Accessing QuickBooks from Anywhere, with AnyDesk

They are useful tools for many farmers and ranchers, especially if you still use a lot of desktop software, because they let you access data and programs on your desktop computer from any other computer or device (tablet or smartphone). You can use a word processor, a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel, etc.), QuickBooks or another desktop accounting application, or other applications installed on your home or office computer, from anywhere that you have an Internet connection.

Many ag applications are still only available as desktop editions, including most ag-specific accounting systems, and various other applications. Some programs--for livestock recordkeeping, for instance--may offer smartphone-based apps for data collection, but the data still gets loaded into a desktop application which keeps the program's main database, does most of the calculations, produces reports, and so on.

With a remote control application, you can:

❖Look up a transaction in QuickBooks on your computer at home, to see whether your feed dealer's "early booking price" on livestock mineral is any better than the price you paid another dealer

❖Look up the serial number of a tractor while standing at your dealer's parts counter.

❖Access an Excel worksheet you maintain at home to keep track with quantities of grain in various bins and commercial storage locations, and cash grain contracts.

Of course, you could also do all of these things with cloud-based software, such as QuickBooks Online, and cloud versions of spreadsheets and note-taking apps, etc. But a remote control application gives you some of the benefits of cloud-based software without the cost, learning time, or hassle of upgrading software or switching to entirely new and unfamiliar software.

AnyDesk is a relative newcomer compared to TeamViewer, GoToMyPC, or other similar applications, so what are its advantages and benefits?

❖AnyDesk has been around long enough to be stable and reliable—in wide use, the world over.

❖AnyDesk is the simplest to set up and use of any remote control application I have worked with. You can literally install and be using it within minutes.

❖It works on a wide range of devices:  Windows and Mac PCs, Andrid and Apple tablets and smartphones, Linux and FreeBSD computers, and even Raspberry Pi systems.

Basically, any device running AnyDesk can remotely control any other device which is running AnyDesk (and has granted permission to be controlled by other devices).

❖AnyDesk is blazingly fast when working across a network (WiFi or other), because it sends information directly across the network, not through a remote server.

Have a computer in your shop and want to look up a bill on your computer at the house? If both computers are on the same network (typical in most farm businesses), you'll be able to look up the bill as quickly as if you were directly using the computer at the house.

❖AnyDesk is inexpensive (for most users).

A drawback of popular applications like TeamViewer is that their prices have continued to rise along with their popularity. AnyDesk licenses start at $11 per month, while TeamViewer licenses start at $49 per month.

But the best news is this:  many AnyDesk users use it for free (more on this later).

There are other options—AnyDesk is not the only lower-cost alternative to TeamViewer and similar pricey applications—but it is one of the best, and often is the least expensive.

* For the record, neither I nor Flagship Technologies, Inc. have any connection with AnyDesk.

In addition to paid licensing, AnyDesk is free for private use. What does that mean, exactly? It is not very clearly spelled out on the AnyDesk.com Web site, so your guess is as good as mine!

My personal take on AnyDesk's "free for private use" license goes something like this:  "Let's give AnyDesk away for free for a while to get a lot of people 'hooked' on it...we can always start charging for it later." That may or may not be true but seems reasonable to assume, given what currently appears to be very loose enforcement of any restrictions on the "free for private use" license.

I should note that the free version of AnyDesk only supports one remote connection at a time. Paid licenses allow multiple connections, but how many farm businesses need that? Not many.

As I said before, AnyDesk is simple to set up. Just:

1.Download the installer from www.AnyDesk.com. Or on smartphone or tablet, get it from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.

2.Install it on both devices—the one you want to control, and the one that will do the controlling.

3.Run AnyDesk on the device you want to control, to change settings to allow the device to be controlled, and to get the device's ID number (assigned by AnyDesk) and a password to prevent unauthorized access.

Note:  Control can be in either direction between two devices. In other words, any device can control any other, so long as both have AnyDesk installed and the target device's ID number and password are known.

To control another device with AnyDesk...

Install and run AnyDesk on the controlling device (PC or other); i.e., the device which will control the remote device (remote may simply mean another device on the same network, or it could be anywhere on the Internet). Then follow the steps shown in the video below to connect with and use the remote device.

The remote device in this video is a Windows PC, and AnyDesk will be used to look up a QuickBooks transaction on it. (The video also shows how the transaction would appear if using a smartphone as the controlling device.)

Some things to know...

❖Once connected to a remote device, anything you type in the AnyDesk window, and any mouse clicks, are sent to the remote device just as if you were operating it directly.

And to address a question you might have:  yes, you can do all of this even if the controlling device is a smartphone. However it often requires more effort and extra steps:  it's hard to "click" small buttons and menu commands on the remote PC using your finger, because the smartphone's screen is so small compared to the screen on a PC.

❖Likewise, all sound and screen effects from the remote device will be passed back to the controlling device. However, though the sound quality may not be good enough for enjoying your favorite music to the fullest.

Mark Wilsdorf was raised in agriculture, has been deeply involved in it all of his life, and has worked with QuickBooks and accounting software for much of that time as well. He was editor of AgriComp, the first national magazine for agricultural computing, has authored several books about using QuickBooks in agriculture (The QuickBooks Farm Accounting Cookbook™ series), has done consulting work for Fortune-500 businesses serving agriculture, and has been the lead developer on QuickBooks-related software projects, including several QuickBooks add-ons.

If you wanted proof that Mark always has at least one foot in agriculture you might look around his office at home....where you would find things like a folder of soil test reports, calf obstetrical supplies, a seed sample waiting on a germination test, a stack of machinery parts catalogs, and a lariat he will never really learn to use well.

The entire contents of this site is Copyright © 1995-2021 Flagship Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. However, Flagship Technologies, Inc. grants limited permission to use content from articles in the QB Ag Center as described below.

Permitted uses

Prohibited uses