To convert a QuickBooks Online file to Desktop, download Intuit's migration tool from the Export Overview page in Online, request an export of your financial data, then open the QBXML file it produces with QuickBooks Desktop running. Inventory does not come across. Afterward, compare a Profit and Loss in both programs and restart bank downloads with Web Connect files.
What the QuickBooks Online to Desktop migration tool needs before you start
The migration tool is a small Intuit program that carries data from an Online company into a new Desktop company file. It needs QuickBooks Desktop installed and open on the same computer before you download it, and enough quiet time for a large export to finish. The Desktop version should also be one Intuit still supports.
Intuit's own article on exporting QuickBooks Online data to QuickBooks Desktop says the tool must be downloaded from the Export Overview page in Online while Desktop is installed and open. Its troubleshooting notes tell you to run the tool or QuickBooks as an administrator if a certificate window fails to appear, so plan on doing this from a Windows computer where you have admin rights.
Check the Desktop version first
A Desktop version past its support date loses the connected services you will want after the move. Intuit's QuickBooks Desktop service discontinuation policy says that QuickBooks Desktop 2023 stopped getting support after May 31, 2026. On a discontinued version, you can't download transactions or send online payments, and you lose online bank feeds and Desktop Payroll. Converting into a version that is already cut off gives you a file you cannot keep current from the bank.
A short readiness list
- Desktop installed, activated and open, with no company file loaded.
- An Online login with admin rights, because the export covers the whole company.
- The email inbox you will name on the export request, so you see the ready notice.
- A list of every bank and card account in Online, with the last date each one was reconciled.
- A record of your inventory counts and values, since those will need re-entering.
Exporting the QBXML file from QuickBooks Online
The export is a request, not an instant download. You pick what to send, give a name and an email address, and wait for Intuit to build a QBXML file. QBXML is the structured format Desktop's import side reads. A small company may be ready in minutes; Intuit warns that large files can take hours.
Follow these steps in order:
- In QuickBooks Online, open the Export Overview page and choose Get Started.
- Download the migration tool, install it and accept the license terms.
- Choose the data to export: all financial data with transactions, or all financial data without transactions.
- Enter the name and email address for the request and submit it.
- When the confirmation email arrives, return to the exporting page in Online and download the QBXML file. Save it somewhere easy to find, such as the desktop.
With transactions or without?
The choice in step 3 decides how much work the Desktop file needs later. With transactions, the Desktop file carries your history and your reports reach back as far as the Online file did. Without transactions, you get lists and setup but no history, which makes the Desktop file closer to a fresh start that needs opening balances. Most people moving a live business choose the full export, because rebuilding history afterward is far slower than waiting for a bigger file.
Building the Desktop company file from the QBXML export
The QBXML file does nothing until the migration tool feeds it into Desktop. Open Desktop to the No Company Open screen, run the tool, point it at the file you downloaded, then name and save the new company file. Desktop asks you to grant the tool access, and the import runs on its own after that.
A few practical points help this go smoothly:
- Save the company file locally first. Build it on the computer's own drive, then move it to a shared folder later if your office works from a server.
- Keep the computer awake. A long import that stalls because the machine went to sleep has to be started again.
- Grant access when the certificate window appears. If no window shows, close the tool, start it again as an administrator and repeat the step.
- Do not open the old Online company in another tab and edit it. Anything you add after the export is not in the file, so freeze Online until you have checked the result.
The new file is a separate company. Your Online subscription keeps running until you cancel it, which is useful, because Online is the record you check the Desktop file against.
Which QuickBooks Online records survive the move to Desktop?
The financial records survive: accounts, customers, vendors, items other than inventory, and, if you chose them, the transactions. Inventory quantities and values for products and services are left behind. Intuit also warns that export limitations can make some report totals differ between the two programs, so treat the conversion as close, not identical.
Here is how the main kinds of record usually fare. Treat this as a planning list, and confirm it against your own file after the import.
| Record | After the move | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Chart of accounts | Comes across | Review names and account types |
| Customers and vendors | Come across | Spot-check addresses and terms |
| Invoices, bills, payments | Come across with transactions | Check open balances by customer and vendor |
| Inventory quantities and values | Not exported | Re-enter counts as of the conversion |
| Bank connections | Not part of the file | Set up feeds or Web Connect again |
| Attachments and receipts | Plan to save separately | Export from Online before you cancel |
Bank connections are the item people most often forget. A bank feed belongs to the Online subscription and the bank's link to it, not to the accounting data, so a new Desktop company starts with no connected accounts at all.
If you are leaving QuickBooks for a different product rather than for Desktop, the answers change. Converting QuickBooks to Sage 50 covers Sage's own conversion tool and the lists it brings across.
Checking the converted Desktop file against QuickBooks Online
The check is a side-by-side comparison of the same reports in both programs. Intuit suggests running a Profit and Loss on the accrual basis in Online and in Desktop for the same dates. If they agree, the history came across. If they differ, close the company, run the import again and compare once more before you fix anything by hand.
A Profit and Loss alone can hide balance sheet problems, so add two more comparisons:
- Balance Sheet at the last month end. Every bank, card and loan balance should match.
- Bank balances against real statements. Pick the last statement for each bank account and confirm that Desktop's register shows the same ending balance on the statement date.
A worked comparison
The figures below are an example for a small service business, not real data.
| Report line | QuickBooks Online | Desktop after import | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total income, Jan to Sep | 184,250.00 | 184,250.00 | 0.00 |
| Total expenses, Jan to Sep | 131,906.40 | 131,906.40 | 0.00 |
| Checking balance, Sep 30 | 22,418.77 | 22,418.77 | 0.00 |
| Inventory asset, Sep 30 | 6,120.00 | 0.00 | 6,120.00 |
The only gap is the inventory asset, which is the item Intuit says does not export. That gap is expected and gets closed by entering inventory as of the conversion date. Any other difference points to a real problem worth chasing before you start working in Desktop.
Restarting bank downloads in the new Desktop file with Web Connect
Bank activity after the export has to come in fresh, and in Desktop the dependable file route is Web Connect. Intuit's article on downloading bank transactions into QuickBooks Desktop says Web Connect lets you import transactions from your bank's website and that it only works with .qbo files.
The key decision is the first date you download. Everything up to the export is already in the file, so the first Web Connect file should start the day after the last transaction that came across for that account.
An example cut-over
These dates are illustrative. The export ran on October 6 and included every bank line through October 3.
| Account | Last line in the export | First Web Connect file should start | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business checking | Oct 3 | Oct 4 | Bank website download |
| Savings | Sep 30 | Oct 1 | Bank website download |
| Business card | Oct 2 | Oct 3 | PDF statement converted to QBO |
Do not count on Desktop to spot lines that the export already brought in, because those lines arrived through a different route from the bank file. Set the date range on the bank's download screen so the first file begins where the export ended.
When the bank offers no Web Connect download
Some banks offer only PDF statements, and others only a Quicken file. A PDF can be turned into a QBO file that Desktop opens through Web Connect; SimpleBankConvert is being built to make that file from the bank's statement, and you can join early access on the get started page. A Quicken data file is a different thing from a bank download, and why a QDF cannot be converted to QFX explains what to export from Quicken instead.
When converting a QuickBooks Online file to Desktop is the wrong move?
The conversion is the wrong move when Desktop can't stay supported for long, when inventory is the heart of your books, or when you only need old figures for reference. In each case the effort of rebuilding a working Desktop file outweighs what you gain from it.
Desktop will not stay connected
If your plan depends on a Desktop version near the end of its support window, the file will soon lose bank downloads and payroll. Check Intuit's discontinuation list before you commit, and buy into a current version if you go ahead.
You only need the old numbers
If the reason for converting is to keep a copy of the books after cancelling Online, a full Desktop company is more than you need. Exported reports and lists give you a readable record without a program to maintain. The same thinking applies to people who hope to move QuickBooks data into a personal finance program; whether QuickBooks can be imported into Quicken sets out what can move and when keeping the two apart is better.
Inventory carries the business
Because inventory values do not export, a business with many stocked items faces a large re-entry job and a gap in its cost history. Run the conversion on a test file first, count how much needs re-entering, and decide with that number in front of you.