We recently posted our step-by-step guide to conducting your mid-year financial review and if you’re in the process of organising and optimising your finances, some of our favourite shortcuts below can help save you time and make you feel like a pro using your favourite cloud accounting software!
Time-Saving Tips For Xero
Xero offers lots of functionality via shortcuts, which can be extremely helpful for seasoned accountants and beginners alike.
Navigational Shortcuts
Pressing the forward-slash (/) key on any screen can make it easier to navigate the platform, e.g. /a will take you to the accounts list, /d will take you to the dashboard, and /i will take you to invoices. Pressing the tab key instead of a letter will also let you cycle through all the options on each page so you can familiarise yourself with the available shortcuts and help you navigate seamlessly in the future.
Transactional Shortcuts
To speed up the data entry process, Xero comes with a wealth of shortcuts used and loved by our accounting team. Some of the best include *[number] which sets the date to next month, e.g. we’re writing this in July, so typing *15 would set the date to August 15th. For the first of any month, you can use the format [month]/[year], e.g. [02/2024], to save you typing out the full date, and you can use the + or – before a number to set dates into the future or the backdate to the past. You can also speed up transaction entry by using the forward-slash button, e.g. /i to create a new invoice.
Reporting Shortcuts
View reports more quickly using the /r command to access the reports menu where you can generate a range of different reports to assist your company’s decision-makers. You can also do some quick math for reports or invoices using +, -, *, and / within cells of Xero and Xero will do the calculation for you!
Best Windows & Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Xero
- Ctrl+Enter / ⌘+Enter: Save a record
- Ctrl+Tab / ⌘+Tab: Move between tabs
- Ctrl+Shift+Tab / ⌘+Shift+Tab: Move back between tabs
- Alt+Enter / ⌘+Enter: Edit a field
- Ctrl+T / ⌘+T: Open a new tab
- Ctrl+Backspace / ⌘+Backspace: Delete whole word
- Ctrl+A / ⌘+A: Select all
- Ctrl+C / ⌘+C: Copy
- Ctrl+V / ⌘+V: Paste
- Ctrl+Z / ⌘+Z: Undo
- Ctrl+Y / ⌘+Y: Redo
See all shortcuts on the Xero website. (And did you know you can also export reports in Google Sheets directly from Xero – now that’s handy!)
Time-Saving Tips For Sage
Sage accounting software offers numerous shortcuts to help accountants and office admins work more efficiently.
Navigational Shortcuts
Sage 50 and Sage 200 make use of what are known as “global shortcuts” – these can be used on any page within the software and include options such as F5 (or fn+F5 if you’re on a laptop) to refresh the page you’re on, or F7 (fn+F7) to check your spelling when editing reports or invoices. You can also use Ctrl-P (⌘+P) to print any page you’re on (or simply export to PDF).
Transactional Shortcuts
Sage uniquely offers the option to store an invoice as a recurring transaction using Ctrl+T (⌘+R), or to recall a recurring transaction using Ctrl+R (⌘+R). This can help you save time setting up recurring transactions manually as well as fix errors.
Best Windows & Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Sage
- Enter: Save a record
- Alt+Enter: Edit a field
- F2: Edit a field
- Tab: Move to the next field
- Shift+Tab: Move to the previous field
- Ctrl+A / ⌘+A: Select all
- Ctrl+C / ⌘+C: Copy
- Ctrl+V / ⌘+V: Paste
- Ctrl+Z / ⌘+Z: Undo
- Ctrl+Y / ⌘+Y: Redo
See all shortcuts on the Sage website.
Time-Saving Tips For QuickBooks
As a widely-used piece of accounting software, QuickBooks offers a range of shortcuts to help boost your productivity and enable you to transact quicker (see what we did there?).
Navigational Shortcuts
QuickBooks comes with a range of navigational options including ones common to other accounting software, making it feel more familiar to accounting teams. You can use shortcuts such as Ctrl+N (⌘+N) to create a new item in the menu you’re in, edit details using Ctrl+E (⌘+E), or delete a selected item by using Ctrl+D (⌘+D). You can also use F3 (fn+F3 on a laptop) to open the search window and look for customer accounts, transactions and more; or use Ctrl+F (⌘+F) in the transactions window to look for a specific invoice.
Transactional Shortcuts
QuickBooks offers additional nifty shortcuts for specific functions such as memorising a form and its transactions using Ctrl+M (⌘+M), opening the memorised transaction list using Ctrl+T (⌘+T), and creating a new invoice using Ctrl+i (⌘+i). These can save you several button clicks and make creating new invoices a breeze.
Best Windows & Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for QuickBooks
- Enter: Save a record
- Ctrl+Ins / ⌘+ins: Add a new transaction line
- Ctrl+Del / ⌘+Del: Delete selected translation line
- Tab: Move to the next field
- Alt+S: Save current form and close
- Ctrl+A / ⌘+A: Select all
- Ctrl+C / ⌘+C: Copy
- Ctrl+V / ⌘+V: Paste
- Ctrl+Z / ⌘+Z: Undo
- Ctrl+Y / ⌘+Y: Redo
See all shortcuts on the QuickBooks website.
Time is a valuable asset for accountants, so familiarising yourself with some of the shortcuts we’ve listed above can significantly improve your productivity and efficiency. Xero, Sage, and QuickBooks offer a range of time-saving shortcuts to help companies streamline their workflow and focus on higher-value tasks. Speak to our team to learn more about how we can help your business achieve its financial goals.
Contact MMG Chartered Accountants
Cloud accounting solutions offer substantial benefits to businesses of all sizes and in any region. Take advantage of the benefits that cloud accounting offers and elevate your business to new heights of success with MMG Chartered Accountants by contacting our team at mail@mmgca.co.uk or calling your local branch.