SmartVault and QuickBooks Document Management

SmartVault has designed its paperless solution from the ground up to offer features and functionality our customers need, wrapped up in a very clean, simple to use, integrated interface that delivers an award winning, affordable document management solution to accountants, bookkeepers, and businesses. We believe SmartVault delivers greater functionality and an overall better user experience than the "Attached Documents" feature in QuickBooks 2010 and 2011.

Intuit released QuickBooks 2012 to its Gold software development partners on September 12th, 2011, and the SmartVault quality engineering team has completed its initial round of compatibility testing. More information about QuickBooks 2012 can be found here. We will continue to update this information as we complete our testing.

For an in depth review of document management capabilities in QuickBooks 2010, QuickBooks 2011 and QuickBooks 2012, we recommend checking out a review by Charlie Russell, founder of CCR Software and a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor. QuickBooks 2012 Document Management Is Changing Again!

Consider these major advantages of SmartVault when compared with QuickBooks Attached Documents:

• Work Faster with SmartVault
• SmartVault Isn't Just for QuickBooks
• Map a Drive to SmartVault
• Create a Custom Branded Document Portal
• Your Documents Belong to You—Not to Your Software
• Snapshots of QuickBooks Company Files
• Relentless Focus on User Experience
• Key Benefits for Accountants
• Solutions for Resellers and Intuit Advisors
• Works Better in a Hosted QuickBooks Environment

Work Faster in QuickBooks with SmartVault

• Documents are uploaded in the background so you can continue working while uploading files
• Drag-and-drop email messages and attachments from Microsoft Outlook
• Leverage a consistent Toolbar plug-in that always works the same way, every time
• Enjoy a user interface that is designed for responsiveness - with background updates and document uploading so you can keep working
• Skip steps and repetitive dialogs by disabling confirmations for attachments

SmartVault Isn't Just for QuickBooks

SmartVault is not just for documents that are attached to QuickBooks entries. With SmartVault, you can store and share any, or all, of your documents. Intuit is emphasizing this by moving away from a more general use of this feature, as can be seen by the fact that they renamed this product from "QuickBooks DMS" (for "document management system") to "QuickBooks Attached Documents." Why have one repository for your documents attached to QuickBooks entries, and another to store and share all your other documents? With SmartVault, you get both. Plus, SmartVault integrates with QuickBooks versions 2006 and later, so no matter what version of QuickBooks you work on, you can use SmartVault to attach, view and share files with a single solution.

Map a Drive to SmartVault - Directly Access Files from a PC, Mac, iPad, or Smart Phone

Easily browse, upload, and download documents by simply mapping a drive letter to SmartVault. You now have the ability to save documents from your favorite applications right into SmartVault. Go ahead and use SmartVault just like any other network share or local hard drive so you can drag-and-drop or "Save to" SmartVault from any Windows application. Drive mapping is also available on any smart phone, Mac, Linux, or Unix computer that has a WebDav client—including Apple's iPhone, iPad, and Google Android.

Create Your Own Custom Branded Document Portal

Customize the SmartVault portal with your own logo, sub-domain name, and color schemes to match your own corporate web site. Present a more professional-looking brand to your customers, clients, and business partners with an easy, safe and regulatory-compliant way to share documents over the Internet.

Your Documents Belong to You—Not to Your Software

SmartVault gives you the ability to make a copy of all your files, or retrieve them from the SmartVault system at anytime, at no charge. So if you decide to stop using the service, or just want to make a back-up copy of your files, it's a no-brainer. With QuickBooks Attached Documents, the only way to do this is to go through each document one-by-one and make a manual copy. So if you've got lots of files in Attached Documents, you're more or less locked in, unless you want to devote lots of time and energy to manually copying your documents. At SmartVault, we are committed to the principle that your documents belong to you, so they should be easy for you to access and archive, anytime and from anywhere.

Snapshots of QuickBooks Company Files

Use SmartVault to automatically backup your QuickBooks company data files. This will ensure that you always have a backup of your latest QuickBooks data in a secure, off-site location. Now, you can easily restore company files from these backup files or use this unique feature to access your most recent QuickBooks company file when you are away from the office—anywhere you have a network connection. This is a great way to backup and share your QuickBooks company files.

Relentless Focus on User Experience

At SmartVault, we place tremendous importance on creating a positive user experience because we know that if it's not simple to use, you won't use it. That's why SmartVault has been optimized to help you work faster via a best-in-class user experience:

• Leverage the SmartVault Toolbar that always appears in the same place and works the same way
• Drag-and-drop your documents, email, and attachments directly to the Toolbar
• Upload files in the background, meaning you can get back to work immediately after attaching a document
• Attach documents to new entries without saving them first
• Turn off confirmations for faster document uploading
• See at-a-glance how many documents are attached with the folder icon
• Enjoy a user interface that responds quickly and does not slow down QuickBooks

Key Benefits for Accountants

• Streamline workflow. Set your clients up with the SmartVault Inbox to let them scan documents easily—including one-touch scanning with the Fujitsu ScanSnap line of scanners. The client dashboard offers at-a-glance views of document activity among all client vaults - including documents waiting in the Inbox and urgent notes—so managing your daily workflow among clients is easy and intuitive.
• Improve security and stay in compliance. You can securely share documents with a client portal solution you can custom-brand, making SmartVault appear to be another part of your own corporate web site. This improves your security compliance posture in light of new regulations from the IRS and improves the brand of you firm with your clients, presenting a professional-looking client portal to your clients. You can also use SmartVault as your own internal document management solution, and choose which files to keep private and which files to share with your clients via our secure document portal. Store and share any or all of your documents, which are available anytime, anywhere with SmartVault.
• Support for more versions of QuickBooks. The QuickBooks attached documents feature only works with QuickBooks 2010 and 2011. SmartVault works with all desktop versions of QuickBooks starting with QuickBooks 2006.

Solutions for Resellers and Advisors

You can join the SmartVault Affiliate Program and earn commissions for referring SmartVault to your clients and customers. We will provide you with a free copy of our software, training, materials, and an Affiliate Portal to help you manage and track referral activity. In comparison, you get no such support from Intuit and lack the opportunity to earn commissions with QuickBooks Attached Documents.

Works Better in a Hosted QuickBooks Environment

If you or your clients use a hosted environment for your desktop and QuickBooks, using a local scanner with QuickBooks Attached Documents will be difficult if not impossible. Using QuickBooks Attached Documents in a hosted environment requires scanning documents to a local computer and then manually uploading them one-by-one via file transfer or the Document Center. Customers in a hosted QuickBooks environment using SmartVault can use a local scanner to upload documents directly to the SmartVault Inbox, making them available for processing in QuickBooks. See a list of SmartVault hosting partners.

We value our customer and partner community and have continued to evolve our paperless solution for QuickBooks largely based on your feedback. We are thrilled at the market adoption of SmartVault and will continue to work with our customers and partners to deliver an integrated solution that allows users to work smarter with the applications they're already using today.