Integrating with Quickbooks Online (QBO)

In this article:

• Start the Integration with Quickbooks Online
• Sync Clients
• Sync Service Items
• Sync Payments

8:52

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What can be synced?

Start the Integration

Create and Sync Contacts

Create and Sync an Invoice

Turn on Locations and Classes

Edit and Sync Service Items

Restart the Integration

What Syncs with QBO?

Before we start, let’s explore what and how certain functions are synced between Quickbooks Online and Canopy.

Some are bidirectional, which is a fancy way of saying if you were to create something in QBO, it’s created in Canopy - and vice versa.

• Clients: bidirectional
• Service Items: bidirectional
• Invoices: unidirectional - invoices created in Canopy sync to QBO. Invoices created in QBO do not sync to Canopy.
• Categories, Classes, and Locations: unidirectional - created and managed in QBO and used in both QBO and Canopy. But you cannot create these in Canopy.
• Payments: unidirectional - payments created in Canopy sync to QBO. Payments created in QBO do not sync to Canopy.

Start the Integration

Connecting your Canopy instance to QuickBooks Online is a simple process. 

To get started:

1. Go to your profile picture or initials
2. Select Settings
3. Choose Integrations on the left-hand side
4. Click Manage under the Quickbooks tile
5. Select Start in line with Clients

This opens a new window that asks you for your QBO credentials, including two factor authentication. QBO asks you to verify that you want to connect to your Canopy account. Once accepted, the connection is complete and the setup will begin!

Heads-Up! Keep in mind that you can only have one QBO account per Canopy instance.

Sync Clients

The setup process walks you through the client list in QBO.

As it prepares to synchronize it to Canopy, you can preview existing Canopy clients and/or create clients into Canopy from QBO. Instructions are provided for each of the four categories, 

• Duplicates: duplicate records in QBO and Canopy 
• Unmatched: no match found between QBO and Canopy
• Matches: records match between QBO and Canopy 
• New Clients: Clients in QBO that will be created in Canopy 

Canopy Tip! For the best experience, ensure that the list in QBO is the list that you want to see inside Canopy. One way to do this is to export your active client list in Canopy and import it into QBO. For steps on how to do this, click here.

Also, make sure your clients are labeled with the correct entity. For example, make sure that individuals and businesses are set up appropriately in QuickBooks so that they can be created correctly. 

Sync Service Items

After the clients are imported, you'll be prompted to sync your service items. 

Follow the recommended steps to sync service items:

• If you have existing service items in Canopy, make the names, rate, tax rate, and code of each item match what you have in QBO.
  • You can verify this in Canopy by:
    • Clicking your profile picture
    • Select Settings
    • Then choose Billing Settings
    • Then the Service Items Tab
      • Here you’ll want to make sure everything you have here matches in QBO
• If you have anything in QBO, those will be created in Canopy if a match is not found.

Heads-Up! Also, new invoices created in Canopy are automatically synced to QBO, which is pretty exciting! But for now, invoices created in QBO do not sync to Canopy.

You can also choose to skip Service Items and invoices, but otherwise, click Start to begin. Matching service items is simple - you are just matching up what you have on both platforms here. 

Now, you’re all set!

Sync Payments

Lastly, you'll have the chance to sync your payments. Once the payments sync, any new payment created in Canopy will have the ability to sync to QBO as a one-way sync moving forward.

The undeposited funds account in QBO will receive the following payments from Canopy:

• Payments processed through Canopy
• Manual payments created in Canopy
• Coming soon: Account payments

Create and Edit Clients

Clients sync between QBO and Canopy. You can edit or add new clients in either system and have it updated in the other system. 

Try creating a Client using the global plus button and entering in relevant information once completed from the client list, select the access button under the QBO header to view the client in QBO. 

As you can see, all of the information has been corresponded and created over in QBO. It works the same in QBO. Make a client account here and it will sync to Canopy!

Creating an Invoice

Now, let’s go ahead and create an invoice for a client. 

Creating an invoice in Canopy can pulls the information from QBO:

• Locations, 
• Service items,
• Categories, 
• and Classes 

– that's already available in QBO. If you see a QBO sync icon, that means that information is synced with QBO.

In this case, [SERVICE ITEM] are already linked to QuickBooks online and will be mapped to the general ledger account there. I can also fill in a CLASS and LOCATION for the invoice as well. 

Once the invoice is created and saved, the invoice is available in both Canopy and QBO. You can access an invoice via QBO from here with the access button.

Canopy Tip! If your invoice failed to sync, you can manually retry the sync to QBO. For steps on how to do that, click here.

Also, all relevant reports you created in QBO will be updated!

Update Classes and Locations

While Service Items and Clients are on a two-way sync, categories, classes and locations are managed and updated only through QBO.

If you don’t have classes and locations turned on, you can do that in QBO by:

1. Clicking on the gearbox
2. Select Company Settings
3. Scroll down to the Categories section
4. Turn on Classes and/or Locations

To edit these in QBO:

1. Click the gearbox
2. In the menu, under Lists, Select All Lists
3. From here click:
   1. Product Categories to update Category Names
   2. Locations for locations
   3. And Classes for classes

Once you have those lists updated, they can be applied to invoices in QBO and in Canopy. Once again, you cannot create or manage these in Canopy - only in QBO!

Update Service Items

You can edit your service items in QBO or Canopy at any time. To edit in Canopy:

Go to your profile pic or initials

1. Select Settings
2. Choose Billing Settings
3. Check the Service Items tab

Here, you can add a new service item. In the menu, you create an item, a rate, tax rate, and SKU or code. You’ll notice those QBO syncs there as well! You can indicate the income account, and product category from your category list in QBO.

Restart the Integration

At any time, you can go through this QBO setup process again by:

1. Scrolling down to Integrations
2. Under Quickbooks Online, choose Manage
3. Choose Restart integration from the menu under the three stacked dots

Restarting the integration allows you to go through the setup process again, without logging in, disconnecting and reconnecting. 

The steps to follow are the same, from that point, that we covered in the start of the video.