Using Quickbooks in a Networked Enviornment.

Question:

We have a small company and we are using Quick Books Pro 2005. We recently networked a laptop to the company computer for travel purposes. We are having a terrible time viewing QuickBooks on the laptop after the network connection has been unconnected. Do you know how to make it so that the laptop can view the QuickBooks files when there is no network connection?

Answer:

This question may be better answered by your network administrator, as it sounds like this is a networking problem rather than a software one.

It sounds like you are using a peer-to-peer network, and using the office desktop as the server.

Here are some things to consider when using QuickBooks in this type of networked environment:

• When both computers are connected to the network…ensure that your software is in Muti-User mode (File - Switch to Multi User Mode).
• If you are using the desktop as the server, I would store the company file on one of its drives.
• Be careful about backing up and using your company file on the road with the laptop. I have seen many clients forget to restore their changes on the main computer and get their data all messed up. One thing that has worked well for me is using Gotomypc.com. For a reasonable rate (around 20 bucks a month), you can access your computer from anywhere there is internet access.
  

As I said before, you should check with your network administrator to ensure that the way your network is set-up, as well as the way you are connecting and disconnecting from it is not causing you problems...because it sounds to me like it might be. I say this because personal experience in my practice has shown me that a Microsoft XP networked enviornment can have more quirks than you can imagine.