welcome to our first tool tip video these tool tip videos are not about
accounting they are not about bookkeeping they are only about managing your quickbooks
software the first tool that we will learn about is the Preferences window
when QuickBooks uses the word preferences QuickBooks means the defaults the settings
the options in short the preferences are the automatic behavior of the file unless the user
specifically changes the behavior by opening the Preferences window so let's take a look at what
the Preferences window looks like from the main menu click Edit and at the bottom of the submenu
for edit is the Preferences window notice on the Left panel inside the Preferences window there are
different categories of preferences when you click on the different preference category the center of
the window changes you might also notice that each category of preference has two tabs on my
preference tab and a company preference tab so if we click for example the accounting category
we have my preference and company preference if we click desktop view we have my preference
and company preference these are the settings and the options that you click on to change the
defaults and the automatic behavior of the file the first example preference we will change is
to remove the annoying message that pops up every time we save a transaction this message is trying
to help us because it does not know that we are studying QuickBooks this message assumes that
we are in real business and we are making a mistake regarding putting the date any time
we put the date of a transaction that's more than 90 days in the past compared to the date
inside the computer quickbooks will give us this warning to make sure we're not making a mistake
but we don't want this warning to pop up anymore so we will shut this off in the Preferences window
Oh once again from the main menu click edit preferences the category of preference to shut
off the date message is the accounting category but not the my preference tab
the company preference tab so if you click the accounting category and the company preference
tab you should see here towards the middle or the bottom of the window a checkmark that tells
QuickBooks warned if the transactions are 90 days in the past and warned if transactions are 30 days
in the future we can remove these checkmarks by clicking in the box now when we click OK we
don't have to worry anymore we will no longer get the annoying popup message regarding the date the
next example preference we will change will be to stop the homepage from showing up when we open the
company file right now when we open the company file the homepage populates the center of the
screen we don't want the homepage there anymore we don't use the homepage in this course we only
use the main menu so we will stop the homepage from popping up every time we start the program
this homepage is simply a window with icons that open the same windows that we open from the main
menu for example if we're on the home page and we click create invoice the same window opens
that we had before the create invoice window but we open this by clicking customer create invoice
so in our class the homepage is not relevant and it is a distraction you can go to the top right
of the homepage and close it out don't worry you can always reopen it by clicking company
and the top choice will be home page now you can close it and open it whenever you need but
we don't want it to automatically up when we open the file so we click edit preferences and
the choice we make is desktop view desktop view in the category of desktop view we will not work
with company preferences we will click on the my preferences tab notice the check mark is already
selected for QuickBooks to show the home page when opening the company file we will not use
it we will instead use the main menu so we will click on the check mark to remove it and click
OK and now we don't have to worry that the home page will open when we start the QuickBooks file
our third example of changing a preference is taking away the beep everytime QuickBooks
record the transaction that can be really annoying but you can shut off the beep in
the Preferences window if your window is not open click edit preferences and the category
of preference to shut off the beep is the general category it's not in the company
preference tab it's in the my preference tab here it is beep when recording a transaction
the check mark is here which means this is active click to remove it and click OK and the beep will
not happen when you record a transaction we want to change the preferences so we can remove any
distractions to our learning you'll find that advertisements and other pop ups will distract
you as you're using the quickbooks software we need to shut off all the advertisements
for QuickBooks services and products that pop up as we go to use our QuickBooks
if your preference window is not open click edit preferences the category for pop-up
messages is in the general category not in company preference in the my preference tab
here is the command that will shut that off turn off pop-up messages for products
and services right now it's unchecked but if we click the checkmark we activate it and we
click OK and we will not be distracted anymore by pop-up messages for advertisements that the
quickbooks company put in our software the last preference we will change is making the
reports refresh immediately this means that reports that are open when you are recording
a transaction will immediately change if you record a transaction when a report window is
open if the report refreshes immediately it will immediately show the results of the transaction
you just recorded you do not have to close the window and reopen the report to see the results
that's a nice feature but you have to go and set the preference in the Preferences window
click edit preferences and the category of preferences is reports and graphs reports and
graphs notice that my preference tab is already showing and in the my preference tab click refresh
automatically click and refresh automatically will be selected now when we click OK we don't have to
worry that all reports will not be immediately updated now that we set that preference the
reports that are open will immediately show the results of any change or any transaction
the Preferences window can also add features and functions that are needed specifically
for our business for example if our business needed to make estimates we would activate
the estimates in the Preferences window if our business was required to collect and pay sales
tax we would have to activate that feature in the Preferences window if we had a merchandise
company where we bought and sold inventory and we wanted to track the quantity we would have
to open the Preferences window and click that specific feature to activate our ability to
manage inventory things like multiple currencies payroll time tracking and job costing do not
automatically appear after we create a QuickBooks file we have to go to the Preferences window and
click the option to activate them then we will be able to use them in our business