How to import customer list with First and Last

Hi there, micksharpe07,

Thanks for sharing your experience about importing a customer list in QuickBooks Online.

The name of the customer will be displayed in the First name, Last name, and Display name as field. That's why you're unable to map them when importing the customer list.

You can choose the company name in the Display name as field. However, you need to manually change it on the customer profile. This way, you'll be able to select the company when creating an invoice, and not actual the owner's name.

Let me show you how:

1. Select Sales from the left navigation bar.
2. Go to the Customers tab, then click the name of the customer from the list.
   
3. Select Customer Details, then click Edit.
   
4. Click the Display name as drop-down menu, then select the company name.
   
5. Click Save.

Learn more about importing data by going through this article: Move your lists to QuickBooks Online. This link includes detailed steps and sample Excel files for your guidance.

If you need a report to show phone number, email, billing address, and other contact info for each customer, you can pull up the Customer Contact List report. Here's how: 

1. Select Reports from the left menu.
2. Locate Customer Contact List under Sales and customers section.
3. Click it to open and see the details from there.

Keep me posted if you need additional information and I'll get back to you.

Thanks for the reply MaryLandT. This solution is fine if you only have a few customer. The client I am importing has 1000+ customers. It would take an unreasonably long time to make this change one at a time. It seems that there is no real solution to this. I have submitted an update recommendation  to QBO and I guess that is all that can be done. 

Hey there, @micksharpe07.

I understand that it would be difficult for you to follow the workaround for a large number of customers. Since this is the only workaround available at the moment, I'm also personally taking note of your concern here in the system.

To ensure your voice is heard, I'll pass along another feature request on my end. For the moment, I recommend you can visit our blog and sign up to our Newsletter.

By doing so, you'll receive updates via email about any changes and improvements in the product.

Here’s an article with detailed instructions on how to import customer contacts. It also provides an overview of the things to know before performing the import process:

Import customer or vendor contacts from Outlook, Excel or Gmail.

Stay in touch whenever you have additional questions about QBO. I’m here to make sure you’re taken care of. Have a great rest of the day.