QuickBooks with MetaFleet, Start to Finish
See each QuickBooks job in the order a shop does it, with a link to the full steps for each.
For: Owners, office managers and bookkeepers · Permission: Manage account settings · Time: ~3 minutes
This is the whole QuickBooks flow on one page, in the order most shops meet it. Each section says what happens and links to the article with the full steps.
Quick summary
- Connect your QuickBooks Online company and finish the three setup steps.
- Run the first sync and clear the Review tab.
- Send invoices and record payments as you do today. Each one goes to QuickBooks when you send or record it.
- Create, receive and bill purchase orders. QuickBooks gets the purchase order and the bill.
- Check the status strip on the QuickBooks tab. If Failed pushes is red, fix the cause and click Retry now, or Retry on a row.
Before you start
- You need the Manage account settings permission to connect QuickBooks and to fix anything on the QuickBooks tab.
- Have the sign-in for your QuickBooks Online company ready.
- No QuickBooks tab under Settings › Integrations? Contact MetaFleet support to turn QuickBooks on for your account.
Connect QuickBooks
Go to Settings › Integrations, open the QuickBooks tab and click Connect to QuickBooks. Sign in with Intuit and pick your company. Back in MetaFleet, the card walks you through three steps: what syncs, which records, and where your money posts. Nothing syncs until you click Start syncing.
Full steps: Connect QuickBooks Online to MetaFleet. Ask your accountant about the posting accounts in Choose Where Your Money Posts in QuickBooks.
Run the first sync and clear the Review tab
Right after setup, most of what the Review tab lists just hasn't synced yet. On the Sync tab, click Sync now on Customers, then on Parts and Vendors. If a Sync now does not run, the run in the Sync runs list says why, in plain words. What's left needs a person, usually a possible duplicate: a customer whose name is close to one in QuickBooks. MetaFleet won't create a second copy while it waits. Click Confirm if it's the same customer, or Not a match if it isn't. The Needs your review total on the card, the Review tab and the Action Center all show the same count of what is open now. After that, the nightly sync runs at 11:00 PM in your shop's time zone.
Full steps: How MetaFleet and QuickBooks Work Together and Link a Customer to QuickBooks.
Send an invoice
There is no separate QuickBooks button. When you send an invoice to your customer, MetaFleet sends it to QuickBooks too. On the order's Billing tab, the QuickBooks panel reads In step once QuickBooks holds the same total. If the order changed after you sent the invoice, MetaFleet does not send the mismatch. The panel says the order changed after its invoice was sent. Re-send the invoice and QuickBooks gets the updated version. Invoices go with MetaFleet's own tax rates, as QuickBooks Tax Codes, unless you chose QuickBooks' sales tax on the invoice (see QuickBooks Sales Tax Reference). If an invoice is still out of QuickBooks after you fix the cause, click QB Sync on the order's Invoice tab. See Handle an Invoice That Changed After Sending.
Full steps: Send an Invoice and Check It in QuickBooks.
Create, receive and bill purchase orders
MetaFleet never emails your vendor. You place the order yourself, then click Create PO (or Place Order on a draft). The order goes to QuickBooks as a purchase order shortly after, on its own. The nightly sync sends any still waiting. To send it sooner, click Sync now on the Purchase orders row. A QuickBooks purchase order doesn't post any money. When you finish or cancel the order, MetaFleet closes its QuickBooks purchase order on the next sync. When the parts arrive, click Receive Items and choose how each line gets paid. When the vendor's invoice comes, click Create Vendor Bill. The bill goes to QuickBooks when you create it.
Don't click Send on a purchase order or bill inside QuickBooks unless you mean to. That button emails your vendor a copy.
Full steps: Receive Parts and Bill Purchase Orders with QuickBooks.
Track payments both ways
A payment you record in MetaFleet goes to QuickBooks when you record it, linked to its invoice. A payment someone records in QuickBooks comes back to MetaFleet with the nightly sync, or when you click Sync now on the Customer payments row. Pay vendor bills in QuickBooks. MetaFleet reads the bill's paid status back when you click Sync now on the Purchase orders row.
Want customers to pay through QuickBooks? Turn on Customers pay through QuickBooks under Customer payments on the QuickBooks tab. Your QuickBooks company needs QuickBooks Payments on. Then choose QuickBooks Pay Link as the payment method on an order.
Full details: Payments, Refunds, Credits and Late Fees in QuickBooks.
Fix a send QuickBooks refused
The status strip at the top of the QuickBooks tab shows Failed pushes in red when QuickBooks turns something down. Click See which to read the reason. Include the Support ref when you contact support. A busy moment in QuickBooks is retried on its own, after 1 minute and again after 5. A refusal that would fail again, such as a payment method someone deleted in QuickBooks, waits for you. Fix the cause in QuickBooks, then click Retry on its row, or Retry now to send them all. A push that went through since reads Sent since in Activity.
Full steps: Fix What Needs Attention in QuickBooks.