Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteYou can move a supported QuickBooks Desktop company into QuickBooks Online with Intuit’s Desktop migration tool, the online migration tool, or professional help. This is a conversion—not a live synchronization or perfect copy. Use a new, empty Online company whenever possible: choosing an existing company can replace its data, and Intuit says that replacement cannot be undone. Keep the original Desktop file until reports, payroll, tax, inventory, payments, users, and integrations have been checked.
Intuit’s current instructions generally allow 90 calendar days for a customer-created Online account and 180 days for an accountant-created account; verify the deadline displayed in your account because terms can change. See Intuit’s migration instructions.
Decide whether QuickBooks Online fits first
Online is useful for cloud access, multiple devices, and shared work with an accountant. It may be a poor fit if your business depends on Desktop-only manufacturing, assembly, reporting, custom workflows, or integrations. Inventory and multi-currency also depend on the Online plan. Review whether you need:
- Inventory, assemblies, projects, classes, locations, or progress invoicing.
- Payroll, sales-tax history, multiple currencies, or several company files.
- Transaction-level history or only lists and opening balances.
- Desktop-compatible apps or an accountant who does not support Online.
- A subscription and cloud-only operating model.
Choose a plan from the features you must preserve, not from promotional pricing. Check current U.S. plans at QuickBooks Online pricing; prices, trials, discounts, taxes, payroll, and add-ons change.
#1 Best Overall
- Easily store and access 2TB to content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive
- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
Check supported editions, files, and access
- The online tool currently accepts .QBW, .QBB, and .QBM files from QuickBooks Desktop 2011 or later.
- Pro, Premier, and Enterprise use different Desktop menu paths.
- Mac users must create a Windows-compatible backup or convert the file before uploading.
- A hosted file (for example, held by a hosting provider such as Rightworks) may require the provider to supply a local copy.
- Your Online company and Desktop company should be in the same country or region.
- Sign in as the company administrator in both products.
If the file is older, hosted, damaged, or unusually complex, ask an accountant, ProAdvisor, QuickBooks Solution Provider, or Intuit Expert about the supported route.
Complete this pre-migration checklist
- Update Desktop. Install the latest available release for your edition.
- Save an untouched backup. Preserve the original company file and a separate backup outside the working folder.
- Verify the file. In Desktop, choose File > Utilities > Verify Data. If errors appear, run Rebuild Data and verify again.
- Work locally. Confirm the file is on the computer, not only in a hosted session, and have every other user sign out.
- Record baseline reports. Export a Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, inventory valuation, payroll-liability, and sales-tax reports for later comparison.
- Check the target count. Press F2 or Ctrl+1 to open Product Information. Intuit currently documents a 4,000,000 Total Targets threshold; files above it may need condensing, and being below it does not guarantee success.
- Inventory your dependencies. List bank feeds, payment processors, time tracking, ecommerce, payroll, reporting, and other apps. Export important custom reports, templates, memorized transactions, budgets, and preferences that may need rebuilding.
- Prepare payroll. Confirm employee data, remove employees with no current-year pay history when appropriate, run the latest payroll, then allow 2–3 business days for payroll information to sync. Finish conversion at least 7 business days before the next scheduled payroll.
- Review open activity. Note unpaid invoices, open bills, undeposited funds, inventory quantities and value, sales-tax liabilities, and payroll liabilities.
What transfers and what requires rebuilding?
Conversion rules vary by edition, file, and Online plan. The following summarizes Intuit’s documented behavior; verify important balances after import. See Intuit’s transfer guidance.
| Desktop data or feature | Online result | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| Customers, vendors, chart of accounts, employees, products and services | Generally transfers | Review names, account detail types, inactive records, and duplicates. |
| Invoices, bills, payments, credits, journal entries | Many transfer, but some statuses or forms change | Check open balances and transaction links. |
| Estimates and progress invoicing | Statuses and links can change | Review every open estimate and related invoice. |
| Sales orders | May convert to purchase orders or invoices | Confirm operational workflow before using them. |
| Payroll | Employee details and some records transfer; current-year paycheck information may appear as lump sums, regular checks, or journal entries | Reconcile year-to-date wages, taxes, liabilities, IDs, direct deposit, and the next payroll. |
| Inventory | Available only on plans supporting inventory; Desktop assemblies can appear as inventory items or otherwise change | Confirm FIFO settings and effective date, quantities, valuation, cost of goods sold, bundles, and adjustments. |
| Multi-currency | Plan-dependent, currently supported in Plus and Advanced | Check currencies and exchange-related balances. |
| Sales tax | Some data may arrive as journal entries; payments can apply to wrong filings | Reconcile the Sales Tax Center. Ask a tax professional before deleting and recreating payments. |
| Budgets, price levels, mileage, QuickBooks Time data and settings, units of measure | Not transferred or materially limited | Export and rebuild what the business needs. |
| Bank connections and uncategorized feed data | Connection setup does not carry over | Reconnect accounts and recreate rules. |
| QuickBooks Payments | May transfer when you administer both accounts | Test new payments; older transactions may not be refundable through the new connection. |
| Users and permissions | Desktop users do not automatically receive Online access | Invite users and recreate roles. |
| Reports and attachments | Many transfer subject to limits; Online does not contain the same report set | Export critical Desktop reports and compare accrual results. |
Intuit also notes that credit-card charges may become expenses, item receipts may become bills, group items may become bundles, and some invoice fields may move to custom fields. Inventory changes can have tax consequences; ask your accountant whether FIFO treatment or an IRS Form 3115 filing applies to your facts.
Rank #2
- Easily store and access 5TB of content on the go with the Seagate portable drive, a USB external hard Drive
- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
Convert from QuickBooks Desktop
Pro or Premier
- Open Desktop and sign in as administrator.
- Choose Company.
- Select Migrate this company file to QuickBooks Online.
- Choose Export Your Company File to QuickBooks Online, then Get started.
- Complete the checklist.
- Select Bring all your company data or Bring only list and balances. The latter carries lists such as customers, vendors, accounts, employees, and products or services without full transaction history.
- Sign in to QuickBooks Online and select the destination company.
- Check the company name and ID carefully. Do not select a company containing data unless replacement is intentional.
- Select Export and wait for the completion message.
Enterprise
- Press Ctrl+1 to open Product Information.
- Press Ctrl+B+Q to open the export window, then close Product Information.
- Select Get started.
- Choose all company data or lists and balances only.
- Sign in to Online, select the destination, confirm replacement only if prepared, and select Export.
The migration creates a separate Online company; it does not keep Desktop and Online synchronized.
Convert without Desktop installed
Use Intuit’s online migration tool when you have a supported file but no active Desktop installation, or when an accountant is assisting remotely.
- Open Intuit’s Windows or Mac online migration tool and select Get started.
- Sign in to QuickBooks Online.
- Select Select file and upload the .QBW, .QBB, or .QBM file.
- Follow the prompts, choose the Online company, and review replacement warnings.
- Wait for processing and confirm the message Your company is now online.
Verify the converted company before using it
Reconcile financial reports
- Run Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet in both products.
- Use All Dates and Accrual accounting method.
- Compare assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses, Accounts Receivable, Undeposited Funds, inventory asset, cost of goods sold, payroll liabilities, and sales-tax liabilities.
- Investigate differences rather than forcing an adjustment. Cash-basis reports can differ because Desktop and Online calculate them differently.
For conversion-specific comparison guidance, see Intuit’s post-conversion article.
Rank #3
- Easily store and access 1TB to content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive.Specific uses: Personal
- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop. Reformatting may be required for Mac
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
Review accounts and transactions
Go to Settings > Chart of accounts. Imported accounts may have broad or generic detail types; edit them to match their actual use. Open samples of invoices, bills, payments, credits, estimates, sales orders, attachments, recurring transactions, and memorized workflows.
Check payroll, sales tax, inventory, and payments
- Payroll: verify employee profiles, federal and state IDs, year-to-date compensation, liabilities, direct-deposit details, current-year reports, and the next pay date.
- Sales tax: compare liability reports and filing periods in the Sales Tax Center. Do not delete or recreate payments without tax-professional guidance.
- Inventory: reconcile quantity, FIFO value, inventory asset, cost of goods sold, assemblies, bundles, and post-conversion adjustments.
- Payments: confirm the administrator relationship, test a transaction and refund workflow, and identify older payments that cannot be refunded through the new connection.
Reconnect people, banks, and apps
- Invite every user again and assign Online roles and permissions.
- Reconnect bank feeds, recreate rules, and review uncategorized transactions.
- Reconnect payroll, time tracking, ecommerce, payment, reporting, and other third-party apps individually. Test imports, exports, and permissions.
Troubleshoot by symptom
The migration option is missing
Update Desktop, sign in as administrator, confirm the edition and region, and check whether the file is hosted. Enterprise uses the separate keyboard path above. If the file is unsupported, use the online tool or professional assistance.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
The upload fails or the file is rejected
Confirm the extension and Desktop version, copy the file locally, close other sessions, run Verify Data and Rebuild Data, and retry. Mac files need a Windows-compatible backup. A provider must supply hosted files that are not locally accessible.
Rank #4
- Easily store and access 4TB of content on the go with the Seagate Portable Drive, a USB external hard drive.Specific uses: Personal
- Designed to work with Windows or Mac computers, this external hard drive makes backup a snap just drag and drop
- To get set up, connect the portable hard drive to a computer for automatic recognition no software required
- This USB drive provides plug and play simplicity with the included 18 inch USB 3.0 cable
- The available storage capacity may vary.
The file is too large
Press F2 or Ctrl+1 and inspect Total Targets. If it exceeds Intuit’s documented 4,000,000 threshold, ask an accountant about condensing and preserve a full archive first.
The wrong Online company was selected
Stop using the destination and contact QuickBooks Support immediately. Intuit says replacement cannot be undone; do not assume support can restore the prior contents.
Payroll is incomplete or reports do not match
Check the 2–3 business-day sync interval, current-year lump-sum presentation, employee details, and liabilities. Compare accrual reports first and involve your payroll provider or accountant before the next pay run.
Best Value
- [Upgraded Version] - This external hard drive features a mirrored logo stripe combined with a striped anti-slip design, and the rounded corners of the casing make it easier to grip. The stripes also have a heat dissipation function, ensuring stable and fast data transfer.
- 【Ultra-thin and quiet】 - The motherboard adopts JMicron 578 noise-free solution, giving you a quiet working environment. Lightweight and portable size designed to fit in your pocket for easy portability.
- 【Ultra-Fast Data Transfers】 - Pairing this external hard drive with JMicron 578 solution USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 interfaces enables blazing-fast data transfer. It boasts theoretical read speeds of up to 125MB/s and write speeds of up to 103MB/s.
- 【Plug and Play】 - With no software to install, just plug it in and the drive is ready to use.The hard disk chip is wrapped with an aluminum anti-interference layer to increase heat dissipation and protect data.
- 【What You Get】 - 1 x Portable Hard Drive, 1 x USB 3.0 Cable, 1 x User Manual, Gift-type shell packaging ,Three-year manufacturer's warranty and free technical support services.
Inventory, sales tax, or integrations are wrong
Pause related filings and transactions, compare your saved Desktop reports, and obtain professional advice. Rebuild unsupported connections and investigate FIFO, tax-payment, and app-mapping differences separately.
When to hire migration help
Self-service is reasonable for a healthy, uncomplicated file with few integrations and no imminent payroll, tax, or year-end deadline. Use an accountant, ProAdvisor, Solution Provider, migration specialist, or Intuit Expert when you have Enterprise, payroll, sales tax, inventory, multiple locations or currencies, manufacturing, progress invoicing, several entities, data-integrity errors, a populated destination company, or material historical balances.
When comparing providers, ask whether the quote includes cleanup, your specific edition, report reconciliation, integration reconnection, multiple files, post-migration support, tax work, data retention, and security. Intuit’s bookkeeping services are described at QuickBooks Experts; they do not prepare or file tax returns or provide individualized tax advice.
Keep the Desktop file as an archive
Do not uninstall Desktop, cancel related services, or discard backups when the upload finishes. Retain the original file until financial reports match or differences are explained, payroll and sales tax are reconciled, inventory and payments are tested, historical documents are accessible, and your accountant approves the change. The length of any view-only access after cancellation depends on the specific Desktop product and cancellation date, so confirm it with Intuit.
Windows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallCrashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteQuick Recap
Final sign-off checklist
- Backup saved in more than one location.
- Baseline reports exported.
- Desktop file verified and rebuilt if necessary.
- Total Targets checked.
- Payroll timing confirmed.
- Destination company name and ID verified.
- Migration completion message received.
- Accrual Profit and Loss and Balance Sheet compared.
- Receivables, payables, undeposited funds, inventory, payroll, and sales tax reviewed.
- Users invited and permissions recreated.
- Bank feeds, payments, payroll, and third-party integrations reconnected and tested.
- Desktop archive retained and accountant sign-off obtained.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
