Importing Data Into QuickBooks Online Pt 2

I promised I’d be back! To follow up on last week’s post, today we will tackle importing products and services and invoices into QuickBooks Online. If you missed the first part, or need a quick refresher, you can check out the first post in this series.

Once you have uploaded your customers and vendors, you can move on to products and services. The good news is that you don’t have to start from scratch with your spreadsheet. Our sample file takes the guesswork out of formatting so you can avoid any issues in your upload.

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
2. Select Settings ⚙, then choose Import Data.
3. Click Download a sample file and open the file.

Here are some formatting tips to keep in mind:

• Product/Service Name: 100 character limit. 
• Income Account: You can't use sub-accounts.
• Quantity as-of Date: Format like this: MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY.
• Income and Expense account: You can't use sub-accounts.

At this point in the process, you’ll want to double-check that everything is correct since once you upload the list, it can’t be undone. While it doesn’t apply to everyone, if you do use subcategories or sub-items, there are separate formatting rules you will want to keep in mind. I’m including a link to an article that will walk you through how to set those up: ​​Import products and services into QuickBooks Online.

Now to the important part! Here’s how to import your file:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
2. Select Settings ⚙, then choose Import Data.
3. Click Products and Services.
4. Go to Browse, choose the file, and then select Open.
5. Select Next.
6. Map your information. Your Field represents the headers on your spreadsheet. From each drop-down ▼ menu, select the one that matches a field in QuickBooks Online.
7. Select Next.
8. If you see some cells highlighted in red, this means the cell is invalid. Check the cell in your spreadsheet and try importing again.
9. Select Overwrite all values for each product or service with the same name. Make sure everything looks correct because this can't be undone.
10. Finally, choose Import.

Congratulations! Now, you have brought over your customers, vendors, and products and services. You know what that means, right? You have all the pieces necessary to correctly complete an invoice. Yes!

We have you import your data in order so that QuickBooks has all the information it needs to correctly build your invoices without you having to manually add everything. So, ready to bring over your invoices? Let’s jump in.

Some limitations to be aware of:

• You can’t add discounts, credit memos, and negative amounts in general.
• You can import a maximum of 100 invoices at a time and a 1,000 row limit per spreadsheet.
• You can import invoices with single or multiple line items.

Next up, let’s go over the fields that are required for the upload:

• Invoice number
• Customer
• Invoice date
• Due date
• Item amount
• Item tax code

Just like before, you can download a sample spreadsheet to help make sure yours is accurate.  These steps are similar to uploading other forms of data, but here they are in case you need them:

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Import data.
2. Select Invoices.
3. Choose Browse and then find and select the spreadsheet of your invoices.
4. Click Next.
5. Map your import fields.
6. Select Import. 

Now you have all the tools you need. However, if you need to import multiple invoices at once, or have things like transaction numbers or multiple currencies, I’ve got your back: Import multiple invoices at once.