What’s New in the Scheduled Reports Feature of QuickBooks 2017

Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, has released one of the biggest feature in the desktop version of QuickBooks accounting software this year. This new feature is called as the Scheduled Reports. This new features enable the users of QuickBooks desktop version to automate the mechanism involved in sending of reports from QuickBooks 2017.

This new feature takes the help of Windows Task Manager to perform this automated task. If you are an owner of a small or medium sized business, you would definitely find this Scheduled Reports feature as a big time saver as you might be sending a particular report to your staff members or your clients on a daily basis. By using this feature, you can nullify the chances of missing the sending of report on any day.

In a layman’s term, the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017 enables a user to configure a schedule for sending reports in the form of password-protected PDF file format at a particular time. However, as all the technologies come with some limitations and basic requirements to be met before utilizing the complete features, the Scheduled Features too has some limitations and requirements.

You need a specific computer system to set up and send Scheduled Reports i.e. you cannot set up the schedule on one computer and send from another. You cannot even view or make changes to the schedule from any other computer.

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Let us go ahead and have a look at the process of creating a schedule, and the system requirements and limitations of the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017.

Process of creating Scheduled Reports on QuickBooks 2017

The process of Scheduled Reports creation involves configuration of many settings and preferences as per your business requirements. In the Send Forms preferences, you have to set which e-mail account of yours or your business is to be used for sending e-mails. If you have not set up this during the initial set up process, you would be asked to set the e-mail account while setting up a schedule for the first time on QuickBooks 2017.

In the General preferences, you have to uncheck the box next to ‘Keep QuickBooks running for quick startups’. If you have left it checked then you would not be able to create a schedule. Also, leaving it enabled can result in issues with the programs that have been added as add-ons. Also, you should run QuickBooks 2017 in single user mode to create a schedule. If you are running QuickBooks 2017 in multi-user mode, you won’t be able to create a schedule.

To create or edit a schedule, you need to open the QuickBooks 2017 software by right clicking on the QuickBooks icon, and then selecting the option ‘Run as administrator’. If you don’t open the QuickBooks 2017 application as an administrator, you would get an error message while trying to save the recently created schedule.

As the Microsoft Task Scheduler is utilized by the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017, you need to fulfil the following terms and conditions to use this feature.

• The user is required to sign as an administrator to use the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017.
• If you are using the QuickBooks 2017 for the first time, you must run the program by right clicking on the icon, and then selecting the ‘Run as Administrator’ option.
• You can install and run only a single edition of QuickBooks 2017 (either Premier or Enterprise edition) on your system. If you are using both the editions, you cannot use the Scheduled Reports feature on QuickBooks 2017 program.
• During a scheduled event, you cannot open the file in the multiple user mode.
• You cannot use the QuickBooks E-mail Service to use the Scheduled Reports feature.
• If you have set the schedule on Microsoft Outlook, you need to open the e-mail application to send the Scheduled Report.
• No other file can be opened during the time of schedule.
• Your computer system should not be in hibernation or sleep mode while using the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017.

How to use Scheduled Reports feature in QuickBooks 2017

The Scheduled Reports feature can be accessed from the Report menu. To use this feature to create a schedule, select the Schedule Setup option from the Report menu dropdown. Your memorized reports list will open on doing so. From the displayed list, choose the report(s) that you want to include in the schedule by selecting the check box next to the name of report.

Once you have selected the reports, they will be displayed in the list on the right pane. Now click on the ‘Next’ button, and then mention the details about the schedule. When prompted, give it a name that is unique. Now you need to compose the text of your e-mail message.

Finally, click on the ‘Schedule’ button to save this schedule. You can see the recently created Scheduled Report in the Scheduled Report Center. If you have followed the correct procedure, the recipient of the e-mail message will get the e-mail at scheduled time along with the attached PDF file that is password protected.

Need Professional Help?

If you need more information on the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017 or are facing any issue while using this feature on QuickBooks 2017, you can contact us at accountingerrors.co or 📞. Our tech experts at AccountingErrors can help you in meeting all the requirements needed for using the Scheduled Reports feature of QuickBooks 2017.

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