Importing customers, vendors, and employees
You've probably got contact information for the people you work with—customers, vendors, employees—in places like Gmail or LinkedIn. You can import those contacts into QuickBooks.
Note: If you use Contacts, you can sync your contacts with QuickBooks so that updates are available in both QuickBooks, Contacts, and other devices you sync with Contacts.
Before you start
You'll need a spreadsheet of the contacts you want to import into Quickbooks. If you have one, great! Go to the next section. I don't have a spreadsheet.
To import your contacts:
- Go to File > Import > Contacts. Or go to the Customer Center, Vendor Center, or Employee list, click
, and then click the Import option.
- Open your spreadsheet (see the "Before you start" section above if you don't have a spreadsheet.)
- Copy the First Name column in your spreadsheet.
- Click into the first field in the QuickBooks First Name column. The field turns white.
- Paste in the column you copied in Step 4.
Tip: Copy and paste by column, not by row.
- Repeat steps 4-6 for every column in your spreadsheet.
Tip: Be sure to scroll over to the right to see and copy in all the available fields.
- Be sure that the Import box is checked for all the contacts you want to import.
- Change or add any info you didn't have in your original spreadsheet.
- In the Role column, be sure that each contact is labeled as a Customer, Vendor, or Employee correctly.
- Click Import.
- Click OK when the status window says Import Complete.
Fun fact: You can use the Add Contacts window to add basic customer info without copying it from someplace else. Just type your customers' info into the fields rather than copying it.
Troubleshooting:
- I can't click a cell in the Role column after I've opened the Add Contacts window. Click "cnt..." and choose Add Line.
- I got a message in the Import status window that says I have errors in some of my items? We can help you fix them:
- Close the Import status window by clicking OK.
- On the spreadsheet, look for the items that have red Xes on the far left side.
- Click on the item with the red X. A message pops up to the right of the item's row describing what went wrong.
- Fix the items with the red Xes and click Import again.
- Click OK when QuickBooks finishes importing your items.