QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

Automating Recurring Bills

Many of your bills are due the same time every month, and some are even the same amount every month. For example, your electric bill is due the 19th of the month, but the amount varies each time, whereas your rent check is due the first of every month and it’s always $1,000. Each time you reorder office supplies or inventory, the items you buy are often the same, but the quantities and cost totals are different. These sorts of bills are perfect for QuickBooks’ memorized transactions.

QuickBooks can memorize bills and reuse them. You can even create a group of bills so that you can process all the bills due on the same day of the month. Even when some fields change, recalling a transaction with most of the fields filled in saves you time.

Tip

If you get the same bill only once in a blue moon, memorizing it might be overkill. Instead, you can create a duplicate whenever you need it. In the Vendor Center, on the Transactions tab, click Bills. Double-click the bill you want to reuse to open it in the Enter Bills window. Then, right-click in the Enter Bills window and choose Duplicate Bill from the shortcut menu. Make any changes you want, like the date and the amount, and then click Save & Close.

Memorizing a Bill

Here’s how to make QuickBooks memorize a bill:

1. On the Home page, click Enter Bills (or choose Vendors→Enter Bills).

   QuickBooks opens the Enter Bills window.

2. Fill in all the fields that will be the same on each bill, as shown in the background in Figure 9-4 ...