Connect QuickBooks Online

Overview#

Once QuickBooks Online is connected, TradesWork keeps your books current on its own: customers, invoices, payments and refunds post as they happen, with no duplicates and no batches to export. You choose a cutover date so nothing already in your books is posted twice, and you choose which QuickBooks items and accounts each kind of line books to. Anything QuickBooks rejects goes to a fix-it queue in plain English.

Before you start#

• To connect or disconnect: Owner or Admin.

• To set mapping, sync and work the fix-it queue: Owner, Admin or Accounting.

• A QuickBooks Online login with Admin access. QuickBooks Desktop isn't supported.

• Agree a cutover date with your bookkeeper: the first day TradesWork should post.

• Optional: your accountant's preferred income items and accounts.

Steps#

1. Connect#

1. Open Settings › Integrations › QuickBooks Online (the page is titled Accounting).

2. Press Connect QuickBooks. Sign in to Intuit, pick your company if you have more than one, and press Connect. You come back to TradesWork automatically.

3. The QuickBooks Online card shows Connected, with the Company, Company ID and when it was connected.

2. Pick a cutover date#

1. In What posts and how, set Cutover date: only sync invoices dated on or after. Anything earlier stays with your previous system.

2. Most shops pick the first of next month or their go-live day.

3. Map items, tax and accounts#

Still in What posts and how:

1. When no QuickBooks customer matches by name or email: Create the customer in QuickBooks, or Ask me first (fix-it queue).

2. Sales tax: Separate sales tax line (works with every company) is the safe choice and works with QuickBooks Automated Sales Tax. Use QuickBooks tax code with our amount (not for Automated Sales Tax) only if your QuickBooks company doesn't use Automated Sales Tax.

3. Items: which QuickBooks item each kind of line books to: set Default (anything not mapped below), then Services, Materials and Equipment (or leave Use the default).

4. By pricebook category (wins over the kind): map specific price book categories to their own QuickBooks items if your accountant wants that detail.

5. Tax, payments and refunds: Sales tax line item, Tax code (tax code option only), Payments go to (Undeposited Funds is recommended), Refunds are paid from, Refunds book against. Refunds post as QuickBooks refund receipts, not credit memos.

6. Press Save.

4. First sync#

1. Sync runs on its own every few minutes. Press Sync now to run it immediately.

2. Send an invoice dated on or after your cutover. When it shows in QuickBooks under Sales › Invoices, you're done.

3. Sync status shows Last run, Waiting, Retrying, Need attention and Posted. Recent activity lists each invoice, payment and refund with its status.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Integrations › QuickBooks Online: everything above.

• Settings › Tools › Import / Export Data › Job numbers: new jobs (and their invoice numbers) start above your last ServiceTitan job number, so QuickBooks never sees the same number twice.

• Settings › Your Account › Company Profile & Business Hours: the sales tax rate TradesWork calculates with.

Tips#

• TradesWork calculates tax. The separate tax line stops QuickBooks adding tax again.

• Use Undeposited Funds for payments so they group into deposits that match your bank, the way most bookkeepers expect.

• If you came from ServiceTitan, connect the same QuickBooks company it synced to.

• The Sandbox tag next to the connection date means you're connected to an Intuit test company, not your real books.

Troubleshooting#

• "Reconnect needed" / "The connection needs to be renewed" → Intuit ends connections periodically (about every 100 days) or when the QuickBooks password changes. → Press Reconnect QuickBooks and sign in again. Nothing is lost: changes queue and post once you reconnect.

• Something is in the Fix-it queue → QuickBooks rejected it; the reason is shown in plain English (often a missing item mapping or a closed period). → Fix the cause and press Retry. If you already fixed it in QuickBooks yourself, press Mark handled.

• Nothing posts → no cutover date yet. → Sync status says Waiting for a cutover date until you set one.

• A mapped item shows "(not found in QuickBooks)" → the item was deleted or renamed in QuickBooks. → Pick another item and save.

• "This QuickBooks sign-in link expired or was already used" → the connect link timed out. → Start again from Connect QuickBooks.

• The page says QuickBooks isn't set up on this server → TradesWork hasn't switched QuickBooks on for your account. → Contact support.

• I use QuickBooks Desktop → only QuickBooks Online is supported. → Intuit offers a Desktop-to-Online move that keeps your history.

FAQ#

Will TradesWork change invoices from before my cutover? No. Only invoices and payments dated on or after the cutover date post.

What happens if I disconnect? Press Disconnect and confirm. Nothing posts until you reconnect; changes keep queuing in TradesWork.

Can I connect one QuickBooks file per business unit? Not yet. One QuickBooks company per TradesWork company.

Does TradesWork bring my open balances in from QuickBooks? During a switch from ServiceTitan, yes. In Settings › Tools › Import / Export Data, press Reconcile with QuickBooks: TradesWork reads your customers, invoices and payments (read-only), matches imported customers by email, phone or name, and checks open A/R to the penny. Bring missing A/R and invoices from QuickBooks brings over invoices TradesWork doesn't have yet. Nothing is written to QuickBooks, and what's brought over is never posted back. Outside a switch, the sync only posts from TradesWork to QuickBooks.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

ServiceTitan exports to QuickBooks in batches (Accounting › Batch/Export Transactions), optionally per business unit. TradesWork syncs continuously, so there's nothing to batch. Set the cutover to the day after your last ServiceTitan batch so nothing posts twice, and set your job number floor so invoice numbers don't clash.