Dreaded Ugrade POS - saving label & keyoard layouts

Di_9337847
Di_9337847 Member Posts: 29
edited June 2020 in Reckon Accounts (Desktop)
I have scheduled this weekend to upgrade Reckon Accounts 2018 and Reckon Point of Sale 2018 to 2019 versions - a job I loathe!!

My question is how to I save the existing POS
  • label sizes and layouts
  • keyboard layouts
  • receipt printer layouts
  • anything else I may have forgotten
and re import them into POS, its such a laborious task setting them all up again and the Reckon Point of Sale Installation & Upgrade Guide gives very little information.

Thanks everybody 

Comments

  • Di_9337847
    Di_9337847 Member Posts: 29
    edited August 2019
    I prefer to be independent
  • Warren Aitken
    Warren Aitken Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2019
    Hi Di - I have not upgraded our POS system to date, as I experience similar issues as you!

    Kevin - We operate in a remote location where the internet is extremely slow and unreliable. At times it struggles with three eftpos terminals, let alone the additional traffic of POS!! One of the main selling points for us, was that the Reckon software could remain in house. That said - the upgrade procedures for POS and Reckon Accounts can be a nerve-racking experience!! 
  • Di_9337847
    Di_9337847 Member Posts: 29
    edited June 2019
    Hi Warren,
    In previous years it wasn't too much of a problem not to upgrade on time, however after speaking to support yesterday I was told my 2018 files would revert to read only as of midnight June 30 hence my weekend blitz.

    I haven't been happy about the changes Reckon have made the past couple of years - moving away from a licence to an annual subscription and now to find my 2018 system is about to become mute!!

    This coupled with STP, new financial year etc is making this weekend somewhat stressful so I'm trying to have all my back up plans in place.  I'm not sure why Reckon has to be such an arduous task to upgrade when really it should just be an update and everything continues to work as it did previously.

    Good luck when you tackle it.

    Di


  • Linda ABC
    Linda ABC Accredited Partner Posts: 1,131 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited June 2020
    Hi Di - the key to a good POS upgrade is to know the name of your Terminal... so... when I do this for clients - the first thing I do is make sure I know this - look at a receipt printout and see the Terminal ID or check in the current version before closing it to do the uninstall/upgrade process... if you know this - then when you first install the new version - and you open the new version, when it asks for the Terminal ID - if you use the SAME ID as before - and choose all the options to upgrade the database - then you should have the correct keyboard layout and all the receipt printer settings, layouts etc... if you dont use the same ID - this is where you come unstuck and lose your settings... Hope this helps!  I have done POS upgrades for all versions of POS and they have run very smoothly for the last several years provided I know the Terminal ID before I start!
  • Di_9337847
    Di_9337847 Member Posts: 29
    edited June 2019
    Thankyou Linda for your helpful post, I will definitely make a note of your suggestions. It has been a trial in the past so hopefully I can transition easier this time. Again, thankyou
  • Warren Aitken
    Warren Aitken Member Posts: 10
    edited June 2019
    Brilliant - Many thanks Linda.....
  • James McIntosh
    James McIntosh Member Posts: 11
    edited June 2019
    Up until very recently, the online systems have not been capable of replicating the desktop functionality, especially when it comes to inventory.  Even now, there are features missing.  And, they are more expensive.  We chose the desktop versions again this year.
  • James McIntosh
    James McIntosh Member Posts: 11
    edited June 2019
    Awesome!  Wish this was in the upgrade guides!
  • Warren Aitken
    Warren Aitken Member Posts: 10
    edited June 2019
    Hello Di - We also switched to subscription and after reading your comments regarding the data becoming "read-only", I decided to contact Reckon Support. We reside in NZ with our subscription up for renewal in late August. Support have assured me that as a result, our data will operate uninterrupted until that date, regardless of the upgrade not being completed. They also advised that the latest upgrade was based around the new tax tables, however we do not use Reckon Payroll.
    Good luck for your upgrade this weekend - I hope it all goes well......   
  • Di_9337847
    Di_9337847 Member Posts: 29
    edited July 2019
    An update to our dreaded upgrade.

    Huge thank you to Lynn, your advice made all the difference in saving me hours of work and heartache having to redo labels, keyboard layouts etc.  I cannot thank you enough for the heads up.

    I really tried to prepare well for this upgrade and I must say it was better than previous years.

    A couple of things to note
    • Make sure you do your POS reports, final z read, data post and transfer BEFORE you attempt to update Quickbooks and then no more using POS or Administrator at all until after upgrades are all complete.
    • Do take backups of any customised letters, data files (both Quickbooks and POS) POS keyboard layouts (not that I needed them).  I kept these on a portable hard drive  The customised letters you will need to manually copy into the letters folder later on as these are not automatically saved for you
    • You will need to re map the drives for POS terminals housed on other computers to communicate with the data file.
    • Remember to go into Quickbooks Printer Setup and modify any paper sizes, we use A5 on some our documents and the default is A4.
    What problems did I encounter - well aside from the upgrade information provided by Reckon & Intuit being inadequate, not a great deal.
    • I had a problem with one of our terminals unable to find the POS data file, this was quickly remedied once I realised I just needed to map the drive again
    • I had a problem where Quickbooks would only print on our server computer if in Administrator mode but then I couldn't transfer data from Administrator to Quickbooks.  Turns out we had to log out of Quickbooks, delete the QBPRINT and WR files, log back in and Quickbooks auto regenerates the files and everything worked as intended.
    I hope this helps those who still need to go through the process.
    Cheers
    Di
  • Linda ABC
    Linda ABC Accredited Partner Posts: 1,131 Accredited Partner Accredited Partner
    edited June 2020
    Well done..  yes, its always good to take backups of everything - although I never delete old version from computers - you never know when you might need them again (I mean Reckon Accounts here, the POS will automatically uninstall the old version before reinstalling the new version)... not sure why you had to remap your network drives (sorry, I didnt realise you were running a network when I answered your original post) - I dont usually need to do this as in a network environment I would have a shared network folder where both the Reckon Accounts datafile (sorry, its been more than 10 years since the product was called QuickBooks, we need to try and get out of the habit of calling it that!) and the POS database would live - therefore provided all machines are mapped correctly - you wont need to remap anything... and yes, it make sense to make sure end of day is completed on terminals before upgrading...glad you had a relatively smooth time of it this year!