum so we can spend our time doing billable things. It also gives you real organized data for the CPA. Makes sense to keep those bills low too, cuz most of the time, they charge more than we do.

So even if it's a couple hundred bucks, you make that money back quickly.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up on Vista, Bill. I'll probably wait a year to get it anyway, barring any horror stories. Everything is running great around here, and the clients don't care what OS we're using. They care more about the coffee (Starbucks or Illy, if you want to know. The bottled water is Dasani. The music studio down the hall uses Folgers and Kirkland. Ecch... :) )

Cheers,
Scott

[Scott P]

OK, I don't see it on MY invoice window. Maybe it's because I don't have Quickbooks, but Quicken Home and Business, so it probably has a few differences.

Mark

That's probably correct. I don't know anything about Quicken. I just got what my accountant told me to get. :D

Always good to keep the CPA happy.

Scott

[Mark Stebbeds]

I'm using Quickbooks Premier 2006 I think, and it has lots of pretty cool bells and whistles.

Quicken Home and Business does most of what Quickbooks does with the exception of features that may apply to a business with regular employees and weekly tax withholding, etc. Even then, you can create your own categories.

It costs about $300 less, and I've been using it for years.

My tax guy is probably the only one in the world that doesn't use Quickbooks or Quicken, but uses some other corporate software. So handing him a file does no good. I print out a report and email it to him, and he enters the stuff manually.

Mark

[Ian Alexander]

QuickBooks is oriented toward business. I switched from Quicken around ten years ago. Saves me a fair bit of time, I think.

Right now at CompUSA, the difference between QuickBooks and Quicken Home & Business is about a hundred bucks.

[bcorkery]

I started on Quickbooks '96 and finally decided to upgrade to 2006. I don't plan to upgrade for another 10 years ... providing I'm not forced to jump into Vista for some unavoidable reason.

Let us pray!

[studio-c]

You definitely don't need to upgrade often. I usually keep each version for about 3 or 4 years. When you see enough changes that will save you time and money, it's time to upgrade. I don't want to be spending lots of time doing stuff I'm not getting paid for, while the billable stuff is piling up. I just find the sweet spot between dropping a few hundred bucks, and saving time. That comes out to about 3 hours to make it back.

Small business comes down to that kind of decision every day. But eliminating non-paid hours is a no-brainer. And it really helps if your accountant uses Quickbooks too, because they're billing you a good amount just to re-type your numbers into their form. That can cost several hundred or even thousands per year.

Cheers,
Scott

[Angie]

Most of the larger accounting packages have all the "bells and whistles"; Quickbooks, Peach Tree. I've been using MYOB for years. I can't remember when I first bought it. I've upgraded twice. The last time gave me absolutely nothing new. I think that was in 2001. So, I don't plan on upgrading again until I'm forced to. And I'm finding I can move the program from computer to computer with just a couple of .dlls copied to the right spots. It has been saving me lots of time and money.

[Mark Stebbeds]

Right now at CompUSA, the difference between QuickBooks and Quicken Home & Business is about a hundred bucks.

Good to know. It's close to $300 difference at the Quicken site but maybe I'm looking at update or something.

Mark

[Carl G.]

I got the following from QB's. It says DON'T BUY VISTA!
________________________

I'm sending you this important service alert because you are using a 2006 or earlier version of QuickBooks software.

Since QuickBooks 2006 and earlier versions were developed
and released before the introduction of Windows Vista,
these versions may be adversely affected when used on
a computer running Windows Vista.
This will impact Simple Start, Basic, Pro, Premier, Payroll and Point of Sale, as well as other QuickBooks products and services. ......QuickBooks 2007 is the only version of the software built to run on the new Windows Vista operating system.
I wonder if the same will be true of Quicken Home and Business?