Export and Import of transactions as CVS files in QB Desktop MAC

Hi there, Basilio.

I understand the importance of importing your exporting and importing your transactions through a CSV file in your QuickBooks Desktop Mac, however it’s not currently unavailable.

I suggest submitting feedback directly to our Product Development Team. They will carefully consider this option and work towards meeting your business demands accordingly.

1. Go to the Help option.
2. Select the Send Feedback Online option.
3. Choose the Product Suggestion option. A pop-up window displays.
4. Type in your feedback suggestion.
5. Click the Send Feedback button. The feedback is sent.

Furthermore, I recommend seeking help with information technology. You can also manually enter your transactions as a workaround.

Additionally, if you want to learn how to add and match downloaded transactions in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, check this article out: Add and match transactions in QuickBooks Desktop Mac.

Let me know if you have further questions about importing your CSV files in QBDT Mac. I’ll be here to assist you at any time.

Irene,

This isn't the kind of situation we want you to experience and I'll make it up to you to ensure you never have to deal with this again, Basilio.

When importing your data to QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, it's easier to import transactions when the item fields on your spreadsheet match with QuickBooks. Here’s how to get a QuickBooks template for your transactions. If you have an existing spreadsheet of your transactions, you can rearrange the items on it to match the template on QuickBooks. Here's how: 

1. Go to File, then Import.
2. Select Transactions, then the transaction type you want to import.
3. Select the gear menu, then Export Table Template.
4. Enter a name, then save the template. This downloads the template in a .CSV (spreadsheet) file.
5. Open the template on your spreadsheet application. There are many columns on the template, and you may need to scroll to see all of them.
6. Add your transactions to the template, then save your work.

For sales receipts on the Deposit To column, let's make sure to specify the bank account type in your company file. When you’re ready, follow the steps below to import your transactions:

1. Open your spreadsheet file.
2. In QuickBooks, go to File, then Import.
3. Select Transactions, then the transaction type you want to import.
4. Copy the transactions from your spreadsheet and paste them on the import window. QuickBooks will highlight rows that have the same info to alert you on transactions with multiple line items.
5. (For sales receipts) Select the bank you would like to deposit the receipts.
6. Press Import if everything looks right, Import.

QuickBooks leaves a row blank if it can’t add the transaction. Here’s how to fix it.

1. On the import window, select any blank rows. You get a message that tells you what went wrong.
2. Here’s how to fix the error:

      3. Select Import.

For more information about importing customers, vendors, employees, and items into QuickBooks for Mac, check out this article: Import data into QuickBooks for Mac. Also, you'll want to check for a third-party application that can help you with exporting and importing transactions as CVS files into your software. Please proceed with the following steps:

1. Go to the QuickBooks App Store.
2. From the QuickBooks Compatibility section, choose the QuickBooks Desktop version you're using.
3. Type in the clue word of the specific app you're looking for in the Search field and click the magnifying glass to search. 
4. Install the 3rd party apps and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Any questions about integrating the app into your Online account should be directed to the app's third-party provider.

Feel free to get back to me here in the Community space if you need further assistance with this matter. You can also post here again if you have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns. It'll be my pleasure to cater to them again. 

If you read the trail of complaints, you would realize that my case involves an Export of transactions created by QBDT MAC within my own Company file. I was working with a copy of my Company file which was dated earlier than a 2nd copy which my wife had worked on, and thus filled with new transactions I did not want to lose.

The CVS file discussed was created by QBDT MAC. It was not created by me within Excel apart from QB, and not downloaded from an institution such as my Bank. Therefore, it is unbelievable to me that I should have to use a Template to adjust the Export of a CVS file created by QBDT MAC so that the Fields correspond for Import back into a later copy of my own Company file created by QBDT MAC!

I attach Screen Shots of the CVS file created by QBDT MAC and the Import screen for comparison of Fields and Field Names. The Export CVS has 11 Fields while the Import CVS has 17 Fields. The Import Screen labels many of the Fields with different names, and they are nowhere near the same order.

Hi there, @Basilio.

I understand the significance of exporting and importing your transactions to QuickBooks Desktop MAC. I'm here to assist you in getting the best solution for this. I recommend contacting QuickBooks Desktop support to investigate this issue and provide you with a quick solution.

Here's how: 

1. Head to this link: Contact Us.
2. Select QuickBooks for Mac product and click Continue.
3. Select 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.

You can also learn to sync your contacts with QuickBooks, so updates are available in QuickBooks, Contacts, and other devices you sync with Contacts.

Please feel free to leave a reply if you have further concerns about exporting and importing transactions in QuickBooks Desktop. We're always here to ensure your needs are fulfilled.

I stumbled onto this thread while searching for a solution to another issue, but have to comment.  @Basilio has posted clearly that he's working with Quickbooks for Mac.  He hasn't mentioned Quickbooks for Windows.  Casually reading through his comments.  He has an issue with CSV export and import being inconsistent within Quickbooks for Mac.

@Basilio, I feel your pain and frustration.  The Mac versions don't seem to get much priority or attention from Intuit, and in my experience over the past 20 years, each version has regression issues or disabled features.  One might even wonder if some of the disabled features are intentionally planned, in order to drive desktop Mac users to QuickBooks Online, where Intuit scans all financial transactions and then markets other services to them.

My goal is to reconcile 2024 and prepare to move to a different solution after this year for accounting and for payroll.  Good luck resolving your issue!

@triview, while you are only commenting on the similarity of shared experience, the responses I have received from alleged Intuit team members seems as though they don't even read what I have posted. The general response has been to offer the advice that I have exported the CVS or created it from scratch from a non-QB source or downloaded it from an institution like a bank. The advice is that I need to make the CVS or delimited files conform to the Headers which the QB Import screen shows. I was advised to download a Template and edit the Exported CVS, without the "team member" understanding that the Exported CVS was created by my Company file in the exact same version of QBDT MAC!

To your other comments about moving to QBO - I already did that because this year, our non-profit is hoping to be able to hire low-end bookkeeping input p/t help and we have been using single license DT MAC version. The migration has been done fairly flawlessly; however, if you want to get me going, ask me how much I like performing 4-6 more steps or mouse clicks to do all the transactions I used to do in 1-2 actions in QBDT MAC. And boy do I love having to keep opening multiple Browser tabs, sometimes having to re-sign in each tab, in order to have an environment similar to my multiple open Windows within QBDT MAC.

I am kind of shocked, that if QBO is modeled after the QB Windows version, this is so clunky. I actually did a 6-week free course offered by NYC Small Business org. to train on the basics of QB. The course used an old Windows version, and when I started doing what I learned in my MAC desktop version, I thought there were a few features in Windows that were better. But, there is a general trend in the software industry to keep reinventing the wheel until it becomes completely flat, along with a movement to avoid most direct support of customer issues by providing huge libraries of articles, FAQs and Youtube videos (which ask for a review before you have seen 3 seconds). Most of these "solution" sources rarely answer my specific questions or completely solve the problems, and, of course, when you take the Survey to review the "solution" it turns out you are no longer signed in to QBO, and your Posting fails.

Since I will continue using QBDT MAC for a personal income company file, while continuing forward with QBO for the non-profit, I started investigating subscription pricing and came across FreeBooks and a few other alternatives. Depending what you are used to paying or how expansive your invoicing, form filing or check printing needs are, these alternatives may be good. I do not use or need e-invoicing, tax form filing, payroll or check writing within QB. I have taken care of payroll with FileMaker Pro and use File4Biz for W2s or 1099 NECs, and efile.form990.org or FreeTax USA for year-end reports and taxes.

@triview 

You have QB Desktop 2020 for Mac, correct?

You can't run the bank feed feature on an outdated version. You may consider another workaround to do so.

No I have QBDT MAC 2021. It is current; however, I am NOT trying to download a bank feed.

This whole trail of posts is about having copied a single Company file to a laptop, doing transaction input, and then forgetting to copy the laptop edited file back to the desktop, before entering further new transactions on the desktop.

Therefore, both versions of the same file had different new transactions entered which needed to be consolidated in the company file. I Exported the desktop new transactions as CVS to be Imported into the file edited on the laptop. The CVS Fields from QB Export DO NOT match the Fields defined in the QB Import screen.

It's all Moot. The solution offered to download a Template and get the Exported file to match the Fields for Import would have taken 10 times as long as re-entering the transactions from scratch over again.

Hello there, Basilio.

I can see that you've been through a lot already with this export/import transaction as a CSV file issue. Rest assured, I'm here to offer another way to resolve this.

Instead of focusing on importing a CSV file to update your company on a different computer, you can restore a backup copy of the updated company file instead. I'll be glad to guide you through the process.

First, browse to your backup company file. When you make a backup in QuickBooks for Mac, a DMG file is created. This file contains a copy of your company's file and any other QuickBooks documents you saved, such as forms or PDFs. You can search your backup company file by following the steps below:

1. From the QuickBooks menu, select Settings.
2. Choose Backup.
3. Select Reveal Backup Folder, then double-click the folder where you save your backup files.
4. Select Date Modified to sort by date and see your most recent backup.

Please note that your backup company's file name also shows the year version of QuickBooks you use.

Once you know where your backup is, you can start restoring it in QuickBooks. Refer to this article and proceed to Step 2 for the step-by-step guide: Restore your backup company file for QuickBooks Desktop for Mac.

If you need further help managing your company file, don't hesitate to add them in the comment section. I'm here and ready to assist you.

Yep, know where the Back Up files are, and how to restore them.

NOPE, not the issue or the solution.