by Intuit•6• Updated 3 days ago
Learn how to import your lists (vendors, customers, inventory, and chart of accounts) to QuickBooks Online.
You can move your existing lists to QuickBooks Online from QuickBooks Desktop or another QuickBooks Online company. This saves you from having to set up the items from your lists one by one.
Need to import bank transactions too? Connect your account to QuickBooks to download transactions automatically.
Note: The Products and Services page is not available in QuickBooks Ledger.
For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view 
.
Step 1: Export your list reports to Excel
From another QuickBooks Online company:
- Sign in to the account that has your lists.
- Go to Reports (Take me there).
- Depending on which list you need to export, search for and run Account List, Customer Contact List, Vendor Contact List, or Product/Service List report.
- Customize the list report's columns. See the info for each report below to check how their columns should be ordered.
Note: The list of columns that you see in your report may vary depending upon the columns you've selected. To modify this selection, go to the gear icon in the report header and select or clear the columns as required.
Account List Report
- Account #
- Account
- Type
- Detail Type
- Description
- Balance
Customer Contact List Report
- Customer
- Company name
- Email
- Phone
- Website
- Billing Street
- Billing City
- Billing State
- Billing Zip
- Billing Country
Vendor Contact List Report
- Vendor
- Company Name
- Email
- Phone
- Website
- Street
- City
- State
- Zip
- Country
Product/Service List Report
- Product/Service
- Type
- Description
- Price
- Cost
- Qty on hand
- After saving your report, export it.
- Open the exported report in Excel.
- Delete rows 1-4 to remove your company name and report title from the sheet.
- Save your report again as Excel or CSV.
From a QuickBooks Desktop company:
- Sign in to the QuickBooks Desktop company file.
- Go to Reports and select Lists.
- Depending on what list you need to export, run Account Listing, Item Listing, Customer Contact List, or Vendor Contact List report.
- Export the report to Excel.
Step 2: Import your lists to QuickBooks Online
After you export and save your reports, you can import them to QuickBooks Online.
For detailed steps on importing each list, see these articles:
Note: To see how your Excel files should look, download and open these samples:
Get help with common errors when importing lists
Errors on items that are already in your company
You may get errors on items that are already in your company. For example, the "Hours" and "Services" items that are created by default. The best thing to do is not to import these items. The rest of your items should still get imported.
Errors for non-existent accounts
If importing Products/Services, cancel the import, make sure that those accounts exist, and then try again. To avoid this error, either import your Chart of Accounts first before your Products and Services list. Or if you have just one or two missing accounts, you may want to create them manually after the import.
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FAQs
Now that you've made a spreadsheet with your products and services in Excel or CSV, you're ready to import them to QuickBooks. Keep in mind that once you import a list, it can't be undone. And you can only import 1,000 rows at a time. If your list is longer than that, split it up into multiple, smaller files.
Which 4 list types can be imported into QuickBooks Online? ›
Learn how to import your lists (vendors, customers, inventory, and chart of accounts) to QuickBooks Online. You can move your existing lists to QuickBooks Online from QuickBooks Desktop or another QuickBooks Online company. This saves you from having to set up the items from your lists one by one.
What doesn't migrate to QuickBooks Online? ›
Memorized Transaction Groups do not migrate into QuickBooks Online, as Groups do not exists in QuickBooks Online. Note: QuickBooks Online doesn't have the same reports as QuickBooks Desktop. Accrual basis reports in QuickBooks Online will match your reports in QuickBooks Desktop.
What is the easiest way to migrate your data to QuickBooks Online? ›
Go to Company, then select Export Your Company File to QuickBooks Online. Select Get started. Sign in as an admin to your QuickBooks Online company. Select Choose online company, and choose the company you want to replace with your company file.
What Cannot be imported into QuickBooks Online? ›
– QuickBooks will import most transaction types, but not all. Paychecks & Sales Orders are two transaction types that can't be imported. – For those using Advanced Inventory, QuickBooks does not support Advanced Inventory fields for import, but also requires them to be filled out on transactions.
What lists can you not import from Excel into QuickBooks? ›
Advanced inventory: You can't import advanced inventory fields into QuickBooks. Transaction linkages: QuickBooks doesn't import links between transactions, such as connections between invoices and payments. Custom fields on transactions: The platform doesn't import custom fields on transactions.
What statement is true when importing lists into QuickBooks Online? ›
When importing lists into QuickBooks Online, several statements are true: When importing lists, check a box to overwrite customers with identical names. Vendors with an identical name will automatically be overwritten when importing lists. Customer and vendor lists can be combined and imported together.
Which two list types can be directly imported into QuickBooks Online from Excel? ›
Explanation: The four list types that can be directly imported into QuickBooks Online from Excel are Customers, Suppliers (or Vendors), Products and Services and Chart of Accounts. These lists can be imported from Excel spreadsheets to save time and eliminate the potential for errors when transferring data manually.
Can I import transactions from Excel to QuickBooks Online? ›
How do I import a transaction history from an excel spreadsheet to quickbooks online?
- Go to Transactions tab, then make sure to select Banking.
- Click the drop-down button for Link account and select Upload from file.
- Select Browse and choose the .CSV file.
Lack of industry-specific features
For example, general contractors can create a Job by Vendor report to organize job costs by the vendor and see which vendors need to be paid. QuickBooks Online doesn't offer these features, and there's no support for inventory management.
Quickbooks Online Disadvantages
- Unlike the desktop version of Quickbooks, you can't upload files from non-Intuit payroll services into your Quickbooks file. ...
- Some banks are not set up to download transactions. ...
- Unlike the desktop version of QuickBooks, you will have to pay a subscription cost for each company.
You can exclude transactions downloaded from your bank. QuickBooks won't include excluded transactions as part of your tax calculations or financial reports. Or you can delete transactions you've added manually. Here's how to delete or exclude a transaction.
Is QuickBooks Desktop being phased out? ›
After May 31, 2025, your QuickBooks Desktop 2022 software will be discontinued. This includes all 2022 versions of QuickBooks Desktop Pro, QuickBooks Desktop Premier, QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions v22. Other Intuit products are affected by the software discontinuation.
What are the 3 primary ways to migrate client data to QuickBooks Online? ›
3 ways to migrate client data to QBO
- Manually enter the information.
- Use IIF files.
- Use service of a conversion expert.
The migration to QuickBooks Online takes about 30 minutes to complete. Make sure to keep QuickBooks Desktop running until the migration is done.
Can I import a list of checks into QuickBooks Online? ›
You can import Checks from Excel spreadsheets or text files directly into QuickBooks Online using the SaasAnt Transactions (Online) application.
How to import inventory list into QuickBooks Online? ›
Here's how to import your file:
- Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
- Select Settings ⚙, then select Import Data.
- Select Products and Services.
- Do one of the following: ...
- Select Next.
- Map your information. ...
- Select Next.
- If you see some cells highlighted in red, this means the cell is invalid.
Go to Settings. and select Import data. Select Products and Services. To upload an Excel or CSV file, select Browse to upload the file from your computer.
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