Product names

Spell out product names. Don’t abbreviate them. And spell them correctly, with the right internal capital letters.

Try not to create new brands

Capitalizing features such as invoices, mileage tracking, and cash flow monitoring can be distracting and confusing for users. This form of sub-branding also dilutes the strength of the licensed, branded products we want to capitalize.

For more on capitalization and brands, go to Capitalization.

How we write product versions

When comparing product versions (like QuickBooks Desktop), avoid repeating content. Be careful not to overly consolidate, which may complicate procedures or cause continuous scrolling.

To show different versions in context (for example, within a particular step), use the following guidelines:

• Use bullets to show version differences within a step.
• If possible, introduce the bulleted differences with a main statement telling the customer to choose from the bullets that follow.
• Use expandable components instead of bulleted lists if appropriate for the viewer and customer experience.

When listing individual versions, state the most recent version first and follow with the remaining versions in descending order.

When you need to talk about ranges of versions, avoid using hyphens or en dashes. List the most recent version first, followed by the next most recent versions in descending order.

QuickBooks Desktop and migrating to QuickBooks Online

These guidelines explain how we can market QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online together. The main use case is migrating your company file from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

We normally shorten QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks. The QuickBooks Desktop migrator flows are an exception, though.

On first reference, use the full name: QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop.

If you have a small component like a tooltip or in-product nudge, you can use the abbreviations Desktop or Online. This is a last resort, so consider the context. Does the full name take up so much space that it impacts the message? Is it clear to customers which products you are referencing in that message?

Online and desktop are common words that can confuse customers. Be clear about what you’re talking about.