Accessing multiple companies on the same computer simultaneously
Some of our users use QuickBooks Online for managing multiple companies. However many don’t know that you can access multiple companies from the same computer and work on them simultaneously. To do so, you need more than one running browser. So you can have one company open in say Chrome, while another in Firefox and work on them at the same time.
Below are steps if you want to access multiple companies simultaneously within the same browser. This post is relevant only to Chrome users. While both Firefox and IE allow multiple profiles in some sense, they currently don’t have an intuitive and simple interface to get you started as easy as Chrome does. For Firefox profile management look here.
Step 1:
Install or upgrade to Google Chrome version 16 or higher (version 16 was released on the 13th so you may not have it right away). You can either wait till Google does it for you silently or use the Wrench > About Google Chrome window to do so. You can also just re-install Chrome from their page.
Step 2:
Go to the Personal Stuff section under Chrome’s preferences / options window via the wrench menu or just copy paste this in a new tab – chrome://settings/personal. Click Add New User as shown in the picture below.
Step 3:
Once you click on the Add New User button, a new window will popup as shown in the picture below. This window will be your new profile, demarcated by an icon in the top left. You can customize it’s icon and name by clicking Edit as shown in the picture below after going to it’s preferences / options screen like you did in the prior step.
Final Steps:
You are pretty much done now. You have created two profiles in Chrome, each having their own browser window. You can open QuickBooks Online in both and choose different companies and access them simultaneously. You can always create a third profile and manage your two companies on those two, leaving your default profile for personal non QuickBooks Online usage.
Some points to remember
- Opening a profile window is done by the icon in the top left, just click it and choose one.
- You can add more users or remove users from the same screen as shown above.
- Hence you can manage more than two companies simultaneously.
- Since the two profiles are completely separate, they will not share bookmarks and other preferences.
- When signing into QuickBooks Online, you will need to allow our popups to go through for each window.
- You can bypass the prior step by installing the QuickBooks Online app on each profile (will require you to sign in using your Google accounts).
- Since bookmarks are not shared between profiles, you can add different ones for each profile window.
- Remember to check the company before doing any accounting stuff, you don’t want to be entering data in the wrong window hence wrong company.
Hopefully this improves productivity for users wanting to work on multiple companies.
Explore posts in the same categories: Tips & Tricks
December 15, 2011 at 7:00 am
This seems like a good feature but when I work I need to focus on the company at hand so I don’t make mistakes as you mentioned entering data in the wrong company because I thought I was in a different window. When I need to go to a different company for any amount of time or whatever I just switch so then I can focus on that new company. This new Google feature might be good in the sense of keeping work and personal profiles/activities separate but for me it would be too much to remember or keep track of – kind of like lying or split personalities – I could forget and get things all messed up so for me, I’ll just be sticking with one profile.
December 17, 2011 at 7:08 am
I agree with Patty. One thing at a time, then you don’t have to go back and clean up big mess.
December 20, 2011 at 12:53 am
This feature is very useful when reconciling transfer transactions between related companies.
December 20, 2011 at 5:31 am
Finally!!! I have been waiting for this for a long time, thank you for making it available. Will it work on Safari for us Mac users?
December 28, 2011 at 12:41 pm
I think it’s a great idea! Is there any additional charge for multiple companies?
December 29, 2011 at 11:31 am
https://qboe.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1083
January 4, 2012 at 7:59 pm
I am new to Quickbooks online, and that was one questions that I had. Is it possible to have multiple company files with one Quickbooks online subscription, or do you need multiple subscriptions to have multiple company files?
January 5, 2012 at 6:28 am
Each company is a separate subscription
January 21, 2012 at 8:44 am
Yes, you can. I have two separate businesses and divide the two within the same Quickbooks Online subscription using the “Division” field. Go to Company->Lists->Division Lists. Using this, I can do everything to split as many companies as I want. The only thing I was concerned with before doing this about a year ago was if I wanted to sell one of the businesses then the books would include my other business. I found out that Quickbooks will step you through exporting everything plus give you a temporary desktop license to go through and delete the unwanted data and then reimport that to another subscription. Hope this helps.
January 30, 2012 at 11:01 pm
i dont have “division” on my list. im using QB online plus. should that option be available on this version?
January 13, 2012 at 8:51 am
I have have been using QB Online for 2 companies for several years. We operate both companies from the same location with the same staff and once I figured out I could open one company in Internet Explorer and one in Chrome it has been great. Using different browsers on dual monitors I have only crossed info between companies a couple of times – you don’t go very far unless you have the same vendors and/or customers in each.
January 24, 2012 at 6:34 am
Way to go on standing up for freedom! STOP CENSORSHIP!
http://blog.qbo.intuit.com/2012/01/17/stop-sopa-qbo-users-please-read/
January 25, 2012 at 4:17 am
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