Chapter 3
In This Chapter
Getting help
Visiting Intuit’s and other vendors’ product-support websites
Tapping into Intuit’s product-support system
Browsing the de facto QuickBooks newsgroup
Knowing what to do when all else fails
After writing about QuickBooks for more than 20 years, I’ve had a revelation of sorts. People want not only specific, step-by-step information about how to use the program, but also troubleshooting advice. They want techniques and tactics that they can use to solve the inevitable problems that they encounter while using QuickBooks in real-life settings. What follows is my list of the best troubleshooting techniques.
I know what you may be thinking: You have some problem that you can’t solve by using Help, and it’s either a bug or some glaring error in the QuickBooks documentation. Of course, you’ve looked through this book, but it says nothing — absolutely nothing — about your question. In fact, upon further reflection, you may be thinking that you’ve encountered some problem that you can’t possibly solve by consulting the QuickBooks Help file or this book.
Maybe you’re right.
But in my experience (gleaned from talking with people who have problems), about half the time, the problem is lack of knowledge about QuickBooks. These users may simply be experiencing a mechanical problem. They can’t make the program work because they haven’t used QuickBooks enough to figure out the problem. Therefore, the right way to solve this sort of problem is to find out more about QuickBooks and try again. For example, if you’re having problems printing a report, just finding out more about both printing and reports may enable you to solve the problem.
In most cases, you should be able to find the information in this book by using the Index or the Table of Contents.
Also, you usually can find the information (perhaps in a slightly less-friendly form) in the QuickBooks Help file. To find information in the QuickBooks Help file, choose Help⇒QuickBooks Help to display the QuickBooks Help window, as shown in Figure 3-1.
Then enter the word or phrase that you want to look up into the search box at the top of the Help window and click the button that looks like a magnifying glass. QuickBooks then displays a list of clickable links (see Figure 3-2) that may help you with whatever problem you’re having. Figure 3-2 shows a list of help topics related to the issue of working in a multiple currencies situation.
Another really good resource for troubleshooting is Intuit’s product-support website for QuickBooks. This website, available by visiting http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com or by choosing the Help⇒Support command within QuickBooks, is a rich database of troubleshooting information, as shown in Figure 3-3.
To use the site, enter your question or keywords from your question in the search box at the top of the window and then click Search. The product-support website displays a list of troubleshooting articles that may help solve your problem (as shown in Figure 3-4).
Keep in mind that your problem may not be a problem with QuickBooks at all, but a problem with your computer and its hardware or with Microsoft Windows. The Microsoft product-support website, which is phenomenally rich in information, is available at http://support.microsoft.com.
If your problem stems from the hardware or the operating system, you can consult the hardware or software maker’s product-support website for troubleshooting information. Usually, you can find the hardware maker’s product-support website easily by using a good Internet search engine. For example, to locate Dell Computer’s product-support website, type something like Dell Computer product support in a search engine such as www.google.com. When the search engine searches on the phrase “Dell Computer product support,” it almost inevitably finds the URL (the address) of the vendor’s product-support web page.
In addition to the option of using the Intuit product-support website, you can get direct product support in at least two other ways:
If your problem with QuickBooks isn’t really a program bug or can’t be easily solved by finding out more, you can sometimes find an answer by consulting other QuickBooks users. One of the easiest ways to do this is to browse the Quicken newsgroup (yes, that’s right, the Quicken newsgroup) or the QuickBooks newsgroup at the following addresses:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.software.financial.quicken
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.software.financial.quickbooks
To browse either newsgroup — note that the Quicken newsgroup contains both Quicken and QuickBooks information — you use an Internet service provider that supports newsgroups and a newsgroup reader (such as Outlook Express). Assuming that you have these things, you can subscribe to the QuickBooks newsgroup and talk with other QuickBooks users about the problems that you’re encountering.
You can also visit Intuit’s own forum at http://community.intuit.com/ for helpful information.
You may not need this background information, but I want to point out a few important things about newsgroups and community forums. In the case of the newsgroups, a specific organization doesn’t typically support or police newsgroups. For example, Intuit doesn’t maintain or support the Quicken or QuickBooks newsgroup. Newsgroups, including the Quicken and QuickBooks newsgroups, really amount to free-form — and sometimes unruly — discussions among users. You can’t always expect to have your question answered. Additionally, good newsgroup and forum etiquette suggests that if you ask questions, you should also try to answer questions.
If you try at least a few of the preceding troubleshooting tactics and can’t get an answer, I have one other suggestion: Bite the bullet, call your CPA, and get him or her to help you through the rough patches.
I know. You’re going to pay $200 an hour or whatever. And you paid, what, only a few hundred bucks for QuickBooks in the first place? But here’s the deal: Your accounting system is an essential business tool. It must work smoothly and correctly to produce the information you need to operate your business successfully. Paying for an hour or two of expert, onsite, personalized accounting expertise can be a great investment.
And what if your accountant doesn’t or can’t provide this sort of assistance? Well, shoot, I think you should find somebody who does and can.