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thomas4
June 7, 2018
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How do I re-import Desktop into QB Online so as to start afresh?

  • June 7, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

I gave QB online a try about a year ago and for various reasons gave up and continued with Desktop (Premier 2018 at this point). However, I kept my subscription going, so I've been paying the monthly fee since then, even though I haven't used it.

 

I'd now like to try again and see if I have more success this time. I've got started by doing an export from Desktop Premier 2018, up to my QB Online account. My expectation was that it would simply overwrite the existing (and now *very* out of date) old data, with the new data. However, it appears to have created an entirely new company, and has done that under a second QB Online account (remember, I already have one). And that second account appears to be a 30 day trial.

 

Can anyone tell me how to do what I'm attempting -- namely, completely ditch the old data and start using newly imported up to date data? 

 

FWIW, while browsing around looking for info on this, I did notice this ominous message at this Intuit web page which I got to from this one:

 

  • You can only import QuickBooks Desktop data within the first 60 days of your QuickBooks Online company start date. Your QuickBooks Desktop file will also replace your entire QuickBooks Online file and overwrite any existing information.

I can't see why that first sentence should be true, but if it is then does it mean I need to cancel my entire QuickBooks online subscription and then immediately start it again, just so I can trash my old data?

 

thanks.

Best answer by MichaelDL

Hey there, @thomas4.

I'd be happy to help you get on the right path to giving QuickBooks Online another try. Your research on the matter was correct, QuickBooks Online companies can only be imported from Desktop for the first 60 days after creation. The good news is, the support team can push that date out so the data can be converted. The limitation is in place as a safety net of sorts. In the common case that someone has multiple companies, selecting the wrong one by mistake when importing could result in the loss of year's worth of data, since everything is overwritten as you had expected. If the company you're trying to import into is older than 60 days, the data will be placed in a new trial company instead.

Now you'll have a couple options to move forward:

-Cancel the current subscription and switch it to the trial company with the data. These links will provide the steps necessary to cancel the subscription and then re-subscribe in the new company.

~OR~

-Contact the QuickBooks support team to extend the date so you can continue using the original company. They can also delete the trial company that was created by accident. You'll find their contact information at the link here.

After taking either route, you'll be back to business in no time. Please know if there's anything you need to succeed with QuickBooks Online this time around, I'll be here to help. Thank you for coming to the Community, have a wonderful rest of your day.

1 reply

MichaelDL
MichaelDLAnswer
June 7, 2018

Hey there, @thomas4.

I'd be happy to help you get on the right path to giving QuickBooks Online another try. Your research on the matter was correct, QuickBooks Online companies can only be imported from Desktop for the first 60 days after creation. The good news is, the support team can push that date out so the data can be converted. The limitation is in place as a safety net of sorts. In the common case that someone has multiple companies, selecting the wrong one by mistake when importing could result in the loss of year's worth of data, since everything is overwritten as you had expected. If the company you're trying to import into is older than 60 days, the data will be placed in a new trial company instead.

Now you'll have a couple options to move forward:

-Cancel the current subscription and switch it to the trial company with the data. These links will provide the steps necessary to cancel the subscription and then re-subscribe in the new company.

~OR~

-Contact the QuickBooks support team to extend the date so you can continue using the original company. They can also delete the trial company that was created by accident. You'll find their contact information at the link here.

After taking either route, you'll be back to business in no time. Please know if there's anything you need to succeed with QuickBooks Online this time around, I'll be here to help. Thank you for coming to the Community, have a wonderful rest of your day.

    T
    thomas4Author
    June 7, 2018

    Thanks Michael, I'm literally just off a phone call to support (I'm impatient!) and got exactly the answer you gave. And yes, I was a bit surprised when as I started the (re-)import process, I was not warned about a potential data overwrite. However, since an overwrite is exactly what I wanted, I didn't care in this case. (Of course the problem then was that instead of the overwrite I wanted, I got a whole new company in a whole new trial account I didn't need).

     

    Since I have zero need for my old data, I'm simply going to cancel that subscription and start afresh with a brand new one. As a bonus (or perhaps compensation for the now 3.0+ hours I've been on the phone to Intuit support today! :-) ), it appears I get to save some money for the first three months, with my monthly subscription fee dropping from $35/month to $17/month, which is nice.

     

    > Please know that if there's anything you need to succeed with QuickBooks Online

    > this time around, I'll be here to help.

     

    I may well be back here soon with questions in that vein, so thanks. One of the major reasons our first attempt at moving to QB online failed was the fact that we work with multiple currencies, and if I remember right we hit some complications on the way the import handled some of the Home Currency Adjustments. Now, though, I have some QB Certified advisors on hand to help, so maybe it will be smoother this time. We'll see!

     

    thanks again for your help,

    T

     

    P.S. I also have a QB Online subscription for the UK version, and I have to do exactly the same kind of re-import over there. The phone support person told me I'd have to phone them to check on how things should be handled over there, so I intend to do that, but I need to get the timezone right so the UK is alive. But I strongly suspect it will be exactly the same choice as it is here in the US -- either cancel and ten resubscribe, or get support to extend. If so, I'd just do the same as here and cancel/resubscribe. I don't suppose you know if my suspicion is correct? It would save me another phone session if you could confirm. And to stress again -- I do not care *at all* about the data currently sitting in my QB online subscriptions (US or UK). 

    A
    Anonymous
    June 8, 2018

    Hi Thomas4,

     

    You are entirely correct in that the UK version of QuickBooks Online does have a migration window of 90 days from the date of creation to migrate data from the Desktop product into Online.

     

    As with the US product, if the file has gone past the 90 days, then it may be more financially beneficial for you to take out a new subscription from our website with a discount for a period of the first 6 months and migrate into this file.

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