QuickBooks has powerful features that make it simple for business owners, or their accountants or bookkeepers, to handle all aspects of business accounting. With QuickBooks’ integrated vendor management function, you can easily track vendors, payables and other relevant details.
While you can manually set up vendors in QuickBooks, it’s much easier to import existing vendor data in bulk. This guide will show you how to import vendor information from Excel and CSV files into whichever version of QuickBooks you’re using, including QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Pro.
If you have more complex finance and accounting needs, consider the features of QuickBooks Online Advanced, which includes smart reporting and the ability to enter invoice transactions from a CSV file.
If you’re using the cloud-based QuickBooks Online application, accessible from a web browser, it’s easy to add and import vendors.
With all your vendor information in QuickBooks Online, you’ll save time when entering bills and transactions. Instead of entering details manually, you’ll select a vendor from a drop-down list with many fields already filled. It’s also easy to track expenses through accounting reports, providing key insights to managers and business owners.
Whether you’re entering vendors manually or importing them, it’s essential to collect your vendors’ important information.
It’s easy to gather information in a CSV file or Excel spreadsheet. If you’re using another accounting software program to manage your suppliers, you can transfer details to QuickBooks easily.
You should have the following information for all your vendors:
If you have only a few vendors to add to QuickBooks Online, it makes sense to enter them manually. Here’s how it works:
If you have more than a few vendors, it’s much easier to import them into QuickBooks Online using an existing vendor list in Excel or other bookkeeping software.
QuickBooks also has powerful payroll and time-and-attendance tools for small businesses. Read our QuickBooks Time review for more information.
There are a few steps to importing your vendor data into QuickBooks online via CSV or Excel file. You’ll need to prepare your spreadsheet and then initiate and complete the import in QuickBooks Online.
Every spreadsheet column equates to a field you want to import into QuickBooks Online, and each row contains details about an individual vendor.
QuickBooks allows you to import the following fields, but you don’t have to have data for every field:
Your spreadsheet should contain the labels for each of the columns in the first row. However, these label names don’t have to be exactly the same as the field names in QuickBooks Online. The import process gives you a chance to map each column to a different field on the vendor list. Avoid the columns for fields you don’t wish to populate.
The vendor information spreadsheet must be on the first workbook tab in Excel. QuickBooks Online will consider only the first tab.
If QuickBooks isn’t right for your business, consider some feature-rich and affordable QuickBooks alternatives. Read our review of Xero or Zoho Books review to learn more.
Read our complete review of QuickBooks Online accounting software to learn more about the powerful features of this cloud-based tool.
It’s also fast and easy to import your vendors into QuickBooks Pro, the QuickBooks accounting desktop application.
Like QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Pro lets you add supplier details manually or import a spreadsheet CSV to add vendors in bulk.
Here’s how to import vendors from an Excel spreadsheet into QuickBooks Pro.
Copy the data from your Excel vendor file to the QuickBooks template. Your Excel data is on the right, and the QuickBooks template is on the left. Hovering over a cell displays instructions on which type of data you should add. Above the column headers, you’ll see cell-formatting examples.
QuickBooks lets you add the following vendor information:
When your file is ready to be imported, you’ll have a chance to check for and correct errors. If the program finds any issues, you’ll see a message in the error box on the top left and a red warning triangle in the corner of the affected cell. If there’s an error, QuickBooks will explain it and tell you how to fix it.
You may want to delete a vendor at some point. However, if you’ve already used a vendor’s details in a transaction, you can’t delete the vendor from QuickBooks. You can, however, make the supplier inactive so you won’t see it in the Vendor Center.
To make a vendor inactive: