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R
rluke
October 16, 2018
Question

Update customer information by importing

  • October 16, 2018
  • 10 replies
  • 12 views

I want to update my customers information by Exporting information / making changes / then importing back into QBO.

I can find missing information easier in a spreadsheet than having to click through each of my customers.  Especially if I need to make changes to a lot of customers.

Is this possible?  How would it effect other information for the customer already in QBO?

    10 replies

    MarninaM
    MarninaM
    October 16, 2018

    Hello Luke55,

    I’d like to give you some insight on this.

    It is absolutely possible to export your customer information and import it back into QuickBooks Online. However, imported lists will not replace the old information but will add up to the existing lists on file. Having said that, you will need to edit the customer information and merge them.

    Therefore, I suggest updating your customer information in QuickBooks Online. This way, it will be less complicated for you.

    Here’s how you edit the customer information in QuickBooks Online:

    1. Click the Sales tab on the left panel and select Customers sub-tab.
    2. Select a customer.
    3. Click Edit.
    4. Enter your changes as needed. 
    5. Click Save.

    Let me know if you need more help. I’ll be a few clicks away.

      P
      patfinn
      October 16, 2018
      This is unfortunate.  We have hundreds of customers whose email addresses continually need updating as we actively manage communications with them.  Having to manually update the list is a glaring shortfall.
        J
        JanyRoseB
        Level 5
        December 13, 2018

        Hello, All. 

         

        Thanks for joining into this thread. Allow me to address your concern about updating customer's information, so let me get this straightened out. 

         

        My colleague MarninaM provided the exact details and option on how to edit customer's information in QuickBooks Online. I can see how the feature you're requesting would be helpful to update customer's information conveniently, I encourage you to send feedback directly to our product developers for consideration in the future updates. 

         

        Here's how you can send feedback: 

        1. Click the Gear Icon.
        2. Select Feedback.
        3. Click Next and choose Feedback under Category option.
        4. Select Save.

        For the meantime, you can check this article for your reference on how to edit customer information.

         

        If you need further assistance with the steps from our phone support, you can contact them through this link: Get help with QuickBooks Online.

         

        Please know that I'm just a post away if you have further questions about customer information and I'll be sure to get back to your right away. Have a great day! 

        T
        TFrey
        December 13, 2018

        You do realize that this isn't a viable solution if you have hundreds of customers, correct?

         

        Is there anything you know of which other customers have done who're in the same situation?

          A
          Anonymous
          December 21, 2018

          We can discuss the cost to you over the phone, nssimpson.

           

          Please give us a call so we can calculate how much the total cost is and record the interaction in your account.

           

          Here's how to get our contact number: 

          1. Go to this link https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
          2. Select QuickBooks Online.
          3. Click the Account management topic.
          4. Click the Manage subscriptions sub-topic.
          5. Scroll down and click the Get Phone Number button.

          Please feel free to drop by if you need more help with QuickBooks. Happy holidays! 


          Hi Sophia, Sorry I am already paying for your top package. What I meant was how many features have QB's left out that I'm going to have to buy as add-ons from 3rd parties.

            N
            Nemesis-Dinu
            April 19, 2019

            Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved in QuickBooks Online, however, this can be achieved by QuickBooks Desktop. Below are the steps to update the email address of the customer in QuickBooks Desktop:

             

            Click Sales, then choose Customers. Choose a customer. Select the Customer Details tab, then click Edit. You can enter the email addresses in the Email field.

             

            Regards,

            Dinesh

            Apps4Rent.com

            B
            BDevany
            May 12, 2019

            I agree with the thousands of subscribers who want this feature. Opening a single customer profile to make a change, then moving on to the next is inefficient and not an ideal solution when you need to update dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers.  If I wanted a junior varsity solution, I'd use Xero.  Let's step it up Intuit!  This is a feature that is not only possible but should have been in place long ago.  And, being a developer myself, I know that it is not a difficult fix to add this.  You could literally have it in place in less than a day.

              T
              Thepiperson
              May 13, 2019

              Sage have a good solution to this problem, but they have unique customer codes. By uniquely selecting a customer using the code a user can import changed customer details in a batch.  If the customer exists Sage does an update, else the customer is added using the unique, user generated 8 character customer code.  From a developers view its easy.  With Quickbooks there is the CUSTOMER field and the FULL NAME name field and I'm not sure either is unique! Maybe they are in combination.  When we started using QB I expected Sage like functionality and did some experiments only to find that customer updates done manually produced inconsistent outcomes.  When I thought I was updating an existing customer record sometimes a new one was generated, sometimes not.  I gave up in the end and we simply allow QB to create new customer records when we import invoices from our other systems.  Later we add things like email addresses manually - a right pain!

              -Dave Sherwood

              M
              matt121
              July 13, 2020

              Is there any solution to this or is QuickBooks Online still working on this (or deciding if it is important to its customers).  This would be particularly handy.  I need to do the same thing.

                Kristine Mae
                Kristine MaeModerator
                Moderator
                July 13, 2020

                You'll want to edit the customers in QuickBooks Online manually, for now, Matt121.

                 

                I also suggest sending feedback. It will be submitted directly to our engineers. It will help them know how many users want this feature. The more request the feedback has, the more likely it'll be added to future updates. Here's how:

                1. Click the Gear icon.
                2. Select Feedback.

                You can also check the latest news about QuickBooks and what our Product Care Team is working on through our blog.

                 

                We're just around if you have other concerns. Feel free to post in the Community anytime.

                J
                JStyles47
                December 15, 2022

                There are a number or reasons why mass updating a list of contacts by mass uploading another list of contacts is an outdated idea.  The solution is through an API.  My fav is zapier.

                We run zaps from Hubspot to QBO seamlessly upon trigger=contact update, deal closed/won, or quote paid. We also send closed/won deals that paid to QBO as created invoices that are paid too.

                You can set this up more simply with a google sheet to QBO zap. Triggers are the same. Cost is nearly free.

                 

                Anyone wants help setting this up so that their QBO data matches and external dataset lmk I will show you in a screencast.

                Hope this helps. Cheers and happy holidays.

                B
                BSHCW22
                January 10, 2023

                What is the best way to connect with you? Having the ability update customer contact information via Zap would be great, thanks.

                 

                Thanks

                MaryLandT
                MaryLandT
                Level 10
                January 10, 2023

                I can provide the details on how to connect with our Live Support Team, BSHCW22.

                 

                Simply log in to your QuickBooks Online account and follow the steps below.

                 

                1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
                2. Select Help (?).
                3. Click  Contact Us and choose a way to connect with us:
                  • Start a chat with a support expert.
                  • Get a callback from the next available expert.

                 

                They're open from M-F 6 AM to 6 PM PT and Saturday 6 AM to 3 PM PT.

                 

                it's important to stay organized and keep track of your customers. I'm adding this article whenever you want to update their information: Add and manage customers in QuickBooks Online.


                I'd be glad to provide further assistance should you have other QuickBooks questions. Always take care!

                J
                JayAnne_CQuickBooks Team
                QuickBooks Team
                June 17, 2026
                I understand how important it is to have a feature that saves you time and eases your workload when managing large lists. Currently, native mass-updating is only available in QuickBooks Online Advanced via the Spreadsheet Sync tool. For standard plans (Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus), you will need a third-party app from the QuickBooks app store to bulk-edit customers or import payments.
                 
                To help make this available across all plans, please share your feedback directly with our developers so they can consider it for future updates.
                 
                Should you have any other concerns, feel free to reply to this thread.
                S
                Siml
                June 17, 2026

                But how does that work when QuickBooks have no receive payment import function? I asked QB help before and they said there’s no way to import payments. Everything else u can but not payments. 

                S
                Shahul Hameed
                June 17, 2026

                It is only possible to update all information in customer files while importing since there are no existing customers in QBO. Otherwise you need to change all customer details one by one only 

                S
                SIAB
                Level 2
                June 22, 2026

                 

                You can use a 3rd party tool to import Receive Payments data against your Invoices.

                https://get.transactionpro.com/qbo

                 

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