New to QuickBooks

Welcome to QuickBooks for Mac! We’re glad you’re here. You probably have tons of questions. We can help.

Understand the basics

If you’re brand new to running your business, this Bookkeeping 101 video is a great place to start. It explains how money moves in and out of your business. (Hopefully more in than out!)

Now what do you do?

Well, it depends. Here are some suggestions:

  • Have you been in business for a while and are just new to QuickBooks? Then you probably have historical data for your company that you’d like to enter into QuickBooks. The good news is that you don’t have to go back to the day you first started your business. But I suggest you do go back as far as the start date you entered when you created your company file. Gather up everything from the start date to today and enter that historical information. That way, you’re records for your fiscal year will be complete. You’ll find out more in the following section. For more information on this, check out the Making the move series of articles.
  • Are you the kind of person who likes to have everything organized up front before you start? Then the best place to start is creating your lists. Lists are the building blocks for QuickBooks. They include the things like what you’re selling your customers and what you’re buying from your vendors. They also include the names and contact info for all your customers and vendors and much more. The best thing to do is start with customers, vendors, and items.
  • Are you the kind of person who just wants to get started and fill in the details later? You can do that, too. Go ahead and start entering transactions. QuickBooks will prompt you to enter information along the way. The Home Page is a good place to start.

And with Guide Me turned on, you’ll get additional help for your first tasks. Guide Me is automatically enabled when you first open your company file. You’ll see this when you click on the Help menu in the upper right of your screen.


Most recent articles



QuickBooks Desktop Mac Plus User’s Guide

Download the QuickBooks Desktop Mac Plus User's Guide! … [Read more...]

QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2022 User’s Guide

Download the QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2022 User's Guide! … [Read more...]

What’s New in QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2021?

We’ve added some great enhancements for 2021. We hope you find them useful! Automated Payment Reminders: Send payment reminder emails to your clients with increased efficiency.Combine Multiple Emails: Instead of sending multiple emails to one … [Read more...]

QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2021 User’s Guide

Download the QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2021 User's Guide! … [Read more...]

Video: Mileage-tracking for taxes and client billing

Tracking miles for taxes and client billing can be an extremely useful tool. While this feature isn't new to QuickBooks, there are some recent changes that will make this process even more efficient in QuickBooks Desktop 2020. Ready to learn more? … [Read more...]

Video: iPhone Scanner in QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2020

In QuickBooks 2020, you can use your iPhone's camera to upload images to QuickBooks. Learn more in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keGk9ZQZfxA Video Script QuickBooks Desktop Mac allows you to attach photos and … [Read more...]

QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2020 User’s Guide

Download the QuickBooks Desktop Mac 2020 User's Guide! … [Read more...]

Video: Enhanced Reports in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019

Reports in 2019 display a new, modernized look. Learn about these enhancements in the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRuXuiORBc Video Script QuickBooks 2019 modernized Reports with a refreshed, clean design. This new … [Read more...]

QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019 User’s Guide

Download the QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019 User's Guide! … [Read more...]

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