ELM Bulletin - January 31, 2008
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:
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.
Past issues of the ELM Bulletin are available from our website, feel free to forward them to anyone you wish.
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