Want to make more money? Learn to do things in half the time it takes everyone else! One way to get faster is by learning the shortcuts on your keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts speed up your navigation and data entry in QuickBooks Online, even though you’re working in a browser.
Moving Around Forms
- Press the Tab key to move from box to box
- Press Shift+Tab to go back again
- Press the Space Bar to check a check box field
- Press Alt + down arrow to open a drop-down list, or the pop-up calendar icon to the right of any date field
Keyboard Commands
- Hold down the Ctrl and Alt (or Option on a Mac) and type the ?/ key on your keyboard. A window will open up with your Company ID as well as a master list of keyboard shortcuts.
- When you’re on the phone with Intuit Support, Ctrl-Alt-? is what you’ll press to get your Company ID!
- To use the keyboard shortcuts, hold down Ctrl+Alt and press letters in the list below to open those windows. For example, no matter what screen you’re on, press Ctrl-Alt-x to add an Expense without having to click around!
QBO Shortcut keys and related actions
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The Tab Key
Tab is your best friend. It’s the Tab key to the left of Q on your keyboard. Any time you type into a field, press Tab when you’re done, and it will update the form. Your cursor also moves to the next field for fast data entry.
Entering Dates
There are a lot of ways to enter dates. I’m not a fan of clicking the calendar and scrolling through the months. Here are several shortcuts I love.
When entering dates, you don’t need leading 0s or the current year. Typing 2/1, Tab will resolve to 02/01/19.
Click in any Date field and tap these letters to jump to a key date without typing:
QBO Date shortcuts
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For example, if I want to get to the second day of the current month, I press M+. The calendar goes back to the 1st, then forward a day to the 2nd. Then on the next transaction, I press T to go back to today.
Built-in Calculators
There is no need to pull out your calculator! I know you still love your 10-key and still have a box of paper rolls you need to use up, but you’re just working too hard.
Every Quantity, Rate, and Amount field is a mini calculator! You can use +, -, *, /, and () to do instant math. Press Tab to calculate the result.
Drop-down Lists
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You don’t have to click on every drop-down arrow and scroll through long lists looking for what you want.
Start typing the entry you want, and your list will instantly reduce itself to matching items. Indented items indicate they are sub-accounts.
Press up arrow or down arrow to move through the items in the list.
Press Tab to select the item you want and move to the next field.
If you don’t want to open the whole list, but just want to scroll through the items in the text box, press Ctrl + down arrow or Ctrl + up arrow.
Hot tip: you can type any part of the list item, not just the first few letters. I usually type in part of the name that is unique to jump right to it.
Search for text on a page
This trick uses a feature of your browser, not QuickBooks Online. The browser’s Search, CTRL+F, searches all the content of the screen you’re looking at. Use it to find for anything on a page instantly, without wasting time scrolling around scanning for it. Use the Find field’s < > arrows to jump from instance to instance of matching text.
For example, when I’m looking at a long Reconciliation screen, I use Ctrl-F to jump to the dollar amount I’m scanning for.
Dynamic Buttons
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The green buttons at the bottom right corner of each window in QBO are dynamic.
When you click on the drop-down arrow, it gives the option to Save this window and close it, or Save this window and create a new one (so that you can process several similar transactions quickly). In Sales Receipts and Invoices you can also Save and send, emailing it directly to the Customer.
What’s nice about this button is once you change it, it will stay on that option until you change it again. That way you can quickly enter several transactions and save yourself the extra clicks.
The More Button
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Keep an eye out for the More button in the bottom center of each window. This is where you go to Delete or Void a transaction, Audit its history, view its Transaction Journal, and Copy it to make a new one. You’ll see other context-sensitive options there as well.
Next Steps
Now that you know these special keyboard shortcuts, you can put them into practice when working on client files. Save precious time when doing your searches or entering data.
Being able to move around your computer swiftly is a great skill for any professional who needs to make the most of their time. If you love tips like this, check out my free “Look What I Found!” collection of new QBO features and efficiency tricks.
How do these keyboard shortcuts make your QBO experience easier? Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.