Numerous people are reporting that they cannot see fields in QuickBooks 2013 particularly since the R6 update. For example, in the write checks window people indicate they can no longer see the column for class, customer:job, the billable box and that these fields are missing. Additionally, some people indicated that it may not affect all company files (i.e. things look ok in one file but not in another file). Keep this in mind if you or your clients have missing fields or display problems and refer to this post for details on how to fix it.
When the R6 update was released, I noticed this issue and notified Intuit. Thanks to Alex Wall (and others) for investigating the problem and providing us with this explanation and the solution below:
We have identified the cause of the missing class column … it is a Windows Font setting issue, and changing it to the default Windows setting has been confirmed as the solution.
It’s actually the DPI setting that causes it, not the updates. QuickBooks has always been designed to work best with default DPI values. Ever since as far back as 2007 QuickBooks, non-default DPI settings can cause some strange rendering in the UI. And not just QuickBooks, other programs as well. It also depends not only on the DPI setting, but also what resolution your monitor is set to. Best thing to do if you want bigger fonts and not have issues with QuickBooks, is to leave DPI at normal (96dpi) and try lowering your screen resolution to find a good balance between visibility and screen real-estate.
You can try lowering your screen resolution down, as that helps overall. If you’re running at 1920×1080 resolution, everything will be very small. DPI just makes fonts bigger, but if you lower your screen resolution down, everything will be bigger and easier to see. You may need to try different resolutions to find one that is the most comfortable.
Try 1440×900 or 1680×1050 for example if you have a larger wide screen monitor.
If you have a small 19″ or 17″ monitor, maybe try something around 1280×800 or 1024×768.
Here’s the details on how to fix it:
Adjust DPI Settings for All Supported Versions of Windows
Various parts of the QuickBooks display can be affected by your Microsoft Windows resolution and font settings.
If you are not using the Windows default settings, you may see one or more of the QuickBooks display issues listed above.
To correct your QuickBooks display, you may need to adjust your font, screen resolution, or other Windows settings.
Windows 8 and Windows 7:
- Right click the Desktop and click Personalize.
- Choose Display on the left hand side.
- Choose Smaller – 100% (default). This keeps text and other items at normal size.
Windows Vista:
- Right click the Desktop and click Personalize.
- On the left hand side of the Appearance and Personalization window that opens, click Adjust font size(DPI).
- Select Default scale (96DPI).
Windows XP:
- Right click the Desktop and choose Properties (A “Display Properties” window will open).
- Click on the Settings tab.
- Click on the Advanced button.
- Change the DPI setting to Normal size (96 DPI).
There can be custom DPI settings setup depending on which version of Windows used. To find out how to setup custom DPI settings go to the Windows Help for that Operating System.