Sometimes we take for granted the simple things in life. Recently I was meeting with a client and we were talking about fairly broad business planning topics. When the talk came around to QuickBooks he mentioned something casually about a quicker way to inactivate vendors. For the uninitiated, QuickBooks provides a very handy bank feed feature. When used correctly it can virtually eliminate data entry when it comes to recording cash disbursements. However, the detail provided in bank feeds often means your vendor names list explodes. Rather than having one vendor called “Shell” to record gas purchases we often wind up with 14 variations corresponding to the 14 Shell stations where we purchased gas during the year.
My client asked if there was a faster way to inactivate these vendors so their names do not clutter up the pulldown lists present whenever a vendor name needs to be entered. Below are four screenshots showing the steps necessary to obtain a list of vendors where you can check off the ones you would like to make inactive. This is much faster than editing each vendor record to select the inactive checkbox.
Select Vendor Center from the Vendors menu.
In the view drop down box select "All Vendors"
In the far left column of the list you will be able to place an "x" by clicking next to each vendor name you wish to make inactive.
When you are finished you can switch the view back to "Active Vendors" and the ones you made inactive will be out of your way.
Below is a short video of mouse clicks and such. I know...I know. Exciting stuff.