Quickbooks Desktop Merging Question

Welcome to QuickBooks Community, Mark at Adept Testing. I'll share steps to ensure you're able to copy your payroll details to the newer installed QuickBooks.

To get the payroll information copied into the newer installation of QuickBooks Desktop on the second computer, you can export the payroll data from the old file and import them to a new one. Please note that, as you can't undo the info you import, it's a good habit to back up your company file before the export/import process to avoid data loss.

To start with, you can run the Summarize Payroll Data in Excel report and export to Excel. This way, you're able to get all payroll data so you can use it to import to the second software.

Here's how:

1. On the top menu bar, click on Reports.
2. Choose Employees & Payroll and select Summarize Payroll Data in Excel.
3. Alternatively, open the report you want to export, at the top of the report click Export, and select the desired destination and type.
4. If necessary, follow the prompts to enable macros in Excel. When macros are enabled, the QuickBooks Payroll Reports Workbook window opens.
5. From Excel, enter a date range and click to clear any optional worksheets you want to exclude from the QuickBooks Payroll Reports Workbook.
6. To include or exclude reports in the workbook, select or click to clear the appropriate checkboxes in the Optional Reports section.
7. To customize any of your workbook settings, click Options/Settings.
8.  Select or click to clear the appropriate checkboxes. Then, click OK.
9. To retrieve the payroll data from QuickBooks, click Get QuickBooks Data. The workbook displays the data.

For additional information, you can refer to this article: Export payroll data.

Once done, you can now start importing payroll data to a new computer using the information that you've exported from the old one. You can refer to this article to see the detailed process: Import or export MS Excel files.

You can also visit our Intuit Marketplace page to see apps that will help you import data.

Please refer to this article to see steps on how you can use IIF files to import and export your lists and transactions to and from QuickBooks Desktop: Export, import, and edit IIF files.

Please let me know if you have further questions or concerns. You can always count on us here in the Community to guide you every step of the way. Take care and enjoy your day!

That does indeed export my payroll data to excel. I am unable to import it. Quickbooks states that the excel file did not use a Quickbooks template so it cannot import it. I also am trying variations of saving as macro supported excel files with no success.

Hey there, @Mark at Adept Testing.

Thanks for following up with us and letting us know that the issue lies with your import process. 

At this time, QuickBooks Desktop isn't equipped to import Payroll data. However, I can see how this would be beneficial for you and your business, so I have submitted a feedback request to our product development team to include this in a future update on your behalf. 

In the meantime, you can check out our IIF Import and Export limitations for further details about what can and can not be imported. 

Additionally, feel free to look into our Blog Site to follow all of our latest happenings and updates. 

If you have any other questions, please let me know by leaving any comments below. I'll be here to lend a hand. Have a fantastic day! 

@Mark at Adept Testing 

You may import historical payroll data as journal entries. If you are not familiar with IIF feature, utilize one of these importer tools.

https://transactionpro.grsm.io/qbd

https://partners.saasant.com/affiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=5051_2