Move QuickBooks Desktop files to QuickBooks Online with the Accountant Batch Migration Tool

Learn how to move your clients’ QuickBooks Desktop company file to QuickBooks Online using the Accountant Batch Migration tool. 

The Accountant Batch Migration tool has step-by-step instructions to help you move up to 50 of your clients’ company files to QuickBooks Online.

You can use this tool if:

• You have QuickBooks Desktop Accountant versions 2021 (2021 R17, 2022 R15, 2023 R12, or 2024 R6) or newer.
• Your clients’ files are QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier, or QuickBooks Desktop for Mac company files.
• Your client has up to 50 employees on QuickBooks Payroll. If they have more, you'll need to contact support for additional help.
• Your clients’ files have no more than 750,000 targets and are 5 GB or smaller. You can press F2 (or Ctrl+1) on your keyboard to check.
• The Desktop company files you want to move are locally stored and not in hosted environments. Migrating companies with existing QuickBooks Payroll data must be completed with a locally installed version of QuickBooks Desktop Accountant.
• The QuickBooks Online companies you'll move client files into don't have existing payroll data (paychecks and tax data). If they do, you’ll need to contact support for additional help.

If you need help from an expert with the move, visit the How to Migrate page to contact our accountant experts or contact support for additional help.

Step 1: Make sure your client's files are ready to move to QuickBooks Online

• Make sure your QuickBooks is up-to-date.
• Make sure you can sign in as the Primary admin (All access) to your client’s file. 
• Review the pre-migration checklist to confirm the company file is ready to be moved to QuickBooks Online.   
• If the company file has attached services, such as payments, make sure your QuickBooks Online account admin has admin access on the Intuit account where QuickBooks Desktop Intuit is listed. Check out Move your QuickBooks Desktop Payments to QuickBooks Online to learn more.

Step 2: Add Desktop Company file to a Migration List

Note: You have 60 days from the time you create your QuickBooks Online account to move your data. 

1. Open QuickBooks Desktop Accountant or QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant
2. Sign into your client’s file as the company file admin (all access).
3. Go to Company then select Migrate multiple company files to QuickBooks Online. If you’re on QuickBooks Enterprise Accountant then Press Ctrl + Q + M.
   • If the company file is missing the owner's email address, you’ll be prompted to enter it.
4. Go through the instructions in Migrate multiple company files. You can select See how it works to watch a demo video.
5. Select Add to add the current desktop company file to the migration list.
6. Once the company file is added, click on Add another company file to add another company file to the migration list.
   • You’ll need to sign in as the company file admin for each file you select to add to the migration list.
7. After all the company files are added to the migration list, select Open Migration Dashboard to start the migration process.
   • You’ll need to sign in as the admin to your Intuit Account that’s linked to the QBO license as admin or Accountant then select continue with current user.

Step 3: Move your QuickBooks Desktop file to QuickBooks Online from the Migration Dashboard

1. Open the Migration Dashboard. All the company files on the migration list will be uploaded to the dashboard.
   • If there’s an error with any of the company files from the list, you can manually delete that file from the dashboard, add the file back to the list, and try to upload the file again.
2. All the company files in the migration dashboard are automatically matched to QuickBooks Online companies based on the company file name.
   • The mapped online company file will show the name & last 4 digits of the company ID.
   • Each of your Desktop files must be matched to an online company file to migrate it
   • If the file isn't automatically matched, you can select the online company manually or create a new 30-day trial online company of QuickBooks Online Advanced inside dashboard.
3. Inventory and multi-currency migration preferences for all the company files in the migration dashboard will be automatically set to:
   • Inventory - Don’t move Inventory
   • Multi-currency - USD (US Dollar)
     Note: You can select Edit in the action column to change these preferences for specific company files. You can also use a Batch action to change the preferences for all files at once.
4. Select Migrate Selected Files to start migrating all the selected company files in ready-to-migrate status.
   • All Company files with Ready to Migrate status will be selected.
   • Any file that fails migration will be unselected.
5. Once a company is auto or manually matched, the system validates to make sure the online file is good to migrate. If the validation fails, the migration status will change to Can’t migrate and you can change the mapping of the file or connect to an expert to migrate that company file.
6. If your QuickBooks Online company has existing account data, you'll need to give consent to replace it to start the migration.
7. Once Migration is started, the migration status will change to migrating with a progress bar to let you know when the migration will be completed.
   • You can close the Migration Dashboard or Application and your info and company files (migrated or un-migrated) will remain intact.
   • You will get the real-time migration status of each company's files.

Once migration is completed, the migration status will change to Migrated Successfully and an email will also be sent to you and the primary admin of the company file.

If migration isn't successful, you can contact support for additional help. 

All the company files (migrated or not migrated) in the Migration Dashboard will remain on the dashboard for 7 days (from the time it was uploaded to the dashboard) and after that, the file will purged automatically, You can select delete in the action column to manually delete each company.

Migration Dashboard options

In the Migration Dashboard, you can:

• Select Add more files on the dashboard in QuickBooks Desktop to open the migration list and add more files anytime. 

• Select Open Migration Dashboard to open the Migration Dashboard from the migration list screen in QuickBooks Desktop.
• Open the Batch Migration Tool, then select Open Dashboard to open the Migration Dashboard. 
• Migrate multiple files at the same time.
• Search the Desktop Company files by their name or Admin Name.
• Search the Online Company files by their name or Company ID.
• Filter the Company files by their Migration Status.
• Sign out and sign in as different users in the dashboard.

Step 4: Get ready to use QuickBooks Online

Check out What to do after converting from QuickBooks Desktop for Windows or Mac to QuickBooks Online.

1. Check for migration status emails for each migrated company file.
2. Verify and ensure all applicable data has been migrated correctly. You can use the post-migration checklist for your reference.

Watch this video for more info on this tool.