Importing inventory items into QuickBooks

Overview of importing inventory items

In QuickBooks Desktop and inventory item list is used to track the products that are held in inventory and are purchased and sold by the business.  Using the Zed Axis you can import inventory items from text files or from Excel spreadsheets directly into QuickBooks Desktop. 

Steps to import inventory items

First download and install the Zed Axis software on your computer.  Then follow these steps:

  1. Open your QuickBooks company file as Administrator and open Zed Axis
  2. Select your text file or spreadsheet which contains the inventory items that you want to import.
  3. Set up the a Mapping of the columns in your inventory items import file to the corresponding fields in QuickBooks
  4. Click Import and your inventory items will be directly added to your QuickBooks company file:


More help?

For more information about importing inventory items into QuickBooks, search the Knowledge Base, watch the movies in the Learning Centre, or raise a ticket with Zed Support.

Downloada sample inventory item template

 Where the fields appear in QuickBooks

Import inventory item

 

 Detailed description of the fields you can map

QuickBooks field Type Description 
Namestr 31MANDATORY: The name of the inventory item as it appears in QuickBooks, name must be unique unless it has a Parent Ref. For example if the Item Full Name is Widgit:Green:Small then the Name = Small and the ParentFullName = Widgit:Green
BarcodeStr 50The barcode number for the item
IsActivetrue or falseWhether the item is currently enabled for use by QuickBooks. The default is true
ParentFullNamestrThe parent name of the inventory item name, referred to as Sub-item in QuickBooks item list, For example if the Item Full Name is Widgit:Green:Small then the parent name is Widgit:Green
Manufacturer Part Numberstr 31The part number used by the manufacturer of the item
Unit of Measure Set Namestr 31The unit of measure set consists of a base unit and a number of related units
Is Tax Includedtrue or falseWhether Prices includes tax or not. Only supported in CA, UK and AU versions of QuickBooks
Sales Tax Codestr 3Tax code for the item used when selling
Sales Descstr 4095Description used when the item is sold
Sales PricepricePrice charged for the item
Income Accountstr 159MANDATORY: Refers to the Income account used when the item is sold
Purchase Descstr 4095Description used for the item when bought
Purchase PricepricePrice of the item when bought 
Purchase Tax Codestr 3Tax code used when the item is bought 
COGS Accountstr 159MANDATORY: Refers to the account that QuickBooks uses to track the original cost of the goods when bought
Pref Vendorstr 41Name of the vendor as appear in QuickBooks where the item is usually purchased from
Asset Accountstr 159 MANDATORY: Asset account for the inventory item
Reorder PointquanMinimum quantity that stock falls to before item needs to be reordered
Quantity On HandquanQuantity held in available stock
MaxquanMaximum quantity to be held in stock
Total Value amtTotal value of stock held
Inventory Date dateDate of valuation

 

Need to import Custom fields on Inventory Items? More here

Troubleshooting Common Errors

The COGS account cannot be changed - This error occurs when trying to modify an Inventory Item that has been used on a historical transaction in QuickBooks, due to the Inventory valuation calculations and the impact on balance sheet and on Closed Periods, restrictions are imposed by QuickBooks on modifying the COGS Account.  As a workaround you could modify the name of the item make inactive and then create a new Item with the required COGS Account.

Invalid Parent Specified - This error occurs when trying to modify a inventory item and the Parent Ref Full Name that has been specified does not exist or is not the correct parent for the item that you are importing.  Please check that the parent name appears correctly.  Further explanation of how parent names should appear is provided in the table above.


The name in the U/M Set field does not exist in QuickBooks - This error occurs becuase the value you have set for the Unit of Measure Set name does not exist in the Unit of Measure Set list in QuickBooks, please check that the name exists and matches exactly, note that the individual Unit of Measure are not the same as the Sets 

 

Feedback

Where is the option for max reorder point?
Frimet Guttman (8/4/2017 at 4:46 PM)
The field Max has been added to the V12.1 release of Zed Axis
Steve (3/8/2018 at 3:17 AM)
How do I import into Custom Fields?
Yvonne L. Gomez (3/5/2018 at 1:31 AM)
Hi Yvonne, you can import custom fields on inventory items but you need to do it as a separate import type called Custom Fields you will find a detailed explanation on how to do that here:

http://support.zed-systems.com/kb/a156/import-custom-fields-into-quickbooks.aspx

Steve (3/8/2018 at 1:11 AM)