Moving from QuickBooks® Online
Bring your QuickBooks Online books to your own computer.
Export your lists and reports from QuickBooks Online, load them into AcboBooks in one go, and compare the totals. US and Canadian companies. Most small businesses are done in an afternoon.
At a glance
What comes across, and what doesn’t
16 kinds of data come across, 2 partly, and 5 stay in QuickBooks Online. Nothing changes in your QuickBooks Online company: AcboBooks only reads the files you export.
Chart of accounts
Every account, with its number and sub-accounts.
Customers and vendors
Names, contact details, addresses and payment terms. (Vendors are “Suppliers” in Canada.)
Products and services
Prices, descriptions and the income or expense account for each.
Opening balances
From your trial balance, account by account, as of your start date.
Open invoices and unpaid bills
Each one, with the same balance QuickBooks Online shows, so aging reports match.
Past invoices, sales receipts and credit memos
With their item lines (full history).
Customer payments and deposits
Applied to invoices by amount: QuickBooks Online doesn’t export which payment paid which invoice.
Bills, bill payments, checks and expenses
Including credit card charges and refunds (full history).
Journal entries
Every entry in the period you choose.
Sales tax rates and agencies
US sales tax, and GST/HST/PST in Canada.
Classes and locations
When your exports include the Class and Location columns.
Open purchase orders
With their lines.
Recurring transactions
As memorized transactions, switched off until you check them.
Budgets
Month by month, from the Budget Overview report.
Reconciled status
Which bank and card transactions were cleared, from the “Cleared” column.
Attachments (receipts, PDFs)
Linked to their invoice or bill when the file name says which; the rest go to the Doc Center.
Estimates
Each estimate comes across with its total. QuickBooks Online’s export has no line items.
Payroll
Employees, pay rates, paychecks and tax payments come across. Deductions, benefits and state unemployment rates you set up again.
Bank feed connections
Reconnect your bank in AcboBooks, or import statements (OFX/QFX).
Users and their permissions
Add your users in AcboBooks.
Invoice templates and branding
Add your logo and colours in AcboBooks.
Saved and customised reports
AcboBooks has its own reports; save the ones you need as PDFs first.
Audit log and apps
QuickBooks Online’s audit log and connected apps (shops, payment apps) stay behind.
Some rows depend on the files you export: for example past invoices need the Journal and Sales by Customer Detail, and reconciled status needs the Cleared column. The checklist below says which file brings what.
Step by step
Six steps, from export 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 in the period too).
Export the files from QuickBooks Online
Sign in to QuickBooks Online as an admin and export the files in the checklist below, each with Export → Export to Excel. Keep them together in one folder. File names don’t matter.
Install AcboBooks and open the importer
Download the free trial, create your company, then go to Company → Migrate from QuickBooks and click the QuickBooks Online tab.
Load all the files at once
Click Load QuickBooks Online files… and select them all, or the .zip they came in. AcboBooks works out what each file is. A red box tells you if anything is still missing.
Check the preview, then import
The preview shows the accounts, customers, vendors, items, open invoices and bills that will be created. Compare the open A/R and A/P totals with QuickBooks Online, then click Import into AcboBooks. AcboBooks backs up your company file first.
Compare the totals, then finish setting up
Run the trial balance in both programs for the same date: it should match to the cent. Check A/R and A/P aging and your bank balances. Then reconnect bank imports, set up payroll deductions and add your users.
Step 2 checklist
The files to export from QuickBooks Online
“Both” files are all you need for lists and open balances. Add the “Full history” files to bring past transactions, and any “Optional” ones for the extras.
Chart of accounts
Settings ⚙ → Chart of accounts → Run report → Export → Export to Excel
Customers
Your customer list → the Export icon above the list
Vendors (Suppliers in Canada)
Your vendor list → the Export icon above the list
Products and services
Your products and services list → the Export icon
Trial Balance
Reports → Trial Balance, as of your start date → Export to Excel
Open Invoices
Reports → Open Invoices, as of your start date
Unpaid Bills
Reports → Unpaid Bills, as of your start date
Journal
Reports → Journal, for the whole period you want to bring
Sales by Customer Detail
Reports → Sales by Customer Detail, same period (brings item lines)
Sales Tax Liability (Canada: Transactions by tax code)
Reports, or Taxes → Reports in Canada
Payroll Details and Employee Details
Reports → Payroll
Recurring Template List, Budget Overview
Reports, or Settings → Recurring transactions
Transaction Detail by Account (with the Cleared column)
Reports → Transaction Detail by Account → Customize → add “Cleared”
Attachments
Lists → Attachments → select all → Export (downloads a .zip)
QuickBooks Online moves its menus around from time to time; if a menu isn’t where we say, search for the report’s name under Reports. For full history, also export a Trial Balance for the day before your start date.
Want every click with screenshots? The Academy lesson walks through the import screen on Intuit’s QuickBooks Online test-drive company.
Open the lessonFree migration help
Rather not do it alone? We’ll check it with you, free.
On a free 30-minute call we go through your exports, the import and the trial balance in both programs with you.
Email [email protected] with the subject “Migration help”. We reply within one business day.
Is my QuickBooks Online company changed?
No. AcboBooks only reads the files you export. Keep QuickBooks Online until you have compared the totals and are happy.
How long does it take?
Exporting takes 15–30 minutes. The import itself takes a few minutes, and checking the totals about the same.
Do I need to cancel QuickBooks Online first?
No. Move first, check everything, run both side by side for a month if you like, then cancel. Save the reports you want to keep as PDFs before you do.
Canadian company?
Yes: GST/HST and PST, “Suppliers”, and Canadian date formats are all handled. Tested on Intuit’s Canadian QuickBooks Online test drive.
On QuickBooks Desktop instead? See Move from QuickBooks Desktop →
Get started
Your books, off the subscription, this afternoon.
Download the free trial, import your QuickBooks Online exports, and check the numbers yourself.
No card. No account. Nothing to cancel.