From the course: QuickBooks Pro 2020 Essential Training

Open and close an existing company file - QuickBooks Pro Tutorial

From the course: QuickBooks Pro 2020 Essential Training

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Open and close an existing company file

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[Narrator] - When you open QuickBooks with no current company file open, you're brought to this screen where you can view recently opened files and double click on a particular one to open it. You can also click on Open or Restore an existing company to browse to a particular file on a particular directory. I'll click Cancel for now to get back to that main screen. Keep in mind that it's important to note exactly where you current company file is on your computer, because it may not necessarily be the one that's in this recent list. That's why it's helpful to see the date that the file was last modified, so that you can use that as a guide for which file might be the right one. As you can see here, I have two files that are titled the same thing. You can also see the file size. And If I hover my mouse over it, I can see where it's located on my computer. All of these things can work together to make sure that you're opening the most current file that you're looking for, as these two files are given the same name, but they're in two different locations. You need to know which one's the right one. If you weren't sure if the recently accessed one is the right one, you can always click Open or Restore an existing company. Now you can choose Open a company file, click the blue Next button, and here is where you can browse the computer's file system to find the exact one that you're looking for. You can select it, click Open, and now that one will show up in the recently accessed list. But at least you'll be able to see that this one has been opened more recently, so you'll know that this one is the right one. When your file opens and QuickBooks is open at any time, you can see what company you're currently in by looking at the top center of the screen. Right in the middle, it says Two Trees Olive Oil, which is the name of my company, and that's what I've named my file. This is useful to know if you're managing multiple companies' QuickBooks file and you need to be sure of which one you're in at any given time. To close a company file, so that you can open another one and work on it, click the file menu. You can either open another one by clicking Open or Restore company. You can also access a previously opened company here, which is the same list that we saw earlier. Or to close out of it completely, you can choose Close company. It's going to bring you back to that main screen where you can choose your files in the recent list. If you find yourself constantly clicking on the wrong one, you can hide it in this list from showing up. Select Edit list on the right hand side. From here, you can place a check mark next to each company file you want to hide. If I hover my mouse over it, it's going to show me where it's located, so I can make sure I'm placing a check mark on the right one. I'll click okay. And now the incorrect one is hidden from this list. A new feature in QuickBooks Pro 2020, is the ability to find a company file. I'll click Find a Company File, and here it's going to search my entire computer for QuickBooks files. It's going to show me when it was modified, the location of it, and the type of it, for example, a company file or a backup file. I'll click cancel on this. And that's how you can navigate company files. Up next, let's set up a new company altogether.

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