Moving from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Desktop allows a customer to export company data into a new or existing company in QuickBooks Online. The process of migrating a company does not impact the source company file. Thus, your QuickBooks Desktop company information will remain available after the migration.

In addition, if your company relies on any third-party apps that are installed with your instance of QuickBooks Desktop, the migration tool automatically generates a mapping table that developers can use to determine the new QuickBooks Online entity IDs based on their original QuickBooks Desktop IDs. Refer to the Accessing entity IDs in a converted company file for additional details.

Companies that meet either or both of the following criteria cannot be migrated at the current time. Outside of these two issues, any company can be migrated.

• Multicurrency—If your company uses the multicurrency function, it cannot be migrated to QuickBooks Online.
• Files with more than 350,000 transaction line items—Extremely large databases cannot be migrated.

If you attempt to migrate a company that meets either condition, QuickBooks Desktop throws an error stating that conversion is not supported.

If you are using QuickBooks Enterprise or need more details on moving Pro or Premier to QuickBooks Online, follow the instructions found at Moving your QuickBooks Desktop file.

1. Update your copy of QuickBooks Desktop to the latest version by clicking Help and selecting Update QuickBooks.
2. Next, click the option to start the data migration:
   • For a PC copy, click Company and select Export Company File to QuickBooks Online.
   • For a Mac, click File>Export and select To QuickBooks Online.
3. When prompted, enter your QuickBooks Online credentials to login. If you have never registered before, click Create a New Account to do so.
4. Next, you can choose to migrate to an existing QuickBooks Online company (if available) or create a new one. Select your desired option.
5. Click through the subsequent windows to start the conversion process. It typically takes a maximum of ten minutes.
6. Once the conversion is concluded, you will receive an email that contains a link that will allow you to sign into your new QuickBooks Online company.

While the conversion process is fairly comprehensive, there are some items in QuickBooks Desktop that will not be migrated over to QuickBooks Online. For the most part, these items can be re-established fairly quickly through the QuickBooks Online interface.

• Direct deposit and e-filing information for payroll
• Online banking connections
• Users and permissions settings
• Saved reports
• Customized sales forms
• Reconcile reports

• Moving to QuickBooks Online
• Why some data doesn’t migrate