Small business trying to work with everyone else's pc

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Wife runs a small business. Recently the person who ran the website and bookkeeping end split. Wife has OS.X 10.10.3 as her computer,her partner used a PC. We have

document issues. Bookkeeper uses quickbooks. The most recent comments from well meaning friends to the wife have been "you need windows, word, quickbooks,"

What can we do to work with everyone else.
 

Raz0rEdge

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If your wife's computer is powerful enough, you could grab a copy of VirtualBox (for free) or VMWare Fusion/Parallels (for $80) and then grab a copy of Windows 8. Create a virtual machine, install Windows 8 in it and any other apps you need and go.

Word is available for OS X, but Quickbooks is not. So perhaps this installation of Windows can be limited to JUST things that aren't already available on OS X thus reducing its system needs..
 
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Word is available so is Quickbooks: QuickBooks for Mac Accounting Software - Intuit
What did he/she use for the website?
May not need Windows.


The website was set up with go daddy, I know very little about it except that they are able to work with it and change things as needed. Janet's main concern was being able to work with her bookkeeper , what you directed me to will fix that. Opening documents from certain vendors and others is a problem at times, she was told to get word. I know that sometimes a message says that the application is no longer supported so documents can't just be opened. She is more interested in her beekeeping than computers so we struggle but manage to get by.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
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chas_m

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I'm skeptical that you have to get genuine Microsoft Word, as nearly every program that deals with text on the Mac (third-party or Apple-made) can read and write Word files, but once the 2016 edition of Word comes out (end of summer/fall signs seem to indicate), by all means buy it if you feel you need it.

The Mac version of QB isn't quite as powerful as the Windows version (because apparently Intuit hates us) but it should be more than enough for basic bookkeeping.

What other documents are you having issues with?
 
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I have used Quickbooks for years. When I jumped from Windows to OS X I purchased Quickbooks 2013 for Mac. Previously, I was using Quickbooks 2010 for Windows.

I had no problem converting my files from the windows version to the mac version. The program walked me through it and all my data was intact.

Lisa
 
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I'm skeptical that you have to get genuine Microsoft Word, as nearly every program that deals with text on the Mac (third-party or Apple-made) can read and write Word files, but once the 2016 edition of Word comes out (end of summer/fall signs seem to indicate), by all means buy it if you feel you need it.

The Mac version of QB isn't quite as powerful as the Windows version (because apparently Intuit hates us) but it should be more than enough for basic bookkeeping.

What other documents are you having issues with?

My wife was receiving some documents from the businesses bookkeeper, the person helping my wife was having difficulty opening some of them so she made

the comment that my wife needed 'word'. I need to get some more information so that I can better explain what the problem is, I think it would be a good idea to

have someone come here and give us both some basic schooling specific to our needs instead of buying programs if we don't need them.
 
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chas_m

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PC people have no idea that there are any other word processors besides "Word" (maybe "WordPerfect" if they're seniors!). I agree that if you're uncertain of the path you need, getting a Mac-knowledgeable consultant would be a small amount of money well spent.
 
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I agree with chas_m. When I made the switch to Mac from PC my biggest concern was the over 30 years of financial data I have on our farms, electrical business and job incomes. I started with Quickbooks and have upgraded the version over the years. When I looked to Macs because I was just tired of PC virus issues, compatibility for Quickbooks was number one. As I stated above the importing and converting of my data was painless. I will also tell you there is an option to back up your Mac Quickbooks data to a Quickbooks for Windows data file. Useful if your bookkeeper needs a different format.

I purchased Office 2011 for Mac (family pac) and Quickbooks 2013 for Mac. At work I have a Windows 7 PC and a Mac Pro - Yosemite. I use both and have slowly transferred from the PC to the Mac my work load.

I haven't decided when or if I will ever be able to go PC free. We have an office full of PCs and some PC specific programs that I have to work with.

I set up my PC and Mac to share all their drives. I can access any document or file at anytime on either computer. I have had no issues opening any Office document or spreadsheet, making changes and saving using either computer. The PC is running Office 2013.

I understand your hesitancy as it is a big set of unknowns. I even relate to the website issue. I had our site dumped on me when the person who designed and set it up just sent me the passwords to the site and quit. I had to learn Wordpress on the fly - still am and it has been "fun."

Lisa
 

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