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Skii-Lunceford
April 17, 2025
Question

QuickBooks, why? Why make an accounting software where the arrow keys don’t work? Whoever made this clearly hates productivity. Whoever tested this lied. Why? Why? Why?

  • April 17, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views

I’m just trying to move down a line. That’s it. But the arrow keys sit there like decoration. Copying data? Impossible. Navigating? A fever dream. It’s like they saw the concept of “efficiency” and thought, “Let’s set that on fire.” Using this software feels like trying to write a novel with an Etch A Sketch. Basic keyboard functionality shouldn’t feel like a lost ancient art. Seriously, who looked at this and said, “Yeah, this is ready for launch”? Was this tested by someone who only uses a mouse? With their feet? Oh you want to use the arrow keys? Well then just download the data, Export, Open excel, Login again, edit the data, and sync it back up with Quickbooks, see we made it better. 6 steps is better than 1 right?...............

    2 replies

    BigRedConsulting
    BigRedConsulting
    April 17, 2025

    RE: Using this software feels like trying to write a novel with an Etch A Sketch. 

     

    That's classic, and an apt description of QuickBooks Online.

     

    It wasn't designed for users who want to use the keyboard or do anything fast. I can do things about 5x faster using QuickBooks Desktop, the real QuickBooks.

      Rainflurry
      Rainflurry
      April 18, 2025

      @Skii-Lunceford 

       

      The down/up arrow keys work; you just need to be tabbed past the Category/Account (or Product/Service) and Description boxes, depending on what form you're using (invoice, bill, credit memo, journal entry, etc.).  QB Online uses the down arrow to pull up all of your accounts in the Category/Account/Product/Service field, and that's the reason you can't down arrow in the first column, although it seems you should be able to down arrow in the Description column.  In Desktop, if you don't know the name of the account (common for accountants with many clients), it requires you to mouse click on the tiny down arrow to pull up the accounts in the first column, or you can start typing and hope you guessed right.  I don't find that any better.  

        FishingForAnswers
        FishingForAnswers
        April 19, 2025

        @Rainflurry  "--it requires you to mouse click on the tiny down arrow to pull up the accounts in the first column--"

         

        While I would absolutely welcome a shortcut specifically for opening selection menus in Desktop, you can still bring up the accounts menu using only the keyboard.

         

        For instance, in sales receipts or invoices, as long as there is an Item that starts with the first letter you type, you can type gibberish in and, the moment it fails to find a keyword match for the gibberish in any of the available Items, it will display the full menu which can itself be navigated through via arrow keys.

         

        While that is definitely a silly resolution, I'd say it's still relevant to most use cases; if a company has a wide enough variety of specialized items that the accountant can't always recall the specific name of the one they need, the odds are pretty good that most of the alphabet will be represented in their first letters.

         

        I guess what I'm saying is that I think keyboard shortcuts are neat and they should always be adding more of them to every given software.

        Rainflurry
        Rainflurry
        April 21, 2025

        @FishingForAnswers 

         

        "you can type gibberish in and, the moment it fails to find a keyword match for the gibberish in any of the available Items,"

         

        Good tip.  I forgot about that.   

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