Ask Addy: Favorite tips and tricks

Editor’s note: Dear Addy is an advice column on using QuickBooks for Mac. This is a place to answer your direct questions about QuickBooks and share them with other users. If you have a question for Addy, click We want to hear from you in the top right corner and send us your question.

Here in Addy-land, one of my favorite things to find those little tips and tricks about QuickBooks that make my life even easier. And the QuickBooks for Mac Community and the comments here on Little Square are great places to find these. I’ve collected some of my favorites here to share. Enjoy!

Tip 1: Transfer templates between company files

Here’s the situation: You have more than one company file. You’ve set up templates for your invoices in one company file and you want to use them in the other company file. How do you do it?

Thanks to one community poster, we now have the answer.

  1. With the first company open, launch the Layout Designer and find the template you want to copy.
  2. From the edit menu choose Select All.
  3. Back to the Edit menu and choose Copy.
  4. Close the Layout Designer and then switch to the second company.
  5. Launch the Layout Designer. Go to File>New and select the form – such as Invoice.
  6. Edit menu>Select All and then Edit>Delete. You should have a blank form at this point. (I know there’s an easier way to create a blank but I’ll be darned if I can think of it right now.)
  7. Go to the Edit menu and choose Paste. This should be a duplicate now of what you copied from the other company.

Go back to your original company and perform the same steps to copy any other templates, one template at a time.

Original Community post

Tip 2: Use keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier

You’re entering today’s date on a form. Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to fill in the date or pick it from the calendar? That you could just press a key to enter today’s date? You can! It’s “t” for “today.” There’s all kinds of default keyboard shortcuts available in QuickBooks for Mac. Here’s a full list of them as well as a video that demos some of them.

But what about things that aren’t in the default keyboard shortcuts? Well, you create your own, too. For any function with a menu item you can set up command keys using Apple > System Preferences > Keyboards Preferences.

Tip 3: Use classes to categorize your transactions

Classes are a convenient way to categorize your transactions. A class can be a department name, a location, or anything that means something to you. Say you’re a magician. You might create the classes “corporate event” and “children’s party.” That way when you need to buy a custom costume for your rabbit, Hopscotch, that spells out “Happy Birthday, Princess” in pink glitter, you can classify that expense as being related to a “corporate event.” Hey, it could happen. You can then run reports that show you income and expenses based on a class, so you have a more detail about what is working best for your company.

To use classes, choose QuickBooks > Preferences then choose Transactions. Select “Use class tracking.” Then choose Lists > Classes and create your classes! Your forms, like invoices and sales receipts, will have a pull-down of your classes so you can assign a class to a transaction.

That’s all for today!

I’ll post more tips and tricks soon. Email me your burning QuickBooks questions!


About Ask Addy

Addy is here to help demystify QuickBooks for Mac. If you have questions for Addy, click We want to hear from you and send them on!

You can also post your own question to the QuickBooks for Mac community.