Are you just getting started in QuickBooks Online? If you are brand new to QuickBooks or to QuickBooks Online, this series of posts should help to get you to learn the program and to get up and running quickly.  You have to start somewhere, right?

Today’s post and accompanying video will help you to get started in QuickBooks Online and give you a basic overview of the features and navigation.  You will learn about the side toolbar, the quick create button and the gear wheel. There are several areas of the program that you will instantly need to know, if you are new to the program. Use this video and blog post to help show you around the functionality of the system.  This is the general overview post for QuickBooks Online.

The big news is that Matthew Fulton of Parkway Business Solutions and I are going to do a live show on August 30th.  It is called Community Live!   You can register here.

Getting Started in QuickBooks Online:  The dashboard

The dashboard is the first screen you come upon when you log into QuickBooks Online.  It is an instant snapshot of your company.  With some pretty colorful graphs you can instantly know your Expenses, Income, Profit and Loss.  It is customizable.  You can set the date ranges on each section and make it fit your needs for your business.

Getting Started in QuickBooks Online: The side toolbar

The side toolbar is where you will see your historical transactions.  You can click to see banking, sales, expenses, payroll (workers), taxes, reporting, accounting and apps with one quick click. For example, go to the sales screen and you will see the section where the customer list, sales transactions and other customer-related actions.

Getting Started in QuickBooks Online:  The quick create button

The Quick Create button is where you go to enter new transactions.  This section is organized by columns and the transactions for each column are listed there.  The main categories are Customers, Vendors, Employees and Other.

Getting Started in QuickBooks Online: The gear or settings section

Clicking the gear wheel will take you to the preferences section of the program.  I will deep dive into this area in the next video.  But in this section, you will find Settings, Lists like Your  Company, Lists, Tools, Profile.  The gear wheel section is where you would customize the program to work for your business needs.

This video is part two of getting started.  To see part one, finding the right software to work for you, click here.  If you have any questions or would like to see a future video on another topic, please reach out to me on Facebook.