The Scratchpad is an area on the Snapshot tab, to the right of the columns which represent native columns of the QuickBooks form. It consists of ten blank columns colored with a light yellow background. In the Scratchpad, you can enter formulas which refer to the native QuickBooks columns. Also, formulas entered in the native columns can refer to cells in the Scratchpad.
In the example above, a formula entered on the Formulas row of the Scratchpad, =F18*G18, will calculate an extended weight for each line of an invoice, by multiplying the Unit Weight by the Quantity on each line. Presumably, a trigger Item named ShipWt will be selected somewhere toward the bottom of the invoice, and it will total the Extd Wt. column of the Scratchpad, to provide a total shipping weight for the entire invoice.
The Scratchpad lets you do things like create subtotals and totals of the QuickBooks form's columns, or do other intermediate calculations, without adding additional custom columns to the QuickBooks form (Invoice, Sales Receipt, etc.). This provides several benefits:
1.Using the Scratchpad sometimes frees up custom fields for other uses in QuickBooks. This can be especially important if you need a large number of custom fields (columns) for data but the number of custom fields available in your QuickBooks edition (such as QuickBooks Pro) is limited.
2.Sometimes, you may be able to add new calculations for a QuickBooks form without taking a new snapshot of the form. If you can add the new calculation in a Scratchpad column instead of modifying the form's layout, taking a new Snapshot won't be necessary.
3.The Scratchpad lets you do some kinds of calculations more simply than if all formulas had to be entered in (match up with) native QuickBooks columns. For instance, in some situations the Scratchpad lets you avoid using long formulas containing IF() statements.
4.Using the Scratchpad often makes FormCalc SST run faster! How? If you can remove custom columns from the Items area of a QuickBooks form (because they are no longer needed for use by FormCalc SST), the form will have fewer columns for to travel over as it gathers data and processes calculations. Fewer columns to travel over means quicker operation!