Overview
There may be times where invoices do not sync to QuickBooks from Shop Manager, and this could be due to a variety of reasons. The purpose of this article is to review these common reasons why an invoice may not sync correctly to QuickBooks as well as provide solutions users may try to help get these invoices synced over.
Common Reasons Covered Below
- Incorrect Fields in QuickBooks
- Customer is Inactive in QuickBooks
- Invoice Number Already Exists in QuickBooks
Incorrect Fields in QuickBooks
One of the most common reasons why invoices may not sync to QuickBooks is when users adjust the fields within their QuickBooks account. We urge caution when removing or editing the list of fields in your products/services, as there are fields that need to be present in a certain format for Shop Manager to be able to sync these invoices over correctly.
Please review the warning below, that is also mentioned in the Connecting QuickBooks with Shop Manager article:
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Warning - Do Not Change the Names of the Fields
When data transfers from Shop Manager to QBO, it is looking for the names of the fields (Labor, Hazmats, etc.). These names are from predetermined fields set up in Shop Manager; the naming conventions are very specific and must not be edited.
For example, if you change “Parts” to “Part” in QBO, when parts data is sent from Shop Manager, it will not go into the new “Part” category you created. Instead, it will be looking for the originally named “Parts” category. When it cannot find it, it will recreate the original “Parts” category again. You are not able to manually reassign new categories for any of this data.
This is especially important when sending invoices and payments, as it can prevent these items from being properly synced, which can create many problems in QBO.
While you can’t edit the name of the category, you can map the category to any of your chart of accounts in QBO. See your QBO advisor if you want to map out Shop Manager info to different categories.
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The RO log will show you this error if it is applicable to an invoice not syncing from Shop Manager to QuickBooks, see what this error message in the RO log will look like below:
Solution
If after reviewing this information and you determine you have fields that were changed, deleted, or does not match; please adjust these fields accordingly in QuickBooks then resync the missing invoices by re-opening and closing the invoice (with the original close date/time).
**NOTE: Categories CANNOT have the same name as services.
Customer is Inactive in QuickBooks
Another common reason an invoice may not sync is when the customer's name is not active in the QuickBooks account, but is active in your Shop Manager account. Shop Manager will attempt to sync this invoice but QuickBooks will deny it, because they do not have that Customer ID.
Shop Manager will show an error message in the RO log when this appears to be the reason why an invoice is not syncing. Review what this message will look like below:
Solution
If a customer is completely missing from QuickBooks, not just deactivated, then they will be recreated in QuickBooks. If this is not the case, please continue reading the solution below.
The next step is to check your QuickBooks 'Customers' tab. Typically this tab is set to view all active customers, so you will have to open up the filters menu and choose to include inactive customers as well.
See the image below on how to set this filter in QuickBooks:
Once inactive customers are included, search the name of the customer whose invoice is not syncing. You will know they are inactive because you will see an option to "Make Active" under the actions column.
Once you have made that customer active again, the syncing should work.
Invoice Number Already Exists in QuickBooks
Sometimes when an invoice won't sync, it could be due to the invoice number already existing in your QuickBooks account. Currently Shop Manager does not have an RO log entry that will appear for this error, this is coming soon and the article will be updated accordingly.
Solution
To see if this invoice number already exists, search the number in QuickBooks. Shop Manager invoices always sync in a certain format, it will show as SW-1234 (the numbers being the actual RO number in Shop Manager).
If you do locate that already existing invoice, then the only way to get that same RO number to sync from Shop Manager to QuickBooks is to delete that invoice. Then QuickBooks will recognize that invoice number does not already exist, and the sync should be successful.
**NOTE: You are not able to change the invoice/RO number in Shop Manager - these numbers are auto generated and are not editable.
If any further assistance is needed, please contact support.