As more and more online accounting companies move their data to the cloud, one of the oldest competitors of the market, Intuit Inc., the owner of QuickBooks, have decided to aggressively promote its online accounting solution, QuickBooks Online. We cannot read minds, but we have a feeling that sooner or later the desktop version of QuickBooks will no longer be supported, thus you have no choice but to move your own data to the clouds.
Don’t be sad, this is a good thing: cloud-based accounting solutions are better because not only do you get software with the same features, but unlike the desktop version, your data will not occupy valuable space on your hard drives, plus you can access your new solution anytime, anywhere. Furthermore, you don’t have to choose QuickBooks Online, because there are plenty of equally good or even better online accounting solutions waiting for you to become their newest user.
Option No. 1: From QuickBooks to QuickBooks
For many users, this is a no-brainer: why bother switching to a completely different company if the current one can provide equally good online services? And without doubt this is quite a sound argument. So without further ado, here’s the migration guide from QuickBooks to, well, QuickBooks:
- After you have created your QuickBooks Online profile, you have to open QuickBooks Desktop Pro/Enterprise/for Mac, select Company and find the option “Export Company File to QuickBooks Online”. Click on it and then go to QuickBooks Online and log into your account.
- You will see an optional screen if you have inventory: click on Yes and select a date. If you don’t have an inventory, however, another screen appears asking you to replace the existing QuickBooks Online company with that from the QuickBooks desktop version. Click on Continue and just let QuickBooks do the rest for you, after which you will be notified via email.
- Once you are done, sign in to QuickBooks Online alongside your QuickBooks desktop version and compare the Profit and Loss and your Balance Sheet reports to ensure that your data was transferred correctly.
However, there are some data that cannot be converted into QuickBooks Online, such as transactions with three different types of currencies, reconciliation reports and sales orders; these data have to be entered manually. Furthermore, you 1) have to be a user with Administrator status 2) import data from desktop versions released in 2015 or thereafter and 3) you can do the migration within 60 days from creating your QuickBooks Online account.
Option No. 2: Trying Something New
You are not convinced by QuickBooks Online? Why not try something new like Xero, one of the top online accounting solutions that support QuickBooks migration? Here’s how to migrate your data to Xero:
- First, you need these things: your U.S. edition of QuickBooks, versions 2007 or newer; QuickBooks files with one currency; data for the current fiscal year.
- Then tidy up your data, ensure a maximum of 699 accounts are in the chart of accounts, and turn on account numbers. Ensure that your data is less than 1GB, after which you need to save your data in QBB, QBOE, QBW or QBXML format.
- Then sign in to Xero, add a new organization and select “Convert your QuickBooks file for free”, then tick the “Convert my QuickBooks file” check box. Choose the exported QuickBooks file, accept the terms of use, wait for the conversion, after which you have to subscribe to one of the products of Xero to complete the migration.
Attention: users outside the U.S. have to use add-ons to complete the conversion.
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