Integration with QuickBooks Desktop

IIFs are used to export or import QuickBooks Desktop data. From ServiceWorks you can export the following data and import it into QuickBook.

Lists you can export from Service Works

• Chart of Accounts
• Employees
• Vendor types
• Items
• Sales tax codes
• Customers and customer jobs
• Vendors
• Customer and job types

Steps before Starting to Sync

1. Need to make sure the Inventory, Customer and Chart of Account are in sync between QB and SW before you can sync the transactions.
2. Export your Chart of Account, Inventory and Customer from QB and send it to Service Works Tech support. We will import these data into your SW account.
3. Let us know your default Chart of Account for the following operations
   • Sales of Product
   • Service Revenue
   • Inventory Assets
4. Now you can start your sync process.

ServiceWorks to QuickBooks desktop is a one way sync. If you need two way sync consider using QuickBooks Online.

Import IIF File to QuickBooks

You can use the Intuit Interchange Format (.IIF) to import or export files in QuickBooks Desktop. Here’s how you can do it:

Go to QuickBook Desktop Integration page

Generate the IIF file from Service Works

• Select the date range for which you want to generate the file for and click Generate File. This will generate a IIF file that you will save on your computer.
• Open the IIF file in notepad or simple text editor. Remove the redundant space from the end of the file. This is very important to remove the space, otherwise QB import will throw error.
• Save it.

QuickBooks Operation

• Go to File and select Switch to Single-user Mode.
• Make a backup of your company file. This way you can restore it if the data doesn’t import the way you expected.
• Go to the File menu and select Utilities then Import. Select Import IIF Files.
• Browse to your IIF file. Select it and then select Open.
• Select OK to confirm your data was imported.

Troubleshooting/ Error Handling

If the import resulted in an error, QuickBooks will generate an IIF error file.

Please looks at the error tag in the IIF file, it will tell you what could be the issue. Please fix the issue directly in the IIF file or fix your transactions and regenerate the IIF file. However please delete the last run before regeneration by clicking the Delete icon.

Some examples of error are

• Data Length is longer than QB can handle
• 0 dollar transaction

• Extra space at the end of the file

• The Item does not exist in Quickbooks

• All Transaction should end with ENDTRNS

If you can’t fix the IIF file yourself, please send the original file and the error file to ServiceWorks helpdesk for troubleshooting.

Edit an IIF file

1. In Microsoft Excel, go to File and select Open.
2. Browse to your IIF file.
3. In the File type drop-down, select All Files.
4. Select the IIF and then select Open.
5. In the Text Import Wizard, select Next, then Next and Finish.
6. Make the changes to your IIF file.
7. Go to the File menu and select Save.
8. Select Yes.
9. Close Excel. You’ll get a prompt to save the IIF again. Select Don’t Save.

Note: Do not double click the file to open, otherwise it will give you this error.

Export IIFs from QuickBooks

1. Sign in to your company file as an admin.
2. Go to the File menu and select Switch to Single-user Mode.
3. Go to the File menu and select Utilities then Export. Select Export IIF Files.
4. From the Save in drop-down, select the location you want to save the IIF. For example, your Windows desktop.
5. Enter a name in the File name field and select Save.
6. Select OK.

IIF File Import and Export Limitations

• You can import transactions but you can’t export them from QuickBooks.
• You can only import a certain number of list items. See maximum number of list entries for more info.
• IIF files you import don’t create links between transactions. When you import an invoice and its payment, they aren’t linked after you import. Link your transactions using the Receive Payments or Pay Bills windows. You can find third-party app solutions that link transactions from the Intuit Marketplace.
• When you import assembly items, you can’t import data in the item’s custom fields.
• You can’t export or import price levels that are set up on a per-item or percentage basis.
• You can’t use IIFs to export payroll data from QuickBooks Desktop to other products. You can use them to export payroll data from Intuit Online Payroll and Intuit Full Service Payroll to QuickBooks Desktop.
• You can’t import IIFs from one country’s version of QuickBooks to a different country’s version. For example, from the US version of QuickBooks to the Canadian version.
• Avoid enter numbers with leading zeros in Microsoft Excel when you create an IIF file. As a workaround, format the column cells as Custom.