AccountEdge Connect is a companion to AccountEdge Pro/NE that runs in your web browser. It lets you (and anyone you invite) enter sales, record purchases, manage contacts, track time, and take online payments from any browser, on any device with an internet connection. It's not a standalone accounting system. It always syncs back to a company file on your desktop, and things like reports and payroll processing still happen in AccountEdge Pro/NE. That means you can't use AE Connect without an active AE Pro/NE subscription and a company file.

You can sign up for AccountEdge Connect at cloud.accountedge.com, or compare plans first at accountedge.com/accountedge-connect.
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Plans are priced by number of users. Open accountedge.com/accountedge-connect in your browser to compare plans, or go straight to signup at cloud.accountedge.com:

Plan pricing on accountedge.com/accountedge-connect, from Small (1 user, $15/month) up to Extra Large (50 users, $100/month).
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• Small: 1 user, $15/month

• Medium: up to 5 users, $30/month

• Large: up to 10 users, $50/month

• Extra Large: up to 50 users, $100/month

A free trial that lasts 30 days (999 users, $0/month) is available during signup so you can try it out before committing to a plan.
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1. Go to cloud.accountedge.com to start the signup flow.

Step 1 of 5 in the signup flow, Choose Plan, which includes the free trial option.
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2. Pick a plan and click Next.

3. On the Account Info step, enter your email and password. If you already own AccountEdge Pro/NE, this step also asks for your AccountEdge Serial Number (with a link to help you find it).

The same step shown partway through the flow, with the selected plan (Small) highlighted and Country/Address fields alongside Email and Password.

Account Information step with AccountEdge Serial Number, Email, Password, and Confirm Password.
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4. Continue through Address and Payment Method (skipped automatically if you chose the Free Trial), then Confirmation.

5. Check your email for the confirmation message and click the Activate link inside it.
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Signing up creates your AccountEdge Connect account, but it doesn't do anything on its own yet. You still need to connect it to a company file in AccountEdge Pro/NE.

1. Open your company file in AccountEdge Pro/NE.

2. On the main window, click the Connect icon in the Command Center (next to Card File).

3. Click Set Up AccountEdge Connect.

4. Enter the email address and password you used when signing up.

5. Click Link to connect your company file to your AccountEdge Connect account.

The Connect icon in the Command Center (top), and the AccountEdge Connect Setup window with Email, Password, and Link (bottom).
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6. Click Sync to run your first sync. This can take a few minutes depending on how many customers, items, and jobs are in your file.

7. Click Close when it finishes.

That first sync sends your existing customers, items, jobs, and other lists up to AccountEdge Connect, so anyone entering data there has the same information to work with.
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AccountEdge Connect and AccountEdge Pro/NE don't update each other automatically in real time. Syncing is something you (or a user) need to trigger, and it can only be done from the AccountEdge application. Whenever data is entered on one side, it has to be synced before it shows up on the other.

In practice, that means: after entering sales, purchases, contacts, or time in AccountEdge Connect, sync so those changes come down into AccountEdge Pro/NE. And after making changes in AccountEdge Pro/NE (new customers, items, price changes, etc.), sync so those go up to AccountEdge Connect for anyone working from there.
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You can sync anytime from AccountEdge Pro/NE in either of these ways:

• Click the cloud icon at the top right of the Command Center.

• Click Sync at the bottom of the Command Center and choose AccountEdge Connect.

A good habit is to sync at the start and end of the day, or right after entering a batch of transactions. That way nobody's working from stale data.
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NOTE* The sync button only exists inside the AE Pro/NE application.
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Only the admin, which is the account used to originally sign up, can access AccountEdge Connect's settings and preferences. Additional users you activate can enter data (sales, purchases, contacts, time) but can't change account level settings.

The Small plan only covers 1 admin and 1 user. Additional users require at least the Medium plan.

1. Log into cloud.accountedge.com with the admin account.

The AccountEdge Connect login page.

2. In the upper right, choose Welcome > Settings, then the Users tab.

3. Use the All Users dropdown to filter the list to Employees or Vendors if it's easier to find the person that way.

The All Users filter, with Employees and Vendors as options.

4. Click that person's name to open their settings panel.

5. Confirm they have an Email Address entered, since this becomes their User ID. If not, verify the email they want to use for logging into AE Connect and add it in there.

6. Toggle "Set Employee/Vendor as Active" on, then click Save.

A user's settings panel. Select them from the list on the left (boxed), then toggle "Set Employee/Vendor as Active" and click Save (both boxed).
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7. A message appears at the top of the window confirming that activation instructions have been sent to the user.

8. Ask them to check their email and follow the instructions to activate their account. If they don't see it, have them check spam/junk mail. It will come from [email protected]

Toggling a user active and clicking Save is what actually sends the activation email. There's no separate "Activate" button in the current version.

The same panel has a few other settings for each user that are worth knowing about: Display Time Billing Rate/Amount, Payroll Category on Tracked Time (a dropdown, e.g. Disabled), Show jobs for selected customers, and Display All Transactions. These are all toggles you can turn on or off for that specific person. Further down, you'll also see that user's Total Slips Processed, Total Synced Slips, and Last Slips Synced Date, plus a Reset User Account Password link if they ever need a password reset.
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The difference comes down to settings and control:

• Admin: the original signup account. Only the admin can access AccountEdge Connect's settings and preferences (email configuration, PDF customization, user management, etc.).

• Normal user: an activated employee or vendor. They can enter and edit sales, purchases, contacts, and time entries, but can't reach the account level settings menus. Normal users can also be restricted on what they see or enter while logged into AE Connect.
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Reference videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLZh3kQKlVs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlv5dk0R-E
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You can only do this while logged in as the Admin. Go to Users and click the user whose access you need to change. Once selected, click “here” at the top right of the screen.
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In the next window you can select which categories the user will not be able to access. For example, below, this user will not be able to open anything under the Sales module in AE Connect.
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Web Pay and Direct Pay both let customers pay invoices online. The difference is whether they need to create an account first.
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Your customer creates a login to a secure My Account page, where they can view all their open invoices and pay any of them, now or later. This is the better option for repeat customers.
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You send a single invoice by email with a payment link. The customer clicks it and pays that one invoice without creating an account or logging in. This is the faster option for customers who only pay you once or now and then.
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Before you can set up Web Pay you'll need two things: an AccountEdge Connect account, and an AccountEdge Merchant Services account through Forte for processing payments.

1. In AccountEdge Pro/NE, go to Setup > Web Pay > Web Pay Setup.

2. Click Next.

3. Enter the email and password you used for AccountEdge Connect (skipped if your file is already linked).

4. Enter your Merchant Services credentials from Forte (skipped if already saved in your company file).

5. Choose your Web Pay URL, the address customers will use to pay online. It's the final part of the address after cloud.accountedge.com. It may already have a URL preset there, so you can leave it as is if you'd like.

6. Click Next, then Close.
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From AccountEdge Desktop: open the customer's Card Information window, click the Payment Details tab, then check "Send Invoices with Web Pay option for this customer." Check "Allow customers to pay single invoices without creating an account" as well if you want Direct Pay available for them too.
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From AccountEdge Connect: go to Contacts, open the customer, click Selling Details, then look at the Customer Portal box under Tax Details. Click Edit to turn on Use Web Pay and/or Direct Pay for them, or click Send Invite next to Send Portal Invite to email them a direct link to set up their Customer Portal login.

A customer's Selling Details tab, with the Customer Portal box showing Send Portal Invite, Use Web Pay, and Direct Pay.
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To include the payment link when emailing an invoice, check "Send to Web Pay" in the upper right corner of the invoice.

Sales transactions are filterable by Drafts, Quotes, Orders, Invoices, Past Due, or All Sales, and further by customer, date range, status, or transaction type.

To add a sale:

1. Click Add Transaction.

2. Choose the sale type: Invoice, Order, Quote, or Credit Memo.

3. Choose the layout (Item, Service, Time Billing, Professional, or Miscellaneous) from the blue menu bar.

4. Enter the customer and sale details.

5. Click Save as Draft or Record.

To accept a payment against an open invoice: Add Transaction > Add Payment, enter the customer (this shows their open invoices), pick the Payment Method, click into the Amount to Pay field next to the right invoice (editable if it's a partial payment), then Continue and Apply Payment.
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Purchases are filterable by Drafts, Payments, Quotes, Orders, Open, Past Due, or All Purchases, and further by contact, date range, status, or type.

To add a purchase: Add Transaction, choose Bill, Order, or Quote, choose the layout (Item, Service, Professional, or Miscellaneous), enter the vendor and details, then Save as Draft or Record.

To pay a bill: Add Transaction > Bill Payment, enter the vendor (shows their open purchases), click into the Amount to Pay field for the right bill, then Pay. You'll then be able to print the check from AccountEdge Pro/NE.

To record a basic expense without a bill: Add Transaction > Spend Money, enter the contact, expense account, and amount, then Save as Draft or Record.
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From a contact's View window you can edit their information, see overdue balances, set custom list/custom fields, view lead/customer status, set selling or buying details, manage jobs, view transaction history, and set default payment methods. New contacts can be added the same way from the Contacts tab.
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The Banking feature only shows transactions created in AccountEdge Connect, not ones created in AccountEdge Pro/NE. From here you can record Spend Money, Receive Money, Receive Payment, and Pay Bills. For Receive Payment and Pay Bills, selecting the customer or vendor shows their open invoices/purchase orders so you can allocate the funds.
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Use a Billing Schedule when you bill the same group of customers on a recurring basis, such as monthly service fees, subscriptions, or retainers. Instead of creating each invoice by hand every cycle, you set the schedule up once and then approve and send a whole batch at a time.

Billing Schedules only support the Item and Service sale layouts, and a single schedule has to be one or the other. You can't mix Item and Service sales within the same schedule.
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1. Go to Sales > Billing Schedule.

The Billing Schedule tab, listing existing schedules with their frequency, next run date, and item type.
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2. Click Add Schedule (or click the pencil icon next to an existing schedule to edit it).

3. Enter a Schedule Name, Sale Type (Item or Service), and Frequency (e.g. Monthly).

4. Set the Schedule Day (e.g. 1st day of the Month) and Next Run Date.

5. Turn on Use Convenience Fee if you want to add one to invoices generated from this schedule.

6. Click Save.

The Billing Schedule window showing Schedule Name, Sale Type, Frequency, Schedule Day, Next Run Date, and Use Convenience Fee. The arrow on the list view shows where to click through to Recurring Sales.
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Click the arrow icon next to a schedule in the list to open its Recurring Sales window. This shows every customer on that schedule for the upcoming run.

The Recurring Sales window for "monthly billing", with one row per customer, editable item quantities, Total Due, an Approved checkbox, and the card on file Status.
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Each customer gets their own row with their item quantities already filled in from last time. You can adjust any item quantity for any customer right there in the grid (using the minus and plus controls) before sending, so it's easy to review the whole batch in one place rather than opening each invoice individually.

1. Adjust quantities for any customer that needs a different amount this cycle.

2. Check the Approved box for each customer you're ready to bill, or click Approve All to select everyone at once.

3. Click Invoice All to generate and send the invoices for every approved row.

Invoice All emails each customer their invoice. Any customer set up for Web Pay gets a payment link right in that email so they can pay online immediately. These invoices sync back to AccountEdge Pro/NE the same way any other AccountEdge Connect sale does.

The Status column flags anything that needs attention first. For example, "No Card on File" means that customer doesn't have a saved payment method yet, so they'll need to pay manually or add a card before you can charge them automatically. The Email Setting button lets you adjust the email that goes out with this batch.
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The More button (bottom left of the Recurring Sales window) opens a menu with a couple of tools worth knowing about, on top of Add Bookmark Note:

• Add Item: for schedules that use the Item layout only. Adds an item to multiple invoices in the schedule at once, instead of adding it to each customer's invoice one by one.

• Bulk Edit: changes a quantity or value across multiple invoices in the batch in one action, instead of editing each customer's row individually.

Here is how Bulk Edit works. When something changes across a billing schedule, you don't need to open each invoice. You open the schedule once and make the change there.

1. Open the Recurring Sales window for the schedule (click the arrow icon next to it on the Billing Schedule list).

2. Click More at the bottom of the window, then click Bulk Edit.

The Bulk Edit window, opened from the More menu in the Recurring Sales window.
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3. Update the numbers you need to change, such as the quantity, on each item line. Use Add Line to add another item, or the red minus button at the end of a line to remove one.

4. Check Memorized on a line if you want that change remembered for future invoices as well.

5. Check Web Pay if you want customers to get a link so they can pay online.

6. Click Update All to save. The changes apply to the schedule going forward. Click Cancel if you'd rather leave without changing anything.
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For smaller tweaks, you don't need Add Item or Bulk Edit at all. You can edit a single customer's row directly in the grid:

1. Open the Recurring Sales window for the schedule (click the arrow icon next to it on the Billing Schedule list).

2. Find the customer's row. Each item column (e.g. Blade Gr, Burr Gr) has its own quantity field with minus and plus controls.

The Recurring Sales grid, with the minus and plus controls on each customer's quantity fields.
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3. Click the minus or plus to adjust that customer's quantity, or click into the field and type a number directly.

4. Repeat for as many customers and items as you need to change. Total Due recalculates for each row as you edit.

5. Once every customer's quantities look right, use Approve All and Invoice All as usual to send the whole batch.

This row by row approach is best for a quick adjustment on a customer or two. Reach for Add Item or Bulk Edit above when the same change applies across many invoices at once.
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Activity Slips bill customers for time your employees or subcontractors spend on a task. That time can become a timesheet entry or an invoice line.

1. Click Time Tracker on the top menu.

2. Click Add Activity Slip.

The Activity Slips tab under Time Tracker, with the Add Activity Slip button at the top left.
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3. Enter the Customer, Employee/Vendor, Activity, Billing Rate, Units (type the units manually, or click the stopwatch icon to time it live), Job, Payroll, and Notes as needed.

4. Click Record, or Save as Draft to finish later.

List options (activities, rates, jobs, payroll categories) sync down from AccountEdge Pro/NE. If you need a new one, add it on the desktop first and sync.
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A Timesheet is a faster way an employee can log time across multiple days for one customer and activity, instead of creating a separate Activity Slip for each day.

1. Select the employee or vendor from the employee field.

2. Click Add Timesheet.

The Timesheet tab, with Select Employee/Vendor and the Add Timesheet button at the top.
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3. Enter the Customer Name.

4. Enter hours worked on each applicable day.

5. Select the Activity.

6. Select a Payroll Category and Job if needed.

7. Save as Draft, or Record to submit.
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Each day with time entered becomes its own Activity Slip in AccountEdge, and recorded timesheets become available the next time you run Process Payroll in AccountEdge Pro/NE.
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Web Pay Q&A
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Q: Is Web Pay secure?

A: Yes. Data moves over HTTPS, and customers enter card details on a PCI-DSS compliant page hosted by Forte Payments. Card numbers are never stored in AccountEdge or AccountEdge Connect. If a customer saves a card for later, only a token representing it is stored.

Q: What payment methods can customers use?

A: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express, plus ACH/eCheck bank transfers (added in AccountEdge r34.x).

Q: Can I turn Web Pay off?

A: Yes. Log into AccountEdge Connect, go to Settings > General, and turn it off there. It'll disable on the desktop side the next time you sync. You can turn it back on from Setup > Web Pay in AccountEdge Desktop.

Q: Can my customer see the full invoice, or just a summary?

A: Only invoices created in AccountEdge Connect show in full detail in the customer's My Account page. Invoices created in AccountEdge Pro/NE show as a summary (sale date, due date, amount open, original amount, terms).

Q: Can I void or refund a Web Pay payment?

A: You can void a payment once it's synced back to AccountEdge Desktop, and the voiding itself has to happen on the desktop. Credits and refunds also have to be processed in AccountEdge Desktop, after the transaction has synced down.

Q: I sent my customer a web pay invite but they never received the email, how can I activate them?
A: The email will come from “[email protected]” so make sure your customer’s email domain isn’t blocking it automatically. It also commonly goes to spam/junk.