5 Easy QuickBooks Productivity Shortcuts

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No doubt shortcuts save time, hence the name “shortcut”, but they also make us feel clever and if you didn't know already, attitude is important! After the holiday rush which started back in October/November we all need an easy pick me up after the long haul of January. The reaction to shortcuts is spectacular especially when others see us using them and think we have genius super skills. Often, they want in so they can be part of the shortcut super club.  

So much of my inspiration for these Insightful Accountant QBO Monday Minute articles comes from my everyday life, and in the case of this shortcut article, my inspiration was born from the reaction of a group of my students. The last few weeks (yes, during January) our firm has had the wonderful opportunity to teach a QuickBooks Online course to small business owners at our local vocational-technical (career tech) school. During the class I saw my partner Ann Lee use a colon to create a sub-customer and I almost toppled over with surprise.

What was so fun was the reaction the class had. These were brand new QBO users and they were thrilled with delight and accomplishment to immediately go from a QBO newbie to a QBO shortcut super user.

I was so wowed by the students’ response of self-accomplishment that I was inspired to build a short list of QuickBooks Desktop shortcuts which also work in QuickBooks Online.

Shortcut # 1 - Using a Colon to create a Sub

When creating a new sub enter a colon between the parent and the child with no spaces

  • Chart of Accounts
  • Customer
  • Vendor
  • Class
  • Item

       Example: test customer:sub

Shortcut # 2 - Using Escape to Exit Out of a Screen (window)

While using the Esc (Escape) key appears to work almost everywhere in QuickBooks Desktop, it's limited in QuickBooks online to transaction windows, it doesn't seem to work from within reports or lists, but Alt+Back Arrow works. Alt+Back Arrow closes any window you are currently working on in QBO and the previously viewed screen will be displayed.

  • Esc (Escape) for QB Desktop
  • Esc (Escape) for QBO Transactions
  • Alt+Back Arrow for QBO Lists and Reports

Shortcut # 3 - Calculating Rates and Amounts

Did you know you can actually 'do the math' within any QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online rate or amount field?  You can enter a calculation in any Amount or Rate field, then when you press Tab, QuickBooks will calculate the results.

  • Add +  example:  1234.56 +123.45
  • Subtract - example:  45.67-35
  • Multiply *  example:  100 * 3.5
  • Divide /  example:  65.78/.55
  • Group ( )  example:  14.50 + (1225.95*.12)

Shortcut # 4 - Using the Tab key

Almost everyone knows that they can use the Tab key to quickly move through a transaction without mousing; simply click the Tab key to move forward field by field in either QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online.

But did you know that you can also use the Tab key to move backwards?  Simply hold down the Shift key while click the Tab key and you will move from the current field you are in to the previous field.

  • Tab to move forward to the next field
  • Shift + Tab to move backward to the previous field

Shortcut # 5 - Save & New or Save & Close a transaction

I'm always getting ask how to Save & Close or Save & New a transaction without using a mouse click in either QuickBooks Desktop or QuickBooks Online.  Unfortunately this is where the shortcuts differ slightly, but still I felt they were important enough to include them in this short set of shortcuts.

For QuickBooks Desktop the shortcuts are pretty simple, just hold down the Ctrl (control) key while selecting either the letter A or the letter S depending on what you want to do:

  • Ctrl + A = Save & Close
  • Ctrl + S = Save & New

For QuickBooks Online the shortcut involves one extra 'key' when using Firefox or Chrome:

Shortcuts are a fan favorite generating big reactions, so I almost always teach them to new QBO users to help them save time, and look cool just like my latest batch of QBO Vo-tech students. If you would like to see other shortcut articles I have written use these links to read more about them.

QBO & Chrome Tips and Trips Part 1

QBO & Chrome Tips and Tricks Part 2

Intuit's Firm of the Future Blog: 5 five-second QuickBooks Online Tips