Intuit has started pushing out the maintenance Release 7 for QuickBooks 2017 Desktop products. The update is available for manual download from the Product Download and Update website. It should begin reaching auto update installations of QuickBooks over the next few days.
The following changes, improvements and fixes were made to QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2017, QuickBooks Desktop Premier 2017 and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 17.0. Later releases (ones with higher numbers) include all changes in earlier releases.
QuickBooks File Manager
I mentioned in a recent article that QuickBooks File Manager 2018 was not included in the release of the Desktop 2018 products because QuickBooks File Manager was under revision. Those revisions, at least in part, are included in this R7 update. As a result, the update will impact earlier versions of QuickBooks File Manager.
If QuickBooks File Manager 2017 is installed along with QuickBooks File Manager 2016 (or years prior), upon launch of QuickBooks File Manager 2017 users will be prompted to continue using it going forward. In other words, use only QuickBooks File Manager 2017, don't use an earlier version of QuickBooks File Manager after installing this update.
If QuickBooks is launched without any company file open, QuickBooks File Manager 2017 will open a secondary instance of QuickBooks.
QuickBooks Preferences
The "Keep QuickBooks running for quick startups" preference has been removed. If you previously configured QuickBooks 2017 preferences to keep QuickBooks running in the background, be advised that QuickBooks 2017 will no longer run in the background after the R7 maintenance release is installed.
This feature was not only one of the most cumbersome and troublesome, but it also consumed valuable computer resources even when you weren't using QuickBooks. In my way of thinking, "good riddance to this so-called feature".
Email Issue Resolution
A couple of email related issues are reportedly resolved by this new release, including:
- An issue that was incorrectly marking Batch invoices emailed and sent
- An issue that was causing Outlook 2013 not to be available as an email option
E-Invoicing
Reportedly the R7 maintenance release fixes an issue that was causing a pay-link failure in e-invoicing for customers using QuickBooks Payments.
Unless you're impacted specifically by one of the issues that this release is designed to resolve, there really isn't very much in this release. You may choose to wait to see if any little "bugs" creep out of the woodwork, or go ahead and accept the updates and let the dice roll.
If you don't want the update to auto-download, now is the time to turn off auto updates in your update preferences.