Run a second business in the desktop app

Each HQ account holds one business. If you run a second business, it gets its own HQ account, with its own books, mail and settings. The desktop app can keep both signed in at the same time, each in its own window. Both stay loaded, so moving between them is just switching windows. Nothing reloads.

Opening a window for another account

On a Mac, choose File › New Window for Another Account, press Cmd+Shift+N, or right-click the HQ icon in the Dock and choose New Window for Another Account. On Windows, right-click the HQ icon in the taskbar or in the system tray and choose New Window for Another Account.

The new window opens on the sign-in screen. Sign in with the other business's account. From then on that window stays signed in to it, and the first window stays signed in to yours.

Your windows are remembered. Quit the app and reopen it and every account window comes back, still signed in.

Each account opens in one window. If you sign in to an account that already has a window, HQ takes you to that window instead and closes the new one, with a short note saying so. If the new one is the app's first window, which cannot be closed for good, it is signed out and hidden instead.

Switching between them

Each account is a normal window, so anything that switches windows works:

• Cmd+` steps between the app's windows on a Mac.
• Make each window full screen and it gets its own space, so a three-finger swipe moves between the two businesses.
• Mission Control shows both side by side.
• On Windows, use Alt+Tab or the taskbar.

Menu commands, the keyboard shortcuts and email links from other apps always go to the window you were last using.

What each window keeps to itself

Each window is completely separate: its own sign-in, books, mail, settings. Signing out in one window does not sign out the other. A mailbox or bank you connect in one window is connected to that window's account only.

The red count on the HQ icon in the Dock adds up the unread mail of every open account.

Closing the windows

Closing a window never signs anything out. Close it the usual way (the red button, the X on Windows, Cmd+Shift+W, or File › Close Window; Cmd+W closes a tab, not the window) and every HQ window goes away together, all still signed in. Mail notifications and the unread count keep working.

To bring them back, click the HQ icon in the Dock on a Mac. On Windows, click the HQ icon by the clock, or open HQ from the taskbar or the Start menu. Every window comes back, the one you were last using in front.

Quitting the app (Cmd+Q on a Mac, Quit in the menu of the HQ icon by the clock on Windows) works the same way: open it again and every window comes back, still signed in.

Removing an account window

To stop using an account on this computer, choose File › Remove This Account Window… on a Mac. On Windows, right-click the HQ icon by the clock and choose Remove This Account Window…. HQ asks first, then signs that window out on this computer and closes it for good: it won't reopen the next time you start the app. Nothing in the account itself is changed or deleted, and you can open a new window and sign in again at any time.

The app's first window cannot be removed; to use a different account there, sign out inside it.

If a window goes grey or stops responding

If the window you are using stops responding for about 20 seconds, HQ asks whether to Restart Window or Wait. Restarting loads HQ again in that same window and you stay signed in, but anything you were typing that hadn't been saved may be lost. Choose Wait if you would rather give it another minute.

On a Mac, if the page inside a window stops completely, the app loads it again by itself. If that keeps happening, it asks you instead.

Quitting the app (Cmd+Q) and opening it again also clears a window that is stuck, and your windows come back signed in.