QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual

Swapping Reports Between Company Files

Suppose you’re one of several business owners who meet to share ideas. Some of your colleagues rave about the QuickBooks reports they’ve customized, and you’d like to use the reports they’ve created. If they’re willing to share their ideas, you can swap reports by trading report template files.

Report templates contain the layouts, filters, and formatting for memorized reports. Someone can export a memorized report as a report template, and someone else can then import that file to save the report in a different company file. For example, if your accountant likes to see information in very specific ways, she can give you a report template file so you can produce the reports she wants to see.

TROUBLESHOOTING MOMENT: The Memorized Group Doesn’t Exist

In the Memorize Report dialog box, search all you want, but you won’t find a way to create a new memorized group. That’s because you have to create a memorized group before you can add a memorized report to that group.

Unfortunately, QuickBooks doesn’t make it easy to find the command for creating a memorized group. Here’s the secret:

1. Choose Reports→Memorized Reports→Memorized Report List. QuickBooks opens the Memorized Report List window, which includes memorized groups and the reports they contain.

2. At the bottom of the window, click Memorized Report and then choose New Group.

3. In the New Memorized Report Group dialog box’s Name box, type the group’s name, and then click OK.

Now, when you memorize a report, ...