You may have noticed the options to SKIP or REPLACE in Transaction Pro Importer for QuickBooks Desktop. These options function exactly as they sound:
- The SKIP option allows you to avoid duplicate transactions being imported into QuickBooks Desktop. If you select the SKIP option, it will skip transactions in your import file where the Reference Number matches a Reference Number that already exists in QuickBooks Desktop for that transaction type.
- The REPLACE option helps you replace transactions that have incorrect data and need to be updated. For REPLACE, if an existing transaction is found in QuickBooks Desktop with the same Reference Number, QuickBooks Desktop will delete the existing transaction and replace it with the newly imported transaction.
These options can be very handy to avoid duplicate transactions or to update existing transactions with a new one. However, a word of caution: These options only work correctly if your Reference Numbers are 100% unique in QuickBooks Desktop . If your Reference Numbers are unique, these options are very useful in keeping your QuickBooks Desktop data clean. If you have multiple transactions of the same type with the same Reference Number, then these options can possibly create a data nightmare for you.
Reference Number refers to the transaction ID number, such as the Bill Number, Check Number, Invoice Number or Sales Receipt Number. The numbers must be unique within the transaction type to allow the SKIP and REPLACE options to work correctly.
When these options are used, Transaction Pro looks at only the Reference Number, not the name on the transaction. Therefore, once it finds a match, it stops and performs the requested option on that transaction. However, if your QuickBooks Desktop has more than one transaction within a type with the same number, it may or may not locate the correct one.
For example, say you have Invoice 123 for Customer ABC and Invoice 123 for Customer XYZ. In your import file, you want to replace Invoice 123 for Customer XYZ and have selected the REPLACE option in Transaction Pro Importer Options. When the import is performed, Transaction Pro searches for an Invoice with the number 123 and replaces it with the new Invoice imported. However, it may be for Customer XYZ or it may be for Customer ABC; it replaces whichever one it finds first in the QuickBooks Desktop database.
One final note to keep in mind. These options will slow down your imports because Transaction Pro must check each import row against existing transactions. It may be especially slow if you have a large QuickBooks Desktop company file. Just be patient when using these options.
If you have questions about the SKIP or REPLACE options in Transaction Pro Importer for QuickBooks Desktop or any of the other options, please email support@transactionpro.com.