New Homepage for QuickBooks Online
Update 4/9/10 9 am: If you are experiencing lockups while using IE, please post about it below or on the community post. Let us know if you are using any 3rd party add-ons or any script blockers etc.
Update 4/8/10 4 pm: If you are using Google Chrome, please check out this community post to be aware of certain known quirks with Chrome.
Update 4/8/10 10 am: If you are experiencing the new homepage to load rather slow, please comment about it below or on this community post or via the feedback button. While giving feedback or commenting please include the following information – Browser and it’s version, Operating System, and optionally CPU speed. Also check out the recommendations section at the bottom of this post.
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We looked in the mirror today and things are looking up!
Welcome to the new Homepage!
We know – it’s a big change. And change is hard. So first and foremost we want to let you know we’re listening. What do you like about this? And what do you recommend we look at again?
On the top left is the typical feedback button where you can leave feedback about the homepage. Talk to us.
But first, let us give you the tour.
If you are a new user, you’ll notice a yellow ribbon like module that shows a few tasks for first time users of QuicksBooks Online. It has buttons to update the company information, to upload a logo and to import data. Have customers? Go import them from Outlook or Excel!
If you are not a new first time user, you will not see this yellow ribbon module and the homepage will look like this:
There is still fun to be had. Want to customize your homepage and add other widgets?
Below are the individual modules for the homepage. Over time more might get added, but for now only a few basic ones. You can move them around or add new ones. One favorite we recommend is Company Snapshot. Go grab it and try it out!
Basically drag and drop, like people might have seen on the iGoogle homepage. To close a module, click the X button on its title bar. Once you have done customizing your homepage, click the Close button in the top right to save your settings.
The Getting Started Module shows you basic tasks or links to get you started working with QuickBooks Online and its various features.
You can change its view to the one below via it’s options menu.
Here you can add more links to this section, again via it’s options menu. This will be useful to people as a place holder for their shortcuts. You can switch back and forth from this view and the prior via the options menu.
The Messages Module will show you your TO DOs as well as our messages. Just below the messages you will see a section talking about some new feature that has been added to the product. (This is to make you aware of it and you can dismiss the message if you want.)
The Recent Transactions Module will show you a bunch of your recent transactions from the last 30 days. Use the menu filters to change what type of transactions as well as how many of those you want to see. So for example you can have one module show just sales transactions, while another showing just purchase transactions and a third showing just banking transactions.
This is pretty cool (if we do say so ourselves). If the transaction is an open Invoice or an unpaid Bill, mouse hovering over that row will link you to Receive Payment or Pay Bill respectively.
The Online Banking Module will give you a summary of your online banking data and just like the recent transactions module, mouse hovering over a row will show you some info to click on. Clicking on a row will take you to that bank register. To manually update the data, click Update on its title bar. Snazzy eh?
Recommendations
To get the best possible experience using the new homepage (and QuickBooks online generally in the time to come), it is recommended that people upgrade to a newer browser. While QuickBooks Online is supported on multiple versions of a browser, using the latest version will give you the best possible experience mostly due to performance improvements that they get over time. My personal preference list is in the order below. However you should choose a browser that is supported and you are comfortable with. You can always have more than one browser and try out each.
Google Chrome 4+ (Windows, Mac)
Firefox 3.6+ (Windows, Mac)
Safari 4+ (Mac)
Internet Explorer 8 (Windows)
Check out this link for browser information.
We have heard lots of customer feedback about making the product easier to use…with clearer ways to find things and display them. We’re on a journey to addressing all of your feedback and are excited to have you come along!
April 8, 2010 at 5:17 am
Here is a new feature request.
Please remove the requirement to disable pop-up blockers. Specifically in Safari. Find a way to make the site work with it enabled.
April 8, 2010 at 8:24 am
That is something that we are working on as we proceed further, but will take some time.
If you looked at the 2nd screenshot above, thats how new popups will be like.
In other words no windows opening and hence no need to disable popup blockers.
I would also recommend you try firefox or chrome for Mac, since in those two browsers (unlike safari) you can disable popup blocking for individual sites rather than for everything.
I don’t know why safari didnt come with this feature from the get go.
April 8, 2010 at 6:46 am
The new home page is WAY TOO SLOW!
With the old home page, when I clicked on the home icon, the page would appear in 3 to 4 seconds. With the new page, when I click on the home icon, it takes a minimum of 20 seconds to appear. (Yes, I timed it. I had nothing else to do but wait for it to appear.)
Waiting 20 seconds EVERY SINGLE TIME is much too slow.
I don’t really like the new look – I miss the old money-in/money-out graphic representation. But I could put up with the new look, if this wasn’t so damn slow. This is getting FRUSTRATING.
Don’t force us to switch to this new home page until you can speed it up!
April 8, 2010 at 6:48 am
By the way, I do have Internet Explorer 8.
April 8, 2010 at 8:21 am
Can you do me a quick favor, try the new homepage in firefox 3.6 or google chrome, and post the loading time. Wanna see if that 20 sec changes to anything. I am not really asking you to switch your browser, just to try out the other two to see if that does make any difference at all.
While IE8 is a supported browser, but it is plagued by really slow javascript execution. The new homepage, and not just QuickBooks, but the web in general is moving to lots of interaction via javascript. Javascript is rather CPU intensive and IE is slow. Microsoft with this upcoming IE9 are seriously looking into fixing this as they also realize the new web trends
BTW check this out http://blog.quickbooksonline.com/2009/12/17/using-internet-explorer-time-to-switch-to-firefox-or-upgrade-to-ie8/
April 8, 2010 at 9:54 am
OK, I tried FF, Chrome, and IE. Here’s what I got:
Old Home Page
IE8: 4 seconds
Chrome4: 2 seconds
FF3.6: 2 seconds
New Home Page
IE8: 20 seconds
Chrome4: 7 seconds
FF3.6: 11 seconds
Chrome and FF are generally faster, but even 7 to 11 seconds seems like a long time. I actually use Chrome quite a bit, except for a half a dozen websites that still required either IE or FF.
I have a question about how to do something in the new interface.
In the old interface, if I wanted to see recent Journal Entries. I scrolled down to the Recent Transactions box below the Money In/Out graphic and chose Journal Entries.
As it is right now, I can’t seem to find the equivalent to that in the new interface. How do I see a list of my recent Journal Entries?
By the way, I really do miss the Money In/Out graphic. I have a business partner who is just starting a new business and just about to use Quickbooks for the first time. When I showed it to her last week, the graphic made explaining what to do when so easy. Any way to customize the new interface to have that graphic? I didn’t see it on the Customize page.
April 8, 2010 at 10:17 am
Ok cool thanks. So yeah, 7-11 seconds a bit. We are continuing to work on optimizing this further over the next few weeks and hopefully those times should start to go down. BTW, what OS are you using and whats your processor clock speed? Just curious…
Are you referring to wanting to see this -
http://i39.tinypic.com/15x2z5e.png
You can select that one, and click apply. Should get you general journal entires for last 30 days.
If there are other types of transactions missing in that drop down list, let me know, I will add it.
As for money in/out graphic, can’t really comment on that. Hopefully someone higher in the food chain than me can talk about it.
April 15, 2010 at 9:44 am
Thanks for the reply.
That works, but I found another way to get to them. Just open a new Journal and click on the Recent button.
I still miss the money in/money out graphic. It was much quicker to click on it to find what I needed.
I guess the “Getting Started/Quick Links” is the replacement for that, but it doesn’t have a link for Sales Receipts.
April 16, 2010 at 8:34 am
I absolutely agree with this comment! I use Firefox.
April 8, 2010 at 3:04 pm
I think the new home page is an absolute mess. If I am forced to change I will have to, but given a choice I like what we have.
Why would you waste your time on that when there is so much more you could be doing in the area of inventory control & purchasing. I know we now have purchase orders, but what about a true inventory system that includes re-order points and suggested purchases? Why not take a close look at QuickBooks Pro and/or Enterprise and try to match more of those features.
April 8, 2010 at 4:19 pm
I am also using IE8 and running Windows 7 Professional.
I can’t even get the new home page to open in IE8, but I am using it fin in FF. Is there anything to try to get it working in IE8? It won’t load at all and just freezes IE8 to the point where I have to kill the process a few time in task manager.
April 8, 2010 at 4:27 pm
3-4 people have commented about this issue. Unfortunately it’s really sporadic and we are trying to reproduce why the page is freezing in IE8 for some people. Will keep looking into this. To help us, can you list if you have any 3rd party plugins/addons installed in IE8?
April 8, 2010 at 4:50 pm
The only thing I have is google tool bar, otherwise this is a rather clean IE 8 since it is one a relatively new Win7 machine.
April 12, 2010 at 11:28 am
Still having issues with IE8.
Any chance there is a solution in the future?
April 9, 2010 at 7:30 am
Online Banking Module has a spelling error in title bar.
Also, in Quick Links, you have a good list of options available. However, I almost never use “Create Invoice”, which is a default choice and first on the list. I use “Enter Sales Receipt” multiple times a day. I assume I’m not alone. Can you add this to the list of options?
Thanks.
April 14, 2010 at 11:40 am
I agree . I would much rather have Sales Receipt in the Quick Links.
Thanks
April 9, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I love the new home page. Everything I need is readily accessible which saves time and effort. The time spend traistioning from one screen to the next can be time consuming
April 9, 2010 at 10:10 pm
We are continuing to work on optimizing performance for the new homepage in general.
Meanwhile, if you were using Internet Explorer, you can try using Google Chrome or Firefox since they are much faster browsers when it comes to javascript processing.
April 12, 2010 at 11:42 am
Please get rid of all Flash on your whole site. It’s an abomination for a bunch of reasons.
Also, please let me access your normal site with Mobile Safari on the iPad. That would be a huge win for mobile business warriors.
April 12, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Accessing via ipad (mobile safari) currently has quite a few issues.
http://community.intuit.com/posts/will-quickbooks-online-work-on-the-ipad
It was blocked out due to that very same reason. Hopefully over time as these issues get resolved, we should enable it back…
April 13, 2010 at 7:35 am
I like it! seems to load faster for me (firefox 3.6.3-about 2-3 seconds)
I would like a quicklink to deposits
thanks!
April 13, 2010 at 7:41 am
Your views that you have shown(for example) of the ‘new home page’ are too small to read. I wish they were a little easier to read.
April 13, 2010 at 8:10 am
did you click on them? you can zoom
April 13, 2010 at 8:30 am
you can also zoom in and out in a browser using the ctrl (windows) or command (mac) key as below
press ctrl + plus or command + plus to zoom in
press ctrl + minus or command + minus to zoom out
press ctrl + 0 or command + 0 to set page size to its default original.
April 13, 2010 at 7:51 am
I also would like to see a quicklink to deposits.
April 13, 2010 at 9:31 am
I like it……who owes me vs what I’ve just billed…..recent deposits vs expenses….Voila!Immediate picture without having to drill down.
Cool!
April 13, 2010 at 10:06 am
I have set the home page so that it only displays the recent transactions (which I like very much, but not everytime I enter the program), and the messages. For the rest, the menu bar is simple and fine, and adding the items to the home page is redundant.
As you add more and more interactive links to your server, the program is slowing more and more. Now thousands of users are enduring the Home page current transaction linkup, which slows everyone’s experience with QB. This program can never run like a stand-alone QB Pro, and the more you try, the worse it will get.
Since I don’t need to see the current transactions every time I switch between my five companies or start QB, why not make the Company page the default. When I want to see the data on the Home Screen, which I do from time to time, I can click on it and wait for it. This would substantially lower the user load on your servers.
April 13, 2010 at 3:46 pm
I have more than one company on QBO. One of those companies allowed me to upgrade to the new homepage and I really like it! The other company still shows the old homepage and doesn’t give me the option to change to the new homepage. How can I upgrade to the new homepage?
April 14, 2010 at 11:50 am
I looked at the new home page and read all of the comments. Don’t think I
will try it. Can I just stay with the old one? That’s what I’m doing now.
Seems like you have a lot of problems going on with the new one. The old
page works perfectly for my company. My motto, is if it ain’t broke, don’t
fix it.
April 14, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings. I haven’t been able to access my accounting system for 3 business days. Any idea how ANGRY THAT MAKES ME?????
At this point I’d be happy to wait 20 seconds if I could even get into my QB system. I can get into a function, i.e., create invoice, but it tells me I’ve been logged out within 5 seconds (yes, I timed it).
Can I just have the old system back? YOU chose to make the changes…..fine. Don’t waste my time with your new ideas until you can tell me how to use it.
I called this afternoon to get help. I waited 35 minutes before I had to get on with trying to conduct business.
Unfortunately, I can’t service my customers because I can’t create the documents I need.
Intuit…..you have failed me miserably.
April 15, 2010 at 7:19 am
This is a complete mess!!!
I have lost all of my tabs at the top of the page: “Client”, “Vendor”, etc.
I have also lost my ability to auto-fill in client and vendor names too, which is costing me alot of time to have to scroll thru the list!!
PLEASE HELP!!!
I have over 200 invoices that need to be entered in today and there is no way that is going to happen with this mess!!
April 15, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Where did the “Update” function go? I used to be able to click on Home tab and it was there that I could update my accounts.
Thank you in advance.
April 15, 2010 at 1:51 pm
I found it. On the bottom of the home page in tiny tiny blue letters.
April 15, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Oh…and I found where you give an option to have the Old Home Page and there also is an opportunity to Update. OK thank you.
April 15, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I have been using QBOE in Firefox 3.6.3 with no problems until today. I am on MacBook Pro (2.4 Ghz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB RAM).
Today was the first time I have experienced any problems and it came in the form of blank pages. In particular, they seemed to be in the banking module. Trying to go to check registers mainly, but there were other pages. If I clicked around and came at it from another link, it seemed to work. But I couldn’t consistently get there. All the page surround info would load, but none of the meat. Reloading did not help.
Any ideas? Thanks
April 15, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Same problem here. Going to register directly loads a blank page on FF 3.6.3 after a while. However, if I click on the register from the Online Banking module on the new home page, it loads correctly.
April 15, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I am having to Reload the page every time I edit a line. I have the “Customize” feature selected to “Uncatagorized”.
April 15, 2010 at 3:36 pm
I am having to Reload the page every time I edit a line. I have the “Customize” feature selected to “Uncategorized”.
April 15, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I do not like this new home page. Were is the log out button?
April 15, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Mouse over the company name on the top right…
clicky – http://i40.tinypic.com/29oo134.png
April 15, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I do not like this new page. Were is the log out button?
April 15, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I finally found it at the account name button. Click you name and a drop-down will allow you to log out. Carefully hidden.
April 16, 2010 at 6:40 am
I don’t like some of the font on the screen. They are hard to read. Is there a way to change them.
April 16, 2010 at 8:11 am
I would still like to see more time invested in functionality, not aesthetics. I’ve posted a couple requests via the feed back option. Just seems like time could be better spent with streamlining functions.
April 16, 2010 at 8:42 am
I would love a call back about a problem I continue to have with payroll not being able to split into different classes. I have 4 employees that each work in 3 different classes and am forced to issue 3 separate paycks to each employee in order to code to the different classes. This is a nightmare when it comes to quarterly reports and W-2′s! PLEASE fix this problem soon!
April 16, 2010 at 8:46 am
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THE NEW HOME PAGE! I’m sure it will take some time getting used to, but I know I’ll have it all figured out soon! Thanks for the changes and for having our best interest at heart!
April 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm
How can existing users upload a company logo to use on sales forms, invoices, etc?
April 16, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Preferences page (Company > Preferences > Form Delivery > Customize Forms)
April 16, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Can I make a plea, once again, for incorporating a time and billing function in this software? I would like to set a rate sheet for each client with various effort categories, linked to employees/contractors’ time sheets. The invoicing schedule should also be customizable.
This is the kind of substantive feature that would really add value to an online program, whose main advantage is that timesheets can be completed from anywhere in the world online.
April 18, 2010 at 5:51 am
Is there a feature within the system that will allow me to list the invoice number and amount of invoice on the same page that i can print out as a deposit detail as i receive payments.I can now list the invoice in the memo bar, but it appears to be limited in capacity.
April 18, 2010 at 11:38 am
Some printed fonts on reports are extremely small. Even hard to read with glasses! How can they be enlarged without exporting?
Also on my most recent payroll liability check I printed out it printed two lines out for Social Security on the memo stubs. One line said “Social Security” and the other line said “Social Security Company” Both amounts due were they exact same??
April 19, 2010 at 11:21 am
I like the new home page – for me, removing unnecessary areas and seeing the recent transactions at the top is great. I’m sure you’ll add more ‘widgets’ over time. Also, for me it loads pretty fast (4 seconds in Chrome).
One thing you could do (although this is a low priority for me): instead of showing the QuickLinks or Getting Started, how about showing the contents of the user’s Shortcuts? Again, this is eye candy – the Shortcuts is fine, I’d much rather see PayPal integration.
April 19, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Please, please put back the “who’s online” icon that used to be in the bottom right – I mangage multiple companies with multiple users and this was really important to know who is ACTIVELY online when I have to lock down a month. It’s not good enough to go to the activity log. Why this was removed I do not know.
April 20, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I have been using this site for around 5 years now. My business is growing rapidly and it would be easier for my service company if I could access my customer information by address as well as name. Can you make that happen?
May 8, 2010 at 8:26 am
OK, so I’ve switched to Chrome, after our exchange above. And it’s much faster than IE.
But Quickbooks on Chrome has one REALLY annoying problem. Every single pop-up box is TOO SMALL. I did a screenshot of one of the popups I got today. Hopefully you can look at this:
http://www.al-simon.com/img/quickbooks-google-popup.jpg
Anyway on my end or your end to fix this?
May 10, 2010 at 6:20 am
I have the same issue as Al Simon, very annoying.
Also Chrome does not have a print preview, I wish the reports had a print preview option.
July 14, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Quickbooks is down again!
August 25, 2010 at 8:56 am
what happened to the shortcuts tab on the new home page?