Convert QuickBooks Online to Desktop

Before learning the process of how to convert QuickBooks Online to desktop, let’s have a brief idea about what QuickBooks is. 

How to Convert QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop?

convert quickbooks online to desktop

What is QuickBooks?

With the ever-growing scale of business, it is becoming more and more difficult to manage it. The number of transactions and data to manage is increasing at an exponential rate. Till now, we have been using traditional methods. However, technology has changed that. 

QuickBooks is a financial accounting software that helps us solve this problem. It can store data, record transactions, prepare reports, and help in payroll management. These are just a few tasks that can be performed by QuickBooks. 

It is developed by the US Firm Intuit. They have developed various different versions for QuickBooks like QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier, and QuickBooks Enterprise. They all are designed for different scales of business. The software is also customizable according to the type of business. They provide business-specific features for retail, not for profit organizations, manufactures & suppliers. 

What is QuickBooks Desktop?

QuickBooks desktop is a version of QuickBooks wherein the software is downloaded on the computer and the operations are handled through that computer. This makes it a bit difficult to access data wherever you are. You need to synchronize data from your remote PC to the cloud whenever you add new data. 

If you have not saved the data over the cloud and you damage your PC, your data could be lost forever. Quick Desktops has 3 versions – Pro, Premier, and Enterprise. They are all priced differently and you can choose according to your company’s requirements. 

Learn more about QuickBooks Desktop & its versions

Features of QuickBooks Desktop

Some of the features of QuickBooks Desktop are as follows:

  1. It provides data entry features like creating batch invoices, batch transactions, batch timesheets, different billing rate levels, and the ability to pay vendors online.
  2. You can do job costing features such as job costing module, compare the estimates with the actual cost of projects, mileage tracking & payroll costing. You can also change orders on estimates and mark up the column.
  3. You can create different kinds of reports such as forecasting, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts, cash flow statements, industry-specific reports, and multiple vendor reports.
  4. It provides inventory management as well. You can track inventory in different places and get real-time data of inventory, prepare sales order set, and maintain stock reorder levels.
  5. Accounting Features like backup and restores, data entry, and tax-related calculations can also be done.

Intuit had announced in 2018 that it would be stopping support for QuickBooks Desktop. In 2019, Intuit stopped security updates also for the same. 

What is QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online, as the name suggests, is a software that will be available online. The desktop version required you to download the software. In the online version, you do not have to download and install the software on your PC. It is available online so that you can access it from your PC’s browser without having to install the software. People who convert QuickBooks online to desktop usually need to access their books offline.

This makes it easier to access your data. You do not need to use a PC that has your data. You can simply log in from any PC and access your data. It also allows you to access your data over other platforms through apps. You can access it over your Mobile Phones or tablets as well.

Why Convert QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online?

Cloud computing is the future and when you convert QuickBooks online to desktop, it has its own advantages. Let’s look at the advantages of QuickBooks Online has:

  1. Access Anywhere: The biggest advantage is having the option to access your data from anywhere. We are traveling so much and it is not possible to carry our laptops everywhere we go. With QuickBooks Online, we can access our data from anywhere in the world on any PC anytime we want to.
  2. Easy Upload: It becomes easier to upload documents from the phone. We can simply download the QuickBooks app on our phone, take a picture of the document, and simply upload it. This will make it available to their users as well. 
  3. Faster Reconciliation: The credit card processing feature in QuickBooks makes it easy to transfer data to QuickBooks online. This saves time as the manual data entry process is removed.
  4. Safety: Your data is safer when it is stored in the cloud. If you lose your laptop or if the PC in which your data is stored gets damaged, your data will still be safe. This is because you’re storing data on the cloud. As a result, you can easily access it on another PC or laptop.
  5. Sharing: QuickBooks Online allows you to easily share your data with anyone in the organization you want to. Suppose, you want to know your tax calculations. You can easily share your data with your accountant and he can do it for you.

How to Switch from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop?

Using QuickBooks Online may have a lot of advantages over QuickBooks Desktop, but for that, you need to have an internet connection. There may be times when you are unable to access your internet, and you want your data. For this reason, some people would want to have the data over their desktop as well. So they want help to convert QuickBooks online to desktop.

Here is a step by step guide on how to convert QuickBooks Online to Desktop:

Step 1: Set up security settings in internet explorer. Run the internet explorer as an administrator. Add intuit.com in the trusted website option. Ensure enable protected mode is unchecked. 

Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop

Step 2: Set up QuickBooks Desktop for export. Run the QuickBooks Desktop as administrator mode. Make sure the file you want to switch is closed. Leave QuickBooks Desktop open.

Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop
Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop

Step 3: Prepare to export. Open the version of QuickBooks Desktop in which you want to convert QuickBooks online to desktop. Then, you need to log in to QuickBooks Online. Next, click on the gear icon and select export data. Now, enter the reason for export. Click on the learn more option under Download Company data. Then, review the data from the export overview and start.

Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop

Step 4: Install Active X control. Follow the steps to install Active X. After installing, select the data you want to export and then select Continue. After that, review the limitation and click on continue. Then, you will be asked to enter contact info. Enter that and select continue. You will then get a mail when data is ready to export. It will take time to export data depending on the size of the data.

Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop

 Step 5: Finish exporting the data. First, you need to start QuickBooks Desktop. Make sure you are on the no company open screen. Select the option “Download Back” in QuickBooks Online. In “Save Your Company File”, select the location you want to save.

Convert QuickBooks Online to desktop

Step 6: After download finishes, select the “Convert Now” tab. Go to “create a new QuickBooks file window”. Give the file a name and choose the location to save it. Select the finish and the switch is done.

Verify if the Data Exported is Correct

To verify if the data you exported is correct, you need to use the profit and loss report. Run it in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop and match if they reconcile. If they verify, that means all your data is exported. This is how you convert QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop. In case you face difficulty in switching from QuickBooks Online to desktop or desktop to QuickBooks Online. Reach out to our QuickBooks experts at +1888-300-6790 & get immediate assistance.

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