Upgrading to QuickBooks Premier Account 2011 caused some errors with my existing forms and form templates.
Earlier this week I had to bite the bullet and upgrade my own QuickBooks file, moving it from the 2008 Premier Accountant version to the 2011 Premier Accountant Edition; as part of our own move from Windows XP to Windows 7.
Yes, folks just like many of you we have been moving software and multitudes of data from XP machines to Windows 7 and updating our QuickBooks company data file. Not a fun task, but a necessary one.
Upgrading our QuickBooks file was an easy task, we have a rather large QuickBooks file and the time it took to do the actual update seemed to be much faster than with previous upgrades. Our file seemed to be in good shape after the update, numbers on my reports matched, nothing missing – so I’m thinking yeah, this was easy!
All seemed to be good — until I had to go look at a Customer Invoice and then the fun and errors began. We kept getting these odd, and very unhelpful, “Template Error” messages, but could view the invoice without a problem on our screens.
Now, I had seen posts on other forums and groups that I belong to, where people were having trouble importing a customized template from an older version of QuickBooks to the 2011 version, but this wasn’t what I was trying to do.
I just figured that for whatever reason our invoice templates didn’t upgrade correctly. A couple of rebuilds later, still no luck. Next I created a portable company file and then opened that portable file – still no luck. Next, I decided to start from scratch, chose one of the QuickBooks standard templates, made a copy of it, and set about to customize it – now bear in mind, I did little to customize it, mainly removed the print ability of some columns and changed some field headers. Still the same errors. By now I’m pretty darn frustrated, but decided to try one more thing — and that was to print the darn thing.
Trying to print the invoice, produced a much more helpful error message, it told me that I didn’t have an Arial W1 font installed on my computer. So now I turn to my trusty sidekick, Google, and do a search for an Arial W1 font. Come to find out, an Arial W1 font is a special font that you have to BUY! Uh, thanks — but NO THANKS!
So off I go to my Template, open it in the Layout Designer and begin to search for a section of my form that uses this font. Come to find out, in the Layout Designer, the form name (Invoice, Estimate, Purchase Order, Sales Order, etc.) if the field that used the Arial W1 font. A simple font change and a save solved the problem – but only after a couple of hours of frustration.
So, if you’ve recently upgrade to QuickBooks 2011 and are experiencing “Template Errors” or “Missing Arial W1 font” messages, it’s a quick fix.
- From the Edit menu, choose Templates
- Find the template(s) that you use all the time in your business. Select it, double-click to Edit.
- Click the Layout Designer button
- Find the form title (Invoice, Estimate, Purchase Order, etc.). Right click and choose Properties.
- Click the Font button, and change the font to something else, a standard Arial will do.
- Click the OK button 4 times.
- Try printing your form again.
I hope this article will save you from some of the frustration that I experienced or provide you with what is really a pretty simple fix, once you know what you need to fix!
Welcome to Freebie Friday here on the QuickBooks for Contractors blog:-)
Below is a list of the current QuickBooks related eBooks that we have available – I do have several new ebooks that are ready to go, but you’ll have to wait until after the first of the year in order to have access to them as I’m in the midst of moving our main website to a new platform and I don’t want to have to fix anymore links than necessary.
What’s New in QuickBooks 2011
142 pages covering the new features of QuickBooks 2011. Complete our simple request form to gain instant access to this ebook. Request your copy now.
Payroll Mistakes – It’s NOT as Easy as 1 -2 3!
Learn common mistakes that occur during the hiring process, paycheck generation, at year end, and all year long. Request our FREE 18 page eBook; expands on common mistakes and learn how to avoid them. Request your copy today.
Advanced Job Costing – Getting Equipment Costs into QuickBooks
Use QuickBooks to track these costs for job costing purposes by downloading our 17-page ebook. Request your copy today.
4 Ways Contractors Pay Prevailing Wage Fringes
Learn about the various way contractors pay the fringe benefit portion of prevailing wages AND how to set QuickBooks up to track them, in this 27-page ebook. Request your copy today.
Tracking Subcontractors Worker’s Comp & General Liability Insurance
Keeping track of expiration dates and making sure that you always have a copy of the current policy on hand, can be a daunting task. Learn tips, tricks, and techniques in this 13-page ebook. Request your copy now.
That’s it for this weeks folks. Have a great weekend.
Four Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors/Consultants that I know have teamed up with Intuit to offer a total of $31,000 in FREE QuickBooks 2011 products and services.
Each of these ladies have their own contest rules.
It can be as easy as signing up for a newsletter to writing a review of QuickBooks Accountant 2011 to commenting on a review to joining a QuickBooks LinkedIn Group.
You need to visit their websites to get the latest information on what each is giving away and how to enter each of their contests. Click on their names listed below and you will be whisked away to their web pages, which explain their give-aways. Have fun and good luck!
- Ruth Perryman
- Michelle Long
- Bonnie Nagayama
- Laura Madeira
Have you or your clients received a QuickBooks 2011 message window, when you are not connected to the internet, stating:
We can’t detect your internet connection, so we can’t verify your QuickBooks subscription.
I frequently receive this message and others when I work on my Vista laptop and it is not connected to the internet. Is QuickBooks 2011 “phoning home” to Intuit? I seriously believe that it is phoning home to Intuit on a daily basis – either that or I’ve found a bug.
Background:
QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2011 R3P with no internet connection on a Vista 32 bit laptop, a Windows 7 64-bit laptop AND a Windows 7 64-bit desktop; logged in as a Windows “Standard” User.
Details of the problem:
Boot computer normally. The Vista (or Windows 7) User Account Control window will appear, displaying the following message:
A program needs your permission to continue
QuickBooks Utility Application
When I click on the Details option, the following file name and location displays on Vista:
C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks 2011\DBManagerExe.exe, Start Server 256
When I enter the Admin password, QuickBooks launches automatically – without my doing anything – and a window appears stating:
We can’t detect your internet connection, so we can’t verify your QuickBooks subscription. Check that you are connected to the Internet and click Retry.
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Because I know that I’m not connected to the Internet, I click Cancel (clicking Retry only makes the message display again).
QuickBooks 2011 then loads, but loads “oddly” – meaning that it doesn’t load the Home page, the Icon bar, or even the last company file that I had open – only the Menu bar loads but even that does not load properly.
The ONLY items that are active on the menu bar are the File and Help menus.
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Using the File menu, I scroll down to the Open Previous Company option; which displays no previous files – when in fact it should display 9 different company files that I have been working with.
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In order to actually open a company file, I have to use the Open or Restore Company option and browse/select which file I want to work with.
This behavior has been happening consistently on my Vista laptop every morning this week (I use this machine in the wee hours of the morning on the comfort of my couch).
I decided to test my theory, so when I came to work this morning I unplugged my Windows 7 desktop and my husbands Windows 7 laptop (both 64-bit machines).
I experienced different results with these machines, which leads me to believe the following:
- If you have selected the option to Keep QuickBooks running for faster startups (Edit menu -> Preferences -> General Preference -> My Preferences tab) AND you are not connected to the internet; then you will experience the UAC Window for the QuickBooks Utility Application. If you turn this option off, you will not receive this any longer.
- I believe that the “Can’t Verify Subscription” message is due to having signed up for an Intuit Workplace Application at one point or another and canceled the subscription. My husband who has never signed up for an Intuit Workplace Application did not receive the “Can’t Verify subscription” message – while I have signed up to test Intuit Workplace Applications.
I have submitted this as a “bug” to Intuit.
I’m making this information available because I have seen others post about the same issues and thought that you would like a “heads up”.
Every year when Intuit puts out a new version of QuickBooks, we are overwhelmed by new ads for Intuit services that seem to pop-up at the most inappropriate times. Many QuickBooks users (myself included) find this to be very annoying.
Over the last several weeks, since people have been upgrading to QuickBooks 2011, I’ve seen a lot of posts on forums and user groups from people asking “How Do I turn off QuickBooks pop-up ads, Live Community, etc.” This article will answer that question.
You can turn off the pop-up advertisements (messages) for Intuit services by going to the Edit menu -> Preferences -> click on General Preferences -> and in the My Preferences tab check the option to “Turn off pop-up messages for products and services” and then save your selection by clicking the OK button. You will need to do this on each computer that QuickBooks is installed on.
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To turn off the Live Community window, you’ll need to go to the Edit menu -> Preferences -> click on Desktop View -> and on the My Preferences tab UNcheck the option to “Show Live Community”. Again, this is something that must be done on each computer that QuickBooks is installed on.
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Another thing that I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about is payment links appearing on their printed and emailed invoices. This is an advertisement for Intuit’s PaymentNetwork. These links can be removed ONLY by the QuickBooks Administrator in single user mode; by going to the Edit menu -> Preferences -> Payment Preference -> Company Preferences tab -> and making sure that BOTH the “Show payment link on emailed invoices” and “Show payment link on printed invoices” options are UNchecked.
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Another annoyance, is the Payment Toolbar that is displayed on the Receive Payments window and on Sales Receipts; this toolbar takes up a fair amount of space on many smaller monitors. You can turn the Payment Toolbar off directly on the Receive Payment window or on the Sales Receipts, but you can also turn it off by going to the Edit menu -> Preferences -> click on the My Preferences tab -> UNcheck the Show Payment Toolbar on Receive Payment and Sales Receipt forms.
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There are many other times when a pop-up message window is displayed, these can also be annoying – many times at the bottom of the window there is an option to “not” display that specific window again; all you have to do is check that option box to make it go away.
