Migrating attachments from Quickbooks Desktop to Quickbooks Online

scottrussell · ‎June 04, 2020

We are thinking of migrating from Desktop to Online but I read somewhere that attachments do not migrate. How do we get them into QB Online. They are very important to us.

Catherine_B · ‎June 07, 2020

The Desktop and Online version have differences when it comes to handling information, Scott.

Attachments in QuickBooks Desktop are stored in the same folder with your company file as my colleague shared. You can create a copy of those attachments since it doesn't convert to QuickBooks Online. Yes, you're correct you'll have to manually attach them again to the transactions or client information once migration is complete. Here's how to add attachments:

Customer Profile

Log in to QuickBooks Online.
From the Sales menu, click Customer.
Locate and select the customer the file is to be attached.
Click Edit at the upper-right.
From the Customer information window, click the Attachments tab.
Click the Attachments icon and open the file to add.
Hit Save.

Add attachments to transactions

Click the +New button from the left menu.
Select Invoice as an example.
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.

I'll be here if you need anything else. You take care always!

View solution in original post

AileneA · ‎June 04, 2020

Hi there, @scottrussell.

Thank you for choosing QuickBooks as your accounting tools. I'm here to share additional information about QuickBooks Attached Documents.

Transferring back up attachments in QuickBooks Desktop is unavailable. You'll need to manually backup of the “Attach” folder which can be found in the same location as your QuickBooks company file. For more information about this process, please refer to this article: QuickBooks Attached Documents: FAQs and common issues.

I know how important it is to have this option to eliminate time-consuming. Rest assured, our developer's team is working hard to develop the best features to fit the needs of our customers.

I've also attached this article to check the limitation on the export from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online: What to expect when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

Please don't hesitate to reach back out to us if there's anything else you need. We're always here to help. Have a good one!

scottrussell · ‎June 07, 2020

I still dont understand. How do I get my already existing attachments into QB Online after migrating my company file? Aren't attachments stored online with the company data? Do they all need to be "reattached" to their online record individually?

Scott Russell

IT Coordinator

Man in the Mirror

Catherine_B · ‎June 07, 2020

The Desktop and Online version have differences when it comes to handling information, Scott.

Attachments in QuickBooks Desktop are stored in the same folder with your company file as my colleague shared. You can create a copy of those attachments since it doesn't convert to QuickBooks Online. Yes, you're correct you'll have to manually attach them again to the transactions or client information once migration is complete. Here's how to add attachments:

Customer Profile

Log in to QuickBooks Online.
From the Sales menu, click Customer.
Locate and select the customer the file is to be attached.
Click Edit at the upper-right.
From the Customer information window, click the Attachments tab.
Click the Attachments icon and open the file to add.
Hit Save.

Add attachments to transactions

Click the +New button from the left menu.
Select Invoice as an example.
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.

I'll be here if you need anything else. You take care always!

bp37 · ‎December 14, 2022

This is exactly why we will never migrate to QB online. It's like you're starting over. We have 1,000s of customer records each with many attachments. There is no way we are going to manually re-attach files one by one. Come on Intuit! Documents SHOULD migrate during the export to QB Online!!!!

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎December 14, 2022

@bp37

Consider purchasing a 3rd party service to convert your QBD data with attachments to QBO.

bp37 · ‎December 15, 2022

Where might one find a list of 3rd parties that offer this. I assume QBO has an API that I could use to write my own conversion. It's just very disappointing that Intuit doesn't offer this support. There must still be issues with QBO.

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎December 15, 2022

@bp37

You can click my profile name and find our website address to send an email.

ChrisBogo · ‎March 06, 2023

I am having the same trouble. Would love to switch to QBO but we are a paperless office. All of our financial records reside in Quickbooks Desktop. If we switch to QBO, we will lose access to thousands of pdf attachments. Intuit could solve this by selling some kind of legacy QBDesktop Viewer. No entries could be made from it, but it would allow us to switch to QBO and still be able to look up our old records. I need to view pdfs from old records several times a month. If intuit could allow us to view the old file for a year or two, it would mean we had a way to use records without having to reattach years worth of attachments. Intuit needs to keep in mind that if they really want QBO to be useful for companies currently on QBDesktop.

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎March 06, 2023

@ChrisBogo

We have helped our clients to convert data with attachments to QBO.

JessT · ‎March 06, 2023

Welcome, and thank you for posting in the QuickBooks Community, Chris!

It's indeed helpful for companies like yours with many attachments if there is no need to reattach the files when migrating to QuickBooks Online or if there's a viewer feature. While there is no option right now, I suggest sending this idea to our product development team. This way, they can consider adding one in future updates.

Open your QuickBooks Desktop and click the Help menu.
Choose Send Feedback Online.
Select the Product Suggestion option. A pop-up window displays.
Enter your feedback suggestion.
Click the Send Feedback button.

I'm also adding these articles, which contains information about migrating from QB Desktop to the online version for your additional reference:

Please feel free to come back to this thread if you have more questions in mind. Take care and have a good one!

HDMFG · ‎March 30, 2023

That's crazy! We are a paperless office too and have over 12,000 attachments for the last 5 years. Are we really supposed to attach each one manually? Come on guys, this is 2023. At the very least provide a viewer for desktop so if we are audited we have access to the attachments. This is our information but we will have no access.

TomK96 · ‎April 05, 2023

I am having the same issue. I would love to transition my company to QBO. However, because of the attachments not transferring over automatically, we are not making the switch. Intuit, please work on a fix!

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎April 05, 2023

@TomK96

Another option, consider purchasing a 3rd party service to convert data with attachments.

JORGE_BRAID · ‎June 16, 2023

WHAT!!!??? So I need to import attached file by attached file? That's it, I'm dumping QBO!

Matchbox1 · ‎June 23, 2023

On the phone to them now. We have the exact same issues as the posters above mention.

Being told they are closing Qbooks desktop access on 30 June 2023.

No view option for the purchase invoices and all the attachments we have going back years.

How is everyone else getting around this? It's absolutely crazy?!

Beyond farcical.

I can just about deal with the attachment not migrating over, but not being able to view them is boggling?!

dmckee · ‎July 10, 2023

Unbelievable failure for this and many reasons. Not to mention the incredible increase in cost for this terrible product. There was nothing wrong with Quickbooks Desktop and now it's gone.

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎July 10, 2023

@dmckee

You can still buy QBD 2023.

Mdg1376 · ‎September 07, 2023

3 years later this functionality still does not exist. Please provide details about how "hard" your developers are working on this important customer issue.

If Intuit has decided NOT to provide this upgrade functionality - please be honest about it before long time customers decide to migrate to QBO vs. considering competing products.

Fiat Lux - ASIA · ‎September 07, 2023

@Mdg1376

I would recommend to use the trial version for QB Desktop for good to access your historical data with attachments. You only need to migrate basic data (i.e CoA, Lists, Beginning Balances) to start from scratch in your QBO account as the cheapest option.

abrecher · ‎December 19, 2023

That's a terrible "solution".

4Gal · ‎December 19, 2023

@abrecher

Which terrible "solution" do you mean?

dfsdfasdf · ‎January 01, 2024

Could someone please confirm if they have successfully used @Fiat Lux - ASIA for migrating attachments, and how the experience was?

4Gal · ‎January 01, 2024

@dfsdfasdf

Which QB Desktop year version do you run? Fiat Lux can migrate your data with attachments to QB Online or some other accounting apps. Have you contacted them directly? They will recommend another option to lower your conversion costs.

tagman23 · ‎January 26, 2024

I agree with you. It absolutely insane to think we would lose over 15K attachments or invoices to make the move. What is Intuit thinking? We made the conversion only to find this out afterward. Going to cancel that subscription and stick with the desktop version for now,

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