The Intuit Community Blog

Micro-blogging - Twitter & Facebook status

When I first hear about Twitter, my reaction was "that has to be the stupidest website I've ever heard of."  I couldn't fathom why anyone would want to be updated with one sentence about what I was doing right now.  In my mind, it would consist of boring fragments of people's lives:  "I'm going shopping"..."Now I'm home again"..."I'm watching TV" 

Then again, I am Gen X, not Gen Y, so although I grew up with Nintendo, I didn't grow up with a cell phone in my hand, texting all the time.

However, Facebook was sneaky - it sucked me in.  I started getting more and more friends on there, and I started logging to play Scramble.  Since I was logging in more often, I would see the status updates of all of my friends.  I found out that seeing everyones status updates, commenting on them, and leaving my own, was quite addictive.  I found myself logging into Facebook just for the status updates, rather than any other reason.

Now that I'm hooked, I'm figuring out how to connect my Facebook status and Twitter, since I don't want to have to update two pages at once.  It seems that there are several ways of doing this, depending on where you want to initiate your updates, and where you want them to end up.  I ended up going with ping.fm, which lets you update on Facebook and have it flow to many other social sites. 

Thanks,
Nic

Why add a new post? That's my exact issue!

Recycling. Its so much a part of our daily lives now, that it seems like there's no wrong time to practice it right? Wrong when it comes to posting a question in the QuickBooks community forum. Here are some things to consider.

1. Just because you found someone with the exact issue, that doesn't mean you found someone with an answer to that issue.

2. Questions in a forum are sorted by date. So if you tack your question on to the end of a question that was asked last year, guess how far down on the list it is?

3. People who graciously answer questions scan the forums and tend to look more at unanswered questions. If you add a comment or additional question to the end of an answered question, it is likely to go unnoticed.

4. Like everything, time makes us more knowledgable about issues. Sure an answer may have solved a question 3 years ago. But what have we learned since then?

5. When you ask the question, you will be notified when there is an answer. This isn't the case if you add a question to the end of an existing discussion. Unless you remember to subscribe to it. It definitely won't show up if you've asked the question through Live Community.

When you have an issue that you want to bring to the community, start by searching. If you see a post that looks like your issue, go ahead and read it. If it doesn't solve your issue, don't post a "me too" or "this is happening to me" at the end of it, make a new post.

Let's make sure your question is visible. Save the recycling for things that really can benefit the Earth!

Tell us how to improve the Community website

Vote, recommend, comment and ...provide feedback on the Intuit Community website

Welcome JumpUp members

I want to welcome all of the JumpUp members to the new Intuit Community.  As I've mentioned on JumpUp, we'll have everyone fully migrated on 11/21.  In the meantime, feel free to explore the new site.  We have a lot of great features and even more on the way.

If I only had subscriptions….

One of my wife’s favorite movies is the Wizard of Oz. She loves all the characters in the movie, including the “Addicted Forum Reader”! We all remember him fondly, he was the everyday person who spent a lot of time reading forums and wading through all the post to try and find which ones he had read, read but had been updated or unread. He sang the song “If I only had subscriptions”.  I am sure everyone remembers him, anyway we at the Intuit Community may not be the great and powerful Oz, but we have managed to grant this wish. The Intuit Community now has the ability to subscribe to a discussion or a forum. You also have the ability to edit your subscriptions. Let’s take a look at some how to go about subscribing.

 

How to subscribe to a forum, when you are at the forum level you should see a button that says “Subscribe” see image below.

Now what if you only want to subscribe to an individual discussion and not the whole forum, simple while you’re in the discussion you want to subscribe to you will find a “Subscription” button, simple as that. Look at the image below.

Ok so once we have subscribed to our forum or discussion how often should I be notified every post, every day or every week. The choice is your’s head over to the “My Q&A” page and click on “Edit Subscriptions” and your ready to go. See the image below.

I hope this helps everyone out, I am sure “Addicted Forum Reader” will be saying “I am much better informed now that I have my subscriptions!”

 

Bruce

New Name, New Look, New Feel

As you know, we have just launched the new Intuit Community website. And now, we are in the process of rebranding and renaming this blog to the Intuit Community Blog. It will take us a day or two to fix the urls/domain name, but in the meantime, keep coming back and visiting us. The Gurus and me will continue to provide tips and tricks on how to use the Community website and also relevant product information. But this is also a place for you to let us know what you want from the Community website. You should also know that we are not the only Intuit Blog in town. You can find others here. We will continue to add blogs to this page over time. If there are some Small Business blogs that you think can help others, let us know and we will add them to the site. Thanks

Why QuickBooks.....

Interesting thread on LinkedIn about why users recommend QuickBooks

Part 2 - Successful upgrade to QuickBooks

In the first segment gave advice on installing QuickBooks and in this segment we will give you steps to update a data file and tell you a few things to remember.

Let's start with converting your data.
First, verify your data in your current version of QuickBooks. This means if you were using QuickBooks 2005, you want to complete the following steps in QuickBooks 2005.

To run the Verify utility:

1. Switch to Single-User Mode and log in as the Admin user.
2. Select the Window menu and select Close All.
3. Select the File menu, select Utilities, and select Verify Data.    

• If the message “QuickBooks detected no problems with your data” appears, continue with installing the latest version of QuickBooks.

• If the message “QuickBooks detected problems with your data”... appears, click Rebuild  Data Utility for detailed instructions to repair.

• If you were prompted to rebuild the data, verify after rebuilding.

• Continue to the next steps after the verify returns with no problems.

• If you continue to get verify errors after rebuilding data click here for further instructions.

Congratulations, you have a clean file! Now its time! Go ahead and install your new version of QuickBooks. Remember the resources we discussed in Part 1, if you get stuck.
Once the program is installed, you are ready to opening the company file for the first time in latest version. Here are some things to remember:

1. Do not update over a network. Be sure the company data file is stored on the same computer you are using to update it. If your files are stored on a server, you might need to copy the file to another computer, and then copy it back after you finish updating it.
2. Only the Admin user can update the file (QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise only). If you never created other users and roles in QuickBooks, you are automatically the Admin user. If you see the message, “The company file needs to be updated.” Please ask your QuickBooks administrator to update the file," you are not logged in to your data file as the Admin user.
3. After updating your data file, it will not open in previous versions of QuickBook. QuickBooks automatically backs up your data file before updating it. If you need to go back, you can always restore the backup to your old version of QuickBooks.This may require installing the previous version of QuickBooks. Also, if you need to start the update again, you can restore the backup to your new version of QuickBooks.
4. You cannot convert QuickBooks Enterprise data back to QuickBooks Simple Start, Pro, or Premier. Enterprise data files only work in Enterprise editions of QuickBooks.
5. QuickBooks Pro or Premier files cannot be converted to a later version of QuickBooks Simple Start. For example, a QuickBooks Pro 2008 file will not convert to Simple Start 2009. Data and products that will update or convert to QuickBooks Simple Start provides more information.
6. You cannot convert a file to QuickBooks Mac or QuickBooks Online edition after converting to multicurrency.  In Enterprise Solutions or QuickBooks Pro and Premier, once you convert a company file to use the new multi-currency feature, it cannot be converted to QuickBooks Mac or QuickBooks Online edition.

You would think that we’re ready to go at this point. But lets get the newly converted file started off on the right foot.

Verify your company file after you finish. Make sure the updated data file is in good shape by running the Verify Data utility.

Where is your data file?
If you installed QuickBooks 2007 or later, the data file from your earlier version of QuickBooks may have been moved to a new folder, the new default folders are as follows;

• Windows Vista: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files
• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files

If you cannot find your data file in its original location, and if it is not in one of the folders listed above, search your hard drive for *.qbw files and try to find it that way. Be sure you include hidden files and folders in your search criteria.

Phew!! That was a lot of information and kudos to CCTS_Cristina for helping us out. I assure you that this will actually save you time and aggravation if followed thoroughly. Now with QuickBooks Installed and your file upgraded you can prepare for something more relaxing...spending the holidays with your in-laws"

Steps to a successful upgrade of QuickBooks - Part 1

It's that time of year. The leaves are changing, you can smell the fresh baked goodness of apple pie, and your calendar is rapidly filling up with holiday events. Oh and there's that new QuickBooks disk you just received. It's time to pop in that disk, install and move your file to the new edition, right? Wrong and WHOA!!!!

Can I get a show of hands for those out there that have ever had an installation or file conversion issue? I see you! These are two of the biggest reasons why people call us. Did you know there are many simple things you can do to insure a successful install and conversion. Today's blog is going to give you some of those steps.

Installing

The first and most important thing you should know before installing any program, are the system requirements. Lately in the forums I've seen a lot of questions about whether or not our 2009 products will work with Windows 2000. QuickBooks 2007 was the last version supported on Windows 2000. Our system requirements specify what is supported. If its not listed there, its probably not supported. Click System Requirements to see the full details for 2009.

Next, understand what you need to know from a networking standpoint. It sounds scary. But we have many resources to help people successfully install and network the program. Our Networking Guides are available for 2006, 2007 and 2008. The instructions for 2009 will be the same as those of 2008.

Did you know that each program disk comes with an installation guide? These guides cover things already discussed here. They also provide step-by-step instructions. Click Installation Guides for a list of available 2009 guides. Note: You may need to select a different version on the support site to see the correct installation guide for your product.

Finally, know your resources if you do get into trouble. Did you know that the community forums has a resource center just for installation, update and conversion? There you will find FAQs on installation, registration, and even Vista issues. There are also links to our knowledge base articles. These are the article the support reps use when people call. You'll also find links to the installation forums so you can post unaddressed questions there.  You'll be amazed at the expertise out there just waiting to help you. Visit the Installation, Update, and Conversion Resource Center today!

This gives you some steps to a successful install. But hold on to that disk. In my next segment, I will cover steps to a successful update of your file.

You don't want to install until you read the next segment!!!

Start & Grow Your Business

Have you had the chance to check out our new Start & Grow Your Business Section? It still has many of the same resources as before with a few exciting new areas. Yes, you can still get information on starting a business, how to obtain customer, structuring your business, and hiring and managing employees. In addition to that, we have also integrated our Jump Up Community with our Intuit Communities.

What is Jump Up? It is a community where other business owners and subject matter experts get together to discuss new business ideas, how to start, manage, and market their businesses. Virtually any question you might have about getting started, or taking your business to the next level, can be answered here. If you haven't already, I strongly encourage all of you to check it out.