How to Export a Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks

There are many reasons why you might need to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks. It can be because you want to conduct deep analysis, build custom dashboards, blend your QuickBooks data with information from other sources, or just share it with stakeholders. Another reason is creating and maintaining a backup copy.

The two primary ways to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks are manual (native) and automated export. Which one is the best for you depends on your current goals. The first one is a great option if you only need to export your QuickBooks data from time to time. If that is not the case and you need to export it regularly (for example, for backup purposes or continuous monitoring), it’s better to opt for automation. Let’s take a look at both methods.

How to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online manually 

Brief summary: 

1. Select Accounting -> Chart of Accounts
2. Press the Run Report button
3. Click the Export icon in the top right corner
4. Select Export to Excel or Export to PDF
5. The exported file will download on your computer

Now, let’s see how this works in more detail, with screenshots and examples.

• Log in to your QuickBooks account
• In the main menu on the left, select Accounting -> Chart of Accounts

• In the upper right corner, press the Run Report button.

• Then, press the Export icon and select how you want to export your chart of accounts – as a PDF of XLSX file. If you select the latter option, the file with the extracted data will be downloaded automatically.

• If you opt for the PDF format, you will see a preview where you can adjust the orientation and other settings. You can also email your chart of accounts data from here.

• Here’s how the exported data looks in Excel:

As you can see, with this native functionality, you can easily export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks. However, if you need to do this often, we recommend that you consider the automated method as well. It’s easy to use, and it doesn’t require any technical background.

How to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online automatically

As there’s no native functionality for this, you’ll need to use a third-party solution. We’ll show you how to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks using Coupler.io. This is a popular data integration tool that already has more than 700000 users. It can automatically transfer your data from QuickBooks to Excel, Google Sheets, or BigQuery.

In addition, it will keep the exported information up to date, refreshing it on a schedule without any involvement from your side. This makes it a much better option than exporting data manually. You’ll only need to set up the integration once, and then, you’ll always have your latest QuickBooks data in the specified spreadsheet or database. Let’s now dive in and see this method in action.

• Create a Coupler.io account.
• On the My Importers tab, press the Add new button.
• Select QuickBooks as a data source and choose the destination. In our example, it will be Google Sheets, but you can also opt for Excel or BigQuery.

• Connect your QuickBooks account and grant the requested permissions. Then, press Continue.

• In the next step, select the data entity to export. Using Coupler.io, you can extract about 30 different data types from QuickBooks. In this example we need to export a chart of accounts, so we’ll select Account.

• Specify your preferences for filtering and sorting your data. If this is unnecessary, you can skip this step.
• Connect your destination account and grant the requested permissions. In our example, it’s Google Sheets, but you can do the same for Excel or BigQuery.
• Select the spreadsheet and sheet where you want to transfer your QuickBooks data. If you want to import your data to a new sheet, just type in a new sheet title, and Coupler.io will create it for you. You can also specify the first cell or range for importing (optional). Then, press Continue.

• Then, you’ll be asked to choose the import mode. 

– The Replace mode deletes previously imported data from the sheet before pasting refreshed data. This means you will only have the latest data on this sheet. 

– The Append mode places new data below the previous contents of the sheet. In this case, you will have multiple versions of the same dataset in chronological order. This can be useful if you want to track changes or have access to previous versions of your data for other reasons.

In our example, we select Replace. Then, press Continue.

• Last but not least – let’s set up a schedule for the updates. Toggle on the Automatic data refresh feature. Then, specify your preferences. You can select the update interval, ranging from every month to every 15 minutes. You can also select the days of the week and the times when you want to have your data refreshed. 

For instance, you can schedule updates every 15 minutes 24/7 – in this case, you will always have the latest QuickBook data in the selected file or database. Or, as another example, you can opt for refreshing your data every Thursday at 10:00 because this is when you prepare a weekly report for stakeholders. The tool is rather flexible and allows you to tailor the schedule for your needs and processes.

• Once the schedule is ready, press Save and Run.
• Here’s what the exported data looks like.

Now you know how to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online automatically. You can use the imported data to build custom dashboards, perform advanced calculations, analyze your data in-depth, and more.If you want to connect QuickBooks to BigQuery or automate QuickBooks export to Excel, you can follow the same steps we’ve described above.

How to export filtered data from a chart of accounts in QuickBooks

Coupler.io allows you to sort and filter your QuickBooks data before exporting. For example, you can filter data from the chart of accounts by Id, Name, Description, AccountType, CurrentBalance, and other parameters. We already explained how to create an importer using Coupler.io. Now let’s change the importer settings a bit to filter the data that will be exported during the next scheduled update.

• Go to the My Importers tab and click the three dots on the right of your QuickBooks importer. 
• Select Edit and go to the Advanced settings in the Source section.
• Suppose we only want to export accounts with a balance greater than zero. We can do this by using the Where field. The structure of the request will be: the sorting parameter, then, >, <, =, >=, <=, or another operator, and the value to compare with, given in single quotes. In our example, the sorting parameter will be CurrentBalance, and we will compare it with 0. So, we’ll insert the following request in the Where field: CurrentBalance>’0’. Please note that the allowed operators depend on the sorting parameter you want to use. For more details, please head to our Help Center article How to use the Where parameter in QuickBooks importer.
• In addition to filtering, we can order the data we want to export. In our example, we want to see accounts in ascending order, from the smallest CurrentBalance to the largest one. In this case, we can just type in CurrentBalance in the Order field. If we wanted to make it a descending order, the request would be: CurrentBalance DESC. In both cases, you can change CurrentBalance to any other parameter/field.
• Here’s what it looks like in the importer settings:

• Once everything is ready, press Save and Run. Now, we have exported only those accounts that have a positive balance, and the entries are displayed in ascending order, depending on the funds available on each account.

In this example, we’ve transferred specific data from a chart of accounts to Google Sheets. The flow for exporting filtered and sorted data to Excel or BigQuery is exactly the same, so now you know how to do this too!

Which method to use to export a chart of accounts in QuickBooks?

Each of the methods we’ve explored in this article can serve the purpose. So, which one you choose will ultimately depend on your goals. The advantage of the manual method is that it’s native, so you can extract the data you need directly from your QuickBooks account. It’s a good fit if you don’t need to do this often.

Automation, on the other hand, is a powerful solution for professionals who need to manage data systematically. With such a data integration tool as Coupler.io, your exported QuickBooks data will be refreshed on a schedule without any manual effort. You might need to spend several minutes to set up the importer, but you will only need to do this once. Exporting data automatically will help to eliminate repetitive tasks, save time, and significantly increase efficiency.

We hope this article was useful to you!