EZBooks User Guide

EZBooks User Guide

Getting Started

Welcome

System & Browser Requirement

iOS

Android

Desktop & Web

EZBooks User Registration

Login

Forgot Password

Navigation

Dashboard

Expenses

List Expenses

Create/Update an Expense

Duplicate an Existing Expense

Filter/Search Expenses

Delete an Expense

Deal with a Duplicated Expense Item

Custom Expense Category

Recurring Expenses

Create/Update a Recurring Expense

List Recurring Expenses

Delete or Stop a Recurring Expense

Invoices

List Invoices

Create/Update an Invoice

Add/Edit Invoice Items

Delete an Invoice Item

Add Invoice Payments

Preview Invoice (Before Send)

View the PDF version of an Invoice

Duplicate an Existing Invoice

Add Payment

Edit an Existing Invoice

Send the Invoice

Delete an Invoice

Recurring Invoices

Create/Update a Recurring Invoice

List Recurring Invoices

Using Auto Invoice Number

Delete or Stop a Recurring Invoice

Filter/Search for an Invoice

Banking

List Transactions

View Details of a Transaction

Add New Transactions

Create/Update Transaction Details

Contacts

List Contacts

Create/Update a Contact

Reports

Print and Email Report (PDF)

Export

Create an Export Request

Download Export

Extract & View

Settings

My Profile

Change Password

My Businesses

List All Businesses

1. Business Profile

2. Expense Category

3. Users

List all Users

Create/Update/Delete a user

4. Plan and Upgrade

Delete a Business

Logout

About


Getting Started

Welcome        

EZBooks is an easy-to-use, online bookkeeping software designed for small businesses to manage their finances and stay on top of their cash flows.

This user guide is designed to explain how to use EZBooks.

System & Browser Requirement

iOS

Android

Desktop & Web

EZBooks can also be accessed in the following web browsers from your desktop. The web access provides an easy-to-use user interface similar to that in the iOS and Android app.

EZBooks Web Access URL: https://app.myezbooks.com

Web browsers that are compatible with EZBooks:

EZBooks User Registration

Navigation

Left Menu → Login / Register

1. If you are a new user, please sign up from the 'Login / Register' page.

Click on 'Sign Up Here'.

2. ‘Sign up’ page

Navigation

Left Menu → Login / Register → Sign Up Here

Fill in the sign up form

Click on the 'REGISTER' button

3. Verification

Once you register your email, an account activation email will be sent to you with an activation code. Please enter the code in the 'Account Activation' page below and click on the 'ACTIVATE MY ACCOUNT' button.

If you did not receive your activation code after 1 hour, you can ask the system to resend it by clicking on the 'RESEND ACTIVATION CODE' button. Please check your email's spam folder, in case your email provider puts the activation email in it.

Once you receive and enter the activation code, click on the 'ACTIVATE MY ACCOUNT' button and your account is now active.

Login

Navigation

Left Menu → Login / Register

 

From left menu, click on 'Login / Register'

Fill in the sign in form

Click on the 'SIGN IN' button

Forgot Password

Navigation

Left Menu → Login / Register → Forgot Password

If you forgot your password, click on the ‘Forgot Password?’ link on the sign in form to have your password reset.

If you are already logged in, you will need to logout from the app first to access the 'Sign in' page. Refer to the Logout section.

Navigation

     After logging to the app, select the business you want to work on from the drop-down list on the top left corner.

     You will see the list of expenses, invoices, banking transactions, reports, and etc. for that business.

     Click on one of them and you will see the entries you had entered previously. By default you will see the content of ‘Dashboard’.

     If you have more than one business in the app that you want to work on, go back to the drop-down list to select from there.

Dashboard

Navigation

Left Menu → Dashboard

After logging into EZBooks, the default page shown is the 'Dashboard'.  The dashboard gives you a clear picture of your company’s finances. 2 charts are displayed:

Expenses

An expense is incurred when money goes out of your business. Whether it's a product you buy to run your business, or food that you eat while on business trips, it’s important to track the money you spend.

List Expenses

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses

To look at your existing expenses, click on 'Expenses' from the left menu. You will see a list of expenses for the selected business.

  1. Left menu to view expenses.
  2. This contains the name, date and category of the expense, and the user who created the expense entry.
  3. This is the total amount of the expense as well as the tax incurred for that expense.

The orange triangle warning icon indicates that this expense item might have been entered more than once - described in the 'Deal with an Duplicated Expense Item' section.

  1. This is the add button to create new expenses.
  2. This contains the refresh and filter/search buttons - described in the sections below.

Create/Update an Expense

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Add Button

To create a new expense, click on the add button which will bring you to the expense entry page.

Duplicate an Existing Expense

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Select Existing Item → Menu Icon → Duplicate

In many cases, there are similar or recurring expenses. EZBooks does not support recurring expenses currently, but provides an easy way to duplicate an existing expense.

Click on the menu icon on the top right corner, and then click on 'Duplicate'.

Filter/Search Expenses

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Search Button

You may need to filter the list of expenses by name, date, category, etc. to find the expenses. From the expense listing page, click on the 'magnify glass' icon on the top right corner which will bring you to the right searching panel.

When a search/filter is active, the 'magnify glass' icon turns to green, indicating an active filter is in place. In this case, a keyword 'costco' is entered, so only expenses from Costco are shown in the list.

Delete an Expense

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Select Existing Item → Delete Button

To delete an expense, click on the 'trash bin' icon on the top right corner. Deleting an expense will also delete the associated bank transaction.

Deal with a Duplicated Expense Item

Sometimes an expense could be entered into EZBooks more than once by mistake. When EZBooks detects an expense item having the same date and amount to an existing one, it will warn you on both of the expense listing and editing pages.

On the expense listing page there is an orange triangle warning icon for the duplicated expense item. Once you click on it you will see more details for this warning.

You can verify the corresponding duplicated expense item by clicking on the underlined ‘duplicated expense item’, or dismiss the warning message by clicking on the underlined ‘dismiss this warning’.

Custom Expense Category

When entering an expense item, you may want to create your own category for the expense. To do so, you can select ‘Add Custom Category’ from the category list when creating the expense. 

Note, custom expense category is covered in the ‘Expense Category’ of the 'Settings' section.

Recurring Expenses

A recurring expense is one that incurs on a periodic basis, and recording it can be automated in EZBooks. Examples of such an expense would be your monthly phone bill or rent.

Create/Update a Recurring Expense

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Select Existing Item → Menu Icon → Make Recurring

To create a recurring expense, you first create a regular expense(Create/Update an Expense) or choose an existing expense as a template, then you can make a recurring expense from this template.

Open the regular expense that you'd like to use as template, from the top menu bar, click on 'Make Recurring'

Once the recurring expense is created from the selected template, you can fill the details of the recurring schedule:

List Recurring Expenses

Navigation

Left Menu → Expenses → Search Button

The recurring expenses are list on the same 'List Expenses' page. The recurring expenses have additional information shown on the listing:

  1. Recurring details: Recurring schedule and the end date
  2. The next expense date. This when the next expense will be automatically created.

By default, recurring expenses and regular (non-recurring) expenses are both shown on the listing page, while the recurring expenses are shown with a different background color and additional information about the recurring schedule. If you'd like to list the recurring expense only, you can do that using the 'Filter/Search Expenses' functionality.

Delete or Stop a Recurring Expense

A recurring expense can be deleted the same way as a regular expense. Refer to 'Delete an Expense' for details.

There are no transactions associated a recurring expense, so deleting a recurring expense will not change any payments or transactions.

To stop a recurring expense without deleting it, just change the 'End Date' of the recurring expense from the 'Create/Update a Recurring Expense' page.


Invoices

An invoice is a document containing goods sent or services provided, with the payment information that the client has to make.

Invoices in EZBooks are sent to your clients in a PDF document through emails.

List Invoices

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices

To look at your existing invoices, click on 'Invoices' from the left menu. You will see a list of invoices for the selected business.

  1. Left menu to select to view the list of invoices.
  2. This contains the customer name, invoice #, date, due date and the user who created the invoice.
  3. This is the total amount of the invoice and the status of the invoice - Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue, etc.
  4. This contains the refresh and filter/search buttons - described in the sections below.
  5. This is the add button to create new invoices.

Create/Update an Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Add Button

To create a new invoice, navigate to the List Invoices page and click on the ‘+’, which will bring you to the invoice entry page below:

  1. Enter customer and email (you also have the option to add phone # and address by clicking on the up/down arrow below the email entry).
  1. Enter the status of the invoice, invoice #, P.O. #, invoice date and due date.
  1. Enter the items associated with the invoice by clicking on ‘+’ under ‘ITEMS’. Details described in the 'Add/Edit Invoice Items' section below.
  2. If applicable, enter discount %, adjustment $ and shipping charges $
  3. Enter customer notes and terms & conditions that will be displayed on the customer’s invoice.
  1. Enter email subject and email body (they are auto-filled based on the information entered in previous sections)
  1. Payments from your customer. Described in the 'Add Invoice Payments' section below.

Once you finish click on the 'Save' button on the top right corner of the page, or if you are ready to send this invoice to your customer, click on the 'Preview / Mail' from the drop down menu (details in the ‘Preview Invoice’ section).

 

Add/Edit Invoice Items

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit → Add Item

An invoice item represents a line on the invoice sent to your client. Continue from the invoice editing page, to add an invoice item, click on the '+' sign in 'Items' section, which will bring you to the invoice item page.

Enter the invoice item's name, description, quantity, rate and tax. The total amount of the item is:

Total = Quantity x Rate x (1+Tax)

Once finish editing, click on the 'Save' button on the right hand side or the 'Back' button on the left hand side of the menu bar.

Delete an Invoice Item

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit → Delete Button

To delete an invoice item, click on the 'trash can' icon on the right hand side of the menu bar.

Add Invoice Payments

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit → Add Payment

When you receive payments from your clients, either partially or fully, you can enter them in the 'Payments' section of the invoice editing page.

  1. Click on the '+' sign in the 'Payments' section.
  2. Fill in the Payment date and Amount in the 'Add Payment' popup and click on OK.

Preview Invoice (Before Send)

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice

Once an invoice is prepared, it's in 'Draft' status. Before you send it out to your clients, you'd like to preview the invoice to make sure everything is correct. Click the 'Preview / Mail' from the dropdown menu in the invoice editing page which will bring you to the invoice preview page.

  1. The information of your company. Details can be changed in the 'Business Profile' settings
  2. The information of the client
  3. Invoice #
  4. Total balance due
  5. Status of the invoice - Draft, Sent, Paid or Overdue
  6. The invoice date and its due date
  7. List of the invoice items on this invoice
  8. The tax, discounts, payments, etc. and the total balance due.
  9. The tool bar
  10. The details of the email that will be sent to your client

if anything is missing/incorrect you can always go back to the invoice editing page by clicking on the 'pencil' sign on the right hand side of the menu bar.

View the PDF version of an Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Top Menu → View PDF

The PDF version of the invoice can be viewed at any time by clicking on ‘View PDF’ from the drop down menu in the invoice detail page

Click on the 'View PDF' menu item from the drop down menu.

Duplicate an Existing Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Top Menu → Duplicate

You can make a copy of an existing invoice by clicking on ‘Duplicate’ from the drop down menu in the invoice detail page. To make changes to it, please refer to the ‘Create/Update an Invoice’ section.

Add Payment

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Top Menu → Add Payment

Invoice payment can also be added here by clicking on 'Add Payment' from the drop down menu.

Edit an Existing Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit Button

Any time you want to make changes to an existing invoice you can click on the pencil icon on the menu bar in the invoice detail page.

For details on how to enter invoice details, please refer to ‘Create/Update an Invoice’ section.

Send the Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Mail Button

Once you preview the invoice and are ready to send the invoice to your clients, click on the 'mail' icon on the menu bar.

After the invoice is sent, the status of the invoice is changed to 'Sent'.

Delete an Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit → Delete Button

To delete an invoice, click on the 'trash bin' icon on the top right corner. Deleting an invoice will also delete the associated invoice payments and Bank transaction.

Recurring Invoices

Recurring invoices are invoices that are created and sent to your customers on a recurring schedule.

Create/Update a Recurring Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Select Existing Invoice → Edit → Top Menu → Make Recurring

To create a recurring invoice, you first create a regular invoice (Create/Update an Invoice) or choose an existing invoice as a template, then you can make a recurring invoice from this template.

Open the regular invoice that you'd like to use as template, from the top menu bar, click on 'Make Recurring'

Once a recurring invoice is created from the selected template, you can fill the details of the recurring schedule:

List Recurring Invoices

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices

The recurring invoices are list on the same 'List Invoices' page. The recurring invoices have additional information shown on the listing:

  1. Recurring details: Recurring schedule, invoice number and the end date
  2. The next invoice date. This when the next invoice will be automatically created.

By default, recurring invoices and regular (non-recurring) invoices are both shown on the listing page, while the recurring invoices are shown with a different background color and additional information about the recurring schedule. If you'd like to list the recurring invoices only, you can do that using the 'Filter/Search' functionality.

Using Auto Invoice Number

When setting up the recurring invoice, you can set up auto invoice numbering, so that the invoice number is automatically generated for each invoice. Using {INV} as the placeholder for invoice number. You can also use the {INV} as a placeholder in the email subject line.

The {INV} will be replaced by the real invoice number every time an invoice is created at the scheduled date.

The {INV} is configurable on the Business Profile page, it will be replaced by the invoice prefix and the next invoice number.

Delete or Stop a Recurring Invoice

A recurring invoice can be deleted the same way as a regular invoice. Refer to 'Delete an Invoice' for details.

There are no invoice payments and transactions associated a recurring invoice, so deleting a recurring invoice will not change any payments or transactions.

To stop a recurring invoice without deleting it, just change the 'End Date' of the recurring invoice from the 'Create/Update a Recurring Invoice' page.

Filter/Search for an Invoice

Navigation

Left Menu → Invoices → Search

From the invoice listing page, click on the 'magnify glass' icon on the top right corner which will bring you to the right searching panel.

When a search/filter is active, 'magnify glass' icon turns to green, indicating an active filter is in place. In this case, a keyword 'IBM' is entered, so only the invoices from IBM are shown in the list.


Banking

In the banking section, you will see all transactions - money in and out your business. Currently, only one banking account is support by EZBooks.

List Transactions

Navigation

Left Menu → Banking

To look at your existing bank transactions, click on 'Banking' from the left menu. You will see a list of transactions for the selected business.

  1. Left menu to view the list of banking transactions.
  2. This contains the date and type of the transaction.
  3. This is the total amount of the transaction.
  4. This is the refresh button for refreshing the list of transactions.
  5. This is the add button to create new transactions.

View Details of a Transaction

Navigation

Left Menu → Banking → Select Existing Transaction

To look at the details of a transaction, click on a transaction in the list.

Add New Transactions

To add a new transaction, click on ‘+’ on the bottom right corner of the transaction listing page. An 'Add Transaction' popup will be displayed.

There are many types of transactions you can choose:

Money In

Any money coming to your business can be entered as 'Money in' in the following categories:

Sometimes, you make a sale without sending an invoice to your client, or you create an invoice through other means without using EZBooks. To record these incomes, you can create a transaction without creating an invoice in EZBooks.

Choosing ‘invoice payment’ will bring you to the list of invoices that you have created. Once your list of invoices are displayed, select the invoice to which you'd like to add the payment. Refer to 'Create/Update Transaction Details' section for details.

Other deposit is any other type of incomes that do not belong to the above. Refer to 'Create/Update Transaction Details' for details.

Money Out

Any money going out of your business can be entered as 'Money out' in the following categories:

When 'Expense' is chosen, an expense item is created, this is a shortcut to create an expense. This will bring you to the 'Create/Update an Expense' view. Refer to 'Create/Update an Expense' for details.

        Other withdrawal is any other type of 'money out' transactions that needs to be recorded.

Create/Update Transaction Details

Navigation

Left Menu → Banking → Add Button

  1. The type of the transaction
  2. Date, Amount and Note of this transaction
  3. 'Save' and 'Delete' buttons
  4. 'Back' button


Contacts

Contacts are the clients/customers that your business interacts with. Adding your clients to the contact list will help you find and track them easily and keep track of your accounts receivable.

List Contacts

Navigation

Left Menu → Contacts

To look at your contacts, click on 'Contacts' from the left menu. You will see a list of your contacts for the selected business.

  1. Left menu to select to view the list of contacts
  2. This contains the details of the contact, including company name, email, phone, etc.
  3. This is the add button to create a new contact

Create/Update a Contact

Navigation

Left Menu → Contacts → Add Button

To create a new contact, click on ‘+’ on the bottom right corner.

To update an existing contact, click on the entry of the contact.

  1. This contains the details of the contact, including name, address, email, etc.
  2. This contains the 'Save' and 'Delete' buttons

Reports

Navigation

Left Menu → Reports

EZBooks provides a number quick reports for your business.

Print and Email Report (PDF)

Navigation

Left Menu → Reports → Select Report → PDF Button

To print and/email the reports, click on the 'PDF' icon at the top-right corner of the report page.


Export

EZBooks provides a convenient export functionality to export your book anytime. 

Either you'd like to run complex financial reports, achieving your book for your own records or to send to your accountant for tax preparation and filing, you can easily export your entire book from the 'Export' view.

The export file from EZBooks is a zip file containing a MS Excel file, together with your attachments. It's easier to manage and view the content of a zip file on a PC.

Create an Export Request

Navigation

Left Menu → Export

An export of your book requires time to prepare. You will need first to create an export request from within the app, and once your book is ready, the application will send you a download link to your registered email for downloading.

To create an export request, click on the 'Export' from the left menu:

  1. Left menu to select ‘Export’
  2. The business to export and the date range to export
  3. If to include the attachments (e.g. pictures of your receipts for the expenses)
  1. The 'export' button to initiate the export.
  2. Note: There's a limit of 2 export requests every 24 hours for free account. You can subscribe to a paid plan to eliminate the limit.  

Click on the 'export' button and your export request is processed.

Download Export

Once your export request is processed and your file is ready, the application will send an email containing the download link.

Note: The export is a zip file containing a MS Excel file, together with your attachments. It's easier to manage and view the content of a zip file on a PC.

Clicking on the 'Download' link will prompt you for your username/password:

The credential required for the download is your EZBooks’ credential - where the user name is your email address. If you forgot your password, refer to the 'Forgot Password' section.

Extract & View

Once downloaded, the export file will be save on your PC as a zip file (e.g. export_2017-03-24_14-59.zip). You can extract the export using any zip utilities (such as WinZip, 7-Zip, etc.). After extracting the zip file, all your export will be in the directory like below:

Open the export_2017-03-24_14-59.xlsx file in Microsoft Excel:

Settings

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings

EZBooks has many settings where you can customize how EZBooks works. To access the settings, click on 'Settings' from the left menu.

  1. The 'Settings' left menu.
  2. List of settings including profile, businesses, password reset, etc.

My Profile

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Profile

You can change your first and last name in the 'Profile'. Once finished, click on the 'save' button on the top right corner.

Change Password

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → Change Password

This is where you can change your password.

My Businesses

The 'My Businesses' settings contain a list of configuration options for your businesses including email, profile, users, access control, etc.

List All Businesses

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses

To access the list of business you own or have access to, click on 'My Businesses' from the 'Settings' list.

You can see a list of businesses and their related settings:

  1. Business Profile
  2. Expense Categories
  3. Users - who can access your business and their access levels
  4. Plans & Upgrade - Access to premium plans that offers more functionality and accesses

Note: Not all options are shown for every business your have access to. The options shown depends on your role in that business.

1. Business Profile

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Existing Business → Business Profile

In business profile setting, you can changes:

  1. Your business logo
  2. Your business information such as name, email, year end and addres
  3. Invoice settings - where you can specify the invoice prefix and the next invoice number

2. Expense Category

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Existing Business → Expense Categories

Custom expense category are your self-defined categories for categorizing your expenses. Once they are created here, they can be used when entering your expenses from the 'Create/Update an Expense' page.

To create a new custom category, click on the ‘+’ on the bottom right corner which will bring you to the expense category entry page:

  1. Details of the expense category
  2. Save and delete buttons

3. Users

You can have more than 1 user having access to your business. Users can have different access levels defined by their roles in your business.

List all Users

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Existing Business → Users

To view all users in your business, click on 'Users' from the 'Settings' list.

  1. The user (email)
  2. The role of the user in your business

Create/Update/Delete a user

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Existing Business → Users → Existing User

To add a new user to your business, click on the '+' button on the bottom right corner of the user list, which will bring you to the create/update user page.

To update/delete an existing user, click on the entry of the user from the user list.

  1. The email of the user. The user must first register with EZBooks. To register with an email address, please refer to the 'User Registration' section.
  2. The role of the user in your business. The role can be an 'Owner', 'User' or a 'Viewer'. Each role's privileges are listed underneath.
  3. The 'Save' and 'Delete' buttons.

4. Plan and Upgrade

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Existing Business → Plan & Upgrade

EZBooks is free with in app Ads. To have the Ads removed and use advanced features such as multiple users, please subscribe to a paid plan. For more details, please visit the 'Plan and Upgrade' settings from a browser on your PC.

Delete a Business

Deleting a business is a manual process, please send the request to our support team (support@myezbooks.com) to have a business removed.

Logout

Navigation

Left Menu → Settings → My Businesses → Logout

To logout from EZBooks, click on 'Logout' from the 'Settings' list. Logging out from the app, will bring you to the login page, where you can login again or have your password reset.

About

Navigation

Left Menu → About

The 'about' view contains a list of help information. To access about, click on 'about' from the left menu.

  1. About menu
  2. Help - click on the help to write an email to our support team
  3. Version info
  4. The web access URL. EZBooks provides both native apps on iOS, Android as well as a web based user interface:

        https://app.myezbooks.com

Version: 1.04

Oct.2, 2017