If you have used QuickBooks Desktop, most of SeroBooks will already be familiar. The menu bar has the same menus in the same order, the forms have the same names, the Home Page draws the same flow chart, and most of the keyboard shortcuts you know do the same thing. This article lists what carries over, what is different, and where the few SeroBooks-only features sit.
What works the way you expect
- The menu bar. File, Edit, View, Lists, Favorites, Company, Customers, Vendors, Employees, Banking, Reports, Window and Help, in that order. Alt with a menu's underlined letter opens it (Alt+C for Company, Alt+U for Customers). See The menu bar.
- The Home Page. Vendors, Customers and Employees as flows with arrows, Company and Banking on the right. See The Home Page.
- Form names. Create Invoices, Enter Sales Receipts, Receive Payments, Make Deposits, Enter Bills, Pay Bills, Receive Items, Enter Bill for Received Items, Write Cheques, Enter Credit Card Charges, Transfer Funds, Reconcile, Make General Journal Entries, Memorized Transaction List, Price Level List and so on.
- One window per form. In the default Multiple Windows view each form opens in its own window over the Home Page, and Window ▸ Tile Vertically / Tile Horizontally / Cascade / Close All arrange them. View ▸ One Window shows one at a time. See Windows.
- Keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl+I Create Invoices, Ctrl+W Write Cheques, Ctrl+R Use Register, Ctrl+T Memorized Transaction List, Ctrl+A Chart of Accounts, Ctrl+N new, Alt+S save, Ctrl+P print, F1 help. See Keyboard shortcuts.
- Date keys. In a date field, t is today, + and - move a day, m/h the first/last day of the month, y/r of the year, w/k of the week. See Entering data.
- Favorites. Favorites ▸ Customize Favorites lets you build your own menu. See The Favorites menu.
- Closing date and closing date password. Set under Company ▸ Set Closing Date and Year-End. A save dated on or before the closing date is refused, or asks for the password if one is set. See Set Closing Date and Year-End.
- Undeposited Funds. Payments can go to Undeposited Funds and be banked later with Make Deposits, or straight to a bank account. See Undeposited Funds and the Deposit To account.
- Void. A voided invoice or bill keeps its number, drops to zero and is marked VOID. See Edit, copy, void or delete an invoice.
- Reports. Report names follow QuickBooks' Reports menu (Profit & Loss Standard, A/R Aging Summary, Open Invoices, Unpaid Bills Detail and so on), with Customize, Memorize, Comment on Report, Accrual/Cash basis and drill-down on every figure. See The Report Centre.
What is different
There is no company file to open
QuickBooks keeps your books in a .QBW file on a computer or server you look after. SeroBooks keeps them on the SeroBooks server, and you reach them by signing in. There is nothing to copy between computers and no multi-user mode to switch on: everybody who signs in to the company works in the same books at the same time, each under their own name. See Where your data lives and how it syncs.
- File ▸ Open Company lists every company you have signed in to on this computer, and every company registered to you. Choosing one signs you out of this company and into that one. See Open Company and working with several companies.
- File ▸ Back Up Company and File ▸ Restore Company still exist, for a copy you keep yourself. See Back Up Company.
Your QuickBooks data comes in through Import
File ▸ Import from QuickBooks brings your lists, open balances and history across. See Import from QuickBooks.
Canadian names, with US names for a US company
SeroBooks spells things the Canadian way: Write Cheques, Customer Centre, Vendor Centre. In a company whose books are kept in the United States, some screen titles use the US spelling instead: Write Checks, Customer Center, Vendor Center.
Some QuickBooks names map to a SeroBooks screen with another name
Most names are identical. A few are not: the Price Level List is where you keep customer groups and their prices; the Item List opens the Products list; Receive Inventory on the Home Page opens Receive Items. The full list is in QuickBooks names and SeroBooks names.
Escape always goes one step back
In SeroBooks Esc closes the thing in front of you, one step at a time: first a drop-down list, then a pop-up, then the window, and finally you are back on the Home Page, where it stops. If the form has changes you have not saved, SeroBooks asks first. See Escape, Back and closing forms.
A few keys do something extra
- Ctrl+J opens a customer's ledger and balance in a window over what you are doing, rather than the Customer Centre. Ctrl+Shift+J does the same for a vendor.
- Ctrl+K opens Go To / Look Up, a search box for the screens and look-ups. See Go To / Look Up.
- Ctrl+A is still select all while the cursor is in a text box; outside a text box it opens the Chart of Accounts. Ctrl+Shift+A opens the Chart of Accounts from anywhere.
- F5 refreshes the screen in front. On a ledger or report that can fold into one line per month, F5 switches to that summary and back.
Extra menus for extra modules
After Reports, SeroBooks may show Inventory, Forecast and Amazon menus. These cover work that QuickBooks Desktop leaves to add-ons: stock by location and bin, demand forecasting and Amazon settlements. A menu appears only when your business uses it and your role can open it.
Reports QuickBooks has that SeroBooks does not yet produce are left off
The Reports menu lists only reports SeroBooks produces. Rather than showing a QuickBooks report as an empty page, it leaves it out. The Report Centre lists every report available.
People and permissions
Users and roles are set up under Company ▸ Set Up Users and Roles. Each role grants or withholds each screen and the actions on it. A screen your role can see but not use asks for someone with the right to approve that one action. See Roles and permissions explained.
Help and the assistant
F1 opens the help for the screen in front, as in QuickBooks. Help ▸ Ask Maya opens an assistant that answers questions about your own books from the live ledger, and Help ▸ Team Chat lets people in the company message one another.
Habits worth changing
- Look at the window strip. The open windows are listed along the bottom of the screen. Click one to bring it forward, or press Ctrl+Tab.
- Use Esc freely. It never throws work away without asking.
- Use the search box on lists. A list with eight or more rows has a Search this list… box above it, beside its Filters and Columns buttons.
- Check the Getting Set Up checklist. Until the posting map is finished, invoices do not reach the general ledger. See Getting Set Up checklist.