Meet QBO's New Navigation Bar

Last year we lost our Alternate Navigation Bar, which had been a part of Intuit labs. But this year, we've received a makeover of the Navigation Bar. In addition, Intuit recently has started rolling it out.

You may not have these feature changes yet, but they're definitely on their way to your QBO.

Because there's so much to see, let's not waste time on chatter. Let's just dive in and look at what's new.

First, let's look at the Navigation Bar itself, which apparently went to boot camp, lost the waste (transactions) and gained "the  beef" in the form of Banking, Sales, Expenses and Accounting. 

It's almost like unwrapping gifts, fun and exciting to see what's inside each of the new Nav Bar options.

Dashboard – Now with Invoice Detail

While the previous Dashboard included an Income widget, the new one contains Invoices (if your QBO Company uses them).

You can see the details of what's Overdue, Not Due Yet, Not Deposited and Deposited items. This is a practical and convenient approach to keeping you fully aware of your revenues.

Banking

Banking is no longer a sub under Transactions on the Navigation Bar. It's now located on the Navigation Bar. One click gives you access to your Bank Accounts and Credit Cards.

  • Haven't set up your bank feeds – you can easily make the connection right from this page.
  • Bank Rules are easier to find, too. Clients often forget to create bank rules because they were so easily overlooked on the previous banking page, because they were almost hidden under the Update Tab.

Sales

If you think of Sales as being the "who," "what," "when" and "how" you're selling, this is the perfect home for all sales-related functions.

As you can see above, Invoices are the very first tab in Sales. This is the "how" and "when" folks. The highlight of this feature is really the Invoice Status. You can see status details without opening the transaction.

  • From the Dashboard glance you can see if the Invoice has been Sent, Viewed, Paid and Deposited – "Oh Happy Dance."

But Invoices is not where the "How" leaves off. The All Sales tab contains both your invoices and sales receipts in a list that you can open for details.

The big convenience of this update consists in the fact that you no longer must open a customer to view all sales transactions.

The Customers tab enables you to explore the "who" – those individuals and companies that owe you money or who have paid you money.

  • If you haven't setup customers, you can add them quickly from this page.

Products and Services are the 'what" of sales.

  • Adding products and services the “what” you sell is better located with its sales buddies.
  • No longer do you have to journey to the Gear Icon to find Products and Services. 

Expenses

This is the "how" and "where" you spend your money.

  • The Expenses tab not only gives you an easy way to add your expenses, but all of the details of your expenses as well.
  • The Vendors tab allows you to setup new vendors and explore your vendor history.

Employees

Need to add payroll to your QuickBooks Online? This is the place to do that. How about creating paychecks? Yes, this is payroll central as well. You can even process those payroll taxes from this new Navigation Bar selection.

  • You also can track your employees without payroll if you wish.

Nothing new to report when it comes to Reports, Taxes and Apps on the Nav Bar,  but that's not to say that changes are not somewhere in our future.

Accounting

Accounting is an interesting concept for a header name. And no, this isn't there just for us accountants and trusted advisors. This is where you'll find both the Chart of Accounts and Reconcile.

Sorry, but I couldn't help but ask myself, "Why didn't they put the 'Find a ProAdvisor' option under this menu item as well?" (Hey Intuit, can't you do something about this, hint, hint, hint?)

  • There are no differences in our Chart of Accounts layout when we access it from the new Accounting menu item, but it sure makes it easy to locate.

Here's a place for another "Happy Dance," the Reconcile tab under the Accounting menu.

  • Quick and easy access to an essential feature those of us performing accounting, bookkeeping and advisory services frequently use.

The good news is that I’m no longer sad we lost our QBO labs alternative navigation bar. I like this new one better.

Our clients are going to be able to navigate (enter pun) their way around QBO easier with a better understanding of navigation bar options. I think it'll also make "over the phone" instructions a lot easier to give and follow as well.

A few notes to keep in mind:

  • New QBO users already are receiving the new navigation bar as part of their signup, but since this is an update, existing QBO users (as with prior updates) will receive these changes as they are rolled out over a series of releases. Not all users will see them at the same time, but now is the time for you to start making your clients aware the changes are on their way.
  • Insightful Accountant will cover a few of these changes in a little greater depth over the next month, and you can expect them to be features in our next QBO "Fireside Chat Quarterly Update" in early April.
  • There often are two paths to the same destination in QuickBooks Online and these navigation changes have not eliminated that. For example, the Chart of Accounts and Products & Services still are listed under the Gear Icon. We haven't lost those familiar options, even now there's a more convenient path to access them.