QuickBooks Pro tips:
- QuickBooks for Mac is fine for many users but doesn’t have all the features of QuickBooks for Windows. Multi-user capability is one of the missing features
- QuickBooks for Windows works well under Parallels.
- Several people can easily share a QuickBooks file on a network if they are not in it at the same time.
- If you need multiple people accessing data simultaneously purchase the 3-user QuickBooks package plus as many single license copies as you need.
- You’ll need to have one computer running Windows and QuickBooks at all times so others can access the shared data file through it. In this case the QuickBooks data must be on this computer – it cannot be accessed from a remote volume through the network.
- This “QuickBooks server” doesn’t actually need to run the full QuickBooks just a background app that comes with the 3-user pack. This “server” app doesn’t count as a QuickBooks license on its own.
- It certainly helps to have an inexpensive (used) Windows PC for this job. If it is running through virtualization the virtual machine must not shut down or all users will lose data.
- Don’t even think about having a laptop be the “QuickBooks server.” What will everyone else do when the laptop is off-site?
A few Parallels tips:
- Allocate at least 768 MB to the Windows virtual machine for XP or 1.5 GB for Vista. Load the Mac with twice as much RAM as you’re giving to Windows so you can still run Mac software well.
- Utilize Parallels’ Shared User Profile feature so that user files are stored in the Mac home folder not in the Windows virtual machine (C) drive. This way you can exclude the Parallels data folder from Time Machine backups (where they will eat up 2 GB per hour). The user’s Windows files will be backed up from the Mac home folder.
- When running Parallels on a laptop set Windows power options to not sleep/hibernate. This causes problems for the virtual machine. The Mac can sleep just fine on its own.