Import invoices into QuickBooks Desktop

Overview of importing invoices into QuickBooks Desktop

In QuickBooks an Invoice is a record of a sale to a customer who has purchased products or services from a you but did not pay in full at the time of the sale (if paid in full at time of sale then it is better to record that as a Sales Receipt). You can import invoices into QuickBooks Desktop from text files or Excel spreadsheets using Zed Axis software.

Steps to import invoices using Zed Axis

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

More help?

For more information about importing invoices into QuickBooks, search the Knowledge Base, watch the movies in the Learning Center, follow these troubleshooting steps or raise a ticket with Zed Support.
 
Download a Invoices.txt tab delimited text file and a pre-configured map sample invoice import map
 

Watch a demonstration of how to import invoices

 Where the fields appear in QuickBooks

 

Detailed description of fields on an invoice


QuickBooks FieldFormatDescription
Customer Refstr 209 MANDATORY FIELD - Customer Full Name as appears in QuickBooks ie ACME Inc:Project 101:Job A , (colons are used as a separators). If Axis cannot find a Customer then it will create a new customer record. 
CurrencystrThe name of the currency (ie Canadian Dollar, Euro, British Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar) to be used if Axis needs to create a new Customer, map only if using multi currency more here
Class RefstrFull class name to categorize the invoice
Account Refstr 159Refers to an accounts receivable account in the QuickBooks file
Template Refstr 31Templates specify how to print the invoice
Txn DatedateThe date of the invoice, If you leave Txn Date out the mapping, QuickBooks will pre-fill it with the date of the invoice that was most recently saved.
Invoice Ref Number str 11MANDATORY FIELD - Invoice Reference number, duplicate Ref Numbers are accepted in QuickBooks, see also Auto Numbering
Bill Addr 1.. etc strBilling Address lines 1-5, City, State, Postal Code and Country see importing address into QuickBooks for more information
Bill Note str 41written at the bottom of the address
Phone If Update address details selected then customers Phone number updated
Fax If Update address details selected then customers Fax number updated
Email If Update address details selected then customers Email number updated
Ship Addr1.. etc Shipping Address lines 1-5, City, State, Postal Code and Country see importing address into QuickBooks for more information
Ship Notestr 41Written at the bottom of the address
Is PendingboolIf IsPending is set to true, the invoice has not been completed. value accepted true or false
Is Finance Chargeboola finance-charge item has been added to the invoice, values accepted true of false
Item Sales Tax Refstr 31Sales tax code item (US only) more on importing Sales Tax Codes into QuickBooks. Assigned to the entire transaction.
A sales-tax item is used to calculate a single sales tax that is collected at a specified rate and paid to a single agency
Ship Methodstr 15A shipping method, for example, standard mail or overnight delivery 
PO Numberstr 25Purchase order number
Terms Refstr 31Payment terms for the Customer, This will be an item on the Date Driven Terms or Standard Terms list
Due date dateDate payment due, if not mapped QuickBooks may calculate this based on Customers default terms
Sales Rep str 5Initials of the sale rep, A sales representative must be on the Employee, Vendor, or Other Names list within QuickBooks
FOB str 13QuickBooks uses the term FOB, (freight on board) to indicate the place from which the product is shipped 
Ship date dateDate the goods were shipped
Customer Msg str 101A standard message to a customer that comes from the QuickBooks list
Is To Be PrintedboolCheck box to prompt user to print the form (accepted values true or false)
Is To Be EmailedboolPrompt user to email this invoice from QuickBooks, customer needs to have email address (accepted values true or false)
IsTax IncludedboolFlag to determine whether the amounts are inclusive or exclusive of tax. Only for CA, UK and AU editions of QuickBooks. More in importing tax transactions (accepted values true or false)
Customer Sales Tax Codestr 3Refers to the sales-tax code for sales related to this customer.
Other Other field included in the header area of the invoice
Memostr 4000 
Exchange RatefloatThe exchange rate is the market price for which this currency can be exchanged for the currency used by the QuickBooks company file as the "home" currency. More on importing multi currency
Item Ref strMANDATORY FIELD - Item Ref FullName can refer to an item on any Item list (Item Discount, Item Inventory, and so on excluding Group Items). ZA will look for Items in QuickBooks, if not recognized then it will create a new item according to the settings   
TxnID Used to assign a ID to a transaction in QuickBooks so you can refer to it (see linking transactions)
TxnLineID Used to assign a ID to a transaction line in QuickBooks so you can refer to it (see linking transactions)
Description  str 4095A descriptive text field for the Item 
Rate price 13The rate or price of the item. If not mapped QuickBooks will use the default rate for the item. Decimal values include amounts, quantities, and percents. can be positive or negative 
Line Class str 159Classes (at the line level) can be used to separate transactions into meaningful categories
Quantity quana decimal value that refers to how much of something is sold
Unit Of Measure str 31The name of the unit of measure selected from within the items available units more on importing units of measure
Sales Tax Code str 3Each item on a sales form is assigned a sales-tax code that indicates whether the item is taxable or non-taxable, and why.
Amount decimal value that represents an amount
Service Date dateIndicates the date on which the QuickBooks user performs the service for the customer
Other 1str 29The Other 1 field exists at the line item level
Other 2str 29The Other 2 field exists at the line item level
Custom Field Name 1..5Str 31User defined Custom field name (at Line Level) more here
Custom Field Value 1..5StrUser defined Custom field value (at Line Level) more here
Item Group Namestr 31 The name of the Group Item sold on the invoice read more
Item Group QuantityquanThe quantity of the Group Item sold on the invoice
Item Group Unit Measurestr 31The unit of measure of the group item sold on the invoice
Freightstr 31The amount of freight charged, see how to import shopping cart fields
Insurancestr 31The amount of insurance charged see how to import shopping cart fields
Discountstr 31The amount of discount charged see how to import shopping cart fields
Link To Sales Orderstr 31The sale order reference number the invoice is linked to when using entire transaction linking read more
Line Link To Sales Orderstr 31The sales order reference number the invoice is linked to when using Line Linking read more
Inventory Site Locationstr 31The full name of the Bin location of the item read more
Serial Numberstr 4095The serial number of the item read more
Lot Numberstr 40The lot number of the item read more

 

How to troubleshoot errors when importing 

 
Error: Customer has an overdue transaction
 
Error: You cannot set the amount for items of this type.
This error occurs because the item that is used on that row is an item that is not associated with an Amount ie a Subtotal or discount type item, as QuickBooks likes to calculate its own Subtotal amounts please delete the amount cell and retry the import.