If you've been using another financial software product, and you'd like to import information from that product into QuickBooks, you can do so if the product allows you to export to a spreadsheet or text file. You can import lists that correspond to QuickBooks' lists, budgets, and individual transactions.
Tip: The easiest way to see and understand the format QuickBooks needs to import data is to export a QuickBooks company and copy the format in the spreadsheet you create. If you don't already have a QuickBooks company, export the sample company file and view it in a spreadsheet.
For example, it you have a list of customers and a list of vendors, all the customer data should be in one block and all the vendor information should be in another block.
Enter this text... | If the block contains |
---|---|
!ACCNT | Details about your chart of accounts. |
!CUST | A customer address or phone list. |
!VEND | A vendor address or phone list. |
!EMP | A list of employees. |
!OTHERNAME | A list of names you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Other Name list. |
!BUD | Budget details. |
!CLASS | A list of general classifications you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Class list. |
!CTYPE | A list of customer classifications you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Customer Type list. |
!INVITEM | Details about the line items you use on sales and purchase forms. |
!INVMEMO | Messages you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Customer Message list. |
!PAYMETH | A list of payment methods you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Payment Method list. |
!SHIPMETH | A list of shipping methods you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Ship Via list. |
!TERMS | A list of payment terms you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Terms list. |
!TODO | A list of upcoming “to do”tasks you want QuickBooks to remind you about. |
!TRANS | Transactions. |
!VTYPE | A list of vendor classifications you'd like to add to QuickBooks' Vendor Type list. |
For example, if the spreadsheet contains a list of customers and then a list of vendors, the structure of the spreadsheet would be as follows:
!CUST
[List of customers]
!VEND
[List of vendors]
In our example, the first column would look like this:
!CUST
CUST
CUST
[etc.]
!VEND
VEND
VEND
[etc.]
For example, the first row for a list of vendor names, addresses, and phone numbers would look like this:
!VEND NAME ADDR1 ADDR2 ADDR3 ADDR4 ADDR5 PHONE1 PHONE2
The .IIF extension is not required; however, if you use the extension, QuickBooks can locate the file more quickly.
QuickBooks adds the data to your company file, updating any lists as needed. For example, if you have imported a list of vendors, QuickBooks adds the new vendor names to your Vendor list.