Using quickbooks for Mac on multiple computers? Will it allow 3 installs?

[iSign]

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I've been using QBP on my PC's for 15 years, and have it loaded on a half dozen machines for my convenience. It's never open on 2 machines at once & I'm careful to keep track of the one up to date file, whenever I open it elsewhere.

Anyway, my brother and I are going to have to help my mom with the bookkeeping chore of paying her monthly bills, and because of my 18 years of experience with QBP, I bought the Mac version to set up her payments.

Ideally though, I'd like to be able to have the software accessed by my brother in Seattle, me in Maui, AND my mom or sister in Chicago! Like many software titles, it is sold with the license that states 2 computers only, but at $250, and just using it for paying bills, I don't want to get a second License just so my sister can show my mom that hers bills are caught up, so I'm hoping the 3rd install will still work, like it does with my PC...

anyone know for certain, from personal experience?

Thanks

 

[paul luszcz]

We have three QB for Mac licenses and they use a very different approach to multi users. There is a separate program called Quickbooks Server which manages the users and will NOT let you open a copy that exceeds the number of licenses you own.

I'm not sure how you access the database from around the country (we use "Back to my Mac" because our VPN is impossible to setup) but even when accessing remotely it will not let us open a fourth copy.

The good news is we paid less than $300 for all three, so a little shopping around could solve your problem.

 

[iSign]

Wow, what kind of shopping are we talking about, Craigslist, or new software?

I paid $250 yesterday at best buy, which I'm sure I could return (here visiting my mom in Chicago this week) and I spoke to Intuit, where it was confirmed that I can run the software on 2 computers. They also offered a promotional $50 off for a second license...

...but I never heard about "Quickbooks server", so I think I need to look that up.
It reminds me of when I had "Outlook Express" set up on several workstations, but only mine had "download from server" checked, so I could count on my inbox getting everything, even if an employee opened the program before I did.. BUT I also had set a policy to not send emails from other workstations because I wanted the valuable resource of an accurate and complete "sent mail" folder... and getting to the point, it was a huge deal when I learned about "Outlook Exchange" as a server based alternative that allowed unlimited installations of free copies of Outlook to be installed anywhere, all of which sync up with the server... which has been a huge improvement since say one!

Anyway, just like the "Outlook" software was free when I went server based, maybe QBP is cheaper in this server based environment...

I'll try checking in to it, but let me know if you have any more clues how I can get licenses below $200 each!

Thanks Paul!

 

[earplug]

Why not just use http://quickbooks.intuit.com/online ? It would solve all of the licensing and access issues. Plus you don't need to worry about Mac or PC.

 

[Vinylman]

Doug:


You might try this IF you are using Mac equipment.

http://www.amazon.com/QuickBooks-Mac-2013-Download-VERSION/dp/B008S0ITMK

 

[paul luszcz]

Doug, that's what I bought about a year ago, but I paid $100 less. I don't know if the price varies at different times on Amazon.

Anyway, if you're changing from QB for Windows to QB for Mac, be prepared for a number of missing features and more importantly, a significant number of bugs. I expected the bugs to be reduced over the year with 14 updates, but not one I noticed has. Some of them are pretty significant, like using memorized checks crashing the system.

QB Online has a maximum item size which we exceeded significantly after 20 years of using QB. QB for Mac has a file size limit of 200mb, which we also exceeded, but Intuit condensed our file (to six years of data) so we could import it into QB for Mac.

And after using QB for Mac for just one year, we are now switching to SageOne (old Peachtree) Online because QB for Mac has made too many accounting errors (like allowing the General Ledger to be out of balance) and our accountant is fed up with it.

Paul