More Paperless Office Ideas through QuickBooks

In Annette's quest to achieve a paperless office, she has tried many different things.  (Some of them didn't work at all!)  But, something that has been working for her and some of her clients is to scan each document.   You can scan bills from vendors, purchase orders, documents concerning sales, etc.  Just about anything.  The problem is once you scan it, how do you name it?  Well, there are all kinds of naming scenarios.  One which Annette really likes is naming the scanned document as the transaction number of the QuickBooks entry.  This is what she does:

1. Enter the transaction just like you normally would.
2. Save the transaction 
3. Look at the journal entry it creates.  Either click the button named "journal" or hold down the control key on your keyboard and then hit "y".
4. The Transaction Number is listed.
5. Scan the document
6. Name the document after the transaction number.  For example:  Trn. 000250
7. Save the scanned file in a file folder you have created in My Documents.  You could save bills in a folder named "Bills", for example.   Or, you could create a file folder for each general ledger account and save it there.

 Now, I thought this would be a lot of work, but it really isn't.  What happens is that the document is instantly filed and doesn't sit forever in the stack of "To be filed" which takes up a lot of space on the desk.  An added plus is that if you are in QuickBooks and have a question about a transaction and wonder what the actual document looks like, you just check the journal entry and find the file.

Watch for my next blog and I'll tell you some ways that you can even "attach" that document to the QuickBooks transaction.

GOING GREEN WITH QUICKBOOKS - PART TWO

To help you "go green", QuickBooks allows you to set user and company preferences for sending forms.  Just follow these few steps.

Step 1: Select the edit menu at the top, select Preferences, and then select Send Forms.

Step 2: On the My Preferences tab, choose if you want to send the form using Microsoft Outlook or QuickBooks Email service.

a. If you choose to send the forms using Microsoft Outlook you have better control over the formatting.  You can attach additional documents to the email before you send it. Plus, you can maintain a record of the email in your Sent Items folder within Outlook. However, if you send numerous forms electronically on a regular basis you will need to regularly archive your sent items folder to keep the size of your Outlook file manageable. You can setup company preferences to send a blind copy to a designated email and use that email account to store the forms you sent.

b. If you choose to send the forms using the QuickBooks email service you will not store a copy on your computer. However, you can still setup Company email preferences to automatically send a blind copy to an administrative email and store the forms using that address. This option also allows you to send forms without Outlook installed or configured on the local computer – with only an Internet connection. There is no fee for this service.

c. Click the Company Preferences tab to set the default email message the customer will receive when you send the form. When you are done, click OK to save your changes and close the preferences window.