This article introduces the new user interface features included with QuickBooks Pro/Premier 2008 and later.

The Home page gives you one-click access to all of your most important QuickBooks activities, all in one place—from invoicing and writing cheques to making deposits and reconciling bank accounts. It presents a big picture view of how everything fits together, with arrows to guide you from one task to the next. QuickBooks previously showed these activities in multiple navigators, but the new Home page consolidates key activities in one place. The Home page also lets you see account balances, updated automatically as you work. And if you want to hide these balances for privacy, just click the minus button next to the Account Balances list.

The QuickBooks Centres consolidate all the key information about your customers, suppliers, and employees. To access the centres, click the Supplier Centre, Customer Centre, and Employee Centre icons on the toolbar at the top of the QuickBooks window. From the Centres, you can:

• Click on a name to get immediate access to contact information for customers, suppliers, or employees.

• View and edit transaction information in the same window, such as open invoices, unpaid bills, or paychecks.

• See a summary list of customers, suppliers, or employees, or click the maximise button to see more columns.

• View and edit notes about the customer, supplier, or employee while you are viewing other relevant information.

The centres let you do these tasks (and more!) in a single location, rather than having to run separate reports to get the information.