Import from Quickbooks Pro 2015 (Desktop version of Manager)

1

So another post about data import! I want to import all my QB data as journals (irrespective of whether bank transactions) so I always have the information for past years periods available from Manager. I don’t need AP or AR just GL. The GL CoA is set up and working; and I imported a TB to test it.

So, I used Batch Create to get the headings, most of which I don’t understand for the import, and I need help please:

I have the following headings from Quickbooks:

Entered/Last Modified
Trans no
Type (Deposit, Cheque, or Journal)
Date
Num
Name
Memo
Account
Split (not needed)
Amount| (+/- but I can easily convert into Dr & Cr columns using Excel).

and I need to map these to the Batch Create headings: some of the Lines.1 items seem obvious eg Account, Debit & Credit, but I just cannot get my head around many of the others, some of which are boolean eg HasLineDescription?

And do I need all the Batch Create headings or just those with data? Is the order important or will Manager parse the data based on the headings irrespective of order?

Finally (for now?) the Trans No. is a Quickbooks system generated number which makes audit trails easy to follow. I can’t see that Manager assigns a unique transaction number ID in my exports of test data, is one available?

Manager looks to be a good program, and I am concerned that one day an update to Windows will break a program from 2015, so I need to change.

Any help will be very much apprecaited.

Henry

2

Since your data comes from QuickBooks, it is already consistent and uniform.

Steps:

  1. Create one transaction manually, choose the most complex transaction from your data.
  2. Perform a Batch Update for that transaction. This will generate an Excel form that matches your data structure.
  3. Arrange all your data to follow this Excel form.
  4. Delete the key column at the far right before using Batch Create to import the full dataset.
1 Like
3

Great idea. Batch Update to get structure.

So I did that on a very simple 2 line journal, copied the data into a blank spreadsheet, deleted the final key column, then copied the same data back into Manager using Batch Create - all I got was a blank entry Dr & Cr for Suspense!? What could I have done wrong? To be fair, the preview showed nothing too.

Then there is the fact that I have over 6,500 lines to import, although I could break it down by year into more manageable blocks; if only it worked.

4

Did you forget to import the headings line(row)?

5

Hello, can you export your data from quicken as a “CSV file” to a folder or your desktop? If you can, then you could import the CSV file to manger. I would export it in batches of no more than a year or half year each!! I you could do it this way, then you could create bach up dates if needed.
Just a thought!

6

@henryg accounting systems store their data in multiple database tables. Entries in each table are linked to other tables. Most tabs in Manager correspond to a different database table.

To import data from one accounting system to another you have to recreate each of these tables. The process is similar to hand entry of the data.

  • Customer / supplier / employee entries have to be created prior to creating transactions liked to those entities.
  • After which linked transactions can be created but need to use the exact linking key field create above.

Doing this typically requires some external database manipulation which will at least cost someone with such skills their time.

The result is good to have however many avoid the cost by using Manager just for new entries and use a read only copy of the old records for prior periods.

7

So it seems that copying into an Excel blank workbook and copying back (minus the key column) is the problem - it must be messing with the data somehow.

I copied a simple journal from Batch Update, removed the key, and immediately imported it via Batch Create and it worked fine; I had an exact duplicate of the original.

I then added a line, by duplicating the first data line of the update and pasting again, and it worked and created 2 journal entries!

I have not been able to find out, yet, what Excel is doing, but JEFFT mentioned using a csv (easy enough to do). Can I import this directly, or is it a copy and paste exercise again?

I am feeling more optimistic of the chances of success.

Thanks to all for the comments so far.

Edit: I have given my GL accounts numeric values and while it displays them as 1000 ABC etc, it requires the account to be 1000 for import.

8

I don’t use customer/supplier/employee entries; it’s almost exclusively bank & journal entries. I may have to mess around with a few early entries via Power Query but that should be easy enough to do - famous last words.