When you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online, you may notice differences in how your books appear. Don’t worry, we’ll help you understand how your books were moved.
Check out all the benefits you get when you move to QuickBooks Online. If you're an accountant, learn how to set up your clients for success with their move to QuickBooks Online.
For details on how to make the switch, check out Move your QuickBooks Desktop file to QuickBooks Online.
How your books move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online
Checkout the different parts of a company file and how they move to QuickBooks Online.
- Terminology - A list of common terms used in QuickBooks and how they differ between Desktop and Online.
- Features - Learn how Payroll, Budgets, Stock, Online Banking, QuickBooks Payments, Sales Tax, Attached Documents, Multi-currency, and Mileage move to QuickBooks Online.
- Items - Learn how different item types move to QuickBooks Online.
- Lists - Learn how the Customer, Supplier, Chart of Accounts, Terms, and other lists move to QuickBooks Online.
- Preferences - Learn how each QuickBooks Desktop preference setting moves to Online.
- Reports - Learn how Reconcile, Memorised, Audit Trail, and Favourite reports move to QuickBooks Online.
- Transactions - Learn how the different types of transactions move to QuickBooks Onine.
Terminology
QuickBooks Desktop uses different terms than QuickBooks Online for menu options, features, lists, items, transaction types, reports, and other labels.
Here's a list of the terminology differences between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online:
| QuickBooks Desktop Term | QuickBooks Online Term |
|---|---|
| Documents / Doc Center | Attachments |
| Payment Reminders | Reminders / Automatic invoice reminders |
| Income Tracker | All Sales |
| Bill Tracker | Suppliers window |
| Upload & Review Bills | Receipts |
| Forecast | Budgets |
| Budgets | Budgets |
| Reconcile | Reconcile |
| Stock Parts | Stock |
| Non-stock Parts | Non-stock |
| Assemblies | Bundles (Products & services) |
| Groups | Bundles (Products & services) |
| Other Charges | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Subtotals | Subtotal |
| Discounts | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Payments | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Services | Services |
| Jobs | Sub-customers Projects |
| Items | Products and services |
| Memorised transactions | Recurring transactions |
| Leads | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Price Levels | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Billing Rate Levels | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Other Names | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Suppliers | Suppliers (for all Suppliers) Contractors |
| Fixed Asset Items | Asset Account |
| Sales Reps (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Supplier Types (Customer & Vendor Profile Lists) | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Job Types (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Customer Messages (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Ship Via (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Vehicles (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Manage vehicles |
| Templates | Custom Form Styles |
| Add/Edit Multiple List Entries | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Customers | Customers |
| Employees | Employees |
| Classes | Classes (and Locations) |
| Chart of Accounts | Chart of Accounts |
| Customer Types (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Customer Types |
| Terms (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Terms |
| Payment Methods (Customer & Supplier Profile Lists) | Payment Methods |
| Memorised reports | Custom reports |
| Scheduled reports | Custom reports |
| Commented reports | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Custom reports | Custom reports (QuickBooks Online Advanced) |
| Company Snapshot | Business Snapshot |
Job & Item Estimates vs Actuals | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Bills | Expenses Bills Supplier Credits |
| Credit Card Charges | Expenses Credit Card Credits |
| Item Receipts | Expenses Bills |
| Sales Orders | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Credit Notes | Credit Notes Refund Receipts Delayed Credits |
| Batch Invoices | Batch transactions (QuickBooks Online Advanced) |
| Receipt Management | Receipts |
| Adjust Quantity/Value on Hand | Stock Quantity Adjustment |
| Make General Journal Entries | Journal Entries |
| Make Deposits | Bank Deposits |
| Transfer Funds | Transfer |
| Enter Statement Charges | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Statements | Statements |
| Estimates | Estimates |
| Invoices | Invoices |
| Receive Payments | Receive Payments |
| Sales Receipts | Sales Receipts |
| Checks | Checks |
| Purchase Orders | Purchase Orders |
| Pay Bills | Pay Bills |
| Undeposited Funds | Undeposited Funds Payments to deposit |
| Use Register (For Banks/Accounts) | View Register |
| Edit > Preferences | Settings (gear) > Account and settings Settings (gear) > Payroll settings |
| My Company | Settings (gear) > Account and settings |
| Weekly Timesheet | Time Entries (If you have the Time tab) Weekly Timesheet (if you don't have the Time tab) |
| Time / Enter Single Activity | Time Entries (If you have the Time tab) Single Time Activity (if you don't have the Time tab) |
| Calendar | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Set Up Users | Manage Users |
| To Do List | Tasks (QuickBooks Online Advanced) |
| Reminders | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Letters | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
| Customer Groups | Not available in QuickBooks Online |
Features
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't Move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Budgets • Budgets are only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. • Only Profit and Loss budget types will copy to QuickBooks Online. | |
| Stock • Stock is only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. • QuickBooks Online recalculates your stock based on First-In, First-Out method. • QuickBooks Online doesn't support units of measure for stock items. | |
| Multi-currency • Multi-currency is only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. | Multi-currency • Transactions with 3 different currency types won't copy to QuickBooks Online. |
| Mileage Tracking • You'll need to manually add previous mileage into QuickBooks Online. Learn how to track mileage in QuickBooks Online. |
Items
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Payroll Items |
Lists
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Chart of Accounts • For security reasons, bank account numbers and notes won't move to QuickBooks Online. • QuickBooks Online has an additional level of account type called Detail type. QuickBooks Online will move your accounts and assign them detail types. You can change this later if you like. | |
| Customers and Jobs Note: Jobs move to QuickBooks Online as sub-customer of. If you track job costing in Desktop, you'll need to change sub-customers to Projects. • Your jobs move to sub-customers. • Customer Name • Company Name • Mr./Ms. • First Name • Middle initial (M.I.) • Last Name • Phone • FAX • Alt Ph. • Terms • Bill to Address (except Note) • Ship to Address (except Note) • Tax code/item • Preferred Payment Method • Note (up to 4000 characters) | Customers and Jobs • Inactive status (this status remains as long as there are no unbilled charges moved) • Contact • Alt. Contact • Customer Type • Rep • Price Level • Custom Fields • Account • Credit Limit • Job Status • Start Date • Projected End • End Date • Job Description • Job Type • Credit Card Info |
| Scheduled Transactions • Recurring Transactions in QuickBooks Online • QuickBooks Online Plus, Advanced, and Essentials support recurring transactions. | Scheduled Transactions • QuickBooks Online Simple Start doesn't support recurring transaction templates. To avoid errors, you'll have to delete all scheduled transactions and templates in QuickBooks Desktop before you import to Simple Start. |
| To Do | |
| Terms • In QuickBooks Desktop, a job can't have its own terms. It gets the terms from its parent. • In QuickBooks Online, the equivalent to a job (a sub-customer) can have terms. You can edit the terms later to make them different from those of the parent. | |
| Suppliers • Supplier Name • Company Name • Mr./Ms. • First Name • M.I. • Last Name • Phone • FAX • Terms • Print on Cheque as • Address • Account Tax | Suppliers • Contact • Alt. Contact • Note • Status • Supplier Type • Credit Limit • Custom Fields • Alt. Contact • Alt Ph. • 1099 ID |
Preferences
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Shortcut List • Your shortcut list and icon bar settings from QuickBooks Desktop won't move to QuickBooks Online. • QuickBooks Online has its own keystroke shortcuts. In any window, press Ctrl+Alt+? (or Ctrl+Option+? on Mac) to see the shortcut menu. | |
| Users and Permissions • Existing users don't automatically have access to QuickBooks Online. They need to be invited from QuickBooks Online to gain access. |
Reports
QuickBooks Online doesn't have the same reports as QuickBooks Desktop.
Accrual basis reports in QuickBooks Online will match your reports in QuickBooks Desktop. Cash basis reports may not match.
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Audit Trail | |
| Memorised Reports | |
Reconcile
|
Transactions
| Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
|---|---|
| Bills, Bill Payments, and Bill Credits • The Bill received preference doesn't move to QuickBooks Online. • A bill discount in QuickBooks Desktop moves to a Supplier credit in QuickBooks Online. • The address on bill payment checks is replaced by the Supplier address on your Supplier list. • Bill payments made by credit card move to bill payments in QuickBooks Online. | |
| Credit Card Charges • Credit card charges in QuickBooks Desktop convert to Expenses in QuickBooks Online. | |
| Finance Charges • Your finance charge invoices move to invoices in QuickBooks Online. • You can run an open invoice report to see which customers are overdue. Manually add finance charges to appear on the customer's next invoice. | |
| Invoices • Logos will move. • The PO No field will move to Custom Field 1. • Sales Rep will move to a Custom Field. | Invoices • Subtotals don't move but are included in the Description field. • Progress Invoices (invoices based on estimates) and their extra fields don't move. • Other and Other Customer custom fields don't move. |
| Item Receipts • Item receipts convert to Bills. | Item Receipts • The switch removes the link between bills and Purchase Orders. • Open POs won't reflect items received. • The PO will need to be linked to the Bill to reflect items received. |
| Journal Entries • You may see some transactions like cheques and invoices move as journal entries. | Journal Entries • Billable statuses don't move. You can't make a journal entry billable in QuickBooks Online. |
| Pending Sales | |
| Reconcile • Your past reconciliation reports don't move to QuickBooks Online. | |
| Reimbursable Expenses • QuickBooks Online has billable expenses which are similar to reimbursable expenses in QuickBooks Desktop. • In QuickBooks Online, you specify the markup percentage when you create the purchase instead of the invoice. |