How to migrate attachments from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online

Overview

Some Limitations

• Transactions without a Reference Number - QuickBooks Desktop does permit transactions without a reference number such as Checks or Credit Card Charges unfortunately this means that when uploading the associated attachments into QuickBooks Online if there is no Doc Number for the transaction (ie like Deposits) then Axis is unable to correctly identify the transaction to attach it to.  In this instance the best alternative is to upload the attachment as an Unattached document and then manually attach it from within QuickBooks Online.
• Transactions with multiple attachments - If you are uploading multiple attachments to the same list or transaction type in series then you will need to select the option to Append.
• Inconsistency in the naming convention for transactions between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online - In QuickBooks Desktop transactions such as Check, Credit Card Charge are referred to as Purchases in QuickBooks Online so when importing the attachments into QuickBooks Online it is important that you rename the Entity Types a list of those and the equivalent in QuickBooks Online is listed below.  Using a Search and Replace function for the Entity Type will be a quick way of translating those.
• If the Attach folder is not in the correct location - When exporting the Attachment list from QuickBooks desktop you get an error that the specified file was not found.  This may indicate that the folder that contains all the attachments is missing or is not in the correct location, typically this is found in the same folder as your QuickBooks company file (ie C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\<Your Company File Name> and the folder called Attach.  If it is not there then it may have not been relocated correctly when the company file was moved try restoring the folder to that location and retrying the export.

Follow these steps to export the Attachment data out of QuickBooks Desktop:

1. Use Zed Axis connect to the QuickBooks desktop company file that you want to export the attachments from
2. Select the Export tab and then the export data type as AttachmentList
3. Choose the filters for a data range or Transaction or List types
4. Click Get and Axis will collate all the respective attachment data and display it in the preview window
5. Finally select the data format you would like to save the data as and click Export Data, the data can be saved and used to import the attachment data into QuickBooks Online following these steps.

Other items

• Axis also supports the export of files that are unattached to transactions or lists, these will be marked as unattached.  It is possible to also upload files that are unattached to QuickBooks Online so they can be manually attached at a later date.