Here is how to set up Quick Pick items:

1. Go to QuickBooks POS Company Preferences and, under Inventory, create your Inventory Quick Pick groups (for example: drinks, candy, food, jewelry)
2. Go to your QuickBooks Point of Sale Item List and, for each item that you want to make a Quick Pick item, in the Basic Info section, specify the Quick Pick group in which you want to list the item.
3. Now you are ready to sell or receive a Quick Pick item by selecting it from one of the Quick Pick groups.

To sell the item on a sales receipt, click on Make a Sale, then Quick Pick Items, select the Inventory Quick Pick Item Group, and the item that you want to put on the sales receipt. There is no limit on the number of items that you can place in a group; however, it is best to keep the number of items to twelve or fewer per group, so that all items can be listed on a single Quick Pick page. For more information, search Quick Pick in the QuickBooks Point of Sale Help, or call Mission QuickBooks at 203-227-9475.

If you’re interested in finding how to do that, Scott Gregory at Better Bottom Line reviews an add-on called “EZ Analytics.” This third party tool shores up some of the weaker areas of inventory management in QuickBooks.

While QuickBooks isn’t intended to be a full-blown inventory management tool, the fact is it can act in that capacity when you add in a product like EZ Analytics.

The post looked at setting up QuickBooks Inventory Adjustment accounts. While QuickBooks automatically sets up one of these accounts in your Expense section, you might prefer to move it to the Cost of Good Sold section in your chart of accounts.

If you’d like to set up your Inventory Adjustment Posting accounts this way, give the link a look. They also discuss a number of other issues related to Inventory Adjustments.

Getting an error message about your QuickBooks data file can be frightening. After all, your company’s financial identity is contained in that single file. Everything from customer payments to inventory and more may ride on your QuickBooks data file. While you hopefully have a recent backup of the file, you’d hate to lose even a few days worth of data.

So, what do you do when there are errors in your QuickBooks data file? There are several things you can try in order to get back up and running:

• Start with the basics. As with most computer-related errors, your first steps should be to close the application, reboot the computer, and reopen the application. QuickBooks is no different. That probably didn’t work, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this.
• Try a verify or rebuild of your company file. QuickBooks contains within it two specific utilities designed specifically to fix errors with your QuickBooks file. The Verify Data utility looks at your file to see if it’s damaged, identifies damaged items, and records all of the details. The Rebuild Data utility fixes a damaged QuickBooks company file and fixes or updates incorrect data. You can find more info on these utilities at the QuickBooks support site.
• Turn to your support network. Hopefully, you have an established relationship with a qualified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who can help you if the verify and rebuild doesn’t fix the company file. In some cases, they may be able to offer additional assistance. Alternatively, you can contact Intuit directly for support, although there’s only so much they can do remotely.
• Consider restoring from backup. It’s a measure of last resort, to be sure, but you may need to consider restoring from backup. This is why it’s so important to regularly run QuickBooks backups. Ideally, you’ll have a daily backup process so that you’re never more than one work day behind, even if your company file does become irreparably corrupted.

As you know, QuickBooks comes in several different flavors depending on your business’ size, unique accounting needs, and a host of other factors. Each version has greater functionality than the one below it.

But, what happens when you want to move up a tier in your QuickBooks use? Scott Gregory had an excellent article last week that looks at compatibility for your QuickBooks file between different versions of the program.

Gregory gives greater detail, but the long and short of it is this:

• It’s relatively easy to migrate from QuickBooks Pro to QuickBooks Premier or QuickBooks Enterprise.
• It’s also relatively easy to migrate from QuickBooks Premier to QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Enterprise.
• However, if you’re going to “downgrade” from QuickBooks Enterprise to Pro or Premier, you’re going to need a third-party tool.

There have been a number of third-party applications that would make this happen in the past. Now, however, Intuit is offering Salesforce for QuickBooks directly to users. QuickBooks and Beyond looked at this new tool last week.

Salesforce for QuickBooks gives your sales team the ability to access all of that important financial data about their customers (such as order history and more) without requiring direct access to QuickBooks. It also lets them view item price lists and enter orders that will go into QuickBooks.

Take a look at this solution and see if it might be right for you.

One of the most useful QuickBooks features for some small businesses is job costing. Being able to tag specific expenses and income to a job lets you know just how profitable that job is. This is especially useful for construction or real estate companies, but others can take advantage of it, as well.

Over at the Everchange Blog, they take a look this week at job costing and its interaction with the Intuit payroll service inside QuickBooks.

How job costing works varies from QuickBooks online to the Desktop and Mac versions. Fortunately, the folks at Everchange cover both methods. They also point out that, if you have multiple employees working on multiple projects, you can gain some efficiency by using the Mac or desktop version over QuickBooks Online.

Today, the Intuit App Center is the place to get those tools. At the Intuit Small Business Blog, they took a look this week at what’s going on with the app center, and what you can find there.

The focal point of the App Center is mobility. It’s designed to provide apps that small businesses can use on the go that are compatible with QuickBooks. There are apps for all versions of QuickBooks, including QuickBooks Online.

There are apps to manage customer data, manage projects, track time and expenses, create reports, and more.

Intuit has been offering a cloud-based accounting solution for several years now. Chances are pretty good you’ve heard of QuickBooks Online, but you’re not sure how it works or whether it might be right for you.

Here are some of the basic details of how QuickBooks Online works:

• QuickBooks Online is a subscription-based product. You pay a smaller monthly fee for usage rather than a large upfront cost as you would with the desktop version of QuickBooks.
• Intuit hosts all of the data for QuickBooks Online. They also handle all of the software patches and upgrades.
• QuickBooks Online can be accessed via a number of web browsers, as well as smartphone apps for iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.
• QuickBooks Online doesn’t have all of the same features that you’ll find in the desktop versions of QuickBooks.
• Some of the features and functions work differently in QuickBooks Online than they do in the desktop versions.
• As with the desktop versions, there are a number of different levels of QuickBooks Online. Each level offers additional features and functionality.

QuickBooks Online can be a great solution for some businesses. It’s probably not for everyone. Use QuickBooks Online if you:

• Want to access QuickBooks from multiple locations, including away from the office.
• Don’t want to hassle with upgrading or updating QuickBooks.
• Prefer a monthly fee over a large one-time expenditure.

On the other hand, consider one of the desktop versions of QuickBooks if you:

• Have specialized accounting needs that QuickBooks Online doesn’t address.
• Have specific plug-ins and add-ons that you want to be able to use with QuickBooks, such as integration with your CRM solution.

Fortunately, the QuickBooks and Beyond blog took a look at the changes this week. Some of the major areas of change include:

• Major changes to how permissions for user accounts work
• Update to the cost and price feature, which has had some problems in earlier releases of QuickBooks 2012.
• Updates to the Advanced Inventory feature in QuickBooks Enterprise.
• Addition of the Enhanced Inventory Receiving (EIR) optional feature.

Take a look at the full list of changes and see which ones might impact you today.