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Date: January
31, 2008
Subject: QuickBooks
2008
The newest
version of Intuit's QuickBooks software,
QuickBooks 2008, is now available. Touted by
Intuit at the "Biggest Release in Years!"
QuickBooks 2008 is a significant upgrade from
earlier versions and includes a number of
features and improvements designed to make it
easier to use and more compatible with Windows
Vista.
Below we list a
few of the major changes as well as a short
guide to enable QuickBooks 2007 to run on your
Windows Vista system.
As an added
bonus, this month's ELM Bulletin includes an
attached PDF document listing keyboard shortcuts
that can be used in QuickBooks. This document
requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be
downloaded from Adobe's website:
www.adobe.com.
Better Integration with Windows Vista
- Whereas QuickBooks 2007 could only run in
Vista with Administrator credentials and
in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service
Pack 2, QuickBooks 2008 is supported by Windows
Vista right out of the box. This means that you
will not have to re-configure QuickBooks 2008
from its default installation in order to have
it run in Windows Vista as you were required to
do for QuickBooks 2007. Although Windows Vista
has not yet been widely adopted by the business
community the time is rapidly approaching where
Vista compatibility will be of great importance.
Improved User Environment - All
tasks can now be started from the new QuickBooks
Home Page; giving you a better overview of the
steps required to complete your day-to-day
tasks.
Customized Reports Will be Lost -
Any customized or memorized report will
NOT transferred from earlier versions
of QuickBooks. In other words: If you install
QuickBooks 2008 your existing QuickBooks
database will, upon conversion, no longer
contain any of your customized and/or memorized
reports. At present there is no work around for
this situation.
Multicurrency Not Available - A
useful feature in earlier versions of
QuickBooks, Multicurrency is no longer available
in QuickBooks 2008.
Data
Conversion - QuickBooks 2008 has
moved to a SQL database structure, which
provides a significant improvement in database
performance as the volume of transactions grows.
QuickBooks 2007 databases are automatically
updated to the SQL format used in QuickBooks
2008 when they are first opened. (We
very strongly recommend that you backup your
data prior to any conversion process.)
If you are using a version of QuickBooks older
than QuickBooks 2003 you will first have to
upgrade to QuickBooks 2007 first and then use
QuickBooks 2008 to update the resulting
QuickBooks 2007 database to the QuickBooks 2008
database format. Intuit provides the necessary
resources for this dual conversion on their
website, although the download is in excess of
500Mb. You can find the conversion tool at the
following link:
http://quickbooks.intuit.ca/accounting-software/conversion/index.jsp
Be sure to
follow the instructions exactly, the conversion
will fail otherwise.
QuickBooks 2007 and Windows Vista -
Unlike all previous versions of QuickBooks,
QuickBooks 2007 is able to run under Windows
Vista, although it will require some "tweaking."
(Regardless of what you may have read elsewhere,
versions of QuickBooks prior to QuickBooks 2007
will not reliably operate under Windows Vista.)
In order for QuickBooks 2007 to run under
Windows Vista you must first do the following:
- Right-Click on the QuickBooks 2007 icon
you use to start the program and select
"Properties"
- Click on
the "Compatibility" tab
- Place a
check mark in the box to the left of "Run
this program in compatibility mode for:"
- Select
"Windows XP (Service Pack 2)" from the
drop-down list below the check box
- Place a
check mark in the box to the left of "Run
this program as an administrator"
- Click on
the "Apply" button
- Click on
the "OK" button
After these
changes you will be prompted for approval each
time you start QuickBooks 2007 (unless you have
turned off Vista's User Account Control feature,
which we DO NOT recommend) but
the program will operate properly.
As
always, please do not hesitate to contact me if
you have any questions about this or any other
issue.
Previous issues of the ELM
Bulletin are
available from our website.
You have
received this ELM Bulletin either by request or
because you have given your contact information
to an ELM employee. If you no longer wish to
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