As I previously mentioned, there are just some things that QuickBooks Online (QBO) can’t do that QuickBooks desktop (QBDT) editions offer, and here’s a shocker – I’ve had to make the recommendation to convert to clients a few times. Whether it’s because QBO was never really a good fit to begin with, or because the company is changing or growing, there are times when I have to say: we need to switch.
Why wouldn’t QBO work? The short list is that one or more of the following is a must, and the workarounds or add-ons just won’t cut it:
- Progress Invoicing
- Receiving Partial Purchase Orders
- Job Costing
- Online Bill Pay
- Sales Orders
- Inventory Assemblies
- IIF import
- Price Levels
- Using Letters, i.e. – Collection Letters, Credit Letters, etc.
There are definitely some important things to consider before making the leap from QBO to QBDT, and let’s start with user access – to even begin the conversion process, you’ll need Master or Company Admin to the QBO subscription you want to convert
In addition, you must do the conversion using Internet Explorer (IE) 8 or 9 (I know. We’ve been preaching using Chrome, and I stand by that, but to export to QBDT, you have to do it in IE).
You’ll also need an appropriate version of QuickBooks installed on your computer:
- QuickBooks Pro, Premier or Enterprise 2004 or newer
- QuickBooks Simple Start Online to QuickBooks Simple Start versions 2004 & 2005, but not to versions 2006 or newer
- QuickBooks Basic 2004 Release 5 or later, but no older versions
- You can’t export to the Premier Nonprofit or Retail editions
Make sure everyone is out of the data file for the time period needed to convert, and that all Recurring Transactions have been entered for that day. I usually do these conversions for clients on a Friday afternoon, so that I have all weekend to troubleshoot if necessary, and they’ll have the new QBDT file ready to go for Monday morning. Another thing to remember: Any charges or credits should be added to a new invoice before converting, as these will not transfer from QBO to QBDT.
Remember – just because you export to QBDT, that doesn’t mean that the QBO subscription is cancelled. This still needs to be done from the “Your Account” link in the top right corner of each page:
My co-host at Radio Free QuickBooks, Woody Adams, created this how to on the process, and pay close attention to his comments.
Keep in mind: after you cancel, you can still view the data for one after you cancel. (If the account was still in trial when canceled, you have view only access for 90 days).
So, we’re ready to convert!
Starting with list names, one of the first things to think about is character limits. Each name, no matter what list – chart of accounts, customers, vendors – the display name is limited to 31 characters. When dealing with the Chart of Accounts, this 31 character limit includes sub accounts (and sub-sub accounts!) as well as the account number if it’s included in the name. If not, then account numbers do transfer, but will only show up in QBDT if that preference is turned on.
If you need to see how many characters are in any given name for any list, you can export the list report to
For other lists, there are other to consider:
- Customers:
- Full Name and Company Name are limited to 41 characters
- Billing & Ship To addresses are limited to 3 lines of 41 characters each
- Deleted Customers will be transferred as Inactive
- Customer Notes, Preferred Delivery Method, Pager number, mobile number and taxable status do not transfer
- Vendors:
- Full Name, Company Name and Print on Check As are limited to 41 characters
- Address is limited to 3 lines of 41 characters each
- Deleted Vendors will be transferred as Inactive
- Vendor Notes, Pager number, mobile number and 1099 Status are not transferred
- Employees:
- Full Name is limited to 39 characters
- Employee Notes are not transferred
- Deleted Employees will be transferred as Inactive
In addition, User/Location Lists will not transfer. QBDT has different user access and does not support Location tracking. There are a couple workarounds that I use for clients that use Location tracking when converting to QBDT. If they are not using classes, you can add classes to match each location. If they’re using both Location and Class tracking, you’ll need to create a new class for each Location, and then create a sub class to match existing Classes. For instance:
Existing Setup:
- Location Name 1, Location Name 2
- Class Name 1, Class Name 2, Class Name 3
New Setup:
- Class Name A (Old Location Name 1)Sub Class Name 1 (Old Class Name 1)
- Sub Class Name 2 (Old Class Name 2)
- Sub Class Name 3 (Old Class Name 3)
- Class Name B (Old Location Name 2)
- Sub Class Name 1 (Old Class Name 1)
- Sub Class Name 2 (Old Class Name 2)
- Sub Class Name 3 (Old Class Name 3)
You’ll have to manually re-class each transaction using Batch Reclassify in QuickBooks Online
I usually create a Transaction List by Date report showing all dates and filter by Location. You’ll be able to see the class while your in the Batch Reclassify screen so all you need to do is select the correct new Class Tracking for the group of transactions in that batch.
For the most part, most transactions will convert as you would expect, but there are a few exceptions:
- Recurring Transactions will not convert. Any recurring transactions will need to be setup as new Memorized Transactions in QBDT. For those clients that rely very heavily on recurring transactions, I usually recommend just hiring an intern or someone from a temp agency to do this data entry. You can print the Recurring Transaction list from QBO and the Memorized Transaction list from QBDT, or you can export to Excel to compare the data.
- Reconciliation Reports also will not transfer. After converting, the beginning balance in QBDT may show a zero starting balance and old transactions. To fix this, in the reconcile screen, you can will enter the ending balance of the last reconciled bank statement, then hit continue. You should see the list of transaction to be reconciled. If the difference is zero, then click the Reconcile Now button. If is not, then click Unmark All and check Hide transactions after the statement end date in the top right corner of your screen. Now click the Mark All button and use the reconciliation report from QBO to remove checks from un-cleared transactions as of the last reconciliation.
- Estimates/Statements/Purchase Orders will not transfer. These are non-posting transactions and will not convert. Also, since Charges and Credits are non-posting until they are added to a transaction, they will not convert; see my statement above about making sure any unbilled time/charges/credits are posted prior to exporting to QBDT.
- Payroll/Payroll Liability Payment Checks will transfer, but as regular checks. If you will be using another Intuit payroll option such as Assisted Payroll or Intuit Online Payroll after converting to QBDT, then a new payroll setup will need to be completed. Also important: check numbers will be blank and QBDT will most likely assign numbers to the transactions, which could result in duplicate check numbers.
- Checks and Cash Purchases and Transfers– Checks and Cash Purchases will transfer as checks, any Transfers will be converted to Journal Entries.
One last comment about converting from QuickBooks Online – if you’re converting to QuickBooks Mac, there’s still no direct way to do this. You’ll have to export to QuickBooks Pro or QuickBooks Premier, then save as a QB Mac file. You can do that quite easily, as seen here:
I know, another long article! I’m hoping it didn’t bore you too much and that it helps the next time you’re thinking of converting from QuickBooks Online to a desktop edition.
Personally, for clients that come to me and tell me they want to convert, I first ask what the pain point they have that they think converting will correct, and I try to give them options to stick with what they have – especially if they’re a long time user of QBO. Only after we’ve exhausted all the options – the workarounds, the add ons, etc. do we really take a look at converting.
Sometimes it’s just the only way, but you bet I’ll try to keep them QuickBooks Online if I can!
This post was written by By Stacy Kildal. For a more detailed step-by-step guide on converting, check out Kildal's article on AccountingWEB.com.