Moving from QuickBooks® Desktop
Your whole QuickBooks Desktop company, in six steps.
AcboBooks reads your company straight from QuickBooks on the same PC: lists, balances and, if you like, every past transaction. Then it checks its totals against QuickBooks’ own. US and Canadian editions.
At a glance
What comes across, and what doesn’t
14 kinds of data come across, 1 partly, and 7 stay in QuickBooks. AcboBooks only reads your QuickBooks file; it never changes it.
Chart of accounts
Every account, with its number and sub-accounts. Accounts that share a name stay separate.
Customers and jobs
Contact details, addresses, terms, and each job under its customer.
Vendors and other names
Contact details, addresses and terms.
Products and services (items)
Service, inventory, non-inventory, other charge, discount and subtotal items, with prices and accounts.
Inventory
Quantity on hand and average cost; adjustments and builds come across as their accounting entries.
Classes
Every class, on every transaction line that used it.
Sales tax
US sales tax items and groups; GST/HST and PST in Canada, with input tax credits.
Opening balances
Account by account, then checked against QuickBooks’ own trial balance.
Open invoices, bills and credits
Each open invoice, bill, credit memo and vendor credit, with the same balance as QuickBooks.
Past invoices, sales receipts and credit memos
With their item lines and cost of goods sold (full history).
Customer payments and deposits
Applied to the same invoices they paid in QuickBooks.
Bills, bill payments, checks and credit card charges
Including item receipts and reimbursable expenses (full history).
Journal entries, transfers and sales tax payments
Every one in the period you choose.
Other currencies
Customers, vendors and bank accounts in US dollars, euros and more, at QuickBooks’ exchange rates.
Payroll
Paychecks and payroll tax payments come across in your books. Pay rates, tax setup and year-to-date payroll totals you set up again.
Estimates, sales orders and purchase orders
They don’t affect your books, so they stay in QuickBooks. Re-enter the open ones you still need.
Bank reconciliation history
Start reconciling in AcboBooks from your next statement.
Memorized transactions and reports
Set up the ones you use again; AcboBooks has its own reports.
Invoice templates and logo
Add your logo and colours in AcboBooks.
Attachments, audit trail and budgets
They stay in QuickBooks. Keep your QuickBooks file as your archive.
Users and passwords
Add your users in AcboBooks.
Online banking connections
Connect your bank in AcboBooks, or import statements (OFX/QFX).
Past transactions come across when you choose Full history. With Lists and open balances, you get your lists, balances as of your start date, and the invoices and bills still open.
Before you start
What you need
QuickBooks Desktop
Pro, Premier or Enterprise, US or Canadian edition. 2019 or later is recommended; older versions often work too, and if yours won’t connect, the list export under the steps always does.
The same Windows PC
AcboBooks reads QuickBooks through Intuit’s own connection on that computer. Nothing goes over the internet.
Admin access
The QuickBooks Admin user, so QuickBooks can let AcboBooks read the file.
About an afternoon
The pull takes minutes for most companies; checking the totals takes a little longer.
Step by step
Six steps, from QuickBooks to matching totals
Pick your start date and how much to bring
Choose the date your books start in AcboBooks, usually the first day of a month, quarter or year. Then choose Lists and open balances (quickest: your lists, balances and what is still open) or Full history (every transaction from a date you choose).
Back up your QuickBooks file
In QuickBooks: File → Back Up Company → Create Local Backup. AcboBooks only reads your file and never changes it, but a fresh backup is good practice before any move.
Install AcboBooks on the same computer
Download the free trial on the PC where QuickBooks is installed, and create your company. Choose your country (United States or Canada) so sales tax and payroll are set up the right way.
Open your company in QuickBooks
Start QuickBooks and open your company file as the Admin user, in single-user mode. Leave it open.
Pull from QuickBooks into AcboBooks
In AcboBooks go to Company → Migrate from QuickBooks, pick Lists and open balances or Full history from your start date, and click Pull from QuickBooks (live). QuickBooks asks once whether to allow AcboBooks: choose Yes. If Windows asks “Do you want to allow this app to make changes?”, click Yes (QuickBooks often runs as administrator).
Check the totals, import, and finish setting up
AcboBooks compares what it read with QuickBooks’ own trial balance and shows the result. Click Import into AcboBooks (it backs up your company file first). Then compare the trial balance, A/R and A/P aging, and bank balances in both programs, and finish with payroll setup, your bank connection and your users.
QuickBooks on another computer, an older version, or the pull won’t connect?
Export your lists instead: in QuickBooks, File → Utilities → Export → Lists to IIF Files and tick every list. In AcboBooks, click Load qbXML or IIF file(s)… on the same Migrate from QuickBooks screen. This brings your accounts, names and items; you then enter your opening balances. Or email us and we’ll help you choose.
Want every click with screenshots? The Academy lessons walk through the Migrate from QuickBooks screen.
Open the lessonsFree migration help
Rather not do it alone? We’ll check it with you, free.
On a free 30-minute call we go through the pull, the import and the trial balance in both programs with you.
Email [email protected] with the subject “Migration help”, your company name and QuickBooks version. We reply within one business day.
Is my QuickBooks file changed?
No. AcboBooks only reads it. Keep QuickBooks as it is until you have compared the totals and are happy.
Can I run the import again?
Yes. Running it again updates what is already there; it never creates duplicates.
Canadian edition?
Yes: GST/HST and PST with input tax credits, Cheque wording and Canadian payroll.
What about my old QuickBooks data later?
Keep your QuickBooks file and a backup as your archive. You can still open it in QuickBooks for anything that didn’t come across.
On QuickBooks Online instead? See Move from QuickBooks Online →
Get started
Your QuickBooks history, in an afternoon.
Download the free trial, pull your company from QuickBooks, and check the numbers yourself.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.