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Find out how your books will move from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

by Intuit9 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 TermQuickBooks Online Term
Documents /
Doc Center
Attachments
Payment RemindersReminders / Automatic invoice reminders
Income TrackerAll Sales
Bill TrackerSuppliers window
Upload & Review BillsReceipts
ForecastBudgets
BudgetsBudgets
ReconcileReconcile
Stock PartsStock
Non-stock PartsNon-stock
AssembliesBundles (Products & services)
GroupsBundles (Products & services)
Other ChargesNot available in QuickBooks Online
SubtotalsSubtotal
DiscountsNot available in QuickBooks Online
PaymentsNot available in QuickBooks Online
ServicesServices
JobsSub-customers
Projects
ItemsProducts and services
Memorised transactionsRecurring transactions
LeadsNot available in QuickBooks Online
Price LevelsNot available in QuickBooks Online
Billing Rate LevelsNot available in QuickBooks Online
Other NamesNot available in QuickBooks Online
SuppliersSuppliers (for all Suppliers)
Contractors
Fixed Asset ItemsAsset 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
TemplatesCustom Form Styles
Add/Edit Multiple List EntriesNot available in QuickBooks Online
CustomersCustomers
EmployeesEmployees
ClassesClasses (and Locations)
Chart of AccountsChart 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 reportsCustom reports
Scheduled reportsCustom reports
Commented reportsNot available in QuickBooks Online
Custom reportsCustom reports (QuickBooks Online Advanced)
Company SnapshotBusiness Snapshot

Job & Item Estimates vs Actuals
Not available in QuickBooks Online
BillsExpenses
Bills
Supplier Credits
Credit Card ChargesExpenses
Credit Card Credits
Item ReceiptsExpenses
Bills
Sales OrdersNot available in QuickBooks Online
Credit NotesCredit Notes
Refund Receipts
Delayed Credits
Batch InvoicesBatch transactions (QuickBooks Online Advanced)
Receipt ManagementReceipts
Adjust Quantity/Value on HandStock Quantity Adjustment
Make General Journal EntriesJournal Entries
Make DepositsBank Deposits
Transfer FundsTransfer
Enter Statement ChargesNot available in QuickBooks Online
StatementsStatements
EstimatesEstimates
InvoicesInvoices
Receive PaymentsReceive Payments
Sales ReceiptsSales Receipts
ChecksChecks
Purchase OrdersPurchase Orders
Pay BillsPay Bills
Undeposited FundsUndeposited Funds
Payments to deposit
Use Register
(For Banks/Accounts)
View Register
Edit > PreferencesSettings (gear) > Account and settings
Settings (gear) > Payroll settings
My CompanySettings (gear) > Account and settings
Weekly TimesheetTime Entries (If you have the Time tab)
Weekly Timesheet (if you don't have the Time tab)
Time / Enter Single ActivityTime Entries (If you have the Time tab)
Single Time Activity (if you don't have the Time tab)
CalendarNot available in QuickBooks Online
Set Up UsersManage Users
To Do ListTasks (QuickBooks Online Advanced)
RemindersNot available in QuickBooks Online
LettersNot available in QuickBooks Online
Customer GroupsNot available in QuickBooks Online

These features move to QuickBooks Online:

  • Attachments/Document Centre docs
  • Budgets
    • 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.
  • 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.

These features don’t move to QuickBooks Online: 

  • Budgets
    • Data transfers
      • Note:  Budgets aren't recreated in QuickBooks Online due to mapping differences.
  • Stock
    • 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
  • 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.
  • Price Levels
  • Write Letters
  • Mileage Tracking
Moves to QuickBooks OnlineDoesn'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 OnlineDoesn'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.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • 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
    • E-Mail
    • 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)
  • 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.
  • 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 OnlineDoesn'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.
• E-Mail
• 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
• E-Mail
• 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 OnlineDoesn'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
  • Favourites Menu
    • 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
  • Payment roles and permissions
    • 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 OnlineDoesn't move to QuickBooks Online
Audit Trail
Memorised Reports
Reconcile
  • 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: 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.
  • Favourite Reports

These reports don't move to QuickBooks Online:

  • Audit Trail
  • Memorised Reports
Moves to QuickBooks OnlineDoesn'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.
  • 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)
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 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

QuickBooks Online App for iOSQuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online Payroll AdvancedQuickBooks Online Payroll StandardQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple Start

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