Importing QuickBooks customer records into Autotask
NOTE This step applies if you are transferring invoices and/or purchase orders to QuickBooks.
If your local organization has been using QuickBooks for some time before implementing Autotask and will begin transferring invoices from Autotask to QuickBooks, you will create duplicate customer records in QuickBooks, unless the QuickBooks Customer Name field exactly matches the Autotask Organization Name field.
The best way to avoid duplication is to import your customers from QuickBooks to Autotask at the beginning of your Autotask implementation. Follow the instructions below to export your customer records from QuickBooks and import them into Autotask.
NOTE Best Practice: Once the initial customer list has been imported into Autotask, new customers should be created in Autotask and transferred to QuickBooks, where the QuickBooks Extension will automatically set up a new customer record for you. This ensures that new customer names will be identical in both applications, and you will not create any duplicates.
Exporting customer records from QuickBooks
Before you begin, read Importing or updating data to familiarize yourself with the import process and prerequisites.
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Open QuickBooks and go to Reports > List > Customer Phone List.
-
Click Customize Report.
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On the pop-up window's Display tab, select the QuickBooks fields listed in the table below for export.
| QuickBooks Field Name | Map to column in the Organization and Contact Import Template |
|---|---|
|
Active Status |
Contact: Active/Inactive |
| Customer | [required] Organization: Name |
| Mr./ Ms./... | Contact: Prefix |
| First Name | [required*] Contact: First Name |
| M.I. | Contact: Middle Name |
| Last Name | [required*] Contact: Last Name |
| Main Phone | [required] Organization: Phone |
|
Work Phone |
Contact: Phone |
|
Mobile |
Contact: Mobile Phone |
| Fax | Organization: Fax |
| Main Email | [required*] Contact: Email Address |
|
Job Title |
Contact: Title |
| Alt. Phone | Organization: Alternate Phone 1 |
| Street 1 | Organization: Address 1 |
| Street 2 | Organization: Address 2 |
| City | Organization: City |
| State | Organization: State |
| Zip | Organization: Zip Code |
| Country | Organization: Country |
|
Sales Tax Code |
Organization: Tax Exempt On the export spreadsheet, replace Tax with No, and Non with Yes. |
| Rep |
Organization: Account Manager You will need to replace the initials exported from QuickBooks with the Autotask resource name in the format Last Name, First Name. |
| Additional and custom fields, as desired |
Organization User-Defined Fields You can select additional fields to export from QuickBooks and import into Autotask, as long as there are available matching system fields in Autotask or you have set up user-defined fields in Autotask to map the data. Refer to Managing user-defined fields. |
- Click OK.
- On the main window, select Excel > Create new Worksheet > in new Workbook > Export . The selected fields are exported to an Excel spreadsheet.
Importing customer records into Autotask
Follow the instructions in Importing or updating data and Importing organizations and contacts at the same time to import your customer list.
The process involves downloading the import template in Autotask, copying your data over (be sure to following the field selection and mapping rules below and include all required data), then importing into Autotask CRM.
Field selection and mapping
The following table shows the QuickBooks fields you should export and how they must be mapped to Autotask Organization and Contact fields.
| QuickBooks Field Name | Map to column in the Organization and Contact Import Template | Map for Contact Import |
|---|---|---|
|
Active Status |
Contact: Active/Inactive |
|
| Customer | [required] Organization: Name | Organization [required] |
| Mr./ Ms./... | Contact: Prefix | Title |
| First Name | [required*] Contact: First Name | First Name [required] |
| M.I. | Contact: Middle Name | Middle Name |
| Last Name | [required*] Contact: Last Name | Last Name [required] |
| Main Phone | [required] Organization: Phone | Contact Phone [required] |
|
Work Phone |
Contact: Phone |
|
|
Mobile |
Contact: Mobile Phone |
|
| Fax | Organization: Fax | |
| Main Email | [required*] Contact: Email Address | |
|
Job Title |
Contact: Title |
|
| Alt. Phone | Organization: Alternate Phone 1 | Contact Alternate Phone |
| Street 1 | Organization: Address 1 | Contact Address 1 |
| Street 2 | Organization: Address 2 | Contact Address 2 |
| City | Organization: City | Contact City |
| State | Organization: State | Contact State |
| Zip | Organization: Zip Code | Contact Zip Code |
| Country | Organization: Country | Contact Country |
|
Sales Tax Code |
Organization: Tax Exempt On the export spreadsheet, replace Tax with No, and Non with Yes. |
|
| Rep |
Organization: Account Manager You will need to replace the initials exported from QuickBooks with the Autotask resource name in the format Last Name, First Name. |
|
| Custom Fields, as desired | Organization User-Defined Fields | Contact User-Defined Fields |
Next step
Review the System settings that impact QuickBooks users.
NOTE To learn everything about the QuickBooks Extension for Desktop, refer to the landing page for documentation links, configuration steps, videos, and walk-throughs that help you set it up.
