If you need to import data from another system into QuickBooks, but your Customer or Vendor names don’t match, Transaction Pro has an option that can help. Both the online and desktop versions of Transaction Pro have an option to cross-reference the Customer and Vendor names with another field in QuickBooks.
For example, if you have a Customer entered as “Old Mill” in your Point of Sales system, but the same customer is set up as “The Old Mill Restaurant Group” in QuickBooks, you can set up “Old Mill” as the cross-reference value in the appropriate field in QuickBooks. When you select the cross-reference option in Transaction Pro and import data, Transaction Pro will post any transactions for “Old Mill” to the Customer “The Old Mill Restaurant Group.”
How to Cross-Reference Using QuickBooks Desktop
If you use QuickBooks Desktop, the option to cross-reference the Customer or the Vendor name is on the BASIC tab in Transaction Pro for QuickBooks Desktop. The options begin with LOOKUP CUSTOMER NAME and LOOKUP VENDOR NAME. Both options cross-reference with the Account Number field in QuickBooks, which is found on the Payment Settings tab for both Customer setup and Vendor setup.
You can enter any mix of alphanumeric characters up to a limit of 99 characters in the Account Number field in QuickBooks. When you import using this option, you will map the column that has the Account Number value to the Name field in Transaction Pro. During import, Transaction Pro will look up the Account Number value and replace it with the correct corresponding Customer or Vendor name.
How to Cross-Reference Using QuickBooks Online
If you use QuickBooks Online, the option to cross-reference the Customer and the Vendor name is found in the middle of the Transaction Pro option list, beginning with CROSS REFERENCE. The Vendor name uses the Account Number value that is found in Vendor setup and has a limit of 100 alphanumeric characters. With the Customer cross-reference, you have two options: the Exemption Detail field (found on the Tax Info tab and only available if on the manual sales tax setup in QuickBooks Online) or the Other field (found on the main setup page in the Phone section). The Customer cross-reference has a limit of 30 alphanumeric characters.
Tips for Success
- When using the cross-reference option, remember that you must cross reference all the names. Your import file cannot have a mixture of names and cross-referenced values in the import file. You must either import all Customer or Vendor names or import all cross-referenced values.
- Make sure all cross-reference values are unique. If two Customers have the same cross-reference value, the option will not work correctly.
- This option will slow down the validation of your import file as Transaction Pro will need to search through your entire Customer or Vendor list to find the cross-referenced value. If you have a large Customer or Vendor list, this may take a while. However, the benefits should greatly outweigh the additional import time.
You can find more information about the cross-reference Customer and Vendor option for QuickBooks Online in this YouTube Video and more information about the option for QuickBooks Desktop in this YouTube Video. If you prefer a written article instead, you can find Knowledge Base articles on this topic for both QuickBooks Online and Desktop.
Remember that you can always reach out to Transaction Pro Support at support@transactionpro.com if you have any questions about cross-referencing your Customers or Vendors when importing.