Copyright: M1


For Previous Users of

QuickBooks and QuickBooks Pro for Windows

QuickBooks DOS

Quicken (Windows, and DOS)


For users of previous versions of QuickBooks for Windows

Printing this document and returning to QuickBooks

Updating QuickBooks or QuickBooks Pro company data

Changes you may want to make in how you use QuickBooks

Printing this document and returning to QuickBooks

To print this document:

From the File menu, choose Print.

To return to QuickBooks:

Close this Help window.

Updating QuickBooks or QuickBooks Pro company data

QuickBooks 6.0 requires you to back up your data before it updates your data. If you want to back up on a floppy disk, have the disk ready. (You may need more than one disk if your data file is very large.) You can back up on your hard disk if you prefer.

Important:	The time required to update your file will depend on your system speed, memory, file size, and other factors. You may wish to start the conversion late in the evening or at another time when you don't need to use your computer to do other things.

If you found this document by starting the EasyStep Interview, follow this update procedure.

To update your QuickBooks data:

1.	Leave the interview.

2.	From the File menu, choose Open Company, then select your company file.

You may have to change the drive or directory.

3.	At the message about backing up your data, click OK.

4.	If you are backing up on a floppy disk, insert your backup floppy disk.  In the Back Up Company to window, change to the drive containing your backup floppy disk.

OR

To back up on your hard disk, in the Back Up Company to window, change to the directory you want to use for your backup.

5.	Click OK to begin backing up.

6.	At the message that your data is backed up, click OK and remove the floppy disk.

QuickBooks displays a message that it is updating your data.

Changes you may want to make in how you use QuickBooks

Here are some of the changes you may want to make to take advantage of all of the features in QuickBooks 6.0:

Use the QuickBooks Navigator to do tasks that you formerly handled from the menus.

Customise your sales forms using the Layout Designer.

Shorten your drop-down lists by making old customers, vendors, employess, and items inactive so that they don't appear on the lists.

Explore the menu buttons at the bottom of list windows to perform tasks associated with the list.

Start doing payroll in QuickBooks if you have employees and have been using some other method.

For QuickBooks Pro 6.0 users:

Use estimates either to send to customers or to plan a job.

If you invoice in stages based on an estimate, turn on progress invoicing.

Use the Timer to time your own work, or give copies to your employees so they can create their own time data.

Set up your employees so that pay cheques use time data to calculate hours worked or to assign wages to various jobs.


For users of earlier versions of QuickBooks DOS
For users of QuickBooks DOS

Printing this document and returning to QuickBooks

Comparing DOS QuickBooks and QuickBooks for Windows

Converting your DOS QuickBooks data

Converting from DOS QuickBooks and moving to a new computer

What to do next

Printing this document and returning QuickBooks

To print this document:

From the File menu, choose Print.

To return to QuickBooks:

Close this Help window.

Comparing DOS QuickBooks and QuickBooks 6.0 for Windows

In addition to new 6.0 features, you'll find other differences between the DOS and Windows versions of QuickBooks. These differences are highlighted in this section.

 	Paper-like forms for almost every transaction

In DOS QuickBooks, there are cheque and invoice forms, but you enter many other transactions into registers. QuickBooks for Windows has a form for entering almost every transaction. Enter a credit card transaction in a form that looks like a credit card slip. Make a deposit to your bank account on a form like a deposit slip.

The forms allow you to track many different kinds of information for each transaction, such as a related customer, job, and classification, or "class." Because these fields don't fit in a register, we encourage you to enter more of your transactions into the paper-like forms than directly into the registers.

Drop-down lists instead of diamond lists

Diamond lists (which you accessed with Ctrl-L in DOS QuickBooks) are replaced by "drop-down lists" in QuickBooks for Windows wherever you can fill in a field using items from a company list.

If you press Ctrl + L, QuickBooks displays the list window, just as in DOS QuickBooks. However, you'll probably find drop-down lists easier to use.

 	Job tracking feature

QuickBooks for Windows has a job tracking feature. Enter jobs in the Customer:Job list. Each job is associated with a particular customer. Jobs appear as subitems under the appropriate customer on your list.

You can assign the job name to transactions that relate to it, for example, expenses you incur for the job or invoices for the job. You can create a budget for each job. You can view reports on the money you spend and make on the job.

 	Track and bill reimbursable expenses by job as well as by customer

Now that customers and jobs are on the same list, you can assign a job to your expenses when you enter them. Then, when you're writing an invoice, click a button to see a list of the reimbursable expenses you've assigned to the current customer and job.

 	Classes instead of projects

QuickBooks for Windows uses the term classes for what DOS QuickBooks called projects. Because we've added another dimension for categorising your income and expenses (job tracking), you might want to use classes for something completely different, such as product lines or departments. You can continue to use classes in exactly the same way you used projects, if you want, except that jobs—and not classes—print in the Project field of invoices.

 	Stock

You can track stock of items you purchase for resale. QuickBooks keeps track of the value and quantity of each item in stock as you make purchases and then sell.

 	Copy and paste in registers

If you accidentally enter a transaction in the wrong account, you can copy the transaction from the register it's in and paste it into the correct register, as long as the new register holds the same type of information as the register you're copying from. For example, you can copy and paste between bank account registers, or between credit card registers and bank account registers, but you can't copy and paste between A/R and your chequing register.

 	Enter Cash Sales window

QuickBooks for Windows offers a new window for cash sales, which you can print as a sales receipt. A cash sale is not recorded in accounts receivable; instead, QuickBooks holds the money in Undeposited Funds with all other customer payments until you deposit the money in a bank account.

 	Credit memo/refund window

QuickBooks for Windows does not use the refund line item on an invoice that DOS QuickBooks uses. QuickBooks for Windows has a Return/ Refund command in the Activities menu, which allows you to choose between giving a credit memo or cash refund. You can indicate which invoice items, if any, are being returned.

 	More preset reports with more flexibility

Display the Reports menu to see the many new preset reports you can choose from. Many of the new reports offer comparisons of fiscal year-to-date or month-to-date and comparisons with previous periods.

All QuickBooks for Windows reports also have new customising features:

 	Change column widths by dragging column edges.

 	Change the fonts of your reports.

 	Reposition titles, headers, and footers.

When you double-click on a transaction on a report, QuickZoom displays the transaction in its original entry form.

 	Graphs

View your key financial information in quick, easy-to-interpret graphs. Preset graphs include Income and Expense, Sales, A/R, A/P, Net Worth, and Budget vs. Actual.

  	Chart of accounts

Create subaccounts under your balance sheet accounts. Rearrange your chart of accounts by dragging account names with the mouse. QuickBooks for Windows accounts don't have to be in alphabetical order. Use numbers with names, not instead of names, if you want.

  	Reminders instead of Bizminder

QuickBooks for Windows does not display reminders when you start your computer; rather, you can choose to have the Reminders window appear when you start QuickBooks for Windows. You can also choose to keep the Reminders window open in a corner of your QuickBooks application window at all times.

View the reminders in a summary format (like Bizminder's) or in a detail format. The summary format tells you that you have cheques to print, bills to pay, and so on. The detail format shows exactly which cheques to print, which bills to pay, and so on.

 	Undeposited Funds account (exists in QuickBooks 2.0 for DOS)

Undeposited Funds is a holding account, sort of like a cash drawer for customer payments. When you receive a customer payment, QuickBooks for Windows puts it in the Undeposited Funds account. When you deposit one or more payments, QuickBooks for Windows transfers money from the Undeposited Funds account to the bank account. Thus, your QuickBooks bank account has a single deposit for each real deposit you make, and you can reconcile your bank statement easily.

In DOS QuickBooks, when you deposited payments from your customers, the deposit appeared in your bank account register with "Receivables" in the account field.

In QuickBooks for Windows, the same deposit has "Undeposited Funds" in the account field.

The words "Undeposited Funds" in the Account field of your register tell you that this payment was transferred out of the Undeposited Funds account.

Undeposited Funds has its own register and is an Other Current Asset account on your converted chart of accounts. The ending balance for the account is the total that is still undeposited, so if the balance is zero, all customer payments have been deposited.

If you usually deposit each payment you receive as soon as you get it, and you don't group several payments together in one deposit, you can choose to bypass Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks 6.0.

  	Changes accountants will appreciate (exists in QuickBooks 2.0 for DOS)

QuickBooks for Windows includes an audit trail report, a window for general journal entries, and a trial balance and general ledger report.

Converting your DOS QuickBooks data

QuickBooks for Windows converts a copy of your DOS company file and makes no changes to your original DOS company file. (You can still view your DOS company file with DOS QuickBooks if you wish.) If you keep more than one company in QuickBooks DOS, you will need to convert each QuickBooks file separately.

The conversion program scans through your data three times, looking for different kinds of information to update.  The process may stay at a certain percentage of completion (even 100%) for a long time. If you notice activity occurring on the hard drive (i.e. you can hear the hard drive or can see the light flashing), let the conversion continue.

Important:	Many people upgrade to new computer systems and want to begin using QuickBooks for Windows with their data from DOS QuickBooks. If you're changing computers, skip to the section titled, "Converting from DOS QuickBooks and moving to another computer," later in this document.

The following minor changes allow your data to work with your new QuickBooks for Windows software.

  	If you had a Project list, that list will be called the Class list. You can report on classes, but jobs -- and not classes -- print in the PROJECT field of invoices.

  	Customer payments are in a holding account called Undeposited Funds from the date of receipt until the date of deposit.

  	You will probably have names on the Other Names list. QuickBooks for Windows requires that every payee name be on either the Customer:Job, Vendor, Employee, or Other Names list. If the name (or description) was not already on one of the first three, it will now be on the Other Names list.

  	If you had memorised reports in DOS QuickBooks, they will not be converted by QuickBooks for Windows.

  	Memorised transactions and transaction groups created in DOS QuickBooks will be brought into QuickBooks for Windows. Because of the new auto recall feature, you probably won't need as many memorised transactions.

  	Your DOS QuickBooks company file is stored as four DOS files on your hard disk, with four different extensions. QuickBooks for Windows automatically converts all four files and combines them into one file. You don't need to convert each file separately. (If you keep books for more than one company, you do have to convert each company separately.)

To convert your DOS QuickBooks data into a QuickBooks for Windows company:

1.	Be sure that QuickBooks for DOS is not running.

2.	Double-click the QuickBooks for Windows icon to run the program.

If you are starting QuickBooks for the first time, QuickBooks displays the welcome window, which offers several options.

  	Now is a good time to view the QuickBooks Overview.

  	In the welcome window, if you choose to convert data from DOS QuickBooks, QuickBooks displays the Convert a DOS QuickBooks File window.

3.	From the File menu in QuickBooks for Windows, choose Convert From QuickBooks DOS.

4.	In the Directories field, change to the directory with your DOS QuickBooks data file.

5.	Select the DOS QuickBooks data file you want to convert and click OK.

6.	Enter a name for your new QuickBooks for Windows data file.

7.	(Optional) Choose another directory for your new data file.

8.	Click OK.

QuickBooks for Windows displays messages that it is converting your DOS QuickBooks data. If you have a large data file, this process may take several hours.

If you have QuickPay data for the DOS QuickBooks data you are converting, QuickBooks for Windows asks whether you want to convert the QuickPay data. Be sure to answer Yes if you plan to do payroll.

When a message shows the conversion is 100% successful, you've created a QuickBooks for Windows file with your DOS QuickBooks data. You're ready to enter transactions in your new QuickBooks for Windows company.

Converting from DOS QuickBooks and moving to a new computer

If you're changing computers and converting, you'll need to do the following:

  	Copy your DOS QuickBooks data files to one or more floppy disks

  	Copy the DOS QuickBooks data from the disks to your new computer system

  	Convert your DOS data to QuickBooks for Windows. (You do not need to install DOS QuickBooks on your new computer.)

To copy your DOS QuickBooks data to floppy disks:

1.	From the QuickBooks DOS Main Menu, press Ctrl-G to bring up the Select/Set Up Company screen.

2.	Write down the current directory name (for example, C:\QBOOKS\QBDATA) and the filename (in the second column) of the company you want to convert to QuickBooks for Windows.

3.	Press Esc to return to the Main Menu; then exit to a DOS Prompt (C:\).

4.	Change to the directory you wrote down in Step 2 by typing CD directory. Then press Enter.

In the previous example, you would type CD QBOOKS\QBDATA.

5.	Insert a disk in Drive A or B. At the DOS prompt, type COPY filename.* A: (or B: depending on which drive the disk is in).

Your DOS QuickBooks data is stored in four files with different extensions: SDT, SMT, SDI, and SNX. At least these four files and possibly others will be copied.

If you have a very large data file, you may see the message, "Insufficient disk space, 0 files copied." This message means that you'll need more than one disk to copy your data over to the new computer, and you'll need to copy each DOS file separately.

See the instructions later in this document, titled "If you have a large QuickBooks DOS file" to copy each of the four DOS files onto separate disks. Then proceed to the following section.

To copy the DOS data files to the new computer:

1.	At the new computer, insert the disk with the data files in drive A or B.

2.	From the C:\ prompt, make a temporary directory to store the files. To do this, type MD QBDATA and press Enter. Then type CD QBDATA and press Enter.

Your prompt should now look like this: C:\QBDATA>.

3.	Type A: (or B:, depending on which drive your disk is in).

4.	Type A: COPY filename.* C:\QBDATA (or B:, depending on which drive your disk is in) in order to copy the contents of the disk to your hard drive.

5.	If you needed more than one disk to hold your DOS QuickBooks data, insert each diskette and type the above command.

Important: The time required to convert your file will depend on your system speed, memory, file size and other factors. During conversion, you will not be able to use other applications. For this reason, plan to convert your data at a time when you can leave your computer running for an extended, uninterrupted period of time, such as overnight.

To convert your DOS QuickBooks data into a QuickBooks for Windows company:

1.	Be sure that QuickBooks for DOS is not running.

2.	Double-click the QuickBooks for Windows icon to run the program.

If you are starting QuickBooks for the first time, QuickBooks displays the welcome window, which offers several options.

  	Now is a good time to view the QuickBooks Overview.

  	In the welcome window, if you choose to convert data from DOS QuickBooks, QuickBooks displays the Convert a DOS QuickBooks File window.

Error! Bookmark not defined.3.	From the File menu in QuickBooks for Windows, choose Convert From, then choose QuickBooks DOS.

4.	In the Directories field, change to the directory with your DOS QuickBooks data file.

5.	Select the DOS QuickBooks data file you want to convert and click OK.

6.	Enter a name for your new QuickBooks for Windows data file.

7.	(Optional) Choose another directory for your new data file.

8.	Click OK.

QuickBooks for Windows displays messages that it is converting your DOS QuickBooks data. If you have a large data file, this process may take several hours.

When a message shows the conversion is 100% successful, you've created a QuickBooks for Windows file with your DOS QuickBooks data. You're ready to enter transactions in your new QuickBooks for Windows company.

If you have a large QuickBooks DOS file

Follow these steps to copy the individual DOS files to diskettes one at a time.

1.	To view the files you need copy to the diskettes, type the command: DIR Filename.*.

This will give you a listing of every different extension associated with the filename.

2.	Insert a disk into drive A or B.

3.	At the DOS prompt, type the following:

copy filename.SDT A: (or B:)

copy filename.SMT A: (or B:)

copy filename.SDI A: (or B:)

copy filename.SNX A: (or B:)

It's likely that after typing one (or more) of these copy commands, you'll see the message, "Insufficient disk space, 0 files copied." When you see this message, remove the floppy from your disk drive and insert another floppy disk. Then retype the copy command for the file that didn't fit.

If a single file is too big to fit on one disk, you cannot use this copying procedure at all. Instead, you will have to install DOS QuickBooks on the new computer and restore a copy of your DOS backed-up data.  You can then convert the restored file.

4.	Type this same command for any other file extensions which were listed when you typed the DIR command.

Make sure after copying each file that the message "1 files(s) copied" appears. This message verifies that the file was copied completely to drive A or B.

What to do next

Become familiar with Windows

If you're new to Windows, you'll need to learn some basic techniques. Try the tutorial that comes with Windows.

Adjust for QuickBooks for Windows features

Job tracking

If you take on different jobs for one customer and need to track income and expenses by job, you'll want to set up jobs even if you already have projects. The advantages of job over classes (DOS projects) are as follows:

You can track reimbursable expenses by job as well as by customer.

 	Jobs print on invoices in the Project field. Classes (DOS projects) do not print on invoices at all.

Lists of names

If you have chequing or other transactions for names not on your Customer, Vendor, or Employee lists, these names (or descriptions) are now on the Other Names list. Thus, this list will contain descriptions such as "Deposit," "Transfer," and "Interest."

If you have slightly different versions of the same name (for example, Mike Rhymes, Michael Rhymes, and Michael P. Rhymes), each version of the name is on the Other Names list.

QuickBooks will not allow you to delete any name used in a transaction. However, you can shorten the list.

If you used the exact same name on two lists, QuickBooks for Windows has added something to the end of one name because it does not allow the same name on two lists. You can edit the name but you cannot make it exactly the same as an existing name on another list.

Employee initials

All employees in QuickBooks for Windows must have initials.  You need to check for employees with missing initials and fill them in.

Take advantage of new features

Modify your converted data to take advantage of new features such as inventory tracking, customisable sales forms, completely automated sales tax, and vendor terms.


For users of Quicken (Windows, Macintosh, and DOS)
For users of Quicken (Windows and DOS versions)

Printing this document and returning to QuickBooks

Quicken users overview

Comparing QuickBooks and Quicken

Preparing your Quicken data for conversion

Creating a QuickBooks company with Quicken data

Changing to QuickBooks accounts receivable

Changing to QuickBooks accounts payable

Differences in your new QuickBooks data

Editing your Other Names list

Before you begin using QuickBooks

Printing this document and returning QuickBooks

To print this document:

From the File menu, choose Print Topic.

To return to QuickBooks:

Close this Help window.

Quicken users overview

This document explains how to convert your Quicken data into QuickBooks data and the differences you will see between the two programs.

You'll need to make some adjustments to your new QuickBooks company to take advantage of features that Quicken does not offer.

QuickBooks incorporates what Intuit has learned from the experiences and needs of hundreds of thousands of business users of Quicken. If you've been using Quicken for your small business, QuickBooks will seem very familiar. But don't assume QuickBooks works exactly like Quicken!

QuickBooks includes features specifically tailored to business needs. You should expect to spend more time becoming acquainted with QuickBooks than you may have spent in the past with upgrade versions of Quicken.

Versions of Quicken you can convert

The following table shows what you'll need to do for specific versions of Quicken.

If your data is from:	QuickBooks 6.0 can read and update from versions:	Convert through QuickBooks 5:
Quicken for Windows	6 and 98	2, 3, 4, 5
Comparing QuickBooks and Quicken

Look over the terminology and feature differences between Quicken and QuickBooks. Once you understand the differences between the programs, QuickBooks will feel very familiar.

Terminology differences

Quicken uses terms familiar to anyone who has used a checkbook. QuickBooks uses a few terms that are standard in business bookkeeping and terms that reflect the increased power and convenience of QuickBooks for business.

The following table lists the most important differences in terms. It does not list the many completely new QuickBooks 6.0 features and terms.

Quicken term	QuickBooks term	Definition
File	Company	All records related to one bookkeeping entity (one set of books).
Account	Balance sheet account	A grouping of records related to one kind of asset, liability, or equity.  These accounts appear on a balance sheet.
Category	Income or expense account	A grouping of transactions related to one kind of income or expense.  These accounts appear on a profit and loss statement (income statement).
Category and Transfer List plus Account List	Chart of Accounts	The QuickBooks Chart of Accounts is equal to the Quicken account list (balance sheet accounts) plus the Quicken category list (income and expense accounts).  You can add, edit, or delete any kind of account in QuickBooks.
Feature differences

The following table lists features that exist in both Quicken and QuickBooks, but that work differently in QuickBooks than what you're used to in Quicken.

Feature	Quicken	QuickBooks
Entering transactions	Enters most transactions in registers.	Enters most transactions in forms (cheque window, invoice window, and so on).  (You can also enter transactions in most registers.
Write Cheques	Displays a cheque that looks like a paper personal cheque.	Displays a business cheque with voucher area (so the "split" is part of the cheque form).
Classes	Use a slash (/) to separate a category from a class in transactions.	Enter classes in separate fields. No need for a slash (/) as a separator.  In QuickBooks, jobs and projects can be associated with customers as part of the Customer:Job list, so you can use classes for different kinds of classification.
Transfers	Use brackets [  ] to indicate a transfer to another balance sheet account.	No need to use brackets. QuickBooks handles transfers like any other transaction.
Passwords	One password for entering and viewing data.	Three levels of password protection (including one for payroll).
Reports	Offers reports for personal finance and investments. Has only a few business reports.	Omits personal finance reports and investment reports. Offers many pre-designed reports for businesses that can be customised as necessary.
Subaccounts	Categories can have subcategories, but accounts cannot have subaccounts.	All accounts, even balance sheet accounts, can have subaccounts.
Payroll accounts  (If you set up your accounts as described in the Quicken manual)	A separate liability account for each tax withheld and for each other payroll liability.	You can continue using your old liability accounts. However, with the new system of tracking by using payroll items, you can put all payroll liabilities into a single liability account.
New and renamed balance sheet accounts

Balance sheet accounts (assets, liabilities, and equity) are those accounts whose balances affect your balance sheet report. QuickBooks and Quicken have similar kinds of balance sheet accounts, but QuickBooks adds some and uses different names for some account types. When you convert a Quicken file for use in QuickBooks, the program automatically creates QuickBooks accounts most like your Quicken accounts.

Should you continue using Quicken for some things?

Once you're using QuickBooks for your business, you'll probably want to continue using Quicken for your personal finances.

Here are some personal-finance activities you can perform only with Quicken:

Track investments

Quicken includes investment tracking and reporting. Quicken updates the market values when you enter the latest share prices, and it reports on average annual total return, capital gains, and investment income.

Amortise mortgage loans

Each time you record a payment made on a loan, Quicken updates the dollar amount of payments made and calculates the amount credited to principal and interest.

Create reports for personal finances

Quicken has many preset reports, such as the tax schedule report, designed for personal use.

Preparing your Quicken data for conversion

You may need to make some changes to your Quicken account list, your memorised transaction list, and customer list to make the transition from Quicken to QuickBooks as smooth as possible.

If you plan to continue using Quicken with this data (for example, if you had combined business and personal finances in your Quicken file), make a copy of your Quicken file to convert before you make any of the following changes.

Convert only the accounts you want to use in QuickBooks

Before you convert to QuickBooks, delete accounts in Quicken that you know you won't want in QuickBooks. In QuickBooks, you cannot delete accounts that contain transactions, but in Quicken you can. So it's easier to delete accounts you know you won't want before you convert.

You might want to delete some accounts from your Quicken file in the following situations:

You have personal accounts as well as business accounts in your Quicken file.

 	You have an investment account in your Quicken file.

Your Quicken investment account would be converted to a QuickBooks Other Current Asset account because QuickBooks does not have a special feature to track investments. You can keep the QuickBooks Other Current Asset account, using it simply as a way to include the value of your investments in your QuickBooks balance sheet. Continue tracking your investments in Quicken and update the QuickBooks Other Current Asset account balance periodically. Or you can delete the investment account from the file you're converting to QuickBooks and continue to track investments only in Quicken.

Review your memorised and scheduled transactions

If you have overdue scheduled transactions in your Quicken file, record them before converting. Print the cheques if applicable.

If the option for memorising all transactions is turned off in Quicken, QuickBooks converts all your memorised and schedule transactions.

On the other hand, if the option is turned on, QuickBooks does not convert stand-alone memorised transactions. It converts only scheduled transactions and transaction groups (whether scheduled or not).

Therefore, if you have memorised transactions in Quicken that you'd rather not retype in QuickBooks, you can do one of two things:

Turn off the QuickFill option for memorising all transactions in Quicken. Delete any memorised transactions you do not want to convert.

 	Put all the memorised transactions you want to convert into a memorised transaction group in Quicken. QuickBooks always converts memorised transaction groups. After the conversion is complete, you can remove the memorised transactions from the group and use them as you did in Quicken.

Make customer names consistent

When you convert to QuickBooks, names in your accounts receivable register become customers, and transactions become invoices and payments. If you used different names for the same customer in Quicken, QuickBooks won't link the customer's invoices and payments correctly. (For example, perhaps you have your customer Ariana Ratzlaff listed as Ariana Ratzlaff, A. Ratzlaff, and Ariana N. Ratzlaff.) To avoid this problem, edit your customer names in Quicken so that each customer goes by only one name.

Print all your "to be printed" cheques

All unprinted cheques that appear in Quicken's "Cheques Payable account" on the balance sheet do not appear in QuickBooks' balance sheet reports when your company file is converted to QuickBooks. Therefore it is recommend that in order to match your Quicken and QuickBooks balance sheet reports you must print all of your "to be printed" cheques before converting to QuickBooks.

Creating a QuickBooks company with Quicken data

You can use your data from Quicken with QuickBooks. When you first choose a Quicken file to use with QuickBooks, the program automatically copies your Quicken data to files in the QuickBooks format for a "company."

QuickBooks does not change your original Quicken files in any way. You can continue to use those original files with Quicken. You may want to continue using Quicken for personal finance and for investment accounts. There is no connection between your Quicken data and your new QuickBooks company. QuickBooks has created a new set of data files for you to use with QuickBooks.

Converting your Quicken file

To convert your Quicken file into a QuickBooks company:

1.	Make sure that Quicken is not running.

2.	Double-click the QuickBooks icon to run the program.

3.	From the File menu in QuickBooks, choose Convert From, then choose Quicken.

4.	Click OK in the important document window.

5.	Select the Quicken data file you want to convert (the extension should be .qbd or .qbf) and select open.

6.	Enter a filename for your new QuickBooks data file.

7.	(Optional) Change the default directory for your new data file.

8.	Click Save.

If your file is protected with a password, enter the password.

QuickBooks tells you it is converting your Quicken data.

9.	During the conversion, answer the question about whether you've been tracking accounts receivable in Quicken.

Select the Quicken account or accounts you use for A/R.

Using the mouse, check off the bank and asset accounts you've been using as accounts receivable accounts to track customer invoices and invoice payments.

Be sure NOT to select your chequing account. If you choose the wrong accounts, you will have to convert again.

Click OK.

QuickBooks uses the data from your Quicken A/R account to create a QuickBooks A/R account.

Note: If you are converting from Quicken 98 and use A/R account types, QuickBooks automatically converts those accounts

10.	When QuickBooks displays messages about the Other Names list, click Display List to view the names on the list now.

11.	Click OK to the "Conversion is successful" message.

12.	(Optional) Click View Documents when QuickBooks displays a message about the documents.  Click the particular industry that is closest to your own.

Changing to QuickBooks accounts receivable

In Quicken 6.0 or lower, if you have been tracking accounts receivable (A/R) in Quicken and your A/R account was an asset account, you can convert your existing Quicken A/R to QuickBooks A/R.

In Quicken 98 if you have been tracking accounts receivable (A/R) QuickBooks automatically converts your A/R accounts.

As QuickBooks begins converting your Quicken accounts, it gives you a chance to identify which of your Quicken accounts you have been using as accounts receivable (A/R) accounts.

The transactions in your Quicken A/R account are converted in the following ways:

This item in your Quicken A/R account...	...is converted to this in QuickBooks:
Each transaction that increases your A/R balance	An invoice to a customer
Each transaction that decreases your A/R balance and has only one split line	A payment from a customer
Each transaction that decreases your A/R balance and has more than one split line	A credit memo to a customer
Each payee	A customer on your QuickBooks Customer:Job list
Each category	Both an item on your Item list and an income account on your chart of accounts
QuickBooks marks invoices as paid by assigning each payment it converts to the oldest invoices for that customer first.

The conversion saves you the time of typing in all your accounts receivable transactions, but you'll probably want to make some changes to the converted data.

For example, if the category you used in most A/R transactions was "Sales income," you'll want to change the name of the converted invoice item from "Sales income" to the product or service you actually sell, such as "Consulting hours." The converted income account, however, may be just fine as "Sales income."

Changing to QuickBooks accounts payable

The Quicken manual explains how to use Quicken for cash-basis accounts payable and for accrual-basis accounts payable. For a cash-basis system, the manual recommends using a Bank account and simply postdating cheques. For an accrual-basis system, the manual recommends using an Other Liability account. The transition to QuickBooks accounts payable is the same for either system.

If you used postdated cheques to track your bills, treat cheques you've already entered in your usual manner.

If you had a Quicken Other Liability account for accounts payable, it is now a QuickBooks Other Current Liability account. Continue to use it only for bills you already entered that are still outstanding. Track your payments of these bills as you did in Quicken.

QuickBooks automatically adds a new account named Accounts Payable to your chart of accounts when you enter your first bill. No matter which method you were using in Quicken, from now on, use the Enter Bills window to enter new bills into the new QuickBooks Accounts Payable account.

Change your payees to QuickBooks vendors

Quicken payees are now on the Other Names list in QuickBooks. You must move vendor names from the Other Names list to the Vendor list before you can use them in QuickBooks accounts payable. See "Editing your Other Names list" later in this document.

If the Quicken payee has a balance, continue as you did in Quicken until the balance of your old Quicken A/P account equals zero (you've paid off all your bills for that vendor). Enter any new bills into QuickBooks accounts payable, using the Enter Bills window.

If QuickBooks converted memorised transactions for Quicken accounts payable, delete them. They will not work in QuickBooks accounts payable.

Differences in your new QuickBooks data

Following is a list of the differences in your new QuickBooks data as compared to your Quicken data.

 	For each account in the Quicken file, QuickBooks creates a balance sheet account of the type closest to the Quicken account type. Your Quicken accounts will be classified as shown in the table below.

Quicken account type	Converted to QuickBooks account type
Bank	Bank
Credit Card	Credit Card
Cash	Other Current Asset
Other Asset	Other Current Asset
Other Liability	Other Current Liability
Investment	Other Current Asset
 	In a few cases, you may not want to continue using the account that QuickBooks created automatically.

For example, you may have been using an Other Liability account for equity in Quicken. In QuickBooks, you can change that account to an Equity type account.

QuickBooks creates an Opening Bal Equity account. This is an account that helps you set up. When you create new accounts and enter their opening balances, QuickBooks automatically enters the amount in the Opening Bal Equity account, so that your accounts balance. You can leave the Opening Bal Equity amount, or you can distribute the amount to other equity accounts.

QuickBooks does not convert memorised reports.

 	QuickBooks changes your Quicken categories and subcategories into income and expense accounts with subaccounts.

Editing your Other Names list

QuickBooks places the name or description from every Quicken transaction (except in your A/R account) on the Other Names list. Thus, your QuickBooks Other Names list will contain not only names of customers, vendors, and employees but also descriptions such as "Deposit," "Transfer," and "Interest."

Important:	Once you change the name type, you cannot undo the change.

To change the name type for several names on your Other Names list:

1.	From the Change Names Type window, click the appropriate column (Customer, Vendor, Employee) for each name you want to move to another list.

2.	Click OK.

To merge  similar names:

1.	From the Lists menu, choose Other Names.

2.	Select a name you want to merge into another name, and click Edit.

3.	Edit the name so that it is exactly like the name you want to keep.

4.	Click OK.

5.	When QuickBooks asks whether you want to merge this name with the existing name, click Yes.

Before you begin using QuickBooks

Fill in your QuickBooks company information.

From the File menu, choose Company Info.

Turn on the QuickBooks features you plan to use.

If you collect VAT from customers, turn on the VAT preference and then set up at least one VAT item.

If you track stock or write purchase orders, turn on the preference for stock and purchase orders.

If you plan to use QuickBooks for payroll turn on the payroll feature.


For users of Quicken (Windows and DOS versions)

Printing this document and returning to QuickBooks

Quicken users overview

Comparing QuickBooks and Quicken

Preparing your Quicken data for conversion

Creating a QuickBooks company with Quicken data

Changing to QuickBooks accounts receivable

Changing to QuickBooks accounts payable

Differences in your new QuickBooks data

Editing your Other Names list

Before you begin using QuickBooks

Printing this document and returning QuickBooks

To print this document:

From the File menu, choose Print Topic.

To return to QuickBooks:

Close this Help window.

Quicken users overview

This document explains how to convert your Quicken data into QuickBooks data and the differences you will see between the two programs.

You'll need to make some adjustments to your new QuickBooks company to take advantage of features that Quicken does not offer.

QuickBooks incorporates what Intuit has learned from the experiences and needs of hundreds of thousands of business users of Quicken. If you've been using Quicken for your small business, QuickBooks will seem very familiar. But don't assume QuickBooks works exactly like Quicken!

QuickBooks includes features specifically tailored to business needs. You should expect to spend more time becoming acquainted with QuickBooks than you may have spent in the past with upgrade versions of Quicken.

Versions of Quicken you can convert

The following table shows what you'll need to do for specific versions of Quicken.

If your data is from:	QuickBooks 6.0 can read and update from versions:	Convert through QuickBooks 5:
Quicken for Windows	6 and 98	2, 3, 4, 5
Comparing QuickBooks and Quicken

Look over the terminology and feature differences between Quicken and QuickBooks. Once you understand the differences between the programs, QuickBooks will feel very familiar.

Terminology differences

Quicken uses terms familiar to anyone who has used a checkbook. QuickBooks uses a few terms that are standard in business bookkeeping and terms that reflect the increased power and convenience of QuickBooks for business.

The following table lists the most important differences in terms. It does not list the many completely new QuickBooks 6.0 features and terms.

Quicken term	QuickBooks term	Definition
File	Company	All records related to one bookkeeping entity (one set of books).
Account	Balance sheet account	A grouping of records related to one kind of asset, liability, or equity.  These accounts appear on a balance sheet.
Category	Income or expense account	A grouping of transactions related to one kind of income or expense.  These accounts appear on a profit and loss statement (income statement).
Category and Transfer List plus Account List	Chart of Accounts	The QuickBooks Chart of Accounts is equal to the Quicken account list (balance sheet accounts) plus the Quicken category list (income and expense accounts).  You can add, edit, or delete any kind of account in QuickBooks.
Feature differences

The following table lists features that exist in both Quicken and QuickBooks, but that work differently in QuickBooks than what you're used to in Quicken.

Feature	Quicken	QuickBooks
Entering transactions	Enters most transactions in registers.	Enters most transactions in forms (cheque window, invoice window, and so on).  (You can also enter transactions in most registers.
Write Cheques	Displays a cheque that looks like a paper personal cheque.	Displays a business cheque with voucher area (so the "split" is part of the cheque form).
Classes	Use a slash (/) to separate a category from a class in transactions.	Enter classes in separate fields. No need for a slash (/) as a separator.  In QuickBooks, jobs and projects can be associated with customers as part of the Customer:Job list, so you can use classes for different kinds of classification.
Transfers	Use brackets [  ] to indicate a transfer to another balance sheet account.	No need to use brackets. QuickBooks handles transfers like any other transaction.
Passwords	One password for entering and viewing data.	Three levels of password protection (including one for payroll).
Reports	Offers reports for personal finance and investments. Has only a few business reports.	Omits personal finance reports and investment reports. Offers many pre-designed reports for businesses that can be customised as necessary.
Subaccounts	Categories can have subcategories, but accounts cannot have subaccounts.	All accounts, even balance sheet accounts, can have subaccounts.
Payroll accounts  (If you set up your accounts as described in the Quicken manual)	A separate liability account for each tax withheld and for each other payroll liability.	You can continue using your old liability accounts. However, with the new system of tracking by using payroll items, you can put all payroll liabilities into a single liability account.
New and renamed balance sheet accounts

Balance sheet accounts (assets, liabilities, and equity) are those accounts whose balances affect your balance sheet report. QuickBooks and Quicken have similar kinds of balance sheet accounts, but QuickBooks adds some and uses different names for some account types. When you convert a Quicken file for use in QuickBooks, the program automatically creates QuickBooks accounts most like your Quicken accounts.

Should you continue using Quicken for some things?

Once you're using QuickBooks for your business, you'll probably want to continue using Quicken for your personal finances.

Here are some personal-finance activities you can perform only with Quicken:

Track investments

Quicken includes investment tracking and reporting. Quicken updates the market values when you enter the latest share prices, and it reports on average annual total return, capital gains, and investment income.

Amortise mortgage loans

Each time you record a payment made on a loan, Quicken updates the dollar amount of payments made and calculates the amount credited to principal and interest.

Create reports for personal finances

Quicken has many preset reports, such as the tax schedule report, designed for personal use.

Preparing your Quicken data for conversion

You may need to make some changes to your Quicken account list, your memorised transaction list, and customer list to make the transition from Quicken to QuickBooks as smooth as possible.

If you plan to continue using Quicken with this data (for example, if you had combined business and personal finances in your Quicken file), make a copy of your Quicken file to convert before you make any of the following changes.

Convert only the accounts you want to use in QuickBooks

Before you convert to QuickBooks, delete accounts in Quicken that you know you won't want in QuickBooks. In QuickBooks, you cannot delete accounts that contain transactions, but in Quicken you can. So it's easier to delete accounts you know you won't want before you convert.

You might want to delete some accounts from your Quicken file in the following situations:

You have personal accounts as well as business accounts in your Quicken file.

 	You have an investment account in your Quicken file.

Your Quicken investment account would be converted to a QuickBooks Other Current Asset account because QuickBooks does not have a special feature to track investments. You can keep the QuickBooks Other Current Asset account, using it simply as a way to include the value of your investments in your QuickBooks balance sheet. Continue tracking your investments in Quicken and update the QuickBooks Other Current Asset account balance periodically. Or you can delete the investment account from the file you're converting to QuickBooks and continue to track investments only in Quicken.

Review your memorised and scheduled transactions

If you have overdue scheduled transactions in your Quicken file, record them before converting. Print the cheques if applicable.

If the option for memorising all transactions is turned off in Quicken, QuickBooks converts all your memorised and schedule transactions.

On the other hand, if the option is turned on, QuickBooks does not convert stand-alone memorised transactions. It converts only scheduled transactions and transaction groups (whether scheduled or not).

Therefore, if you have memorised transactions in Quicken that you'd rather not retype in QuickBooks, you can do one of two things:

Turn off the QuickFill option for memorising all transactions in Quicken. Delete any memorised transactions you do not want to convert.

 	Put all the memorised transactions you want to convert into a memorised transaction group in Quicken. QuickBooks always converts memorised transaction groups. After the conversion is complete, you can remove the memorised transactions from the group and use them as you did in Quicken.

Make customer names consistent

When you convert to QuickBooks, names in your accounts receivable register become customers, and transactions become invoices and payments. If you used different names for the same customer in Quicken, QuickBooks won't link the customer's invoices and payments correctly. (For example, perhaps you have your customer Ariana Ratzlaff listed as Ariana Ratzlaff, A. Ratzlaff, and Ariana N. Ratzlaff.) To avoid this problem, edit your customer names in Quicken so that each customer goes by only one name.

Creating a QuickBooks company with Quicken data

You can use your data from Quicken with QuickBooks. When you first choose a Quicken file to use with QuickBooks, the program automatically copies your Quicken data to files in the QuickBooks format for a "company."

QuickBooks does not change your original Quicken files in any way. You can continue to use those original files with Quicken. You may want to continue using Quicken for personal finance and for investment accounts. There is no connection between your Quicken data and your new QuickBooks company. QuickBooks has created a new set of data files for you to use with QuickBooks.

Converting your Quicken file

To convert your Quicken file into a QuickBooks company:

1.	Make sure that Quicken is not running.

2.	Double-click the QuickBooks icon to run the program.

5.	From the File menu in QuickBooks, choose Convert From, then choose Quicken.

6.	Click OK in the important document window.

5.	Select the Quicken data file you want to convert (the extension should be .qbd or .qbf) and select open.

6.	Enter a filename for your new QuickBooks data file.

7.	(Optional) Change the default directory for your new data file.

8.	Click Save.

If your file is protected with a password, enter the password.

QuickBooks tells you it is converting your Quicken data.

9.	During the conversion, answer the question about whether you've been tracking accounts receivable in Quicken.

Select the Quicken account or accounts you use for A/R.

Using the mouse, check off the bank and asset accounts you've been using as accounts receivable accounts to track customer invoices and invoice payments.

Be sure NOT to select your chequing account. If you choose the wrong accounts, you will have to convert again.

Click OK.

QuickBooks uses the data from your Quicken A/R account to create a QuickBooks A/R account.

Note: If you are converting from Quicken 98 and use A/R account types, QuickBooks automatically converts those accounts

10.	When QuickBooks displays messages about the Other Names list, click Display List to view the names on the list now.

11.	Click OK to the "Conversion is successful" message.

12.	(Optional) Click View Documents when QuickBooks displays a message about the documents.  Click the particular industry that is closest to your own.

Changing to QuickBooks accounts receivable

In Quicken 6.0 or lower, if you have been tracking accounts receivable (A/R) in Quicken and your A/R account was an asset account, you can convert your existing Quicken A/R to QuickBooks A/R.

In Quicken 98 if you have been tracking accounts receivable (A/R) QuickBooks automatically converts your A/R accounts.

As QuickBooks begins converting your Quicken accounts, it gives you a chance to identify which of your Quicken accounts you have been using as accounts receivable (A/R) accounts.

The transactions in your Quicken A/R account are converted in the following ways:

This item in your Quicken A/R account...	...is converted to this in QuickBooks:
Each transaction that increases your A/R balance	An invoice to a customer
Each transaction that decreases your A/R balance and has only one split line	A payment from a customer
Each transaction that decreases your A/R balance and has more than one split line	A credit memo to a customer
Each payee	A customer on your QuickBooks Customer:Job list
Each category	Both an item on your Item list and an income account on your chart of accounts
QuickBooks marks invoices as paid by assigning each payment it converts to the oldest invoices for that customer first.

The conversion saves you the time of typing in all your accounts receivable transactions, but you'll probably want to make some changes to the converted data.

For example, if the category you used in most A/R transactions was "Sales income," you'll want to change the name of the converted invoice item from "Sales income" to the product or service you actually sell, such as "Consulting hours." The converted income account, however, may be just fine as "Sales income."

Changing to QuickBooks accounts payable

The Quicken manual explains how to use Quicken for cash-basis accounts payable and for accrual-basis accounts payable. For a cash-basis system, the manual recommends using a Bank account and simply postdating cheques. For an accrual-basis system, the manual recommends using an Other Liability account. The transition to QuickBooks accounts payable is the same for either system.

If you used postdated cheques to track your bills, treat cheques you've already entered in your usual manner.

If you had a Quicken Other Liability account for accounts payable, it is now a QuickBooks Other Current Liability account. Continue to use it only for bills you already entered that are still outstanding. Track your payments of these bills as you did in Quicken.

QuickBooks automatically adds a new account named Accounts Payable to your chart of accounts when you enter your first bill. No matter which method you were using in Quicken, from now on, use the Enter Bills window to enter new bills into the new QuickBooks Accounts Payable account.

Change your payees to QuickBooks vendors

Quicken payees are now on the Other Names list in QuickBooks. You must move vendor names from the Other Names list to the Vendor list before you can use them in QuickBooks accounts payable. See "Editing your Other Names list" later in this document.

If the Quicken payee has a balance, continue as you did in Quicken until the balance of your old Quicken A/P account equals zero (you've paid off all your bills for that vendor). Enter any new bills into QuickBooks accounts payable, using the Enter Bills window.

If QuickBooks converted memorised transactions for Quicken accounts payable, delete them. They will not work in QuickBooks accounts payable.

Differences in your new QuickBooks data

Following is a list of the differences in your new QuickBooks data as compared to your Quicken data.

 	For each account in the Quicken file, QuickBooks creates a balance sheet account of the type closest to the Quicken account type. Your Quicken accounts will be classified as shown in the table below.

Quicken account type	Converted to QuickBooks account type
Bank	Bank
Credit Card	Credit Card
Cash	Other Current Asset
Other Asset	Other Current Asset
Other Liability	Other Current Liability
Investment	Other Current Asset
 	In a few cases, you may not want to continue using the account that QuickBooks created automatically.

For example, you may have been using an Other Liability account for equity in Quicken. In QuickBooks, you can change that account to an Equity type account.

QuickBooks creates an Opening Bal Equity account. This is an account that helps you set up. When you create new accounts and enter their opening balances, QuickBooks automatically enters the amount in the Opening Bal Equity account, so that your accounts balance. You can leave the Opening Bal Equity amount, or you can distribute the amount to other equity accounts.

QuickBooks does not convert memorised reports.

 	QuickBooks changes your Quicken categories and subcategories into income and expense accounts with subaccounts.

Editing your Other Names list

QuickBooks places the name or description from every Quicken transaction (except in your A/R account) on the Other Names list. Thus, your QuickBooks Other Names list will contain not only names of customers, vendors, and employees but also descriptions such as "Deposit," "Transfer," and "Interest."

Important:	Once you change the name type, you cannot undo the change.

To change the name type for several names on your Other Names list:

1.	From the Change Names Type window, click the appropriate column (Customer, Vendor, Employee) for each name you want to move to another list.

2.	Click OK.

To merge  similar names:

1.	From the Lists menu, choose Other Names.

2.	Select a name you want to merge into another name, and click Edit.

3.	Edit the name so that it is exactly like the name you want to keep.

4.	Click OK.

5.	When QuickBooks asks whether you want to merge this name with the existing name, click Yes.

Before you begin using QuickBooks

Fill in your QuickBooks company information.

From the File menu, choose Company Info.

Turn on the QuickBooks features you plan to use.

If you collect VAT from customers, turn on the VAT preference and then set up at least one VAT item.

If you track stock or write purchase orders, turn on the preference for stock and purchase orders.

If you plan to use QuickBooks for payroll turn on the payroll feature.