How to Customize the New QuickBooks Online Menu (And Actually Find Your Way Around Again)

If you opened QuickBooks Online recently and thought, “What happened to my sidebar?”, you’re not imagining it. Intuit has rolled out a major redesign of the QBO interface and if you’re anything like me, it may have left you staring at the screen wondering where everything went.

In today’s post, I’ll walk you through what changed, how to get your bearings again, and most importantly, how to customize the new App Menu so QuickBooks starts working for you instead of slowing you down.

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If you’d prefer to watch instead of read, you can see the full walkthrough in the video above.

What’s New in QuickBooks Online?

You may have received an email from me warning you that changes were coming… or perhaps you simply opened your QBO file one morning and everything looked different.

Dashboard Before Changes

Dashboard After Changes

Here’s what’s changed:

1. The left-hand navigation bar is no longer the main navigation.

Tools that used to live down the side now appear across the top of the screen.

2. “Modules” have been renamed “My Apps.”

Hovering over “My Apps” brings up a menu that looks more like the old sidebar — but only when you hover.

3. The dashboard now includes AI “Business Feed” suggestions.

These include reminders for overdue invoices, late payments, bank transactions to review, and more.

4. Integrations have moved to the top right corner.

These used to be called “Apps.” They’re now called My Integrations.

5. Bookmarks and pinned apps are new.

You can bookmark individual tasks (like Bank Transactions) or pin entire sections (like Sales, Expenses, Time, etc.) to rearrange your workspace.

6. The search bar is much more powerful.

It can now locate reports and navigate to modules, something it couldn’t do before.

If it feels like a cluttered mix of old and new, you’re not alone. It’s going to take some getting used to.

How to Use the New “Create” Button

The old New Transaction button has been replaced by Create.

Hover over it (don’t click) and you’ll see the familiar menu:

• Customer transactions
• Vendor transactions
• Payroll (if you use it)
• Other actions
  

Thankfully, this part hasn’t changed much.

Understanding the New “My Apps” Navigation

This is the biggest shift.

What used to be your left-hand navigation bar is now tucked under “My Apps.”

Hovering over My Apps brings up:

• Accounting
• Sales
• Expenses
• Payroll
• Time
• Banking
• And more…
  

Each section expands into the tools you’re familiar with.

This is where you’ll likely spend most of your time — until you customize your sidebar.

How to Bookmark Your Most-Used Tasks

You’ll now see tiny bookmark icons next to many pages (like Bank Transactions).

Clicking the bookmark:

• Adds that specific task to the Bookmarks area on your left-hand side.
• Gives you quick access without hovering through menus.
  

If there are tasks you use daily, bookmarking them can save you multiple clicks.

Where Did My “Apps” Go?

Apps are now called Integrations.

You’ll find them at the top right under My Integrations, where you can:

• View active integrations
• See which ones need attention
• Search for new apps to connect
  

This renaming will take a bit of adjusting, but functionally it’s the same section.

Pinning Apps to Your Sidebar

Under the “My Apps” icon on the left, you’ll see a Customize option.

This allows you to:

• Pin entire sections (Accounting, Sales, Expenses, Time, etc.)
• Reorder pinned items
• Choose only the parts you use
  

Pinned apps = full modules

Bookmarks = specific subpages

Both are helpful, depending on how you work.

The Upgraded Search Bar

The search bar now does much more.

You can still search for:

• Transactions
• Vendors
• Customers
• Amounts
  

But now you can navigate by typing:

• “Chart of accounts”
• “Invoices”
• “Bills”
• “Sales tax”
  

It will jump you directly to the module.

This can be a faster alternative to navigating the menus — especially while you’re learning the new layout.

Customizing Your Dashboard

On the dashboard, you can still rearrange and add widgets. For example:

• Sales
• Profit & Loss
• Expenses
• Invoices
  

I personally like seeing my last 12 months of sales — unfortunately, QuickBooks removed the 365-day view, but you can still choose rolling 12 months.

Click Customize Dashboard to rearrange and personalize your widgets.

A Bonus Tip: Collapse the Sidebar

Press Ctrl + Period (Ctrl + .) to collapse or reopen the left-hand sidebar.

This is great when you need more screen space to view reports or transactions.

So… Is This Update Better or Worse?

QuickBooks says this update makes the interface more “customizable.”

And while that may be true, it also creates:

• A learning curve
• Differences between users
• More reliance on bookmarks and pins
  

I can no longer guide people “with my eyes closed,” and everything takes a bit more thinking. But I’m sure we’ll all get used to it.

What do you think — is the new layout helpful or just confusing?

Tell me in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Useful Resources

Compare QuickBooks Online Plans: https://www.mycloudbookkeeping.org/quickbooks-plan-comparison

Download Your Free Month-End Checklist for Small Business: https://learn.mycloudbookkeeping.org/small-business-month-end-checklist

Book a free consultation:www.mycloudbookkeeping.org/consultation

0:00

Hi, Kerry here from My Cloud Bookkeeping. You may have received an email from me letting you know that there were significant changes coming to your QuickBooks Online interface — or perhaps you opened QuickBooks one day and everything looked different.

0:13

Intuit have made significant changes to the way the interface looks. I don’t know why they’ve done this and, quite frankly, so far I don’t like it. I can no longer find my way around in my sleep, and if I’m helping someone and I can’t see their screen, I can no longer direct them.

0:29

I’m hoping this video will help you find your way around and reduce the amount of time you waste trying to find the functions that you normally use. I’m sure we’ll get used to it — we don’t really have an option!

0:42

So, if you’ve already seen this change, I hope this helps. And if not, here’s your chance to be prepared. We’ve opened up the sample company and it’s either the new version you’ve been working with for a while or completely different to what you’re used to.

0:58

We have these module sections across the top here — things we used to see down the side — but they’re kind of still here as well. And then across here we have the AI giving you all sorts of advice before we get down to the section we’re used to seeing, which is our bank accounts and whatever we’re monitoring with the widgets that we like to use.

1:26

Quite frankly, I find this a big cluttered mess. I guess I’m going to have to get used to it. When you take a look at what we had before, it just felt so much cleaner — mostly because it was what I was used to.

1:48

Whether I like it or not isn’t really the issue, is it? When we pop across to the very top here, we see this button that says “Create.” This replaces the “New” button. Instead of clicking “New Transaction,” you simply hover over “Create,” and this box looks very similar to what we saw before — customer transactions, vendors, payroll if you use it, and other activities.

2:21

For some reason, the modules have been renamed “My Apps.” If we hover over them, we can see a navigation bar very similar to what we used to see down the left-hand side. If you’re looking for sections, you simply hover over “My Apps.”

2:41

The idea is that this left-hand bar is now much more customizable than what we had before. What I don’t love is that I used to be able to help people without seeing their screen because I knew where everything was. Now it’s going to look different for everybody — but it might also make things more efficient for you.

3:08

If you look at Bank Transactions, you can see a little bookmark. When we click it, it pops up into a bookmarks section. So if there are sections within the modules — apps within the apps — you can bookmark them here and access them faster. Not sure if it’s helpful or not, but it’s one way to organize things you use regularly.

3:41

If you’re thinking “Apps” was what we called our connected tools — you’re correct. Those are now up here under “My Integrations.” If we click this, you can see your connected integrations and those needing attention. So integrations now live on the top right.

4:14

Let’s see what else is on this bar. We’ve looked at Create, Bookmarks, the Dashboard — now let’s look at Feed.

4:23

You can tell by the little circle design that this is AI. There’s a list of AI Agents: Accounting, Payments, Customers. It’s showing overdue invoices, profit and loss summaries (though take with a grain of salt), and even suggesting adding a late fee.

4:41

These suggestions become more useful the more you use QBO. Again, check out my other video on AI Agents if you want to learn more.

5:41

Next is Reports. When you hover, you’ll see standard reports, custom reports, management reports, and an additional one called Financial Planning — which is cash flow planning. I haven’t played with it yet; let me know if you have!

6:08

Next is “My Apps.” Right below that icon is an option for further customization. This is where you select which apps you want pinned on the bar. Bookmarks are tabs within a section; pinned apps are the full sections.

6:31

Let’s choose a few — pin Time, pin Sales Tax, reorder them, and save. Now you can see we have Accounting, Time, Expenses, and Sales pinned.

7:11

QuickBooks has also expanded the search bar. You can now use it to search for modules. For example, typing “chart of accounts” gives the option to jump directly there. Previously the search bar only found transactions or amounts; now it helps with navigation.

7:53

Testing it with “invoice” shows:

– Create an invoice

– Jump to invoices

– A list of invoice reports

This wasn’t available before.

8:20

On the dashboard, across the top we have the apps again. They only show up on the dashboard, not other pages. When we return to the dashboard and scroll down past the AI section, we get to the widgets we’re used to seeing.

8:51

You can add, personalize, and change these widgets. For example, I like seeing my sales for the previous 12 months, so I’ll save a Sales widget. Unfortunately, the option to view the prior 365 days was removed — now we only have rolling 12 months.

9:27

You can also move the widgets around. Click “Customize Dashboard” and rearrange them however you like. Save your changes.

10:00

Another little trick: Ctrl + Period removes the left navigation bar entirely. This can be helpful if you need more screen space.

10:30

You can also click the QuickBooks logo at the top left to return to your dashboard.

10:46

What do you think? Will this make your life easier with all the customization options, or would you have preferred things stay the same?

10:53

Hopefully there won’t be any major changes again for a while, and we can get used to this and get back to doing our accounting and bookkeeping without relearning the interface every time.

11:05

Let me know what you think in the comments. And as always, reach out if I can help. Click Like, Subscribe, and ring the bell — I have lots more videos coming out soon.

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