QuickBooks Asia

QuickBooks template crashed

Lately, my customer, Mr. Andy Wilkinson, had done some “R&D” on QuickBooks template – He crashed it! He found a limitation in QuickBooks template.

Thanks! Andy.

I do not think many of you will get this error, however it is good to know this limitation.

I did a test myself on the QuickBooks 2009/10 Asia edition and confirmed that the maximum number of characters for Template was only up to 41characters (41 characters is a lot, it is good enough for most of us). When I use 42 characters, it crashed when I click on the Layout Designer. 

Reckon (developer of QuickBooks Asia) should set a maximum character limit in the Template Name field to prevent user from accidentally entering a Template name that is more than 41 characters.

For user who likes to have a long template name, please take note of this limitation.

If you discover something new in QuickBooks, do drop me a message, so I can share it out here with all the QuickBooks user.

How to import an invoice template from one company file to the other company file?

Sometime as a business owner or an Accountant, you are requiring managing more than one company files within a business group. In some cases, the layout of the templates such as Invoice, Credit Note, Statement of Account and Purchase Order form are similar within this group of companies. So to cut down the time spend in creating templates, usually, we create a “Master” template in one main company file; then, duplicate it for the rest of the company files that we manage.

After you have created a “Master” template, you can export this template and import it into the other company file.

To export a template, go to the List menu and select Templates List. In the Template List window, select the template that you like to export, and click the Templates button that located below the window and select Export (Template files are having an extension of *.DES).

To import the template, go to the List menu and select Templates List. In the Template List window, click the Templates button and select Import. Browse to your exported template location and select your template that to be import.

If you did add some custom field in your original “Master” template, and if these fields are not supposed to bring over to the new company file, you may have to remove it before exporting. In this case, usually, from the original company file, I duplicate this template and edit it before exporting. To duplicate a template, just select the template that you want, click the Templates button, and select Duplicate.

Can I have an individual auto running invoice number for each individual customer?

During my QuickBooks demo, this prospect asked whether can he had an individual auto running invoice number for each of his customer.

Example: his two customers ABC Pte Ltd and DEF Pte Ltd.

Invoices to ABC Pte Ltd will be started running from “ABC2009001”, while DEF Pte Ltd’s invoices will be from “DEF2009001”.

If you want to do it manually, you can simply edit the invoice number each time you created an invoice.

How to do this process automatically?

Personally, I don't advice customer to do so; but, if this requirement is a must, you may try the below method.

You can create one Account Receivable account for each individual Customer:Job. In QuickBooks, every Account Receivable account has its own set of running number. Thus, this will fulfilled this prospect’s requirement of having an individual auto running invoice number for each individual customer.

Oh! My company logo was missing.

I received a support call, this QuickBooks user told me that she had just moved the QuickBooks company data file from her Computer to the Server and discovered that the logo in her invoice was missing.

In the folder that stores your company data file, it contained an image folder that holds your template images such as logos. When you moved your data file from one location to another, you need to move your image file along.

In layman term, if you are going to move your book shelf from one room to another, you need to move your books that were originally in the shelf along, or else, your book shelf will be empty.

Same goes to your templates, if you don’t move the image folder along, your template will be empty (no logo).