Transferring Data to QB

[AeroGuy]

hey folks,

first of all, i have NO idea how quickbooks work. i'm an employee at a company where i recently created a database using a database software called FileMaker. My boss would like me to make a form in Filemaker that looks exactly like a QB window... in this window, a user will be able to enter specific data/info/fields and then just press some "export" button...

i want to take the user-inputted data, and just convert it into some format that can be read-into QB... my boss would put this data onto a disk and just send it to our accountant so he can use it (our accountant does all our 'stuff' in Quickbooks).

so, i guess my question is basically this... what filetype/format(s) can QB import data from. for example, could i take my data from FileMaker, convert it into a text-file of some sort, and then just export it to QB? does it have to be formatted in a certain way?

i'd appreciate any help/advise ya'all could offer.
regards,
me

[Oleg]

QB will take data in .IIF format

[Oleg]

There is workaround to import data from .CSV files also.

[crazysonoran]

Do a search on the quickbooks.com website under the knowlege base for "import". There are some sample templatees on how transactions need to look so they can be imported into Quickbooks. the IIF format is basically a tab delimited excel file.

[Oleg]

You can download sample .iif for a specific transaction types from the table below. These files can be used as templates to create your own import files.

http://www.quickbooks.com/support/faqs/qbw2002/117503.html

[Oleg]

Also, QB 2004 allows you to import .CSV files directly to QB without any work around needed

[gibbo]

Oleg, are you saying that they are automating the import process for IIF files? What does "no work around" mean?

[DON]

What version of QB?
What version of Filemaker?
How proficient are you with FMP?(esp relationships)
It takes a while to get your head around what QB wants, but once you do, (like most things) it's not that bad, especially when you're using FMP.
Let me know, might be able to help.

Also, the reason QB wants .tab instead of .csv files- sooner or later, one of your fields is probably going to contain an amount with a comma (i.e. $2,965.24), which would be a field de-limiter, and would cause it to split at the comma instead of where it was supposed to.

[drqbooks]

All this talk about data transfer, and I didn't see mention of the IDN Network Forum, (or) Solutions Marketplace, which are both "chaulk full" of solutions..

Membership is FREE, and you can bounce off of other developers, it's quite educating..

For Developers:
http://developer.intuit.com/

For Data transfer Utilities:
http://marketplace.intuit.com/

I understand that QODBC can be quite useful too...
http://www.qodbc.com/

Good Hunting!

[gibbo]

We are nearing completion of a utility to extract transactions from one QuickBooks file for import into another. The code from the Invoice section of this could be used to provide you with what you need. We are writing it for the US and Australia initially.
We have never linked to Filemaker, but I assume it has an ODBC available. The other way is to export a file in a pre-determined format. If you could write an xml file of the Invoices from Filemaker, it becomes extremely easy, as the pre-determined format would simply become the format of the exported data from a QuickBooks query. Our code would treat it exactly as if it were extracted from QuickBooks and qrite for entry into another file. My email address is on this forum.
NB there is a lot more to the process than just creating a file and dropping it in. We have just spent the past couple of days writing code for when an Invoice does not go in. We extract those that do not go in to a separate file so that when the problem has been fixed, these ones can be entered separately. There is also the issue of how the Filemaker database and the QuickBooks file can be made to contain the same data. (or at least to ensure that QuickBooks has what it needs to write the file).
Great idea - but not an easy one.