HELP!!! QB 2007 F***ED my formatting

They hit customize on the invoice screen and add it as text rather than add it as an item. Items always print that pesky zero.

I thought 'customize' changed TEMPLATES.

???? This is "boilerplate" text, that is used repetitively on multiple invoices. It is not a customer message that can be placed in a message box. Sentences that refer to deposits, government forms, progress invoicing, etc.

QB does not (and has not, to my knowledge) provide an item type of 'text', which would allow for 'shorthand'

Sure... NOW. According to Intuit support, that was CHANGED in 2007. It also carries over into 2008.

Bottom line, Intuit REMOVED functionality (again!)

No big surprise, it seems the sunset policy didn't piss off the customer base enough.

But. I find it difficult to believe that my business is the ONLY business that needs repetitive text.

IF Intuit development decided it was important to force numeric values in the amount column for items, fine! (Although the programmer in me has to wonder why, after umpteen years, the development team was suddenly unable to embrace the concept of the hexadecimal four-zero). But why not institute a new item type - say 'text' item - that would allow for a blank in the amount column, to restore the lost functionality?

In the meantime, I've personally thought of only three means to work-around this latest Intuit 'improvement'

1-- have data entry personnel enter the appropriate text(s) on each invoice/estimate/sale according to a chart or list of preferred phraseology 2-- continue using the 'boilerplate' items, but print only one copy. Use white-out on the company copies, and then copy the fixed pages in order to generate documents to send to the customer 3-- send the documents out with the zeros

The first sacrifices time and accuracy, the second time, and the third just looks unprofessional.

Since I'm smart enough to realize I don't own the patent on QB workarounds, I'm asking this group for additional suggestions.

What you need is to calm down and stop berating Quickbooks. The solution is really simple. If I understand you correctly you want to enter boiler plate text in the detail section of your invoices but do not want the price field to print the zero. Then simply set up these text only items as payments. In both version 2007 and 2008 if you remove the zero on the screen it will not print the zero.

Yes, exactly.

Payments? Is that a new item type? So, I would re-create these items as new items of type payment? (Just tried editing, but that does not work).

I can tell you that an item type of 'Service' or 'Non-Inventory Part' (the previous types I had assigned) WILL FORCE zero's upon printing - although blank spaces will still show on the screen. Perhaps the 'payment' item type works differently. I will certainly check it out. I wonder why Intuit developers would choose to handle printing differently for different item types?

Thanks for the suggestion, Allan. I really do hope this works. (I can also see the need for a new item type - perhaps one of type 'text')

You can't modify the type.

Because users asked for it. If I do work for a client and do not charge I always want that zero displayed.

I can think of two more:

A. Rubber stamp.

B. Pre-printed form.

Hey, you do realize you can have many different invoice forms, each with its own version of the boiler plate.

I can think of THREE more...

I don't believe that. Show me where users asked for LESS functionality, and for more QB strictures.

And you had that. Zero was the DEFAULT for displayed items.

In the past, you could ADDITIONALLY have an item that had NO PRINTED VALUE.

What am I missing here? I gave you the solution and you contiue to babble on. It is a given that with all software upgrades things do change.

Your business practices require the inclusion of various boiler plate inserts into the detail section of your invoices. In prior versions when printing items used as text only the user could blank out the dollar amount. In current versions this can't be done with items any more. The zero prints.

However if you set up various "Payments" to be used as text only items the user can blank out the dollar amount and the zero does not print. This change in procedure is minor and in a short priod of time your users will not even remember the old method.

??

Again, the 'boilerplate' text(s) NOTE PLURAL are shortcuts for common phraseology used in our invoices and estimates.

A proposal may OR MAY NOT require a deposit -- and the deposit amount will vary A customer may OR MAY NOT have a job that is a capital improvement A customer may OR MAY NOT be required to submit a form ST-5 A customer may OR MAY NOT have used materials -- which may or MAY NOT be detailed. A customer may OR MAY NOT have given us a deposit on a job -- and the deposit may OR MAY NOT have been applied to a previous progress invoice (we find our customer's still like to see the payments received listed on the final invoice)

ANY COMBINATION of these texts might be inserted into an invoice.

Given that we already use multiple forms for types of sales - detailed with quantities, short form for sales without quantity listings, detailed for progress invoicing - the suggestion to exponentially expand these forms to include options with one or more text items hard coded - not to mention that hard coding these items on the sales form (or using pre-printed forms) does not allow for varying amounts.

As for rubber stamps - they have the same disadvantages as pre-printed forms, and, in addition, are just tacky.

Hey, I realize that not every contractor who uses QB wants a custom look or cares about consistency in their billing. I have received invoices from folks who use QB out of the box. IMO the results reflect the effort the owner put into his image.

My company philosophy reflects my personal values... expert service and professional behavior. That's why our employees wear uniforms, have shoe covers, clean up after themselves. Our bills are readable, the wording consistent, and printed on good paper. Creating sales forms that matched my ethics was not all that easy with QuickBooks. But I did, and they worked, until the latest Intuit 'improvement'.

IMO Intuit HAD TO implement the sunset policy, because their client base simply was not purchasing 'upgrades' that broke what used to work.

I can think of 167 more!