Import your data from QuickBooks

To move your QuickBooks records into TALISK_HQ:

1. Go to Ledger › Accounting › QB Import.
2. Export each list or report from QuickBooks Online or Xero as a CSV or an Excel (.xlsx) file and upload it in the matching section with Upload file: Clients, Vendors, Products and services, Invoices, Bills, Journal Entries, Payments Received, Bill Payments. Each section names the export it reads and lists the columns it expects.
3. Bring the chart of accounts in first with Import CSV on Ledger › Accounting › Chart of Accounts (it takes the QuickBooks account list as exported, numbers or not), then the lists, and each upload reports how many rows imported or were skipped, and lists every row it could not import with the reason.

TALISK_HQ reads the files QuickBooks Online and Xero actually produce, not only tidy templates. Title lines above the column names, the customer or supplier name on a row of its own with that party's rows beneath it, subtotal lines, a grand total and the "Accrual basis" footer are all skipped or followed, and amounts like $1,234.56, (1,234.56) and 1,234.56- are understood. The exports each section reads:

• Clients: QuickBooks Online Reports › Customer Contact List; Xero Contacts › Customers › Export.
• Vendors: QuickBooks Online Reports › Supplier (Vendor) Contact List; Xero Contacts › Suppliers › Export.
• Products and services: QuickBooks Online Sales › Products and services › Export (or the Product/Service List report); Xero Sales › Products and services › Export. Each becomes a saved invoice line on your price list, worded "Name - description", with its sales price and, when the income account matches one of yours, that account. An item whose name is already saved is skipped. Stock quantities and purchase costs are not read.
• Invoices: QuickBooks Online Reports › Open Invoices or A/R Aging Detail; Xero Sales › Invoices › Export. The Open balance column is what is still owed, so a part-paid invoice comes in with its payment recorded. Credit memos and payments in an aging report are listed as errors, not imported.
• Bills: QuickBooks Online Reports › Unpaid Bills or A/P Aging Detail; Xero Purchases › Bills › Export. Xero writes one row per invoice or bill line, and TALISK_HQ reads each number once. Voided Xero bills are skipped.

When an invoice file has a Status column, Invoices reads it to decide what each invoice is:

• Open, Sent, Unpaid, Due, Partial, Partially paid, Viewed and Overdue, the QuickBooks Online wordings that count the days ("Due in 14 days", "Due today", "Overdue 12 days", "Partially paid, $50.00 due in 10 days"), and Xero's Awaiting Payment and Authorised come in as issued and still owed, less whatever the Balance column shows as paid. A part-paid row needs that column (see below).
• Paid, Closed, Deposited and Not deposited come in as paid.
• Draft, and Xero's Awaiting Approval and Submitted, come in as drafts, which nobody owes yet.
• Void, Voided and Deleted come in as cancelled.
• A blank Status, or a file with no Status column, comes in as issued and owed.

Any other Status, such as an estimate's Pending or Accepted, is not imported. The row is listed with the reason and nothing is created for it, not even its customer. TALISK_HQ doesn't guess, because an invoice dated before your conversion date becomes part of your opening balances (see below), and one your old books never counted as owed would put Accounts Receivable out of step with them. If the invoice really was sent to the customer, change its Status to Open (or Paid), or to Draft if it never was, and upload the file again. Invoices already imported are skipped, so the rest of the file doesn't come in twice.

A Xero contacts file lists customers and suppliers together. If the file has a column saying which (IsSupplier or IsCustomer), Vendors takes only the suppliers and Clients only the customers, and the result says how many were left out. If it has no such column, every contact is imported and the result tells you so; export again from Contacts › Suppliers (or Customers) in Xero to bring in one kind only.

Vendors takes a QuickBooks supplier (vendor) list or a Xero contacts export. Each supplier gets a vendor rule, and a vendor on Ledger › Expenses › Vendors carrying the email, phone, address and tax number (GST/HST number, Business ID No. or Tax ID) from the file. A supplier already on that page, from its bills, gains the details rather than a second entry. Uploading the list again fills in details the first file lacked, and a blank cell never clears one you already have. The upload reports how many suppliers' details changed.

Dates are read the same way for every row of a CSV. A date like 07/03/2025 could be 7 March or 3 July, so TALISK_HQ looks at every date in the upload: any whose first number is over 12 means day first, and any whose second number is over 12 means month first. If none of them decides it, a Canadian book reads day first (as QuickBooks Online Canada exports) and a US book month first. A CSV that has both kinds is refused and nothing is imported; export it again with dates as YYYY-MM-DD.

A payments row for a written-off or cancelled invoice, or for a quote, is listed as an error and nothing is recorded for it; the other rows in the file still import. If the payment is real, reinstate a written-off invoice first, or record money for a cancelled one as a customer credit.

A payments row dated after today is listed as an error too, since a payment cannot have happened yet, and so is one whose date is blank or can't be read. TALISK_HQ reads dates like 2026-05-15, 15/05/2026 (or 05/15/2026), 15/05/26 and May 15, 2026. A two-digit year is always read as 20xx. A future date is usually a mistyped year. Correct the row, typing the date as YYYY-MM-DD, and upload a file holding only that row. A file with one row has no other dates to show whether it is day first or month first, so a date like 06/03/2026 would be read by your book's country. Don't upload the other rows again: a Payments Received row uploaded twice is recorded twice. A bill payment you have not made yet belongs in Bill Pay, not in an import.

In Payments Received, the Method column is recorded as e-Transfer when its text contains "e-Transfer" (for example "Interac e-Transfer" or "E-Transfer (Interac)"), or is exactly Interac, EMT or Email Money Transfer. Everything else is recorded as Manual, such as Cash, Cheque, Visa, Interac Debit, Wire Transfer or a method you added in QuickBooks. A method that says Credit, Deposit, Stripe or Square is recorded as Manual too, because the import draws on no customer credit or deposit and was not taken through Stripe or Square in TALISK_HQ. QuickBooks' own wording is kept in the payment's notes, ahead of the reference.

This tab imports lists: your customers, suppliers, and history. It's a different job from entering your starting balances, and the difference is what you're importing, not the file format (both routes accept CSV). For a trial balance and opening balances, use the Import from accountant documents button on the Opening Balances or Chart of Accounts screen; it takes your trial balance as a PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or CSV file. Note that QuickBooks Online exports a trial balance to Excel only, so that is the file to reach for.

Open invoices from before your conversion date

Invoices dated before your conversion date are already inside your opening balances: your trial balance's Accounts Receivable holds what your customers still owe on them, and the sale and its sales tax are in the balances your accountant closed. So an imported invoice with that kind of date books no sale of its own, now or when it is paid. It stays an open item you can chase, receive payments on, apply a credit to or write off, and those post as usual, against the receivable your opening balances carry. The same goes for one you type in by hand and send.

Post your opening balances before you import the invoices if you can. Invoices imported first are taken in when you post them, unless TALISK_HQ has posted one or recorded a payment on it in the meantime; that invoice is left as it is for you and your accountant to decide. Export the invoice list with its Balance column (QuickBooks reports such as Open Invoices and A/R Aging Detail call it Open Balance, and that name works too): the import reads what is still owed on each invoice from it, so payments made in QuickBooks before your conversion date are already counted, and you shouldn't import them again in Payments Received. Without a Balance column, an invoice marked Paid comes in paid in full and one marked Open or Overdue comes in as owed in full. One marked Partial or Partially paid is listed as an error and not imported, because nothing in the file says how much of it is still owed: export the list again with its Balance column and upload it again. The invoices already imported are skipped.

Two things are different for such an invoice. It can't be cancelled while your opening balances count it, or once anything has been paid, credited or written off against it: if the customer won't pay, use Write off, and if it needs correcting, use Issue credit note. One you imported by mistake, that your opening balances don't count, can be cancelled, and that posts nothing. And its date can't be moved across your conversion date. An invoice in another currency dated before your conversion date isn't accepted at all, since your opening balances are in your book's own currency.

On a cash-basis Profit and Loss, a payment received on one of these invoices shows no income, because the income was earned before your conversion date and is already in your opening balances.

Open bills from before your conversion date

A bill dated before your conversion date is also inside your opening balances: its expense and sales tax are in the balances your accountant closed, so an imported bill with that kind of date books no expense of its own. If the bill list's Balance shows something still owed, the bill is counted as still owed on your conversion date: it shows on AP Aging, can be scheduled, and its payment is matched to it like any other bill, against the Accounts Payable your opening balances carry. A row whose Balance is part of its Total comes in with the difference already paid, so don't import those QuickBooks payments again in Bill Payments. Export the bill list with its Balance column (Open Balance on the Unpaid Bills and A/P Aging Detail reports works too): without it TALISK_HQ can't tell which bills were still owed, so none is counted and you mark each one yourself with Still owed at my start date. A bill marked Partial or Partially paid in a file with no Balance column is listed as an error and not imported, for the same reason as an invoice.

Post your opening balances before you import the bills if you can. Bills imported first are counted when you post them. Either way, the bills counted as still owed can't add up to more than your opening balances' Accounts Payable figure: a bill that doesn't fit comes in as a reference record and the import lists it, so check the bill or your opening balances. A bill in another currency dated before your conversion date isn't accepted at all.

If you're moving your whole set of books over, Switch from another accounting system walks that path end to end.