Find what you need fast with Keyword Search for QuickBooks

This add-on to QuickBooks creates a KeySearch menu option when installed, and lets you quickly search your QuickBooks data to find things like serial numbers.

Getting started with Keyword Search for Quickbooks

First, click on the download link and run the installer. If you were running QuickBooks, exit and restart. You'll see a new menu option next to Help called Innovation Add-ins, and Keyword Search is in that menu.

The first time you use Keyword Search, it indexes your QuickBooks data. It doesn't directly affect your QB data file, rather it creates a separate file for each company that you index. This initial index can take from several minutes to more than an hour, depending on the amount of QuickBooks data that you have. The tool will give you an estimated indexing time before you begin.

There is a checkbox that will be automatically checked the first time you select the KeySearch menu option. To increase the speed of the search results, the Keyword Search tool will refresh the indexes during the first daily use (refreshed with new, deleted, or modified data from the QB data file). You can click this Refresh Indexes checkbox to force it to refresh if, you've updated QB data and you want to find what they updated.

You're ready to search!. Just type something to find, anything. Amounts, names, descriptions, memos, notes, etc. When the results are shown, you can click on any colored, underlined text to jump directly to that data in QuickBooks.

If it turns out this does not meet your needs, you uninstall it by going to the Control Panel, selecting Add/Remove Programs, and clicking Change/Remove next Keyword Search for QuickBooks.

Notes and known issues with Keyword Search for QuickBooks

• QuickBooks 2007 has implemented a search feature based on the knowledge gained from this tool. If you have the 2007 or later version of QuickBooks, you can try the Google Desktop Search feature in QuickBooks, although some people still prefer Keyword Search.
• Not all types of inventory items are indexed. If you click on the setup button, you'll see what categories are indexed.
• This works with Google Desktop Search: Keysearch will display Google Desktop results below QB data results if you check that box (just below the Refresh indexes checkbox).
• If you are running Keyword Search on Windows Vista, you will need to make sure that your Internet Explorer security settings are set to default, or at least not more restrictive. ActiveX controls need to be allowed on local web pages for KS to work properly.

How to get help

If something comes up that you need help with, just post a comment right here.

How Keyword Search for Quickbooks came to be

One of the original inspirations for this was to support the use of serial numbers in QuickBooks. Many users currently add the serial number to the invoice by typing it into an otherwise blank item description field, but locating that serial number later was difficult -- Keysearch finds serial numbers entered into description and memo fields.

We love feedback

Have an idea for Keyword Search for QuickBooks? Questions about using it? We want to hear from you! Please leave a comment or send us an email.