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multi-user

How Do I Change the Number of Companies Displayed When Starting QuickBooks?

Chief Mechanic · September 22, 2010 ·

By default, QuickBooks shows the most recent 2 company files you’ve opened in QuickBooks, but this number can be easily changed. The program can display up to 20 companies.

The most direct way to change it is to first open a company file, and then click on the Set number of previous companies… on the File->Open Previous Company menu. That menu is shown below.

QuickBooks 2011 Set Number of Previous Companies Menu

Enter the number of companies you’d like to display (from 1 to 20) and click Ok.

QuickBooks 2011 Set Number of Previous Companies Window

This setting is stored in the QBWUSER.INI file, which you can locate and edit using the Tech Help window.

The setting is recorded as:

MAXMRUFILES=20

Sometimes, in multi-user configurations, efforts to save the file might be unsuccessful and may or may not be accompanied by an error message. If you can’t save the file, check your folder permissions on the folder where the QBWUSER.INI file is located.

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Did the Multi-User Capability of QuickBooks Pro Change For 2011?

Chief Mechanic · September 19, 2010 ·

Yes, it did. For QuickBooks Pro versions prior to QuickBooks Pro 2011, a multi-user configuration could consist of up to 5 users.

For QuickBooks 2011, that has been reduced from 5 users to 3. The maximum number of users allowed under QuickBooks Premier 2011 remains unchanged at 5.

However, because QuickBooks Pro and Premier share the same file format, it might be possible to create a configuration of 3 users running QuickBooks Pro and 2 users running Premier. That would spare a firm from upgrading all 5 licenses from Pro to Premier.

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How Can I Improve the Performance of QuickBooks?

Chief Mechanic · September 12, 2010 ·

QuickBooks is a complex program that processes a lot of data.  As data is added to a QuickBooks company file (.qbw), loading and processing times increase.  Within the program, slower processing is usually seen when performing tasks that involve the entire company file, such as running utilities or preparing reports.  Since QuickBooks is typically used every day over a period of years, it’s highly likely that at some point you’ll find a need to improve performance.

There’s no single solution that will improve performance in every circumstance, but there are a series of steps you can take that together will have a dramatic impact on QuickBooks performance.  We’re ignoring the “common sense” recommendations of “buy a faster computer with more memory” or “upgrade to the latest version/update to the latest release.”  Spending money on new or upgraded hardware and not running outdated software will improve performance.

We recommend that you:

  1. Close your company file before exiting QuickBooks and reduce to a minimum the amount of windows that do open once you open your company file.  This will dramatically reduce the time it takes to load QuickBooks, which is one way users measure performance, but it won’t have any impact on performance while working in the program itself.
  2. Perform a manual, verified backup on a regular basis.  QuickBooks maintains a transaction log file (.tlg) that is used in conjunction with its manual, verified backup routine.  This .tlg file grows and can often become bigger than a company file (.qbw) itself.  A manual, verified backup reduces the .tlg file size and improves performance.  Scheduled QuickBooks backups don’t count, nor do other backup routines that you happen to use.  When the .tlg file exceeds 25% of the size of the company file (.qbw) size, it’s time to do a manual, verified backup.  Remember that the primary purpose of this step is to reduce the .tlg file size, not to back up data.
  3. Reduce your DB file fragments if they’re too high.  DB file fragments represent the degree to which pieces of your QuickBooks company file (.qbw) are scattered over your hard disk.  The more fragments you have, the lower your performance will be.  For most organizations, DB file fragments in the single digits are reasonable.  Organizations running Terminal Services will see more DB file fragments, into the low double digits, and that’s reasonable.  If your DB file fragments exceed those levels, convert your company file (.qbw) into a portable file, and then convert that portable file into a company file (.qbw).  That conversion routine will reduce DB file fragments and improve performance.
  4. Clear the queues for forms to be printed.  Large numbers of forms with the To be printed flag set can degrade performance.  The most common example of this problem is a large number of invoices that are in the print queue.  Remove these invoices from the print queue and performance will improve.
  5. Run the clean up utility to reduce your company file’s overall size.  For QuickBooks Pro and Premier, Intuit recommends keeping data files under 100 Mb for reasonable performance.  The clean up utility can remove stale list items and consolidate closed transactions, thereby shrinking file size and improving performance.
  6. Avoid excessive use of sub-accounts, sub-items, and Jobs, which are effectively sub-customers.  Relatively speaking, a sub-account requires more processing than a top-level account, so the more sub-level list entries you create, the slower your performance will be.  The performance penalty is small, so don’t let this fact alone discourage your use of sub-level entries when necessary.  Some organizations have used sub-level list entries excessively, when other QuickBooks features would have been better suited to the purpose.
  7. Stop using Google Desktop.  Google Desktop can only index a QuickBooks company file (.qbw) when that file is open.  Google Desktop indexing routines consume processing and memory resources, leaving fewer of these resources available to QuickBooks.  That will degrade performance.  Uninstalling Google Deskop will improve performance.
  8. Consider an upgrade to Enterprise Solutions.  The database engine behind Enterprise Solutions is more robust and is capable of handling larger company files at reasonable performance levels.  If your business has grown and your QuickBooks company file can’t be cleaned up to where it offers reasonable performance, Enterprise Solutions will provide improved performance.
  9. Investigate network issues if QuickBooks is installed on a network.  For example, mismatched network interface card (NIC) settings can significantly reduce network performance.  If QuickBooks is the primary program that’s used over the network, this network configuration issue can appear to be a QuickBooks performance problem.

For some of these recommendations, the impact will be significant.  For others, it may be imperceptible.  What works or doesn’t work will be heavily dependent on your own configuration.

Intuit describes some of these recommendations in this knowledge base article.

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What Does Error Code 6130 Mean?

Chief Mechanic · September 11, 2010 ·

According to Intuit, Error Code 6130 indicates that QuickBooks couldn’t disconnect from the computer on which the QuickBooks company file is located.  It occurs when QuickBooks is operating in multi-user mode.

The file path at which QuickBooks expects to find the company file is the location shown on the Product Information screen.  This screen can be displayed by pressing F2 while in QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Premier 2009 Product Information  Location

For more information on resolving Error Code 6130, consult this Intuit knowledge base article.

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What Are the Feature Differences Between QuickBooks Pro and Premier?

Chief Mechanic · September 11, 2010 ·

While the basic data file format is the same for both QuickBooks Pro and Premier, there are a number of features included with Premier that are missing from the less-expensive Pro. The introduction of QuickBooks 2011 further changed the list of differences between Pro and Premier.

For new features introduced with the 2011 version, QuickBooks Pro does not:

  • allow more than 3 users in a multi-user configuration
  • track balance sheet by class
  • allow multiple company files from the same version to be open at the same time

QuickBooks Pro versions prior to 2011 allowed up to 5 users to access a company file in a multi-user configuration. This has been reduced to 3 users for 2011.

The Balance Sheet By Class report is available in QuickBooks Premier 2011 and Enterprise Solutions 11.0. The ability to open multiple company files from the same version is only available in the industry-specific QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2011 or QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 11.0.

In general QuickBooks Pro does not:

  • record sales orders, which provides for product availability (backorder) tracking
  • support inventory assemblies
  • support unit of measure
  • support price levels by item
  • support billing rate levels
  • provide the ability to view unbilled time and expenses on 1 screen
  • support converting items on an estimate or sales order to a purchase order
  • provide a list of already recorded general journal entries while recording a new journal entry
  • identify general journal entries as adjusting
  • support creating a forecast
  • support creating a business plan
  • provide access to previous bank reconciliation reports
  • include industry-specific reports

All of these features are included in QuickBooks Premier.

Many of these features apply primarily to inventory-based businesses, organizations that want to easily track purchases with Customers:Jobs, or easily track time and reimbursable expenses with Customers:Jobs. For example, the screenshot below of QuickBooks Pro 2012 illustrates that QuickBooks Pro does not have the ability to set the Create invoices from a list of time and expenses preference, which is the first step in setting up easy invoicing for time and reimbursable expenses.

QuickBooks Pro 2012 Time & Expenses Preferences

However, several important general accounting features are missing from Pro and may make the extra cost of Premier a worthwhile investment. One of these features is a list of already recorded general journal entries, shown below.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 Make General Journal Entry

Another feature is the ability to view previous reconciliation reports.  For the sample company file below, no reconciliations have been completed.  But if they had been completed, each prior reconciliation (such as a monthly bank reconciliation) would be available.  In Pro, only the most recent reconciliation report is available.

QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10 Previous Bank Reconciliation
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