The Icon Bar (QuickBooks 2012 and earlier) and Shortcuts (as of 2013) is a unique customizable area to help you work a little faster. Many of our customers didn’t realize that you could add and remove icons from this section to help you access the areas you use the most. Here’s a quick lesson on how to get the most out of your icon bar.
For the most part, you can add icons using the “Customize Icon Bar” or “Customize Shortcuts” feature in that area. Unfortunately, not all areas and types of transactions are listed in this section (we will address this below). The best way to access this customization screen is to hover over the icon / shortcut bar and right-click. In QuickBooks 2012 and earlier versions, there is also a double arrow at the far right of that bar that you can also use to access this area. Once on the Customize Icon Bar screen, you can add new ones, edit a label or icon, or delete unnecessary icons.
To add new icons:
• Select Add
• Scroll left to find an area or transaction that you want to add.
• In the center section, the default icon for this area will have a box around it. You can make an alternative selection if you want
• The default label and description will appear on the right. This can also be modified
• Once you have made your selections, click OK.
If you want to move the icons up / down (2013) or left / right (2012 ..) click the diamond to the left of the icon and reorder. This is the same as other list items in QuickBooks software.
To remove icons, simply highlight that section and click remove.
Now for the things that are not listed on the Personalize screen. Open the window of the transaction or area that you want to add to your icon bar. One idea is the Calendar. For some reason, this area is included in the icon bar when you start a new company for the first time, but it is not available to add in the customization area if it was deleted by mistake.
For this example, let’s open the calendar from the company menu.
From the View menu, select Add “Calendar” to Icon Bar.
Once this is done, you will have access to it in the Personalization area to change its location and / or label.
Note: The new 2013 user interface works the same way as previous versions, so don’t be confused by the phrase “My shortcuts” when you see the icon bar on the left of the screen. Also, if you keep the icon bar in this area, you won’t be able to add separators or icons just like you would if you moved it back to the top of the screen. I noticed that the section is grayed out in the image above.