Excel

Export, import, and work with Excel in QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online offers several ways to move data between your books and spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel. This guide covers how to export reports, import lists, and manage your data efficiently.

Export reports to Excel

Exporting reports to Excel allows you to customize your data further outside of QuickBooks.

1. Open the report you want to export.
2. Select the Export icon (usually located at the top right of the report).
3. Choose Export to Excel.
4. The file will download to your computer, where you can open it in your spreadsheet software.

Note: QuickBooks Online exports to standard Excel formats (.xlsx or .xls). If you are using older spreadsheet software, ensure your program can open modern Excel files.

Import lists from Excel

You can import lists like Customers, Vendors, and Products/Services to save time on manual data entry.

1. Go to the Settings (Gear icon).
2. Select Import Data.
3. Choose the type of list you want to import (e.g., Customers, Vendors).
4. Download the provided sample template in Excel or CSV format.
5. Fill out the template with your data, ensuring your column headers match the sample exactly.
6. Upload your completed file and map your columns to the correct QuickBooks fields.
7. Select Import.

Fixing import errors

If you import a list and the data doesn’t look right, or if you need to redo the import, you generally have two options:

• Manual deletion: You must delete the imported entries one by one. There is no bulk “undo” button for imported lists.
• Start over: If your company is fewer than 60 days old and you don’t want to keep any other data, you can purge your account and start fresh. To do this, go to the Settings (Gear icon) and search for “Wipe Data” or “Reset Company Data.”

Copy and paste data

For quick updates, you can often copy data from Excel and paste it directly into QuickBooks lists.

• Add/Edit Multiple List Entries: You can copy rows or cells from Excel and paste them into the Add/Edit Multiple List Entries window. This works best for text fields (like addresses or phone numbers).
• Dropdown fields: If pasting into fields that use a dropdown menu (such as “Customer Type” or “Terms”), ensure the text in your Excel file matches the option names in QuickBooks exactly. If the text does not match an existing option, the paste may fail or create an error.

Managing and deleting transactions

QuickBooks Online allows you to delete most transactions, such as journal entries, invoices, or expenses, to make correcting bookkeeping errors easy.

• To delete a transaction, open it and select More > Delete (or Void).
• If you prefer to restrict the ability to delete transactions to maintain stricter audit trails, you can submit a feature request to our product team. Go to the Gear icon and select Feedback to share your suggestions.