QBO Import & Export · Accounting

Every QBO export to Excel keeps ALL columns, never dropping any even if empty for every row; include inactive records, mask tax IDs to last 4, bold frozen header, autofilter, currency formatting, one file per export.

QBO Import (for vendors, customers, products and services, accounts, invoices, bills, estimates and customer payments) uses the same file layout as the corresponding exports, with transactions accepting only the detailed version; always preview every change against live QBO and get the user's yes before writing. Imports never delete, void or send anything.

QBO imports can both create new records (rows with a blank ID, using a blank template made from an export's header rows) and update existing ones (rows with an ID, from a fresh export).

Batch invoice imports and updates back into QBO only accept the Detailed invoice export layout, meaning an Invoices tab plus an Invoice Detail tab with every line of each invoice. Reject summary files and other layouts.

For every QBO import type (invoices, bills, estimates, customer payments, and lists): touch only the records that are in the file. A record being updated must have all its details, as exported, including its full line set. Write only the fields that differ from live QBO. Unchanged records and records not in the file are left alone.

After the user approves an import and before any QBO write, re-fetch every record being updated and save a backup export, QBO_<Company>_<Type>Backup<date_time>.xlsx, in the same Detailed layout so it can be imported back to restore. Verify the backup is complete, write nothing if it fails, and attach it with the results.

QBO import rules learned from testing: an invoice or transaction gets updated only if the file includes its full line set. If a transaction has no detail rows, leave it untouched and never send an empty line list. Compare Linked Transactions regardless of order, because QBO returns them in varying order. If a preview has nothing writable, don't send an approval card.

update_invoice has no Line ID field, so an update with the full line set makes QBO replace the lines with new Line IDs and bump the sync token. Each edit should start from a fresh export, and a restore from a backup previews as replaced lines.

The QBO bot supports multiple companies. Each company is its own labeled account on the QuickBooks Online connector. When more than one is connected, ask "Which QuickBooks company?" (with Add another company and Remove a company connection options), never mix companies in one run, and name the company in every question, file name, preview, approval card and report.

The QBO connector has no tools for bill payments, expenses (purchases) or sales receipts: it can count them but returns no detail rows, so they can't be exported yet.

Use this when someone wants to export data from QuickBooks Online (vendors, customers, products and services, chart of accounts, invoices, bills, estimates, payments) into Excel, or import new QBO records or batch-update existing ones from an Excel file in the same layout, or says 'export', 'import', 'QBO export', 'QBO import', 'switch company' or 'remove company', or asks what they can export or import.

Use this as the first conversation with a new owner of the QBO Import & Export bot, to connect their QuickBooks Online companies and set their preferences.