How to get attachments from desktop after moving to qbo?

Nice to have you here in the Community space, @

You'll have to create a copy of those attachments to transfer them from QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) to QuickBooks Online (QBO). Then manually attach them again to the transactions or your client’s information in QBO. 

The “Attach” folder can be found in the same location as your QuickBooks Company file. For more details about this process, you can refer to this article: QuickBooks Document Center: FAQs and common issues.

Then to add attachments in your QBO account:

1. Go to the Sales menu and select Customer. 
2. Locate and select the customer the file is to be attached. 
3. Click Edit at the upper-right.
4. From the Customer information window, click the Attachments tab. 
5. Click the Attachments icon and open the file to add. 
6. Select Save. 

To add attachments to transactions

1. Click the +New button from the left menu. 
2. Select Invoice as an example. 
3. At the bottom of the Invoice page, select the Attachments icon.  

You can also look into this article for more details on how we handle attachments in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, I got you this article that you can check to learn more about the limitation on exporting QBDT to QBO: What to expect when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

Please tag me in if you have other concerns or questions about migrating from QBDT to QBO. I’ll be more than happy to help you out. Have a great and wonderful day ahead!

How do people deal with this for history?  I know how to attach copies of bills to the QB but my challenge is that there are years of backup digitally in QB desktop and I moved to QBO without the plan to continue to pay for both subscriptions.  Can I simply stop updating the desktop and keep it available to look up prior history and documents?  Or is there another way to find those if we need them in the future?

I use both systems but want to get away from the annual cost of desktop but had no clue that I might lose access to the historical bill attachments.  Help...

I see your response and replied but cannot tell if it went to you.

I know how to use both desktop and online.  But I just moved a multi-year company from desktop to online and it has years worth of bills attached to the the transactions.  It is almost certain that I will need to refer back to them at some point.  How do I do that without individually re-attaching them to the hundreds of QBO transactions?

Can I still refer back to desktop without paying the annual fees?  Is there some way?  These digital versions are not available in paper.

Hello again, sallenmanagement. I appreciate your prompt response and providing additional details about your concern. 

When deciding to cancel your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) account, you'll need to gather all data and reports. Since once the plan is cancelled, and you can't renew, you can no longer access the company file. 

As for your years worth of attachments, you may consider looking for a third-party app. There could be a compatible app that can attach those to your transactions, so you no longer need to do it manually in QuickBooks Online (QBO). For guidance, go to the Apps.intuit.com  to see the list of the apps that work in the system.  

If there's anything else I can do for you, let me know by commenting below. I'd be more than happy to help. Take care.

MirriamM,

I've looked through what I can find in the apps you suggested, but haven't really found a viable solution to get files moved from desktop to online.

It's seems like a big miss on Intuit QuickBooks part to not have files imported as one would expect to see them in desktop as part of the company file conversion.

If such an app does exist, could you please point me to it?

Thanks for following on this thread, thatsveryinteresting.

I appreciate all your efforts in trying to find an app that will help transfer your QBDT attachments to QBO.

There are different applications developed by third-party businesses that integrate with QuickBooks. We treat all businesses fairly and know that each one has different needs. That’s why I’m unable to recommend which app to use.

The QuickBooks Apps Center has all kinds of applications to choose from. You can check the details to get a better comparison of each one. From there, select the third-party app that meets your needs.

To expedite the process, type a keyword in the search field. For example, export and import attachments. This will display a list of supported apps.

I’m also adding a guide to get acclimated to QBO features and processes. It contains articles, resources, and video tutorials for some of the accounting tasks: Get started.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have additional questions. I’ll get back to answer them for you. Wishing your business continued success. 

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@thatsveryinteresting wrote:

If such an app does exist, could you please point me to it?

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@thatsveryinteresting 

We have yet to find any app for such purpose. QB Desktop doesn't put the attachment in the database file. When we are converting our client's QBD file to QBO, the attachment will be part of our manual labor with an additional cost if they asked.    

Is it still the case that you cannot move attachments from desktop to online in July of 2023?!  The help line is NOT helpful.  I live and die by what I have previously attached in my desktop. If those attachments are not available, what can one do?  The "help" desk said there were third party apps, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  

Do we need to go back to desktop?  It appears the latest version is 2021. How long will that product be around and supported?  Would that be just kicking the can down the road? Imagine the tediousness and COST of a consultant doing a transition for a larger company than ours!!  Help!

Hi there, @CivicMusicMKE.

I appreciate your input from every angle. And I understand the inconvenience of attachments not migrating from QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) to QuickBooks Online (QBO).

At this time, moving attachments when moving from QBDT to QBO is still unavailable. And you may need to insert your attachments manually to your transactions in QBO. Or you may consider looking for a third-party app to help you attach those files. You can go to the Apps.intuit.com  to see the list of the apps that work in the system.  

As for getting the attachments from your QBDT account, you can make a manual backup of the “Attach” folder which can be found in the same location as your QuickBooks company file. For more details about the process, see this article: QuickBooks Document Center: FAQs and common issues.

We recognize that each company has unique needs, and I can see how the feature you're looking for would benefit and empower your business. I recommend sending this request straight to our product engineers through feedback. It helps us improve the features of the program.

To send feedback, follow the below steps:

1. Go to the Gear icon at the top.
2. Select Feedback.
3. Enter your comments or product suggestions. 
4. Then select Next to submit feedback.

To be updated with the recent and upcoming changes for QuickBooks products, visit these sites:

• QuickBooks New Features and Innovations
• What's New in QBO?

In case you need tips and related articles in the future about the "How Do I" steps in QBO, visit our QuickBooks Community help website for reference: QBO Self Help.

If you have any other questions about QuickBooks Online, you can always add them to your reply. I'll be more than happy to take care of them for you. Have a dazzling day ahead!

@CivicMusicMKE 

Do we need to go back to desktop?  It appears the latest version is 2021.

Where is your company located? US, UK, or another country?

Hello - has anyone had experience with the attachment migration service Fourlane started to offer?

I received this http://eepurl.com/iKVeSs the other day, had a consultation with them and I'm ready to go for it.  Been waiting 5 years for this kind of service to migrate 8k+ attachments.

Would love to hear anything about the service before I sign on the dotted line.

Much appreciated.

Keith  

@EWD-LLC 

They said the fee for this service is usually around $5,500 + tax. Unless they lower the cost, it's too much.

We have better options to recommend:

1. Purchase a 3rd party service to convert data with attachment starting from $1,500, OR

2. Use the trial version of QB Desktop to access your historical data with attachments for good. You don't need to migrate the attachments data to QB Online.

4Gal - thanks so much for your response.

I always loved the idea of not migrating the attachments. However, if I am understanding suggestion #2, the users that only have access to QB Online would not have access to the attachments we leave behind with QB Desktop.  Our attachments have become more operational than historical, and we find ourselves needing access to some that are decades old but not knowing in advance which ones.  Which puts us back to needing to migrate them all. 

With respect to suggestion #1, if you know of a 3rd party service, other than Fourlane, that could help us with migrating our attachments to QBO, please let me know!

Thanks,

Keith

You should contact @Fiat Lux - ASIA .

They've posted the service in this thread. Keep in mind, converting data with attachments can take weeks if you have large data to complete.

Big miss!

Hi @sallenmanagement 

We might have a solution for you, we have just added the ability to export a list of attachments from your QuickBooks Desktop file and save in an Excel sheet, it includes:

• File Path to the Attachment
• Type of transaction or list it was attached to
• Doc Number or Ref Number.
• Name

It is part of the third party app Zed Axis that you can find in the Intuit Marketplace.

It might work for you?