A QuickBooks tip about how to customize invoices without purchasing pre-printed forms.
You use the Create Invoice icon to invoice your customers. The invoices are plain looking, just your company name, no logo, nothing that really makes it stand out and look like a professional invoice. How would you like to customize the invoice without the cost of purchasing invoices? You can by using the customization tool available.
While in the invoice, go to the Customize button at the top and click the down arrow, then click on Manage Templates and you will see this screen:
Highlight the template you want to customize and click okay at the bottom of the page. The next window that opens will look like this:
This window will give you several options on how you want to design your invoice. To add your own company logo put a check mark in the box next to Use logo and then click on Select Logo. You can then upload the image from a file on your computer. To change the color to match your company color click on the Select Color Scheme and pick a color, then click on the Apply Color Scheme button.
You can change the font for any of the text by highlighting any field in the box below “Change Font For” and clicking on Change Font button. Do this for each text you want to change. Under the Company and Transaction information put a check mark in the box next to each piece of information you want to show on your invoice. Click on the Update Information button to update any company information.
Anytime during your customization process you can click on the Print Preview button located in the bottom right corner to see what your invoice looks like. If you don’t like what you have done, you can go back and make changes.
If you find you need to move different fields around, click on the Layout Designer button at the bottom of the window. This is what you will see:
Put your cursor on any field, highlight it and move it to the desired position. You can make the field bigger or smaller. Double click in the middle of the field to open up another window for more customization options for that particular field. It may take several tries to get it to look exactly the way you want.
Once you have your logo on your invoice and you have done some other customization your invoice will look professional.
Happy Friday! Where has the week gone? I think for most of us, we’ve spent the week “digging out” from yet more snow!
This week, our Freebie Friday giveaway is a Project/Contract Information Worksheet.
Using a Project/Contract Information Worksheet is one of the best ways to document key information about requirements for a specific job and will help you to keep your project paperwork organized.
We’ve developed a basic 2-page Project Information worksheet, with the help of several contractors over the years; it summarizes important aspects of a particular job and keeps essential information handy, it’s also a great thing to give to your key office staff. When you are working on multiple projects, you do not want to have to stop to re-read a lengthy contract in orer to find a single piece of information.
The simple practice of recording important detailed information for each contract will make everyone’s life easier when you need to complete progress requisitions and/or make collection calls.
Our Project/Contract Information Worksheet, is a Word document, which you can download and customize to meet your own needs. Click here to download it now!
The “List” is another basic QuickBooks feature. You will fill out most QuickBooks forms by selecting entries from a list. Lists save you time and help you enter your information consistently and correctly.
QuickBooks Lists are the backbone of the entire process of keeping your books. Each and every transaction that you enter in QuickBooks will work with multiple lists in order to provide you with job costing and accounting functions.
You will find yourself always using these standard lists:
- Chart of Accounts
- Item (Cost Code)
- Fixed Asset
- Price Level
- Billing Rate Level
- Sales Tax Code
- Payroll Item
- Class
- Workers Comp Code
- Other Names
When you select any of these Lists, they display various information, arranged in columns. Did you know that these columns can be customized to display additional information that would be valuable to you and your company?
A good example of customizing information that is displayed in the Chart of Accounts List would be to automatically know, just by looking at the Chart of Accounts, which accounts had been flagged as being 1099 accounts – without having to go into the 1099 Preference and determining which accounts had been selected.
To display a 1099 flag in your Chart of Accounts, you would:
- From the Lists menu
- Choose Chart of Accounts
- Click the Account button at the bottom of the window
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- Choose Customize Columns
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- This displays a Customize Columns – Chart of Accounts window which displays a list of Available columns on the left and Chosen columns on the right. Click on the 1099 Account option to select it, then click the Add button.
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- The 1099 Account option is now displayed in the Chosen Columns on the right. Click Ok to save your changes.
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- Now, when you display your Chart of Accounts List, any accounts that have been selected for 1099 reporting will be flagged and display the type of 1099 required.
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Customizing the columns displayed in the Chart of Accounts listing to display 1099 flag provides a productivity boost all year long – not just at year end.
Go ahead and experiment with the information displayed in various lists by selecting available columns on the left and adding them to chosen columns on the right.
Simple customization such as this will help you get more done in less time – because you don’t have to constantly search for information.
