QuickBooks includes a variety of keyboard shortcuts to make your use of the program easier and faster. We’ve compiled them into a single sortable and searchable list, shown below. All of these shortcuts are based on QuickBooks for Windows.
Here are a few pointers on making the best use of keyboard shortcuts:
- Our list is sortable and organized by function; find a small number of shortcuts that are most relevant to your use of QuickBooks and use them over and over, because productivity gains only come with repeated use
- Special keys, such as Alt or Ctrl, are shown in italics, and are often combined with another key that is listed in uppercase for consistency only; you don’t need to enter this key in uppercase
- For some shortcuts, such as those used when starting the program, timing is everything; the shortcut must be invoked when QuickBooks is ready to process it, and if you’re too early or too late, the shortcut will not work
There’s an extensive group of shortcuts that relate to the use of the Alt key. We’ve included this group as a single shortcut at the end of the list. When you press the Alt key, a character in most menus is underlined, and that character is a shortcut to that menu function. For example, pressing Alt + B + L invokes the reconcile function because L is underlined in Banking menu.
Continue on to our list of QuickBooks keyboard shortcuts. This is one example where a shortcut in accounting can be a good thing.
| Category | Shortcut | Function & Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| General | Ctrl + double click on program icon | Starts QB without a company file; if this shortcut isn't working for you, you're probably releasing the Ctrl key too soon; useful if you didn't close the last company file you worked on and now want to use a different file |
| General | Alt while login or Open Company window is displayed | Starts QB with a clean desktop; if this shortcut isn't working for you, you are probably pressing the Alt key too early or releasing it too soon; useful if your last saved desktop had a lot of open windows unrelated to the current task at hand |
| General | Ctrl + Enter | Record current transaction; can be faster than positioning your mouse on a button and clicking |
| Calculator | + or - or * or / in an amount field of a transaction window | Pressing any of the 4 arithmetic operators in an amount field invokes QB's integrated calculator |
| Dates | + | Advances to next day based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | - | Goes back 1 day based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | T | Sets date to today's date |
| Dates | W | Sets date to first day of week based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | K | Sets date to last day of week based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | M | Sets date to first day of month based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | H | Sets date to last day of month based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | Y | Sets date to first day of year based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | R | Sets date to last day of year based on current calendar selection |
| Dates | Alt + Down Arrow | Opens calendar; since the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys can scroll through the calendar and Tab selects the date and advances to the next field, this can be a fast date selection method |
| Editing | Ctrl + E | Edit selected transaction in register |
| Editing | Ctrl + Del | Delete current line in detail area |
| Editing | Ctrl + Ins | Insert a line after the current line in detail area |
| Editing | Ctrl + C | Copy selected characters |
| Editing | Ctrl + V | Paste selected characters |
| Editing | Ctrl + X | Copy and cut selected characters |
| Editing | Ctrl + Z | Undo changes made to field |
| Editing | + | Increase form number, such a check number, by 1 |
| Editing | - | Decrease form number, such a check number, by 1 |
| Activities | Ctrl + A | Opens Account List |
| Activities | Ctrl + D | Delete transaction, such as a check or bill, or delete a list item |
| Activities | Ctrl + E | Edit transaction, such as a check or bill, or edit a list item |
| Activities | Ctrl + F | Find transaction |
| Activities | Ctrl + G | Go to register of transfer account |
| Activities | Ctrl + H | Open history of A/P or A/R transaction |
| Activities | Ctrl + J | Open Customer Center |
| Activities | Ctrl + I | Open Create Invoice window |
| Activities | Ctrl + L | Open list for current field |
| Activities | Ctrl + M | Memorize transaction or report |
| Activities | Ctrl + N | Opens window to add a new list item of currently selected list item window; if a list item is not the current window, the shortcut has no effect |
| Activities | Ctrl + O | Copy current transaction in register |
| Activities | Ctrl + P | |
| Activities | Ctrl + Q | QuickReport on current transaction or list item |
| Activities | Ctrl + R | Display register |
| Activities | Ctrl + S | Show list; this is a shortcut that is commonly included on lists of shortcuts but does not appear to function in current QB versions |
| Activities | Ctrl + U | Use list item; this is a shortcut that is commonly included on lists of shortcuts but does not appear to function in current QB versions |
| Activities | Ctrl + V | Paste transaction copied from register |
| Activities | Ctrl + W | Write check |
| Activities | Ctrl + Y | Open transaction journal |
| Function Keys | F1 | Context sensitive help |
| Function Keys | F2 or Ctrl + 1 | Opens Product Information window |
| Function Keys | F3 | With the Product Information window open, opens the Tech Help window |
| Function Keys | Ctrl + F4 or ESC (by itself) | Closes the current window |
| Function Keys | Alt + F4 | Exit QB |
| Moving Around | Alt + underlined letter in menu | Executes task assigned to that menu item; the underline only appears on menu items after the Alt key is pressed; the list of shortcuts possible with this technique is extensive |
| Moving Around | End | Move to last character of current field |
| Moving Around | Home | Move to first character of current field |
| Moving Around | Tab | Advance to next field |
| Moving Around | Shift + Tab | Go back to previous field |
| Moving Around | Up Arrow | Move to previous line in form detail area or report |
| Moving Around | Down Arrow | Move to next line in form detail area or report |
| Moving Around | Page Up | Move to previous page in form detail area or report |
| Moving Around | Page Down | Move to next page in form detail area or report |
| Moving Around | Ctrl + Right Arrow | Move to next word in current text field |
| Moving Around | Ctrl + Left Arrow | Move to previous word in current text field |
| Moving Around | Ctrl + Page Up | Move to first item in list or register |
| Moving Around | Ctrl + Page Down | Move to last item in list or register |
| Moving Around | Ctrl + F6 | Moves to next open window and makes it the active window |
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