
Find out how your books will move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online
by Intuit•9• Updated 1 week ago
Learn how your data and features appear will appear QuickBooks Online.
Note: This article is for customers who have moved from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. If you're considering the move to QuickBooks Online, great! We’re here to ensure the move is as smooth and seamless as possible. Switch to QuickBooks Online today. |
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.
If you need help using QuickBooks, you can partner with a QuickBooks Live Bookkeeper to feel more confident. Find out more about QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping.
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.
You can use the special QuickBooks Online desktop app to access the view you’re used to from QuickBooks Desktop. You'll also have keyboard shortcuts, bookmarks, and the ability to flip between tabs and windows.
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.
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 |
These features move to QuickBooks Online:
- Attachments/Document Centre docs
- Attachments that are 30MB or smaller
- Attachments on your computer's hard drive
- To learn more, check out Move your attachments from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.
- Budgets
- Profit and Loss budget types
- Profit and Loss budget types
- Stock
- Note: Stock is only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced.
- Stock (imported as First-In, First-Out method (FIFO)). You'll be asked to set the FIFO start date. QuickBooks Online will make the proper adjustments to recalculate stock based on the FIFO start date.
- Recalculated stock and adjustments
- Multi-Currency
- Note: Multi-Currency is only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced.
- Multi-currency preferences
- Online Banking
- • Banking rules for Express and Advanced mode
- • Auto-recognised rules for Express and Advanced Mode
- Payroll - with QuickBooks Online
- Note: QuickBooks Online copies the current year's payroll payment information as lump sums.
- Payroll payments (as regular checks)
- Liability refunds, adjustment transactions, and opening balance
- Transactions that affect accounts (copied to journal entries)
- All employees (active and inactive)
- Note: Inactive employees that have current tax year payments become active post-migration.
- Employee addresses
- Note: You might need to fix some addresses. Addresses for states outside supported states (such as PR, AS, VI) will be left blank.
- Date of birth
- Gender
- National Insurance Number
- Company Direct deposit account numbers
- Bank names
- Routing numbers
- Employee bank info (for Direct Deposit)
- Wages
- YTD balances
- Items
- Full employee setup
- Payroll - Stand-alone (QBOP)
- All employees (active and inactive)
- Employee addresses
- Note: You might need to fix some addresses. Addresses for states outside supported states (such as PR, AS, VI) will be left blank.
- Date of birth
- Gender
- National Insurance Number
- Company
- Direct deposit account numbers
- Bank names
- Routing numbers
- Employee bank info (for Direct Deposit)
- Wages
- YTD balances
- Items
- QuickBooks Payments
- Your account will move automatically from QuickBooks Desktop with Payments.
- Note: To help ensure your Payments account is migrated, make sure you are an admin user on both the QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online Intuit accounts.
- Note: To help ensure your Payments account is migrated, make sure you are an admin user on both the QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online Intuit accounts.
- Your account will move automatically from QuickBooks Desktop with Payments.
- Sales Tax
- Some taxes move as journal entries. Sales tax won't copy for all transactions.
- Note: There's a sales tax payment limitation when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. Payments made in QuickBooks Desktop apply to the wrong filings in QuickBooks Online. As a solution, delete the migrated sales tax payments, then recreate them in their sales tax centre in QuickBooks Online.
- Note: There's a sales tax payment limitation when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. Payments made in QuickBooks Desktop apply to the wrong filings in QuickBooks Online. As a solution, delete the migrated sales tax payments, then recreate them in their sales tax centre in QuickBooks Online.
- Some taxes move as journal entries. Sales tax won't copy for all transactions.
These features don’t move to QuickBooks Online:
- Budgets
- Data transfers
- Note: Budgets aren't recreated in QuickBooks Online due to mapping differences.
- Note: Budgets aren't recreated in QuickBooks Online due to mapping differences.
- Data transfers
- Stock
- Units of measure
- Units of measure
- Multi-Currency
- Transactions with 3 different currency types
- Any transactions that use currencies in QuickBooks Desktop that don't exist in QuickBooks Online
- Online Banking
- Bank Feeds setup
- Bank Feeds setup
- QuickBooks Time
- Timesheet data
- Pay Item Mappings
- Settings & Preferences
- Note: If you migrate to QuickBooks Payroll Premium or Elite, QuickBooks Time is included with your subscription, and a new account is created for you. For help with merging your new account with your old account, contact us.
- Note: If you migrate to QuickBooks Payroll Premium or Elite, QuickBooks Time is included with your subscription, and a new account is created for you. For help with merging your new account with your old account, contact us.
- Price Levels
- Write Letters
- Mileage Tracking
- Mileage
- Note: You'll need to manually add previous mileage into QuickBooks Online. Learn how to track mileage in QuickBooks Online.
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. |
Moves to QuickBooks Online | Doesn't move to QuickBooks Online |
---|---|
Payroll Items |
These items move to QuickBooks Online:
- Assemblies
- Assemblies become Single Stock Item on Sales Transactions
- Note: Assemblies appear on the Products and Services screen as Stock. Each item of the assembly appears on a detail line when you view the transactions. All assembly components move for purchase transactions.
- Note: Bundle items aren't tracked as stock.
- Assemblies become Single Stock Item on Sales Transactions
- Discounts
- Discounts for early payments (become credit notes)
- Note: They’re applied to a customer's outstanding balance.
- Discounts taken from suppliers for early payment of bills (become supplier credits)
- Note: They're applied to a supplier's outstanding balance.
- Note: They're applied to a supplier's outstanding balance.
- Discounts for early payments (become credit notes)
- Groups
- Group items (become Bundles)
- Zero amount lines are at the start and end of where the group item was. You can see which items were part of the group.
- The top line shows the group name. The bottom line shows the group description.
- Group total will show on the last line of the invoice in the Description field.
- Payroll Items
These items don’t move to QuickBooks Online:
- Stock Items
- Manufacturer's Part Number (MPN)
- Desktop stock item fields
- Non-Stock Items
- Manufacturer's Part Number (MPN)
- Desktop stock item fields
These lists move to QuickBooks Online:
- Chart of Accounts
- QuickBooks Online has an additional level of account type called Detail. QuickBooks Online moves your accounts and assigns them Detail types. You can change this later if needed.
- QuickBooks Online will set the last A/R or A/P account that was used on a transaction as the default.
- Note: QuickBooks Online only allows for 1 default A/R & A/P account.
- Customers and Jobs
- Note: Jobs (sub-customers) will move as Projects in Plus and Advanced versions. If jobs in Desktop need to stay as sub-customers in QuickBooks Online, first sign up for QuickBooks Online Essentials. Then, convert the Desktop data to QuickBooks Online. After that, you can upgrade to QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, if needed. The sub-customer will remain sub-customers after the upgrade.
- Your jobs (become sub-customers)
- Customer Name
- Company Name
- Mr./Ms.
- First Name
- Middle initial (M.I.)
- Last Name
- Phone
- FAX
- Alt Ph.
- Customer E-Mail
- Terms
- Customer Bill to Address (except Note)
- Customer Ship To Address (except Note)
- Note: The Ship To Address converts, but not perfectly. The entire address will be placed in the main address field, leaving City, State/Province, Postcode/Postcode, and Country blank. If you have multiple Ship To addresses, only the default transfers.
- Tax code/item
- Preferred Payment Method
- Note (up to 4000 characters)
- Credit Card Info
- Inactive Items
- Inactive accounts, customers, or suppliers
- Note: If a customer has an open balance, they become active.
- If there isn't a balance tied to a name, it will move as inactive (deleted).
- Inactive accounts, customers, or suppliers
- Memorised Transactions
- Memorised Transactions will convert into Recurring Transactions.
- Other Names (become suppliers)
- Scheduled Transactions
- Note: QuickBooks Online Plus, Advanced, Essentials, and Simple Start support recurring transactions.
- Recurring Transactions
- Scheduled transactions (become recurring transactions)
- Terms
- Note: 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 Check as
- Address
- AccountTax
These lists don’t move to QuickBooks Online:
- Chart of Accounts
- Bank account numbers and notes (security reasons)
- Bank account numbers and notes (security reasons)
- 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
- Job Bill to address
- Job Ship to address
- Job E-Mail
- Custom Fields in Lists
- Memorised Transactions
- Memorised Transaction Groups don’t move because Groups don’t exist in QuickBooks Online.
- Memorised Transaction Groups don’t move because Groups don’t exist in QuickBooks Online.
- Reminders
- Scheduled Transactions
- QuickBooks Online Simple Start doesn't support recurring transaction templates.
- Note: To avoid errors, you'll have to delete all scheduled transactions and templates in QuickBooks Desktop before you import to Simple Start.
- To Do
- Suppliers
- Contact
- Alt. Contact
- Note
- Status
- Supplier Type
- Credit Limit
- Custom Fields
- Alt. Contact
- Alt-Ph.
- 1099 ID
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, Essentials, and Simple Start 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 |
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. |
These preferences move to QuickBooks Online:
- Closing Date Password
- Layout Customisation
- Your logos
- Your logos
- Favourites Menu
- Items you've added to the Favourites menu (can be found under Bookmarks)
- Items you've added to the Favourites menu (can be found under Bookmarks)
These preferences don't move to QuickBooks Online:
- Layout Customisation
- Custom templates
- Custom templates
- Payment roles and permissions
- Saved credit card info
- Saved credit card info
- Shortcut List
- Your shortcut list and icon bar settings
- Note: 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
- Note: Existing users don't automatically have access to QuickBooks Online. They need to be invited from QuickBooks Online to gain access.
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
|
Note: 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.
These reports move to QuickBooks Online:
- Reconcile
- Note: All reconciled transactions in the register will have an R in the cleared column in QuickBooks Online.Cleared transactions will have a C in the cleared column in Quickbooks Online.
- Note: All reconciled transactions in the register will have an R in the cleared column in QuickBooks Online.Cleared transactions will have a C in the cleared column in Quickbooks Online.
- Favourite Reports
These reports don't move to QuickBooks Online:
- Audit Trail
- Memorised Reports
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. |
These transactions move to QuickBooks Online:
- Bills, Bill Payments, and Bill Credits
- Note: The address on bill payment checks is replaced by the Supplier address on your Supplier list.
- A bill discount in QuickBooks Desktop (becomes a Supplier credit)
- Bill payments made by credit card
- Credit Card Charges
- Credit card charges (convert to Expenses)
- Estimates
- Note: Active estimates are marked as Closed. Inactive estimates are marked as Rejected. Estimates used for progress invoicing won't link to the invoices you created in Desktop.
- Note: Active estimates are marked as Closed. Inactive estimates are marked as Rejected. Estimates used for progress invoicing won't link to the invoices you created in Desktop.
- Finance Charges
- Your finance charge invoices (become invoices in QuickBooks Online)
- Note: 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
- The PO No field (will move to Custom Field 1)
- Sales Rep (will move to a Custom Field)
- Credit card info saved on an invoice
- Item Receipts
- Item receipts (convert to Bills)
- Item receipts (convert to Bills)
- Journal Entries
- Note: You may see some transactions like checks and invoices move as journal entries. This only happens if:
- Tax rates are entered as flat rates (0.00) instead of percentages.
- The original transaction can't be created again.
- Note: You may see some transactions like checks and invoices move as journal entries. This only happens if:
- Reimbursable Expenses
- Reimbursable expenses and unbilled time (become billable expenses)
- Note: 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.
These transactions don't move to QuickBooks Online:
- Bills, Bill Payments, and Bill Credits
- The Bill received preference
- The Bill received preference
- Invoices
- Subtotals don't move (but are included in the Description field)
- Progress Invoices (invoices based on estimates) and their extra fields.
- Other and Other Customer custom fields
- Recurring payment transactions
- Item Receipts
- Open purchase orders (PO) (won't reflect items received)
- The link between bills and POs
- Note: The PO will need to be linked to the Bill to reflect items received.
- Journal Entries
- Billable statuses.
- Note: You can't make a journal entry billable in QuickBooks Online.
- Pending Sales
- Purchase Orders
- Open POs won't reflect items received.
- The PO will need to be linked to the Bill to reflect items received.
- Reconcile
- Your past reconciliation reports
Next steps
- For a full list of each platform’s features, check out our QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online comparison chart.
- Check out all the benefits you get when you transfer to QuickBooks Online.
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