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Product Description

MODEL- ITICD00794WI VENDOR- INTUIT, INC. FEATURES- QuickBooks Pro 2004- for Windows QuickBooks: Pro 2004 has advanced financial management tools and customization options to help boost efficiency and accuracy. It includes all the features of Basic 2004, plus much more. Increase Your Efficiency... E-mail QuickBooks forms and reports and save as PDFs (New). E-mail more forms and reports right from QuickBooks. In addition to invoices, statements, and estimates, you can now e-mail purchase orders, sales orders, sales receipts, credit memos, and reports - all right from QuickBooks. You can save forms and reports as a PDF format, so theyll look professional when your customers, vendors, or accountant views or prints them. Send shipments easily with QuickBooks Shipping Manager. Save time and help reduce errors by processing FedEx shipments and creating shipping labels right from QuickBooks invoices. Plus, you can save with special FedEx shipping rates! Share QuickBooks data among users on your network. Up to five users can simultaneously work in QuickBooks Pro across a local area network. The users can also work on the same company file at the same time. You can set different levels of access permissions for each user and assign each a password, so your data is secure. Save Time on Data Entry... Quickly import data from Microsoft Excel (New). Import Microsoft Excel data into QuickBooks, including customer lists, vendor lists, item lists, and other important information. Just assign each column in your Ex

Customer Reviews:

• Greedy company and OK software
  BR>I have been using Quickbooks for more than 4 years and it does everything I need to run my consulting company.
  Having said that - I hate using Intuit software and wish there was an alternative that can import Quickbook files directly to make the transition possible. The alternative is to key-in every transaction from the last 5 years...
  I just upgraded from QB2001 Pro. Not because I wanted to, but because Intuit used blackmail to force me. They are going to stop supporting the Payroll on QB2001, while making it impossible to do it maually. You have the choice of buying the QB2004 which does not have any significant improvement over the QB2001 or lose the ability to do your payroll.
  The only advertised feature that I liked was the ability to import transactions directly from your bank. However, even here Intuit managed to antagonize me by making this feature useless. Unlike all other financial programs (Money, Quicken...) QB2004 requires a special download file format that is incompatible with the formats banks use regularly. As a result, Bank of America (with Intuit's cooperation) is charging $17.95 per month for the privilege of downloading the data in this special format (other formats download free). With our average of 25 banking transactions a month that comes to over $0.70 each. This is simple greed on their part (I will be looking for another bank as well).
  American express, for example, does not charge anything extra for this service.
  Other problems:
  * I ordered my QB2004 copy on 12/4/03. When I tried to check status one hour later I found (on the website) that there was no record of my transaction. I called Sales (long wait) and was told that the order was received. At this point I told her that I want to cancel and buy at a local store. The answer was that it was too late since the order was already sent to the warehouse and they cannot communicate with it. However, I could return it later at their expense. So I went and bought it at Costco for 60% of Intuit's price. After 2 weeks I got email telling me that the software was being shipped, a week later an apology for the delay, and then nothing. As of today (1/6/04) I have not received it. Great performance for a software company.
  * Intuit's so-called Support is the ultimate greed trip. They will not talk to you before they get your credit card number. Then they will decide if your issue deserves the limited installation or known bug free support. They do not offer e-mail support and their "knowledge base" is practically useless.
  * Almost any activity in QB2004 generates some sales pitch. There is no way to turn this off (like MS Money).
  * And it is buggy. I found-out that QB2004 remains in memory after you exit (using more than 52MB) doing who-knows-what in the background. As I said, 'Support' was useless so I still have no idea how to free that memory except through the Windows task manager (ctl alt delete).

  Summary: Adequate program sold by a greedy and incompetent company. Don't get sucked into it if you have a choice....more info

• Great Product
  I am a small business owner that recently switch from Simply Accounting to QuickBooks Pro after one year and I felt compelled to let you all know this is a marvelous product. It is a very powerful software that can be customized to meet the needs of most small business.

  I was extremely please with its ability to quickly create customized invoices, statements, do comparative analysis and generates various graphs. Additionally, accounting or data entry mistakes can be quickly corrected or permanently removed.

  If you have decided to purchase this product, I strongly recommend seeking assistance/training from a certified Quickbooks expert in your area. This will certainly make your experience pleasant and rewarding...more info

• Rebate Info--Don't Be Fooled
  Note that the $100 Rebate is for UPGRADES only. It is a bit deceiving when you purchase your QuickBooks, it is for those who had previous versionsof QuickBooks only....more info
• Excellent Software for Accountants
  Excellent software for Accountants. It is excellent for establishing and managing accounts....more info
• Run! Run!! Run for your life!!!
  I used this product back when it was in its 1.0 for DOS days. Back then, it was a great application. Designed to make double-entry accounting accessible to those of us who don't really know a credit from a debit, it did everything I needed it to do, simply.
  
  It is now mostly an advertisement for add-on products. It still comes with the basic features, although many are no longer so simple, but so many of the feature buttons just take you to a web-based, "You can buy this add-on here now!" type site.
  
  It's no longer intuitive either. The design is such that many common features (i.e. Receive Payment) are not available on the myriad buttons all over the screen. (Those are reserved for add-on products.) You have to navigate around things to find the simple functions you need.
  
  Finally, gone are the days when you could get some level of decent free support for the software. I'm not talking about, telephone support, or significant hand-holding. I'm talking about things like Newsgroups. Places where people can ask questions and get ideas from other people. Microsoft has that. Intuit doesn't. Instead, if you want to ask anything beyond, "how do I install this?", you have to pay for a freakin' service plan! And it's not just a one-time $100+ fee either. After that, you have to pay them a monthly too!
  
  I'm not sure what I'm going to switch to, but this product just bites. I'm getting out. In short, my advice is stay faaaaar away from these guys....more info
• Forced to Upgrade to this Inferior Product
  Intuit forced me to upgrade from a very stable QB2001 product in order to continue to process payroll. Now, our custom utility to import shopping cart orders via IIF files no longer work. We follow the help file to no avail. We download Intuit's own examples and even Intuit's examples fail in 2004. Basically, Intuit's greed to get my $150 for an upgrade is now costing me hundreds per day as we have to manually re-key orders....more info
• Disappointed in Intuit's policies ruining a great product
  The ability to email invoices and statements to customers and then provide them with a login page to view their history should have saved me lots of time and money. If I am to upgrade to a new version of Quickbooks and then pay a monthly fee for the deluxe online billing service, the only thing I expect is the full functionality they advertise and a professional image that it would portray.

  Instead, their Terms of Use state that, "From time to time, Intuit may promote and/or advertise other products and services through the Online Service, including but not limited to placement of Content and/or links to other sites or resources within Online Service forms, invoices and statements."

  They have the right to advertise to me all they want, since I was a regular customer of their products, however trying to market through invoices and statements is ridiculous. They need to use their quickbooks users to advertise for them, not potentially bring down my reputation with my customers.

  My review focused on this since it was the single reason I got the software and subsequently returned it. Don't get your customers hooked on something and then have to pull it. Export your quickbooks data to a database and have someone set up a SSL webpage for your customers to view their invoices and statement. Access or Filemaker would both work for this task.

  The rest of 2004 pro was fine, but not worth the upgrade....more info

• Greedy Intuit will milk you for every penny!
  If you use the Payroll Tax service, BEWARE: Just a few years ago it was $50 annually to subscribe to the payroll tax service. In 1999 it went up to $79. Then in 2001 it doubled to $149. In 2003 it went to $169 and in 2004 they have just announced they are raising it to $199 annually. Each time they remind you that "it's still a great value!" (Peachtree plays this same game). On top of that, they retire ("sunset") old versions every 2 to 3 years. So expect to buy Quickbooks 4-5 times over the next 10 years. They will continue to play this game until customers drop off in droves and/or someone steps up with a better offer.
  
  Update 2007: Payroll Tax Service is now at $350!...more info
• Quickbooks 2004 Pro
  QuickBooks 2004 Pro is modest improvement over the incredibly lame version that QB2000 was. The problem with the preceding statement is that Intuit is finally, albeit very slowly, brining QuickBooks up to the level of functionality that most professional grade software has had 3-4 years earlier. Given the price they charge for the package one would assume a very polished, professional level package which in my opinion is not the case.
  
  Moreover the requirement of having to integrate with Internet Explorer and the corresponding reduced security settings makes it a significant security issue particularly in professional and business settings. As a professional IT consultant I need a basic package to track my business and have adopted QuickBooks by default early on believing it to be a good package given the popularity. A condition that has proved largely false unfortunately. The best I can say is that the package does get the basics I need done and given at the moment I don't have the time to review and test other alternatives I'm stuck with using this.
  
  
  Lastly, as others have indicated, I really don't care for the constant self promotion Intuit has integrated into the package. I wouldn't object to something perhaps in the help area that lets on see other offerings etc. by choice. The inclusion of self promoting links within the package that appear as possible links to help areas is both annoying and modestly deceptive.
  Intuit has garnered a large market share in the lower end accounting arena. They would do a good service to their longer term prospects and to their clients by making significant improvements in the package and COMPLETELY ELIMINATING the need to integrate with Internet Explorer....more info
• Not so Friendly
  This is the first time I am using the Quickbooks software package but I have to say it is a real peice of junk. Has anyone in this company heard of user friendlyness? For example there's no undo button so if I make a mistake I have to create an offseting entry, I really wish there was somthing else (different software package) I could use but I don't even know where to look. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know....more info
• Great for small businesses
  A great product for any small business...more info
• QuickBooks Pro 2004
  New features lured me to upgrade from QB 2001. The ability to email documents caught my attention. I discovered that the email feature in PDF format only utilizes Intuit servers so you keep no copy of the email note attached and Intuit now has yours and your customer's email addresses. In addition you have to register to use their servers and they need your telephone for all their associate businesses. Hope you have plenty of time for talking to solicitors because that is what you do if you enter your telephone number which you have to do if you want to utilize the email feature. Read the privacy statement and you will likely not care to use the feature. I don't know how they have the nerve to call it a privacy statement. QB software now over-rides Windows color scheme and forces you to use a pukie green header on each window. I just noticed another printer installed called "Intuit Internal Printer". I'm not sure what that is about. I've seen several pop up advertisements in the software. I recommend disabling the automatic updates or you will be bombarded with pop ups. Other than that, Intuit needs to take an ethics course. Everything I had before upgrading seems to function so I'm thankful for that....more info
• Pay now, pay later, always pay
  Be aware that the product you buy today will be 'sunsetted' in a few years, if it lasts that long. And they only offer a token discount to upgrade. There is no value in being a repeat customer because they show no consideration for your loyalty. I don't view their decision to discontinue support for a product as an effort to provide better customer service, but rather an excellent way for them to substantially increase revenue without regard for the consumer. The idea of them requiring you to pay for a newer version of the software so they won't be overburdened servicing their own product blows my mind....more info
• Tax Table Subscription is expensive.
  I haven't had any significant problems with the software and it realitivly simple to use, but the tax table update subscribtion is $199.00 per year!...more info
• Very Good Small Business Starter Accoounting Software
  Product exceeds my expectations and arrived in a timely fashion. Very happy with both shipment and service, along with a great product. I highly recommend this to all customers for a future purchase. It is a good starter kit for a small business with under 20 employees, but more then that a more rebust package may be needed....more info
• Upgrading from QB2002 has cost me thousands of $
  Our family owned, consumer electronics install company, has used 3 differant versions of QB since 1995. Each upgrade prior to buying QB2004 went smooth. Since our company is replacing our main computer and the QB 2002 disk is MIA after a fire at our business (saved all the records because we regularly back up onto zip drive); we decided to purchase QB2004.
  After loading 2004, the problems began! Every few days a customer that bought and paid for something 3 to 4 years ago, shows up in the accounts receivable as owing money. Yet when you look at the customer' s account register it shows the customer paid the correct amount. And when we try to delete the customer's transactions so we can reenter them and possibly clear the problem; an error message pops up which says "C=75 this program will shut down - contact program maker" When we call Intuit they won't talk to us about a product defect unless we pay an additional $279.00 for a year of support! You would think after paying over $200.00 for a software program you would be entiltled to at least 90 days free support &/or warranty.
  We also noticed that our attempts to deleate these stray transactions have screwed up our checking account register which took 2 people 2 days to find these deposit entries are still in the register but the progam does not add or subtract them from the total. Now I'm paying 3 people for about 5 full days to re key in about 2.5 months of business entered in QB 2004 into QB 2002. We bought a used copy off of ebay, put it in new computer, restored our back up of our files that we made in QB 2002 format (prior to converting them to 2004 format) and now have to rekey in about 500 enteries so that we can stick with QB 2002 which has served us fine!
  I will be looking in to competivive accounting software to switch to begining our next physical year! ...more info
• There is a reason the pro's use this..
  Because they are pro's in their field. If you hire an outside bookkeeper or accountant, you will find that most of them use QuickBooks. The complaints that I am reading are from business owners who truly believe that buying a piece of software is going to educate them and they will (poof) become good accountants or bookkeepers !!
  The ability to use a piece of software DOES NOT make you a bookkeeper or accountant, that is only achieved with education OR good on-the-job training and experience !!
  
  ...more info
• Unwanted "Upgrade" a "Degrade" w/Payroll Tax Errors!
  I was a very satisfied Quickbooks Pro 2001 user. Program did everything I wanted and needed with no problems or issues. Was forced to buy Quickbooks Pro 2004 in order to continue to be able to do payroll. Not happy with Intuit about that move. You would think that with the Cdilla fiasco last year in Turbotax, Intuit would be changing its tune. Greedy company totally destroying the goodwill it had built up over many years.

  Quickbooks Pro 2004 is a bloated program that runs more slowly than 2001. Maybe it has more features than 2001, but nothing I would use. When I tried to cut a payroll check, 2004 screwed up my payroll taxes by not including my Medicare taxes! Glad I caught that one and manually overrode before I ended up with payroll penalties! This was after I ensured I had the latest updates. 2001 never had any of these problems.

  I am just about fed up with Intuit and will be looking for an alternative to Quickbooks next time....more info

• Vast improvement over previous versions
  And it is much better than doing things by hand. I went from spending hours and hours tracking my small business finances, to just a few minutes a week. It is wonderful software. There is nothing really bad I have to say about it other than there is a small learning curve. I do my payroll and quarterly tax reports all directly from within Quickbooks. All my finances are tracked and the report generation features are very powerful. If you are starting a business, or already have one, I highly recommend this software. It simplifies things tremendously....more info
• It all depends on where you're coming from.
  If you don't mind being manipulated and having Intuit suck money out of your business on a long term basis, Quickbooks is worth considering. Also, Quickbooks is a standard double entry accounting system. If you have a small business and you know little or nothing about accounting, you're probably better off hiring an external bookkeeping, payroll, and/or accounting service. It might even be less expensive, and certainly less time consuming, in the long run....more info
• Pocket Quickbook
  Quickbook is really a fanastic product although there is much disapprovment on the review site. Quickbook is great, just that Quickbook is trying too hard to squeeze evey cents from the existing customer with their distractive advert. Whatever, Quickbook is one of the best buget accounting software in the market. If you use it enough, you may find something missing in Quickbook. Its usefulness is limited to the office. Now you can extend your Quickbook to PDA such as PocketPC.
  
  If you are in a retail business, Pocket Quickbook enables you enter bill and receive your inventory. You no longer confined to your desktop to use Quickbook. You have the convenience to scan a product and know immediate how many you have sold last night, last week or even last month. And you then make a purchase order. Easy? You can be as information productive as 7 Eleven even if you own only 1 outlet!
  
  If you are in a service business, Pocket Quickbook enables you to issue invoices to customer away from the desktop. Be it at your showroom, your customer site or your favourite Starbuck! Get instant information on your customer payment, balance and contact out in the field.
  
  Visit http://www.doitech.com/member.htm to download the trial version now! It is free. If you like most customer who beg for a similar accounting software but without the "hazard" of Intuit, then write an email to sales@doitech.com They have a accounting software that could import most of Quickbook data. You can tell them what you use most often on your Quickbook. What are the necessary functions that you need. Your input determine the new accounting software that uses your old Quickbook data without all the advert service and priced at only US$49/-. Importantly it make Quickbook PDA convenience...
  
  Thank you...
  ...more info
• Improved over 2002 version
  For the most part, there has been some negative sentiment and reviews from users regarding their purchases of Quickbooks Pro 2004. It was enough to concern me to think whether I should purchase the program or not. Those reviews were not regarding installation problems or conflicts on their computers. They were complaints regarding Intuit designing the newer programs with traps in the program that would require you to purchase additional services. It is true that there are fees for running payroll annually but I don't use it so no $$$ lost. Actually there are two problems I have come across. The first: when making payments, an icon appears right alongside your payment that wants you to order checks from Intuit. You cannot eliminate this option but have to dig through help and look in a very hidden location to place a proposed check number when you want to be reminded again. I put in 9999 so I probably won't hear from it for a long time. Of course many may find this reminder helpful. I suppose I will, but personally I become offended when I can't turn on or off the preferences. The second problem is in emailing forms and reports. This is another option my 2002 version did not have. The problem is that when you click on emailing the report, a quickbooks browser opens and takes you to an intuit site where you have to login and before things got worse, I disconnected. They should allow you to simply attach to outlook express if anything. What is a plus with this update version is that reports can be saved in pdf format (adobe acrobat) and you can manually email these attachments yourself. I like and have used this option!
  
  This program is a very helpful tool in our real estate business where I can keep track and make reports of all properties. For those not familiar with the software, when you desire to enter an expense, a screen will appear that looks like a check. This check can either be printed on the intuit or third party checks or you can unclick "print" and write out your own check and just use this area to enter the expenses. You enter the payee, $$$, date and information in the lower section of the amount(s) from that same check that you want to enter into one or more categories or across many classes. For example, if I want to pay John the handiman $500 for work on properties, I can allocate $200 to "accounts" for electrical, $100 for painting and $200 for roofing, any accounts which you can personally set up. Further, if a portion of the payment is for another property address, I simply click on the appropriate property I have originally entered way back under "class" and separate the $$$ proportionately. Another column is available for entering the "job" so I can keep track of a specific project. Virtually every conceivable option is available for keeping proper track of expenses. When I deposit rent checks, I simply click on "make deposits" and enter the click on the tenant's name in the dropdown list and allocate the payment to the "class" or property. Again easy to keep complete track of expense and income. At the end of the year, I email the backup program to our accountant and he finshes the tax forms. Bank account balances can be kept and basis for properties for the long term.
  
  Of course, if you are using this program for the first time, you enter a lot of information on various introductory screens to customize the program for your type of business.
  
  As far as installation, I already had Quickbooks Pro 2002 installed. The instructions say to install right over top of the old program so the old information can be converted over. Screens appear that comfortable tell you what is going to happen. I would recommend backing everything up prior to upgrading. All went well.
  
  I am very satisfied with the program. I was reluctant to try Peachtree since they say you can't keep more than 2 years of information readily open to see or modify prior to archiving (there seems to be no limit here unless your backup file gets too big- I'm at 600kb and climbing right now). I will give this rating 4 stars since I am satisfied with the program. If there would be more useful and exciting changes, I would have given it a perfect rating. Feel comfortable in purchasing this program....more info