Unfortunately, there may be a time when a customer does not pay you for your services and you need to write off their outstanding invoice. The following information will help you write off the bad debt.

If you don’t already have a Bad Debt expense account set up, here’s how to create one:

You will need to create a credit memo to apply the outstanding invoice.

QuickBooks has made it easier for employees and businesses to go paperless. Electronic documents can now be stored in one area within the same place as your bill payments, deposits and invoices. Using this feature allows you to find documents more quickly by minimizing search time. This free feature can be easily be backed up for better protection and can also reduce costs such as filing cabinets, file rooms and archiving efforts. 

The paper clip icon feature, which allows you to attach documents to an email, can be used while you are paying bills in the “Enter Bills” screen, creating an invoice for your customer in the “Create Invoices” screen, recording a payment in the “Receive Payment” screen or in just about any other document or template. 

This option will not be available until you enter all information, including the vendor, amount and expense account(s). You are also required to have the document you want to attach saved somewhere on your computer by way of scanning in or in your email. It doesn’t matter the type of file you will be attaching. Once all information is entered, click the “Attach File,” and a box will pop up.

If you have scanned the document and saved it to your computer, choose the “Computer” folder icon on the top of the screen and browse to the file you have saved. By double clicking on the file, it will upload to the screen as shown in the next picture. Checking the box to the left of the attachment will allow you to “Detach” the file, which will delete it. Clicking “Done” will save the attachment. The easiest way to attach the file is to use the drag and drop feature. Simply click on the file that was scanned in or e-mailed to you and drag and drop it directly into the “Drop documents from Outlook, your desktop, or folders here” box. 

If you have scanned the document and saved it to your computer, choose the “Computer” folder icon on the top of the screen and browse to the file you have saved. By double clicking on the file, it will upload to the screen as shown in the next picture. Checking the box to the left of the attachment will allow you to “Detach” the file, which will delete it. Clicking “Done” will save the attachment. The easiest way to attach the file is to use the drag and drop feature. Simply click on the file that was scanned in or e-mailed to you and drag and drop it directly into the “Drop documents from Outlook, your desktop, or folders here” box. 

You are always able to add another document or detach a document, and by using this feature you will be able to achieve a paperless environment, while reducing costs associated with making copies and sending paper documents in your daily procedures.  

Keeping your QuickBooks file and your computer safe is very important to the success of your business. There are various storage options to back up your computer and QuickBooks files, and always keep a backup offsite in case of any incidents. In addition, if your file is not password protected, you must also encrypt your flash drive, in case it gets into the wrong hands.

QuickBooks now offers a means to keep your files and your computer safe. The program Intuit Data Protect is a subscription service that helps you protect your data from loss or damage due to virus, laptop theft, file corruption, fire, and so on. Your files are automatically backed up online over the Internet once a day, every day, at an automatically selected time to an offsite location. You can choose to back up just your QuickBooks file, or you can back up your entire computer. Intuit Data Protect integrates with QuickBooks versions 2011 and later. The subscription to Intuit Data Protect costs $4.95/month or $49.95 annually for back up of your Quick Books files. If you want to protect your entire computer, the cost is $9.95/month or $99.95 annually.  

To Activate Intuit Data Protect

1.) Open Intuit Data Protect. 

2.) The Intuit Data Protect window appears. Choose Activate Now.

3.) In the Intuit App Center window, sign in using your Intuit Account credentials created when you subscribed to the service.

4.) The Intuit Data Protect Diagnose window automatically runs. Click Continue when all the status shows Complete. A confirmation screen pops up if the IDP service has found some previously backed up files. Click Yes if you wish to recover your files or No to proceed with the setup process.

5.) In the next window, select all the files you want to back up and click Continue. The first window is for selecting QuickBooks files. After you click Continue, you can select the other folders you wish to back up. You will then be asked to set up a schedule to back up the files on the next window. Click Continue again.

6.) The Notification Email settings window opens. Assign an e-mail address to be notified if: 

Note: For first-time setup, the check boxes will not show up. This is working as designed. Click Continue until you reach the home screen of IDP. Go to Change Backup Settings and continue until you reach the Notification Email Settings window again. The check boxes should be available.

7.) A prompt message appears for a successful IDP setup. Click OK.