Ask the accountant…
Question: There is a paperclip icon in QuickBooks for attachments. Can I attach all the paperwork for an order there?
Answer: There is an attachment function in QB for several screens including, but not limited to, sales orders, purchase orders, invoices, bills and customers. You can attach documents here, such as a supplier invoice to a purchase order. This sounds great, but…
As distributors, reference to past orders is fundamental and we would like access to these attachments for as long as we are doing business. (I recall a 20 year gap between reorders!)
The data entered into QB will always be there, but not always so with these attachments. The attachments are stored differently, and not in the same place on your computer as the QB company file. Because they are located separately, the attachments are not included in your backups.
The problem arises when you restore a backup file and QB will then not know where to find the attachments file. The attachments are still saved, just not locatable, unless you adjust it—manually—find, copy and paste the attachment file in the same place as your restored company file.
This seems like an easily overlooked step to me, which can cause you to lose track of your attachments. There are better ways to keep track of your order-related documents.
Please email your questions to Harriet at Ask The Accountant.
QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise can be modified to better serve ad specialty distributors. Harriet Gatter is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, a former accounting professor and a former ad specialty distributor. She advises ad specialty distributors to use QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise, often in conjunction with other industry-specific software, to manage the complexities of the ad specialty business, with the results being time saved, errors eliminated and an overall accurate accounting of your business. Contact her at [email protected].
