Quickbooks Online
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Finance
      3. Quickbooks Online

      How to Export Bills and Invoices to QuickBooks Online

      Learn how to export your commonsku bills and invoices to QuickBooks Online (QBO), as well as how to fix error codes you may receive.

       

      On this page:

      Export client invoices

      Export supplier bills

      Map your client and supplier accounts

      Record payments on client invoices

      Re-export an invoice/bill

      How to fix error codes

      FAQ

      Export client invoices

      To export client invoices to Quickbooks Online from your Finance tab:

      1. Click Invoicing > Report Type: Invoices
      2. Select the checkbox beside the invoice(s) you'd like to export
      3. Click to Export to QuickBooks Online
      4. In the QuickBooks Online Export Report pop-up, click the X to close the export screen

      Exported invoices automatically transfer to the Finance > Invoicing > Exported Invoices Report. Refer to FAQ if you receive an error during the export process.

      [Back to top]

      Export supplier bills

      To export supplier bills invoices to Quickbooks Online from your Finance tab:

      1. Billing > Report Type: Export Bills
      2. Select the checkbox beside the bills(s) you'd like to export
      3. Click to Export to QuickBooks Online
      4. In the QuickBooks Online Export Report pop-up, click the X to close the export screen

      Exported bills automatically transfer to the Finance > Billing > Exported Bills Report. Refer to FAQ if you receive an error during the export process.

      [Back to top]

      Map your client and supplier accounts

      If it's the first time you're exporting an invoice/bill for a particular account, QuickBooks will ask if you want to create a new client/vendor in QuickBooks or if the client/vendor already exists, but under a different name or with a different spelling. 

      The QuickBooks Online Export Report pop-up will read, "There are rows you are trying to export belong to commonsku clients with no QuickBooks Online Customer associated. Would you like to map them?"

      To map the commonsku client/vendor to an existing account in Quickbooks Online:

      1. Click the "Don't map" drop-down and select the client/vendor you'd like to export the invoice/bill to
      2. Click the Map and Export button

      To create a new client/vendor account in Quickbooks Online:

      1. Don't select anything in the "Don't map (This will create a new QuickBooks Online Customer)" drop-down
      2. Click the Map and Export button

      [Back to top]

      Record payments on client invoices

      The best practice is to record payments inside QuickBooks Online; QBO will update the commonsku invoice's status to Paid.

      [Back to top]

      Re-export an invoice/bill

      To re-export a client invoice:

      1. In the Finance tab > Invoicing > Report Type: Exported Invoices, select the checkbox beside the invoice(s) you'd like to re-export
      2. Click UnExport Selected
      3. Export the invoice as normal

      To re-export a supplier bill:

      1. In the Finance tab > Billing > Report Type: Exported Bills, select the checkbox beside the bill(s) you'd like to re-export
      2. Click UnExport Selected
      3. Export the bill as normal

      How to fix error codes

      Error 500: [Unsupported Operation, Operation org.xml.sax.SAXParseException; An invalid XML character (Unicode: 0x1) was found in the element content of the document. is not supported.]

      The invoice number contains invalid XML characters that are not supported by QuickBooks Online (i.e., characters like ).

      To correct the error:

      1. Remove the additional characters from the bill/invoice
      2. Export as normal

      Error 2020: [Required param missing, need to supply the required value for the API, Required parameter Line is missing in the request]

      This error appears if you try to export an invoice that has no product or service line items.

      To correct it, you can either:

      • Add a ($0) product or service line item to the invoice and export as normal
      • If you don't need a copy of the invoice in QuickBooks Online, you can export it as a CSV file to remove it from your export report


      Error 2040: [Invalid String. The String may contain unsupported or illegal chars, Element contains invalid characters. CLIENT NAME   .]
      There are additional characters before or after the client's name.

      To correct the error:
      1. Edit the Client's Details and remove any characters, including spaces, before or after the Client Name
      2. Click Save
      3. Export the invoice as normal

      Error 2210: [Invalid Email Address format, Email Address does not conform to the syntax rules of RFC 822.]

      The contact's email contains an additional character, such as a space or punctuation, or the email is missing the domain (.com, etc.). 

      To correct the error:

      1. Head to the client page and click to Edit the contact
        Doc-Brown-s-Auto-commonsku (5)
      2. Remove any additional characters from their email, or update the spelling so it's a proper email address
      3. Click Save
      4. Export the invoice as normal

      Error 2500: [Invalid Reference Id, Invalid Reference Id : Names element id not found]

      Something in the QBO client/supplier account has changed since it was initially connected to commonsku.

      1. In the client/supplier page > client/supplier details, click Check It
      2. Either click the "Unmap" drop-down and select the proper client/supplier account, then click Update, or click Update and re-map the client/supplier when you export the form.

      commonsku Tip: Make sure to do the exact same thing for the supplier page in order to fully resolve the error code.

       

      Error 2500: [Invalid Reference Id, Invalid Reference Id : Categories cannot be used in transactions.]

      If you click your profile photo > Settings > Integrations > Accounting, the "Invoices Items" or "Invoices Services" are mapped to a QuickBooks Online category, rather than a product or service account. Head to your Settings and update the invoice mapping. Map the items to a non-inventory product item and map the services to a service item.

       

      Error 2500: [Invalid Reference Id, Invalid Reference Id : Vendor assigned to this transaction has been deleted. Before you can modify this transaction, you must restore (deleted).]

      The QBO supplier has been deactivated. To correct this error:

      1. Reactivate the vendor in QuickBooks Online
      2. Head to commonsku and export the bill as normal (you will be prompted to remap the account upon export)

      Error 3200: [message=AuthenticationFailed; errorCode=003200; statusCode=401,]
      Your Team’s QBO authorization has expired. To correct this error:

      1. Click your Profile Icon > Settings > Integrations > Accounting
      2. Click the Disconnect from Quickbooks Online button > select OK
      3. Once the screen refreshes, open the Accounting tab > select Connect to Quickbooks
      4. Once the screen refreshes, double-check the mapping (it should stay the exact same way it was before) and export as normal

       

      Error 6000: [A business validation error has occurred while processing your request, Business Validation Error: Transactions can have only one foreign currency at a time.]

      The invoice/bill's currency doesn't match the currency of the QBO client/supplier profile. To correct the error, either:

      • Update the invoice/bill's currency to match what's in QBO
      • Update the QBO client/vendor profile to match what's in commonsku 
      • Create separate clients/suppliers in QBO, one for each currency; create different clients/suppliers in commonsku, one for each currency.

       

      Error 6000: [A business validation error has occurred while processing your request, Business Validation Error: You cannot enter more than 31 characters in the sales_custom_#_val field.]

      A data point tied to one of the QuickBooks Online Custom Fields has more than 31 characters. Click your Profile Icon > Settings > Integrations > Accounting > and refer to the custom fields. The error message will note which field exceeds the character limit (sales_custom_1, sales_custom_2, or sales_custom_3). Once you have identified the field, go to the project and remove the extra characters. Typically the project's name or the customer's PO cause this error message.

       

       

      Error 6140: [Duplicate Document Number Error, Duplicate Document Number Error: You must specify a different number. This number has already been used.]

      The bill/invoice number has already been used on a bill/invoice in QBO. You will need to create a new commonsku bill/invoice or change the existing QBO invoice/bill number to something new.

      There are cases where a duplicate invoice or bill number may not appear to exist in QuickBooks Online, but the invoice or bill number is still not accepted by QuickBooks Online. 

      Numbers in Quickbooks must be unique for the transaction type. For instance, a Bill in commonsku may not export to QuickBooks Online because an invoice in QuickBooks Online already uses the same number.

      The error shown in commonsku will give you clues as to what record in QuickBooks Online is conflicting with commonsku. For example:

      Error 6140: [Duplicate Document Number Error: You must specify a different number. This number has already been used. DocNumber=1234 is assigned to TxnType=Bill with TxnId=111]

      • DocNumber is the document number that already exists in Quickbooks
      • TxnType is the type of record or transaction in Quickbooks
      • TxnId is an ID used by Quickbooks to identify the record and can be found in the URL of the record in Quickbooks

      This can be used to pull up the relevant record in QuickBooks Online. In the example above:

      • The Bill with the TxnId 111 can be found at: https://app.qbo.intuit.com/app/bill?txnId=111
      • An invoice with the TxnID 123 can be found at: https://app.qbo.intuit.com/app/invoice?txnId=123

      commonsku Tip: Set your next order # to a higher number series than what you're currently using, so there is no risk of duplication (i.e., if your accounting platform's next invoice number is 5000, start your next order # at 10,000).

      6240: [Duplicate Name Exists Error, The name supplied already exists. : null]
      This error appears if you try to create a new account upon export, but the client/supplier you're exporting already has an account inside of QuickBooks Online. There are two ways to fix this error:

      • Re-export the invoice/bill and map it to the existing client/supplier account
      • If the client/supplier name doesn't appear in the drop-down, it means that the same name is already being used for a different client, supplier, or employee inside of QBO. Open QBO and search for that name in both your customers and vendors lists. Once you locate the existing account, you can either rename the client/supplier in commonsku or rename the client/supplier listed in QBO.

       

      Error 6250: [Invalid Customer, The customer you have specified has been deleted. You cannot create or edit a transaction with a deleted customer.]

      The QBO client is inactive; reactivate the account and export the invoice as usual.

      Error Avalara: [Modifying a locked document is not allowed.]

      This error appears if you have already reported your taxes for the time period you are exporting for.

      To fix this error:  If the invoice is in a filing period that is closed in Avalara or the invoice is locked, you can try opening the filing period or transaction.

       If you need further assistance unlocking the transaction or filing period, please contact Avalara Support. Once the issue is fixed, you can export as normal. 

      [Back to top]

      FAQ

       

      What if I need to make changes to an invoice or bill I've already exported?

      You can either:

      • Manually edit the invoice/bill inside of both QuickBooks Online and commonsku
      • Delete the invoice/bill from QuickBooks Online (if applicable) and re-export it

       

      Do I have to add new clients/suppliers to QuickBooks Online and commonsku?
      QuickBooks Online will automatically create new customer and vendor profiles for your new clients and suppliers.

       

      How can I remove an invoice/bill from the export list without exporting it to QuickBooks Online?

      To remove an invoice/bill from your export list without exporting it to QuickBooks Online:

      1. Set your invoices/bills to export as CSV or XML files
      2. Export the invoices/bills as normal
      3. Set your invoices/bills to export to QuickBooks Online

      [Back to top]